May 2, 1907 



373 



American liee Journal 



)>=.^ga^ J 



No.3-Things to Do, and Why 



Management During the Harvest- 

 Value of Early Nuclei 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



Having told liovv to manage to obtain 

 the largest number of bees ready for 

 the harvest, also how to control swarm- 

 ing to the same time, next is the man- 

 agement during the flow. It is one thing 

 to handle our bees previous to the har- 

 vest, but quite a different thing dur- 

 ing the harvest flow and in the natu- 

 ral-swarm season when we have the 

 greatest number of factors to contend 

 with. 



But the management depends upon 

 several things, as whether comb or ex- 

 tracted is to be produced ; whether the 

 flow comes in a pile or is strung out 

 over a considerable period of time; 

 whether continuous or intermittent; and 

 whether there is a second or later har- 

 vest season. That is, there are several 

 things to consider, but they must be 

 taken into account, and yet I have not 

 enumerated all the things to be remem- 

 bered. 



Here we have but little gathering of 

 anything up to about June 15, when the 

 first crop of alfalfa begins to yield; 

 this is expected to last from 2 to 3 

 weeks. Following this comes sweet 

 clover, and the second crop of alfalfa, 

 though I seldom get much out of the 

 latter. Sometimes there is a gap of a 

 week or 10 days between these flows 

 when only a dribbling flow comes in 

 which will not do anything toward 

 super-work, and sometimes because of 

 varying conditions of weather and sea- 

 son the two flows meet, or nearly so. 

 This second flow is likely to be the best 

 of the two, and the one that will give 

 us the most surplus, so I must plan to 

 have a good force of bees to work it. 



The first flow coming in during the 

 last half of June the brood-combs will 

 be heavily loaded with honey to the ex- 

 clusion of brood. Eggs laid during this 

 time — last half of June and first half 

 of July — are the August workers, and as 

 my flow from sweet clover lasts usually 

 till August 20 to 25, I mu-t keep the 

 queens doing business the full limit dur- 

 ing the first flow.- 



It often happens that the first flow is 

 so light and tedious that the tendency 

 is very much intensified to clog the 

 brood-combs to the exclusion of brood, 

 thus cutting off my supply of fielders for 

 the sweet clover, the last of July and 

 most of -\ugust. This late flow is likely 

 to last from 3 to 4 we_eks. A slow 

 flow is worse to crowd out the queen 

 than a quick one. Such also intensifies 



the swarming fever. A rapid, sharp flow 

 in which the colony will fill all empty 

 comb in the brood-chamber and put up 

 from onc*to 3, and even 4 or more su- 

 pers, often so takes up the energies of 

 the colony that they seem to forget about 

 swarming — they are 00 busy, and there 

 is such a rush of wax-work and comb- 

 building that there is little chance for 

 swarming. But we cannot depend upon 

 this, for sometimes a colony will get so 

 excited with a sudden rush of honey 

 that they will swarm even without wait- 

 ing to build cells. It's the excitement, 

 and they rush around and do many 

 peculiar things. 



Those colonies that were made 2-story 

 before the flow came must now imme- 

 diately be reduced to one chamber for 

 the brood, and super-room given — one, 

 two or more supers as the strength of 

 the colony and flow demands. If you 

 are to have but this one flow, with a 

 dearth to follow, then it matters little 

 about breeding, so give your whole at- 

 tention to making the most of the flow. 

 The queen may be caged, or what is 

 better, take her away with the cham- 

 ber that has the least of brood and 

 honey in it, and let the other chamber 

 with its honey and brood remain on 

 the old stand ; but be sure there are no 

 queen-cells in it. The other hive put 

 on a new stand with the queen, being 

 robbed of fielders will not swarm; 

 those on the old stand cannot for 

 lack of a queen until they have 

 reared one. Ten days later — or be- 

 tween the eighth and eleventh days — go 

 through the old colony and cut out all 

 but one of the best cells, and in leaving 

 a cell choose not the ripest but one less 

 matured; the riper ones were from older 

 larvae, and may not be so good. 



