June 12, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



373 



I Convention Proceedings. 



The Chicago Convention. 



Report of the Semi-Annual Convention of the 



Chicago Bee-Keepers' Association, Held 



Dec. 5, 1901. 



BY A SUOUTIIANI) liKl'OKTKB. 

 (Continued from pajre 358.) 

 EXTRACTING COI,D HONEY — HIVECOVERS. 



" How can one pet honey that is stiff out of extracting 

 frames in cold weather without spoiling the frames and 

 combs ? " 



Dr. Miller — By warming it. 



" Is there tobe any improvment in the 1902 hive-cover ? " 



Mr. Horstmann — There is a cover on the table there now 

 which I think is a good improvement. That will'not warp ; 

 it has been in use for one summer ; it answers as a shade- 

 board as well as a cover, and it improves the appearance of 

 the hive greatly. It gives the top a chance to expand with- 

 out loosening a nail or cracking the board: it can be used 

 for winter as well as summer. Anybody can see the advan- 

 tage of it, if he will examine it, without any farther com- 

 ment on my part. 



REMOVING HONEY FROM BROOD-CHAMBER TO SUPER. 



" Under what conditions can you get bees to remove 

 honey from the brood-chamber up into the supers besides 

 one of young queen ? Or, in other words, can you get them 

 to do it with the old queen ? If so, how ? " 



Dr. Miller — Several years ago Mr. Baldridge advised tak- 

 ing a three-tined fork, and tie the tines together with wire, if 

 they are not of the right distance apart. Make it so the 

 three tines will strike about the center of the cells of honey, 

 and scratch the combs of sealed honey with that. It will 

 make the bees empty it. Another way to get the thing 

 done is to take a wire hair-brush, and just, tap the comb 

 all over, so as practically to open all the cells, and then the 

 bees would be tempted to empty that. If the queen is so 

 old that she is not doing any work at laying, that will make 

 no difference, but if she is a queen two or three years old, 

 the likelihood will be, if the honey is coming in plentiful or 

 not, that will help to take it up. 



Mr. Dadant — There was invented at one time what was 

 called " invertible hives." You all know that when bees 

 put honey in the brood-chamber, they put it at the top; 

 when you invert the hive the honey is right at the bottom. 

 and right at the entrance, and the bees must carry that 

 honey away because it is where the robbers can get it, and 

 they carry it in the super. That is the only advantage of 

 invertible hives : and that is why some people use them. 



Mr. Riker — To have the bees carry the honey above, I 

 just take an uncapping-knife and slice the cappings, and the 

 bees carry the honey up. 



REPORTS OF HONEY SCARCE AND HIGH PRICES. 



" Do bee-keepers benefit by giving the impression that 

 honey is scarce and will be high-priced ? " 



Mr. York — It seems to me some one suggested a while 

 ago it was a good idea to give out the impression that there 

 would be lots of honey, and prices would be low, so that 

 everybody could afford to eat honey. 



Dr. Miller — I believe, Mr. President, it would be well to 

 leave that for the American Bee Journal. 



R. C. Aikin, of Colorado, Vice-President of National 

 Bee-Keepers's Association, for 1901, who had been invited to 

 contribute something on the production of extracted 

 honey, kindly sent this paper, which was read by Secretary 

 Moore : 



KINKS IN EXTRACTED=HONEY PRODUCTION. 



The apiarist that can take out or avoid all the hard 

 kinks in extracted-honey production (or in comb, either) 

 must be expert indeed. He who thinks that honey-produc- 

 tion on modern lines is without kinks, will find it one of 

 kinkiest businesses he ever undertook. As time passes, and 

 we get more experience, we find ourselves able to straighten 

 out some of the knotty kinks, and I suppose that what is 



FAKT OF Al'IAKY OF I'lIILIP WEISNEH. OF MARICOPA CO.. AKIZ. 



tSee opposite page ] 



wanted of me in this paper is, to tell some of the short, 

 straight roads that avoid the kinks. 



I will tell you first about the hive. There, don't get 

 scared at the hive-question ghost. There is a difference be- 

 tween producing comb and extracted honey. Any hive that 

 will succeed in working for comb will succeed for extracted, 

 but when plenty of storage-room is given in ready-made 

 combs in a super, the colony will freely begin storing there, 

 and once a force of bees is in the extracting-super there is 

 a great relief in the brood-nest, both of honey and bees ; 

 the queen has much laying-room, her work-shop is cooler, 

 and less swarming results. As long as the apiarist keeps 

 the honey out of the way so that there is never any lack of 

 room, there will surely result a much greater amount of 

 brood than will result in a comb-honey colony. As to 

 whether that brood is desirable, depends upon whether the 

 flow is long or short ; whether it is to be followed by another 

 flow wherein the brood being reared may become fielders to 

 gather it ; or whether it is late in the fall and you want 

 those bees for winter stock. Even then there is a difterence 

 whether you winter the bees in the cellar or outdoors. This 

 general rule applies : Extracted-honey colonies will not 

 provision the brood-nest as does a comb-honey colony ; and, 

 going into winter with more bees and less honey, calls for a 

 larger brood-nest for extracted-honey colonies than for 

 comb. 



One of the very curly places is getting the bees to take 

 at once and so freely to the supers that the queen, having 

 plenty of room, there will be little or no disposition to 

 swarm. You can make that rough place to run much 

 smoother by putting a little brood in the super, and also by 

 having two supers, and the brood in the uppermost. With 

 divisible brood-chambers that can be so nicely arranged by 

 putting a dry set of combs on the bottom-board, on this one 

 set half of the brood-chamber, putting the other half above 

 the super for a little time, more or less, according to condi- 

 tions. 



No, no, never think of getting along without a queen- 

 excluder when working for extracted honey. I have tried 

 both with and without, and I must say that a lot of old zinc 

 that leaks queens every now and then is almost more than I 

 can stand, let alone being entirely without excluders. This 

 is a very kinky place, and for the sake of common decency 

 and cleanliness, for the best grade of honey, and for speed 

 and easy manipulation, use queen-excluders. 



Extracted honey is so low in price that there must be 

 economy or no profit. Many, when taking off combs to 

 extract, pull out a comb at a time and shake and brush off 

 the bees. That is all right with a very few colonies, but 

 when it comes to making an extensive practice of that it is 

 too puttering. I take off extracting-supers without moving 

 a comb separately, by smoking down most of the bees, then 

 at once removing the entire super at one lift. If no ex- 

 cluder is used, I would in this way get much brood with the 

 supers, sometimes a queen, too, and one of the crankiest 

 kinks would be the fact that the bees would not leave that 

 brood, and when I go to pick up the super I would have a 

 fight at once. Set a super on the ground that is free from 

 brood, and the bees soon leave it ; but if it contains brood 

 they stay, and after being quiet a few minutes will fight as 

 if at home. 



Smooth out the kinks by having a small bee-tight room 

 at each apiary, the windows well screened — better double- 



