Mar. 28, 1907 



American liee Journal 



gone from me these many years ; Ihc 

 substance of it was that if water and 

 grease were put together tliere was 

 war, and no amount of coaxing would 

 bring peace or union, but just add some 

 potasli — immediately the whole became 

 one mass — soap. That is about tlie way 

 things go in a bee-hive; some things 

 will not mix at all, with all the coax- 

 ing and persuasion the apiarist can 

 bring to bear ; put in the right elements 

 or factors and all is peace and pros- 

 perity. 



Read a former article which I wrote 

 for these columns about cell-building, 

 wax-secretion, etc., and let it be a pre- 

 lude to these following articles; it will 

 save me some repetitions. I do not 

 know all about bees, hives and nectar- 

 secretion, nor have I yet met all the 

 •conditions and factors that enter into 

 this complex business known as bee- 

 culture. I am just one of the many, 

 and will try to tell what appears to me 

 to be the truth, and you are to put with 

 this what you know, and arrange the 

 various blocks of wisdom and knowl- 

 edge into workable form or combination. 



We may learn many things, how- 

 ever, from a fool ; zvc may have an un- 

 limited store of knowledge and yet be 

 without wisdom — a fool. The man is 

 wise who can properly apply his knowl- 

 edge. My desire is to add to the fund 

 •of knowledge of many readers. 



Some Things to do in Spring. 



There is much that can be done in 

 spring that will aid in the work that 

 must be done later when time is very 

 valuable. About the very first thing, 

 where bees winter on the summer stands, 

 is to look up all colonies that have died, 

 and remove from the yard the hives that 

 may have stores in them ; if left to be 

 robbed it stirs up the entire yard and 

 may cause much annoyance, as causing 

 weaker colonies to be robbed, or the 

 bees to be cross and sting people if 

 in exposed locations, or where there 

 may be people passing near. Gather in 

 all such hives. 



Not so very long ago I read a dispute 

 —I think it was between R. L. Taylor, 

 and probably Mr. Doolittle — about when 

 or what time bees began breeding in 

 the spring — or winter. I thought at the 

 time the dispute a foolish one as loca- 

 tion and several things had to do with 

 that action on the part of any colony. 

 I do not profess to know all about this 

 matter, but about 30 years ago I read 

 in "Kretchmer's Bee-Keeper's Guide" 

 that usually in the latitude, say of Iowa, 

 or similar climate, that it was not un- 

 common to find normal colonies breed- 

 ing a little in the heart of the cluster 

 in January, the amount increasing as 

 the season advanced and the colony 

 grew stronger : and I think he said most 

 of them should have brood by February. 

 I made examinations in those days, in 

 southwest Iowa, and found just as ]Mr. 

 K. had described — a small patch of 

 sealed brood in January; then in a cli- 

 mate in <vhich bees seldom got out of 

 their hives in winter, and where the 

 first pollen was gathered about March 

 1st. usually from soft maple, there is 

 rarely very little flying before that date. 

 Well, since those days, as the years 

 went by, I have seen many colonies with 



brood in the nmnth of January, even 

 h.atching bees. 



This is Feb 14, and today I shifted 

 a colony from one hive to another, comb 

 by comb, and tlu re was sealed brood in 

 2 combs with a few bees hatching; 1 

 should judge there was 50 to 75 square 

 inclies of sealed brood in the combs, and 

 I did not look to see how many more 

 of eggs and larva. About the first ol 

 this month I saw almost as much brood 

 in another colony in a different yard. 

 Within the past 2 weeks I have seen 

 brood in several colonies. 



Strong Colonies. 



If you will examine you will find that 

 it is the colonies strong in bees and 

 with plenty of stores that are breed- 

 ing freely so early. Many weak colo- 

 nies have not yet started any brood; 

 others are just starting. In this climate 

 where there is much sunshine and a 

 minimum of cold winds the strong, di- 

 rect and undimmed sun rays so warm 

 the hives and atmosphere that bees fly 

 freely. I should guess that with average 

 weather, as we have it here, they will 

 fly more or less half the days of Febru- 

 ary and March. Last night the ther- 

 mometer was down to 15 or lower; 

 there has not been a night so far this 

 month that it did not freeze, but in mid- 

 day it would be from 40 to 60, and 

 March is likely to be much the same, 

 only a little warmer. 



