530 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



good workers, if you hope to make any- 

 thing at handling bees for a living. 



A colony covering three or four combs 

 fairly well will do to work on this plan, 

 and when a colony of this size suddenly 

 occupies the stand of one covering six or 

 eight combs, there is an influx of popu- 

 lation to the weaker colony that will 

 give the queen in that hive courage, and 

 she will at once start to fill with eggs all 

 the comb available. One or two frames 

 of the unsealed, and very young larvae, 

 should be taken from the strong colony 

 and given to the strengthened one as 

 soon as a sufficient number of bees have 

 joined to properly care for it — which 

 will be in the afternoon if the colonies 

 were jumped in the morning. 



Leave as large a portion of the sealed 

 and hatching brood with the strong col- 

 ony as possible ; such a large number of 

 bees are taken away by the change that 

 they will not refill with young bees in 

 time to cover the very young brood that 

 is left. Here is where outside cases 

 work in well on cool nights. 



We will now suppose that all the colo- 

 nies are in good working condition. It 

 is about ten days before clover opens, 

 and everything is in readiness for a good 

 crop of honey. For illustration, we will 

 suppose you have four good colonies of 

 bees in prime condition, arranged in 

 groups thus : One facing east, and 

 three in line at its side facing south. 



Ten days before your main honey 

 flower opens, remove colonies 1 and 3, 

 and place them in the same relative 

 position by the side of No. 4, so as to 

 compel the working force from the 

 hives 1 and 3 to enter No. 2, which 

 should be tiered up for extracted honey, 

 or arranged with two or three tiers of 

 boxes with foundation starters. To pre- 

 vent such large colonies from hanging 

 out or swarming, they should be ar- 

 ranged according to the Pratt automatic 

 hiving plan, which has been explained 

 and illustrated in these columns. 



A bottom-board is placed on an even 

 foundation, and a hive-body or shallow 

 brood-chamber placed on it; into this 

 hive-body place one or two combs and 

 empty frames with starters of founda- 

 tion ; cover this with a swarm hiving- 

 board, and place the colony and its 

 supers on the top of all. The lower en- 

 trance may have a common excluder, 

 and the upper one left open wide. 



If a swarm issues, it is automatically 

 hived in the lower body, and work will 

 progress rapidly in the supers, and with 

 such a tremendous force of bees the 

 honey will ' roll in in waves," as it were. 



One will readily see that the ventila- 



tion with such an arrangement is per- 

 fect. The entrance is never crowded, 

 and the bees going and coming do not 

 in the least conflict with each other. By 

 this arrangement extra strong colonies 

 will hold together without the desire to 

 swarm. 



As soon as the bees begin to fly well 

 again from colonies i and 3, or in about 

 eight or ten days, they should be jumped 

 back to their original position by the 

 side of No. 2, and left in this position 

 until after the harvest is over. Colony 

 No. 4 will thus receive extra strength, 

 and should have extra storing-room, and 

 the south entrance arrangement the 

 same as was given to No. 2. If all the 

 hives had supers started they should be 

 tiered over the colonies strengthened 

 for completion. 



Having such an extra large force dur- 

 ing a good honey-flow, the same bees 

 that would have worked very well in 

 three different hives, will now show you 

 what honey-gathering is. The amount 

 of work and expense by this plan is re- 

 duced nearly one-half, and with such 

 rapid storing by this extra large force, 

 the honey is all first quality. During a 

 moderate flow, honey will come in such 

 quantities that one is surprised — every 

 comb sealed full, and attached firmly to 

 the section. 



After the honey-flow is fairly over, 

 take every ounce of honey away from 

 all the colonies. Extract what can be 

 gotten at in the frames, and leave the 

 bees with as little on hand as possible, 

 so they will not rear a large number of 

 bees that will be consumers only. Then 

 if you have a good fall flow, no feeding 

 will be necessary. The same operation 

 can be gone through again later in the 

 season, with the view to leaving all the 

 colonies in good condition for winter. 

 Unless the fall flow is unusual, such as 

 from buckwheat, do not catch up the 

 force from hives 1 and 8, but jump them 

 simply for equalization, so that each 

 may then gather enough honey for win- 

 ter stores. All colonies that have been 

 used for nuclei, etc., can now be doubled 

 in to advantage. 



Do not try to winter any but strong 

 colonies with plenty of stores. If your 

 hives are properly arranged for expell- 

 ing the moisture, there will be no 

 trouble about such coming out well in 

 the spring. If wintered on the summer 

 stands, outside cases ought to be used, 

 and the hives should stand about 14 

 inches from the ground. If possible, 

 select a sheltered spot for wintering bees 

 out-of-doors. 



Beverly, Mass. 



