June 21, 1906 



535 



American Dee Journal 



are reared in an upper story, over an excluder, it was ob- 

 served that such colonies did not swarm as long as there 

 is sonic brood in this upper story. If this is true, it is plain 

 that swarming can be prevented, if once in a while some 

 brood-comb- are removed from the lower story to the upper 

 one over ibis excluder. This idea can be used for section 

 honey, if a divisible brood chamber is used. When the 

 flow commences, the upper part of this brood-chamber 

 is removed, a queen-excluder laid on top of the lower part, 

 over this one or more section supers and on top of them 

 the upper part of the brood-chamber. The upper brood-story 

 is kept on the hive till all the brood has hatched and the 

 combs are filled with honey, then these combs are extracted 

 or used for winter food in the same or another hive. 



Against this plan I have only this objection, that the 

 queen-excluder is a considerable hindrance for the bees, but 

 I think in many cases, when section honey shall be pro- 

 duced, it can be dispensed with, as the section-supers them- 

 selves have probably the same effect as the queen-excluder. 



Another plan is described by Dr. C. C. Miller, and called 

 the "foundation plan." When in a colony queen-cells are 

 found with eggs in them, these eggs are destroyed; if, io 

 days later, larvs are found in queen-cells, the queen is found 

 and caged and all the queen-cells destroyed, the hive re- 

 moved and in its place is put a hive containing three frames 

 of foundation. Upon this hive is put an excluder and over 

 the excluder the old hive, with brood and bees, and over this 

 the supers. The queen is run in at the entrance of the lower 

 hive and the colony is left for a week or io days. At the 

 end of this time the lower story is taken away with the ex- 

 cluder, and the queen is put back in the old hive, which gets 

 the old stand. 



This is a modification of the last-described plan. I have 

 never tried this plan, but it seems to me, that in some localities, 

 the colony may swarm after treatment, and that the exam- 

 ination of all colonies every 8 or io days to destroy the eggs 

 in queen-cells or to treat the colony, if larvae are present, will 

 take too much time and labor. 



Another way belonging to this class is "Simmins' non- 

 swarming system." It is said that the bees will not swarm, 

 if an empty space is given to them between the brood-nest 

 and the alighting hole, in which the bees can build combs. 

 Simmins says that an important item in this management 

 •consists in supplying every section with fully worked combs. 

 As this is hardly possible in a large apiary worked exclusively 

 for comb honey, this may be the reason that the plan was 

 not favorably accepted on this side of the Atlantic. You 

 will see that this principle is partially employed in Dr. Miller's 

 foundation plan. L. Stachelhausem. 



The President declared the paper open for discussion. 



Mr. McEvoy — One point in the paper read was as to shak- 

 ing bees onto comb. Some people complain that these colo- 

 nies would grow weak in a few days after, but my plan is to 

 put a cone bee-escape across the front after 5 or 6 days 

 for a few hours; the bees come out and they cannot get back 

 into it again. Then you can send your bees where you want 

 to. Another point is that the queen destroys the young queens 

 because the guards are off the cells. The first queen that 

 hatches will do it. 



Mr. Holtermann — I think that the subject that we have here 

 tonight is one of the most important subjects that is going to be 

 brought before the convention, that is, the control of increase. 

 We have had different methods given to us. The paper I think 

 is a very good one and very exhaustive. I think that there is a 

 method which can be given in addition to what has been here. 

 . Some 4 or 5 years ago I began bee-keeping again, and the writ- 

 ings of the Dadants had made quite an impression upon me, 

 for I always looked upon them as very successful bee-keep- 

 ers, and good, sound reasoners; and their observations led 

 me to adopt a larger hive. I had been a strong advocate 

 of the 8-frame Langstroth hive up to that time, and I 

 adopted a 12-frame Langstroth hive. What Mr. Stachelhau- 

 sen says is correct. I think the basis or the beginning of the 

 successful control of increase is large colonies. Now, there 

 are several features which come into play in the control of 

 increase. First of all, the general impression is that the 

 time to note the swarming impulse is when eggs are deposited 

 in the queen-cell cups. I think in that practice we make a 

 mistake. I think the first indication towards swarming is 

 the drone-brood ; but we will let that alone because in a 

 great many cases they may not swarm at all. But the next 

 is when cell-cups are built. I have had men say to me, 



"I see cell-cups built in many cases and no swarming." That 

 is true. The conditions may change, and so on, so that they 

 will not swarm when cell-cups are built, but that is the very 

 reason why we should note that. In my manipulation in the 

 apiary when I sec cell-cups built I take it as a hint that the 

 bees are drifting very closely towards swarming, and that is 

 the time, in my estimation, that the brood should be taken 

 out, if at all, unless you arc approaching, as far as you can 

 tell, the close of the honey seasmi, and then you do not need 

 to do that. 



