1804 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



fi57 



or frames filled with comb foundation are used 

 below, then the sections can be put on at time 

 of hiving the swarm if wished. But as to the 

 cause of the drone brood in the sections, if, as 

 is usually the case with most bee-keepers of 

 the present time, the questioner had restricted 

 the drone comb below, the natural consequence 

 would be drone brood in the sections, if the 

 bees were allowed to build their combs in the 

 sections without the use of foundation, and 

 especially so with a light flow of honey and 

 plenty of pollen; for at such times the bees rear 

 large quantities of brood, and prepare for 

 swarming by starting as much drone brood 

 as is possible, the same being limited only by 

 the amount of drone comb the queen has access 

 to. I eave up the idea, long ago, of having 

 hives absolutely free from drone comb; and if 

 I were to be called to choose between no drone 

 comb in a hive or one full frame of the same. I 

 should say the full frame; for the bees will 

 have some drones any way. and I should pre- 

 fer a full frame of drone comb, placed in a cer- 

 tain position in each hive, to having a little 

 patch of drones here and there all through the 

 combs and in the sections; for then I know just 

 where all the drone brood in each hive is. and 

 can manipulate it just as I wish. Don't under- 

 stand, however, that it is necessary to have a 

 full frame of drone comb in each hive: for 

 where I have things just as I wish them, I 

 allow about one-fourth of a frameful to each 

 hive, but have that all in one frame, and the 

 frame having said drone comb in it. in a certain 

 place in each and every hive in the apiary. 

 Wandering a little. 



If I am willing that all colonies should pro- 

 duce drones, no further attention is paid to this 

 drone comb during the season: but if I do not 

 wish certain colonies to have any flying drones, 

 then I open these hives, at the side where this 

 frame having drone comb is, every 21 days; 

 take out the frame and shave off the heads of 

 all the drone brood, using the same knife which 

 I use in uncapping combs while extracting 

 honey, for the purpose. I have found this plan 

 to be more economical, and less troublesome to 

 the bees, than the use of drone-traps, or, in 

 fact, any other method advocated for keeping 

 down undesirable drones in an apiary. Having 

 given the cause of drone brood in the sections, 

 we will proceed to the remedy. 



There are two ways to remedy this matter: 

 and the one which I use most is the filling of 

 the sections with very light section foundation. 

 This keeps all drone comb out of the sections; 

 and where there is no drone comb there will be 

 no drone brood, providing we have a good pro- 

 lific queen; consequently this trouble with 

 brood in the sections is remedied by thus using 

 sections full of foundation having the worker 

 size of cells. Wandering again. 



By thus using sections filled with ivorker 



foundation, we have very much nicer section 

 honey as to appearance, after the sections are 

 finished by the bees; for the capped combs 

 having the worker size of cells are much more 

 beautiful than are those of the drone size of 

 cells, as all who have compared the two side by 

 side are free to admit. Besides this, we have 

 none of that wavy or washboard appearance 

 in the combs of honey, which we often have 

 where the bees are allowed to build the combs 

 in the sections, as the bees start on the whole 

 surface of the foundation in the sections at 

 once, and thus bring thi' whole out " bodily," as 

 it were, so that the slackening or increa-e of 

 the honey-flow does not result in the shorten- 

 ing and lengthening of the cells, as is the case 

 where the combs are built entirely by the bees, 

 especially where black and hybrid bees are used. 



The other plan of keeping the queen from the 

 sections is by the use of a queen-excluding 

 honey-board between the sections and the 

 brood'-ch amber. This will effectually prevent 

 brood in the sections; but such honey-hoards 

 are expensive, both in time of putting on and 

 taking from the hive; room for storage when 

 not on the hives, and in the money used in 

 their purchase; or of material from which to 

 make; while they do not do away with the 

 undesirable looks of the finished product in the 

 sections, unless the sections are filled with 

 foundation; and many claim that they should 

 not be used in any event, on account of their 

 lessening the amount of our honey crop on ac- 

 count of the bees being loath to pass freely 

 through the perforated metal. Regarding this 

 latter claim I have my doubts, but consider all 

 of the others as important. 



Having given the remedy, what shall he done 

 where we find brood in the sections before we 

 knew of or have applied the remedy or preven- 

 tive? This all depends upon what stage the 

 brood is in when we find it. If it is found be- 

 fore the brood is sealed over, we have" little 

 waste except our time in taking the sections 

 from and putting them back on the hive again; 

 for it is well known, that, if unsealed brood is 

 taken from the bees and kppt in a cold place 

 for a week, the same is killed; and such killed 

 or dead brood will be removed by the bees as 

 soon as they have access to it. My plan used 

 to be, before I learned of the prevention as 

 given above, to take sections, found with eggs 

 and unsealed larva? in them, to the cellar, and 

 there leave them for four or five days, when 

 they were returned to the hives again; and, if 

 the queen did not deposit more eggs in them, 

 they were filled with honey; and when finished 

 were as good as if no brood had been in them. 

 If the brood in the sections had been sealed 

 long enough so that the larvte have begun to 

 spin their cocoons, then the best thing to do is 

 to cut the comb from the sections; for honey 

 stored in combs having cocoons in the cells is 



