THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ill 



[For the American Bee Journal. ] 



Bee Management. 



Mr. John M. Price wants me to give my 

 method of managing bees for surplus honey. 



In the first place we will suppose that each 

 swarm has its combs all worker combs ; has 

 been well wintered ; and is in the right kind of 

 hive to suit the climate. It should also have 

 honey enough for all purposes, or it will have 

 to be fed. See that every queen is in good con- 

 dition for breeding early in the spring ; and 

 every queen that does not come up to the mark 

 should be superseded by a young one as early 

 as practicable in the spring, for it is useless to 

 expect benefit from a swarm that has an unpro- 

 ductive queen. Some swarms may have too 

 much honey for profit ; but this can be reme- 

 died by exchanging combs with such as have 

 not enough. All 3warms that have not a pro- 

 lific queen can be doubled, if the season is not 

 too cold and backward ; but your swarming 

 must be done early in all seasons, or not done 

 at all, if surplus honey is expected. Do not at- 

 tempt any increase of stock until the hive is fil- 

 led with brood. As soon as the weather be- 

 comes warm enough, commence moving your 

 empty combs, one at a time, into the centre of 

 the cluster of bees, between two combs well fil- 

 led with brood. This will induce the queen to 

 breed faster than she otherwise would, on the 

 same principle that raising a partly filled honey 

 box and inserting an empty one under it, 

 causes the bees to build comb faster than they 

 otherwise would. I am aware that this is one 

 of my assertions. But try it, and see it you do 

 not gain considerable time by doing so. In all 

 swarms where the hive is completely filled with 

 bees when the spring opens, resort to this 

 method is of course not necessary. If from any 

 cause other than an unproductive queen, you 

 happen to have a weak swarm, it can be built 

 up within itself by this method. 



Here, in this section of country, there is no 

 surplus honey gathered until the bass-wood 

 blooms. Last year the bees commenced on it 

 on the 20th of July. This year they commenced 

 on the 8th of July. All hives should be filled, 

 or nearly filled, with comb and brood by the 

 time your honey harvest commences. Then 

 give them abundance of surplus room and free 

 access to the the boxes ; also plenty of room 

 below for the queen to deposit her eggs ; and 

 there will be but little danger of swarming. 

 Heretofore there has been considerable trouble 

 to keep bees from storing too much honey be- 

 low ; but this trouble can now be obviated by 

 means of the honey-emptying machine. I have 

 taken out a full frame and inserted an empty 

 one. Where there is a young queen, if the 

 frame is inserted in the centre of the cluster and 

 when nearly filled with comb, exchanged with 

 an old queen, I could obtain all worker comb ; 

 but if an empty frame be given to an old queen 

 when the bees are gathering honey rapidly, they 

 will usually build too much drone comb. 



There will be but little trouble about swarm- 

 ing, with any stocks except those from which 

 you have not taken an artificial swarm. There 



are exceptions, however. This season I had a 

 young stock cast a large swarm while they were 

 filling their hive, before it was full ; and what 

 was more peculiar about it, they had made no 

 preparation for swarming. Not a queen cell of 

 any description had been started, neither did 

 they commence any till the second day after 

 casting the swarm. When I hived the young 

 swarm, I gave them a frame containing brood 

 and honey, and on examining them lour days 

 after, I found they were raising queens; so that 

 the old queen was lost in some way. 



In localities where the main dependance is on 

 white clover, it would be advisable only to dou- 

 ble the number of those stocks that have a good 

 queen ; but here I can make two good young 

 stocks from each old one, by having a fertile 

 queen for each swarm early, and yet have all 

 three in as good condition for storing surplus 

 honey as they would be if I had only made one. 

 New beginners are very apt to want to com- 

 mence making swarms before the old hive is 

 filled with brood ; but that is bad policy. Here- 

 tofore we have had to have our surplus stored 

 in boxes, and must either have a large surplus 

 room for storing honey, or have the hive so ar- 

 ranged that when a box was partly filled we could 

 raise it and insert another under, otherwise the 

 bees would be idle during a large part of their 

 time. But with the honey-emptying machine, 

 we shall probably have to adopt Novice's plan, 

 or be left far in the rear. The Langstroth hive, 

 either in the form I use it, or in the shallow 

 form, is well adapted for that purpose — that is 

 for a two-story hive. There can be no question 

 in the mind of any practical apiarian on this 

 point, for we know from actual experience, 

 that, if bees can be supplied with empty comb, 

 they will at times store almost incredible quan- 

 tities of honey. 



Decide as early in the season as possible (and 

 this decision must be governed somewhat by 

 the kind of spring), the amount of increase of 

 stocks you wish to make, and start the requisite 

 number of queens, so as to have them all fertile 

 and breeding early. The next operation is to 

 commence equalising, by either taking young 

 bees only a few days old from strong stocks and 

 giving them to the nuclei, or taking sealed 

 brood from the strong and giving it to the weak. 



By this method you can have all equal, and 

 ready for storing surplus when the honey hai- 

 vest commences. By taking young bees from 

 a stock that has an old queen, you leave all the 

 comb in the hive, and there will be no oppor- 

 tunity given to the bees to build drone comb in- 

 stead of worker comb. You can take comb 

 from a strong stock that has a young queen, and 

 by inserting an empty frame in the centre, you 

 will have worker comb built almost invariably. 

 I have never failed, by commencing early in 

 the season. The great tendency of all stocks is 

 then to build worker comb, (especially if the 

 queen is prolific), so as to secure an increase of 

 workers. But later in the season the tendency 

 is to build store or drone comb, for storing sup- 

 plies. So you will please take notice, and gov- 

 ern yourself accordingly. Now this article sug- 

 gests another ; and that is, how to raise all pro- 

 lific queens. But don't be in a hurry ; my bee- 