Now here is what I wish to teach : 

 With bees flying so much they rapidly 

 decrease in numbers, especially by 

 March. That colony I transferred to- 

 day that showed so much brood I count 

 as safely wintered, the bees hatching 

 now, and that within the next few days 

 will be sufficient to keep up the forces 

 and maintain heat for such brood as 

 will be reared from this on, and which 

 will be required to do spring foraging. 

 The weaker colonies that are just start- 

 ing brood will be so few in numbers by 

 early March that it will be almost im- 

 possible for them to rear brood at all. 

 For such length of winter as may be 

 found in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, 

 and similar latitude and conditions, here 

 is what I consider a necessity to safe 

 wintering: 



First there must be enough bees in 

 the hive in the fall to make a large 

 cluster, such as will usually occupy 

 about 2-3 of the spaces in a lo-frame 

 hive, and these bees in their prime of 

 life; such will have enough bees in 

 January and February, \o start and ma- 

 ture brood which furnishes the life and 

 strength of the colony to withstand the 

 vicissitudes of spring life. To have 

 such colonies the one thing above all 

 others that will get this condition — 

 other conditions being normal — is a 

 large brood-ncst, and this brood-nest so 

 arranged or provided that the queen is 

 not hampered in her breeding by being 

 crowded with honey. A full discussion 

 of this will come in its proper place; 

 fall is the time to make the colony that 

 will be strong in the spring. 



We have weak and strong colonies 

 in the spring as well as at other sea- 

 sons — that is, in comparison. The poor 

 weaklings in late winter and early 

 spring — it is pitiable to see them strug- 

 gling to mature enough brood to save 



the life of the colony; but pity is about 

 all wo can do for them ; we sigh and 

 hope for steady warm weather until 

 they get on their feet — that is grow 

 strong. If a man has but a few colo- 

 nies, and can put these weaklings into 

 some warm place where they will never 

 have to endure cold — say in a tempera- 

 ture that would almost mature the 

 brood, — such colonies may become some 

 of the very best in the coming harvest. 

 Do not condemn these queens when 

 their only fault may be that their bees 

 were such good honey-gatherers that 

 they filled up the combs in the fall to the 

 exclusion of the brood they would have 

 put there, which in turn would have 

 been the making of a strong colony in 

 the spring. Very many queens and 

 colonies die in winter and spring, vic- 

 tims of environment. 



Clipping Queens. 



I will not ask you to consider me 

 authority on this subject. However, 1 

 have clipped for about 30 years — of 

 course, I have always had undipped 

 queens in more or less numbers. I have 

 just stopped to make a mental calcula- 

 tion, and I think it a very conservative 

 estimate to say I have clipped 5000 

 queens, and I doubt if 10,000 would cov- 

 er it. I have been over 30 years at it, 

 and some years I clipped several hun- 

 dred. 



Some thitik it causes supersedure, but 

 I do not. I do not think it makes 

 one iota of difference about supersed- 

 ing, simply the fact of a wing being 

 off. The clipper may so frighten a queen, 

 or by some other way make things go 

 wrong and cause a queen to be killed, 

 then, of course, another one is reared, 

 but that is not supersedure. For j-ears 



1 have used the fact of clipped queens 

 to determine their age, together with 

 the record, and, besides, I have been 

 such a crank to open and manipulate 

 colonies that I have had almost un- 

 limited opportunity to discover if the 

 clipped queens were sooner superseded 

 but I have never been able to discover 

 that they were. Very many queens are 

 superseded unbeknown to the apiarist 

 who does not clip and does not make 

 frequent examinations of the colony. 



Well-bred queens should be good for 

 3 full and vigorous seasons of laying, 

 some for the fourth, but some for only 



2 seasons. It is scarcely safe to trust 

 a queen after she has produced rousing 

 colonies for two harvests, yet I do 

 trust many of them for the third, but 

 I do it after judging of them after many 

 years of observation. I do not believe 

 I can tell you how to judge if she is 

 capable for a third active season ; you 

 will have to get that by observation and 

 practice. 



So I clip for two purposes, perhaps 

 the main reason being to keep them 

 from going off with a swarm, if I should 

 be a little late in getting to work the 

 colon}\ Then I rarely ever allow- a 

 swarm hived, either a natural 01 

 forced one, without clipping the queen 

 to prevent loss by absconding. When 

 a swarm is hived, if the queen was 

 clipped the previous year, she gets this 

 record : "(•■ — 20, S. hived — o. q." If 

 she has not been previously clipped, or 

 if a past season's queen, but recently 



