254 



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For the AmerlcaD Bee Journal. 



Management During June. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Apple trees bloom with us from May 

 25th to June 1st, and as there is no clan- 

 ger of robbers during its bloom, we 

 take this opportunity to get all drone 

 comb out of the hives so as not to raise 

 a quantity of useless consumers. What 

 drones we do raise we prefer to raise 

 from a choice Italian queen, and not 

 from our whole yard promiscuously. 

 The saving of honey, by doing away 

 with as many drones as possible, makes 

 quite an item in cash to the apiarist. 

 So, to make a sure thing that the bees 

 do not build drone comb again in place 

 of that which we cut out, we fit a piece 

 of worker comb in place of the drone. 

 After apple blossoms there is with us 

 a scarcity of honey till clover blooms, 

 which is usually about the 12th to the 

 15th of this month, when, if the bees 

 get honey from it, we put on boxes to 

 all that are strong enough to work in 

 them. Remove the packing at the sides, 

 and put in one tier of side boxes and 

 those on top, leaving the other tier at 

 the sides until the bees are well at work 

 in the first tier, when we push them 

 back and place the empty boxes between 

 them and the brood-chamber so as to 

 incite them to greater activity. 



If you do not wish to unite the weak 

 colonies as stated last month build them 

 up as fast as possible to strong colonies 

 by spreading the brood, or giving them 

 brood from the stronger colonies. 

 "When all are strong, put boxes on all of 

 them. We neglected to say while 

 speaking of apple blossoms, that then 

 is the time we take to get our white 

 comb for starters. Remove a frame 

 from all the strongest colonies (if it 

 contains brood give it to weaker colo- 

 nies), and insert an empty one in the 

 center of the brood-nest. Go to these 

 colonies every four days, and cut all the 

 comb built till the bloom is over, and 

 if the weather has been favorable, you 

 will have a nice stock of splendid comb 

 for starters. You will also get some 

 white comb that is nice for starters 

 while cutting out drone comb. 



About June 20th swarming com- 

 mences in this locality, and as bssswood 

 is our main honey crop, opening from 

 July 10th to the 15th, swarms issuing 

 June 20th are early enough to take ad- 

 vantage of basswood bloom. In fact, 

 they are a little too early, as such swarms 



frequently fill their hives and a set of 

 boxes partly full, and then swarm in the 

 height of basswood, thus cutting short 

 the yield of honey from them. If we 

 could have it just as we wished, we 

 would have all our swarms come from 

 June 27th to July 3d ; but as we cannot, 

 we keep them back as late as possible 

 by taking brood from the strongest. To- 

 try to prevent all increase, whatever we 

 believe, only results in failure as a gen- 

 eral rule, so we will give three modes of 

 swarming, which we consider the best, 

 always bearing in mind, that all swarm- 

 ing should be done up 10 days before 

 the main honey harvest commences. If 

 we wished to double our bees, we should 

 let all our swarms issue naturally, and 

 hive them on the old stand, setting the 

 old colony on a new stand a rod or two 

 away. We have all our queens' wings 

 clipped, and let the swarm hive them- 

 selves by returning, we changing hives 

 on the old stand while they are out. Of 

 course it is understood that we find the 

 queen as she is out running around try- 

 ing to go with the swarm, and put lier 

 in a wire cloth cage, and when the 

 swarm returns let her go in with them. 

 If you have empty combs to give the 

 new swarm, put on boxes at once, other- 

 wise wait till the hive is two-thirds full 

 of comb. Mark the date of swarming 

 on the old hive and 8 days thereafter the 

 young queen should be hatched, if they 

 swarmed according to rule, — i. e., with 

 the sealing of the first queen-cell. Open 

 the hive and look for the cell that has 

 hatched, and if you find one from which 

 a queen has emerged, cut off all the 

 rest (if the bees have not already torn 

 them down), otherwise cut off all but 

 the oldest and best looking ones, and 

 afterswarming will be prevented as a. 

 general rule, although with us the bees 

 sometimes swarm with the queen when 

 she goes out to be fertilized. Some say 

 cut out cells all but one on the third 

 or fourth day after swarming, but if 

 you do, the Italians will frequently 

 raise more queens from the larvae in the 

 hive, and swarm the second and third 

 third time. As soon as the young 

 queen in the old hive gets to laying, the 

 bees will go for the boxes with a will, 

 and will generally gather more honey 

 than the new swarm. If we wished as 

 little increase as possible and still 

 wished natural swarms we should hive 

 the new swarm (leaving the parent 

 colony on its old stand) and carry them 

 to the stand of a populous colony which 

 had previously been removed to a new 

 stand. Thus you will see that you draw 

 all the working force from the colony 

 moved to a new stand into your new 

 colony which makes an exceedingly 