The foregoing plan puts all the super- 

 work on the old stand where you have 

 no queen, and you can rest as easy as 

 an old shoe, for all you have to do is 

 to cut out those cells save one, and 

 manipulate supers to get best results. 

 In adding supers, unless you are confi- 

 dent that the fresh one will surely be 

 filled better, put it on top of the others 

 until they arc tilled. When a super is 

 filled so that all that remains to do is 

 some sealing anil tinishing, then it should 

 be over the freilt one; but up to that 

 time the colony --hould be made to work 

 up through the imfinished ones to reach 

 the new one. If you raise a super too 

 soon the finish will be much poorer, and 

 the weight scant ; you may even fail to 

 get anything finished. 



When the young queen gets to laying 

 in the old colony, if at this time there is 

 still nectar coming in, even though but 

 slowly, super-work will go on, for the 

 honey will be moved up from the brood- 



chamber to make room for the brood- 

 nest below. H, however, your honey 

 season is .ill over, you have made a 

 hundred percent increase, and it remains 

 for you to .irrange that matter to suit 

 your notion. If no increase is wanted, 

 lift the old hive at the old stand, and 

 set on the chamber that was set aside 

 earlier, and put on top of it the old 

 colony with the new queen, making a 

 2-story colony for winter, the operation 

 to be repeated the next year. Hunt out 

 and kill the old queen before uniting, 

 or make whatever use of her you wish. 



But some of the young queens will 

 fail at mating time, and so there will 

 be some of the old ones queenless; in 

 such cases leave the old queen with 

 her colony when uniting. If you adopt 

 the plan of doubling back, of course you 

 should not take the old queen far away 

 at the time of dividing — keep her near 

 enough to facilitate the uniting. One 

 ought, however, to make some increase, 

 for there are always some losses to re- 

 place. If increase is wanted, do not 

 unite. 



But suppose j-ou have a second flow, 

 or even a long-continued flow. In either 

 case this management is good — I call it 

 the most up-to-date, profitable plan. The 

 old queen being put off aside from the 

 old stand, and having few fielders, will 

 get a chance to lay unmolested; she 

 will get double, quadruple, or more, 

 brood than if left on the old stand with 

 a horde of fielders chucking in nectar. 

 It will not be long until she not only 

 has a hive full of brood, but the brood 

 taken with her and hatching out makes 

 a strong colony. For your late flow 

 these old queens on the new stand can 

 be given supers and they will surely 

 surprise you with the amount of honey 

 they put up, and that with little or no 

 swarming. My estimate is that w-here 

 other management will give a so-pound 

 surplus this will give a 75-pound one. 



In the production of extracted honey 

 these principles may be applied by other 

 plans, as by tiering up all on the old 

 stand ; but even for extracted it is best 

 to separate, giving the old qiteen a new 

 stand )■/ there he a later ftozv. Even if 

 that later flow be but a light or slow 

 one, if there is anything to be gathered 

 a large force will get more than a small 

 one. 



I spoke in a previous article of mak- 

 ing early nuclei where conditions were 

 such that one could do it. If you have 

 done so. and had queens laying with 

 the beginning of the flow-, I want to tell 

 you that such colonies will build more 

 comb and gather more honey in pro- 

 portion to the number of bees engaged 

 in the work than any other condition. 

 More than this, these make the very 

 best of colonies for winter. Then, too, 

 if there be an August or September flow 

 they often put up quite a little surplus, 

 and no bother about swarming. This 

 nucleus plan is the very best way to 

 make one's increase, counting on these 

 for the permanent stock, in the main: 

 this leaves you free to make the most 

 of the old colonies for honey. A col- 

 ony worked hard for honey is not so 

 good for winter — better depend upon the 

 old ones for honey, sacrificing many of 

 them entire for the crop, and replace 

 them with these nuclei. 



