1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



53 



Bees and Chickens. 



BY MRS. OLIVKR COI.K. 



As I am taking a rest from the cares 

 of my apiary, and my bees are quietly 

 slumbering, my thoughts run toward 

 some improvement in and about the 

 bee yard. We have now more time 

 to read and think than at any other 

 tirhe of the year, and to keep up with 

 the advance of modern bee-keeping 

 we must read and learn all we can 

 from those of more experience in api- 

 culture, yet sometimes I think the 

 more I read about it the less 1 know, 

 as so many differ in their opinions. I 

 think in this locality it is best for each 

 one to use his own judgment which is 

 the best way to manage his business. 

 As we are never too old to learn, and 

 everyone is struggling to learn a better 

 way how to secure the most honey and 

 increase their stock our best teacher is 

 experience. 



Sometime ago I thought I had a 

 good idea as how to keep the grass 

 down in my apiary without the cost 

 of cutting it. The grass seems to grow 

 more thrifty there than in our mead- 

 ows, owing no doubt to the fertilizer it 

 has in the way of chaff and dead bees. 

 My idea was to build a wire fence 

 around my apiary and a hen house at 

 one corner, also a convenient gate 

 through which to pass, then put in 50 

 or more fowls, give them the run 

 through the apiary and it would be 

 fine for them, and more than that they 

 would keep down the grass. High 

 grass in an apiary is a great nuisance, 

 for I have often soiled my dress and 

 nearly spoiled my shoes in walking 

 through it in the morning before the 

 dew is off while looking after my 

 queen cells and caging queens. I had 

 planned all very nicely for the future 



when I happened to take up an old 

 number of Gleanings and this is what 

 I saw : " Bees and Chickens, by C. H. 

 Luttgens." This interested me and I 

 read it. In substance it was as fol- 

 lows ; "As I first mentioned chickens 

 as drone brood and drone eaters some- 

 time ago perhaps the readers of Glean- 

 ings are under the impression that I 

 keep both in one yard, which is not 

 the case, as I well know the disadvan- 

 tages outweigh the advantages in so 

 doing, as was described by Grant Sco- 

 field a few months ago, but he has 

 missed or not yet experienced the 

 worst of the evils derived therefrom, 

 and of which I should like to inform 

 your readers. Last year 1 had several 

 hatches of young chickens, of which 

 some escaped through the fence. 

 They soon made good drone catchers 

 and bee eaters. Three got stung over 

 the eyes, of which but one recovered, 

 and two died in great agony after sev- 

 eral days. I would have killed them 

 to relieve them but for the fancy 

 stock. While I agree that bees and 

 chickens are nice to keep together, 

 they should be kept in separate yards." 



Reading this has discouraged me 

 with my plans, and if any of the read- 

 ers of this have tried bees and chick- 

 ens together with success I shall be 

 glad to hear from you through the 

 Bee-Keeper. 



Sherburne, N. Y. 



"How to Manage Bees '" is a 50c 

 book for beginners in bee keeping. 

 We will send it postpaid for 25c. 



Clubbing List. 



We will send the Americak Bee-Kekpkb with 



the— PUB. PKCE. BOTH. 



American Bee Journal, ($1 00) 81 35 



American Apiculturist, ( "5; 1 15 



Bee-Keeper's Keview, (1 00) 1 35 



Canadian Bee Journal, (1 00) 1 25 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, (1 00) 1 35 