The next point I find, and I think where bee-keepers make 

 such very great mistakes, is in the amount of super-room 

 given to the bees. I don't know how it is over here, perhaps, 

 as fully as it is in Canada. But the general method is to give 

 an extracting super to a colony of bees. I am satisfied as 

 long as we think we can run our bees successfully with only 

 one super, so long we will not make the most out of our 

 bees, or succeed in keeping down swarming to the greatest 

 extent. No one should think of taking extracted honey with- 

 out having at least an average of 2 supers to the hive. 



Then there is the matter of ventilation. I would like 

 to take you into a frame building on a hot summer day with 

 a ^-inch board roof, and very little ventilation, and put you 

 at work extracting; and yet there are nine-tenths of the 

 bee-keepers who consider it economy to have half that, and 

 have no more protection than that ^-inch board; and they 

 have what is equal to a stove in addition in that building 

 in the young bees and brood in the hive. I consider it a 

 very gross extravagance to use a hive with as little as a 

 %-inch board protection. We should protect them more. 



Next, in order to keep down swarming I am going to 

 try to show you the importance of ventilators in the supers. 

 You have a colony of bees there, and all the fresh air they 

 can get has to come through that brood-chamber and up into 

 the super; by the time it reaches the super that air is foul, 

 and your bees on that account become discontented and want 

 to swarm, and therefore I use the system of ventilation with 

 supers. A great many of the entrances to hives are too 

 small. In our country we have hives in which the entrance 

 does not go all the way across the front of the hive. I learned 

 a lesson from Mr. S. T. Pettit, to enlarge the entrance of the 

 hive during the warm season by means of wedges % of an 

 inch at the front and going to a point at the back, and as 

 soon as the swarming-time comes on slide one between 

 the bottom-board and the brood-chamber, and in that way 

 increase the entrances % of an inch. By those methods we 

 can keep down swarming to a great extent. In using the 

 greater amount of super-room, you want to get the condition 

 where you have sufficient super-room in your hive that the 

 worker force in that hive is contented, and in such numbers 

 that the bees that are dying off from day to day are about 

 equal to the number of bees that are coming on. You can't do 

 that unless you have the extra amount of super-room. 



The reason why I have said I consider this perhaps the 

 most important subject that will come before this conven- 

 tion is this: I am thoroughly satisfied that the secret of large 

 yields of honey is to keep the bees together. No matter 

 whether your honey-flow is short or long, it makes no differ- 

 ence so far as I can see it as to that point. Your bees then 

 are always ready; your bees come with large forces, and they 

 can take" advantage of everything that may turn up, no mat- 

 ter whether it is clover, basswood or buckwheat — whatever 

 gives you the largest amount of yield. 



As far as fall flows are concerned, I know by observa- 

 tion that a great many do not get the amount of honey they 

 could in the fall of the year, because by that time their colo- 

 nies are so broken up they really have few, if any, strong 

 colonies left. 



Dr. Miller— When you speak of ventilating supers, do 

 you mean extracting supers, or sections, or both? 



Mr. Holtermann — 1 have particular reference to extract- 

 ing supers. The only method I can see of ventilating the 

 comb-honey supers is by having a ventilator at the top of the 

 brood-chamber. I don't think it is practicable to use them 

 in comb-honey supers at the time when the bees are capping 

 the honev. 



Mr. Nau — I work the super in the same way Mr. Holter- 

 mann does, and I have no swarms. I have a 13-frame 

 Langstroth hive, and whenever one super is half full I put 

 another under it. I get as high as 6 supers full of honey 

 off one hive. 



Dr. Miller — I would like to emphasize the point that is 



