THE GENESEE FARMER. 



277 



MANAGEMfiNT OF HONEY BEES. 



This season, in Central New York, has been one 

 f the best for storing surplus honey that I have 

 Down for many years; and it is important that 

 ee-keepers should know how to avail themselves 

 f the labors of the bees on such extra occasions, 



that they may not be idle for the want of space 

 i which to deposit the honey. 



In many cases, as all experienced apiarians know, 



set of caps will be filled before, or about the time 

 lat swarming commences. Stocks which thus till 

 ie caps, and swarm immediately after, will not 

 enerally be able to store up any more honey ; but 



they do not swarm, as often happens, the bees 

 lcrease in numbers till large clusters adhere to 

 ie outside of the hive day and night, and their 

 tbors are wholly lost. My system with such fam- 

 ies is to supply a double set of caps, one upon the 

 ther, with a passage of iuch holes through them, 

 frequently set these double tiers of caps upon all 

 iy strong families early in the season, and then 

 igulate them according to circumstances. If I 

 ud that but one set can be filled, I remove the 

 ;hers where they are needed, even after a good 

 jginning of comb building has been commenced 

 i them. In some cases, when the caps are nearly 

 lied, and it is evident that the bees are too weak 

 i numbers, owing to having swarmed out, to com- 

 lete the filling of them, I remove them to hives 

 here they will be completed. 



I remove the bees in them as follows : I set the 

 ips upon boards, with the holes in them so as to 

 low the bees to come out, and then cover the 

 hole with a box, which I raise from the boards 

 xmt half an inch, which allows a little light to 

 iter, and the bees all leave their boxes during the 

 iy, and return to their hives. Sometimes, in 

 ises of brood being in the caps, the bees will not 

 ave them, and it becomes necessary to return the 

 ips to the hives, till the brood matures. I found 

 rone brood in a good many of my caps this sea- 

 >n, which was caused by the lack of space below 



> rear that class of bees, owing to the cells having 

 3en filled with honey, before the queen was ready 



> deposit her eggs for drone brood. 



Where hives are made in moveable sections — the 

 pper parts to lift off, a set of caps, with bees 

 lerein may be rid of them very handily, by cov- 

 •ing them with the upper part of the hive, while 

 ie holes in the hive proper may be temporarily 

 osed with anything handy for the day. At eve- 

 ing the boxes will be free of bees, and the supers 



1 the hives may be placed in their proper position. 

 On one occasion, I tried the experiment of re- 



loving a set of boxes, about half filled with honey 



and bees, from an old stock to a swarm, about two 

 weeks old, which I considered able to fill up said 

 caps. The bees in the hive immediately began to 

 eject the bees in the caps, and the war raged about 

 24 hours, when I judged that half, at least, of the 

 bees in them had been killed. From this experi- 

 ment, we learn that it is better to give the bees a 

 day, uuder boxes, or the supers of the hives, to 

 leave the caps, before they should be placed over 

 other families. 



Cases occur where caps are filled with combs and 

 honey, but the cells are not sealed over, and if left 

 to have that done, a week of time is lost in the best 

 of the honey harvest. On such occasions, I trans- 

 fer the caps to some weak family, or swarm, with 

 bees enough to seal over the caps, while I place an 

 empty set of caps upon the hive from which they 

 were taken, which are filled ; but if I had waited to 

 have had the combs in the original set sealed over, 

 I should have failed to obtain a second set of caps 

 filled. 



My caps, when filled, weigh from six to seven 

 pounds, and four constitute a set, worth in the 

 New York market about one dollar each ; therefore 

 it may be readily said that a family of bees may be 

 made to store up four dollars' 1 worth of honey extra 

 from what is generally expected, merely by a little 

 good management. 



I had one family, this season, very strong, which 

 filled thirteen caps, and would have filled several 

 more, had not some of those filled contained drone 

 brood, and could not be removed. Here we have 

 a case in which thirteen dollars' worth of honey, 

 at least, was stored by a single family of bees, when 

 under ordinary management, it would not have 

 stored over 20 lbs., worth from $3 to $4 in New 

 York. This family did not swarm, of course. 



But after all, bee-keeping in most hands' is not 

 very profitable; and frequently, where large num- 

 bers of families, say from 15 to 100, are purchased 

 by persons who are not skilled in the management 

 of bees, a considerable loss occurs, and eventually 

 the business is abandoned in disgust. I advise no 

 one to embark in this business, until he has first 

 spent years in the careful management of bees, and 

 then it is unsafe to invest much cash in it. If one 

 can obtain a large apiary, by the increase of a few 

 original families, it is well; but to invest hundreds 

 of dollars in bees, with but little practical experi- 

 ence, is not wise. Some people, after having read 

 some good practical work on Bee-Keeping, imagine 

 that they know all about it, and at once launch out 

 into the untried field, to reap a great deal of disap- 

 pointment, to say the least of the matter. 



