374 



May 2, 1907 



American ^ae Journal 



iklany of our apiarists recommend 

 methods of management that will do 

 away with increase, preferring to have 

 just so many colonies, and no more. 

 No doubt in many cases that is a very 

 desirable thing, in some ways, yet I 

 doubt if it is profitable except in very 

 few cases — that is, the most profitable. 

 I believe a little more invested in sup- 

 plies, and some increase made tempor- 

 arily, will prove more profitable both in 

 the amount of honey obtained and in 

 facilitating management. It has always 

 been my contention that the apiarist 

 must be the master to the extent of 

 controlling swarming, and making in- 

 crease, when he was ready; that those 

 who allow natural swarming are always 

 at a disadvantage. Dividing for increase 

 can be made just as much of a success 

 as natural swarming, so far as the ques- 

 tion of getting colonies is concerned; 

 and it can be made much more satisfac- 

 tory in that you do really become mas- 

 ter, and fix things as you want them. 

 You cannot make the seasons to insure 

 a proper filling of the hives with stores, 

 no matter what method of increase is 

 used, but you can make the increase 

 yourself, and when and how you want 

 it, being in control yourself, and not 

 driven about at the caH of a swarm 

 that you never know its time. The mat- 

 ing and time of casting young in almost 

 every other of domestic animals we con- 

 trol; why not in the bee-family? 



Have a few extra hives for increase. 

 These hives do not represent any great 

 outlay to start with, and once the in- 

 vestment is made it is permanent, and 

 needs no addition for many years to 

 come. But on the other hand, if you 

 ■try to get along with just the scantiest 

 stock of supplies, you add cost in the 

 matter of labor which is a continual ex- 

 pense, year by year, until you have soon 

 paid out the value of all necessary hives 

 several times over. 



A few bees taken from each strong 

 colony and made into a nucleus before 

 your main flow will not materially in- 

 jure the parent colony, and this nucleus 

 may be made into the very best colony 

 for winter. Those old ones run hard 

 for honey, often come to the fall in 

 a weakened condition ; that is, the brood- 

 nest is so clogged with honey that but 

 few bees can be reared, and the colony 

 goes into winter with too few young 

 bees. In natural conditions it often 

 happens that many colonies perish in 

 winter just because of this condition. 

 Let me illustrate by an experience : 



Once a neighbor asked me to come 

 and see what was the matter with a 

 colony of bees he had. The hive was 

 heavy and yet the colony seemed weak 

 and would not swarm. I found the hive 

 simply full of honey, bur-combs built, 

 and every possible place filled with 

 honey, and just a few square inches of 

 brood in two little spots in the 2 center 

 combs, and this at midsummer, too. 

 That colony had no place to breed and 

 would have been a weak colony through- 

 out the season so far as sufficient forces 

 for honey-storing were concerned — could 

 never by the most possible coaxing been 

 induced to work in a super. 



You want honey ; and when you have 

 reared the massive colonies, and the har- 

 vest time has arrived, work those bees 



for honey ; work them all they are 

 worth, centralizing their efforts for that 

 one thing — honey. In our factories men 

 are made to stick to one thing, on the 

 principle that it is more profitable to 

 have a specialist for this and another 

 for that, because a jack-of-all-trades is 

 master of none. This principle is just 

 as true of a colony of bees. The man 

 who tries to make every colony store 

 some surplus, and every one do its 

 share of all the other things that bees 

 can and are supposed to do, is making 

 each and every one a jack-of-all and 

 master of none, and does so at a finan- 

 cial loss. 



Select those colonies that are to store 

 your honey, and make that their special- 

 ty, that you may get all there is to be 

 had in surplus, and in the best possible 

 shape, even taking almost their entire 

 stores for surplus by some method of 

 contraction or other route, even to the 

 extermination of the colony, if need be. 

 Make other colonies work for those 

 colonies that are to be your next year's 

 working colonies. 



Loveland, Colo. 



No. 4— Feeding and Feeders 

 —Hive-Body Feeding 



BY C. P. DADANT 



Feeding in the body of the hive is 

 practiced in several ways. Some apiar- 

 ists lift out 2 or 3 body-frames, that con- 

 tain only the dry comb, and pour liquid 

 food into the cells. At first sight this 

 might be considered as the easiest way 

 of feeding, until one has given it a 

 trial. You very quickly ascertain that 

 this pouring of a liquid into the cells 

 is not as practicable as might be im- 

 agined. Even clear water is put into 

 the cells with difficulty, because of the 

 small size of the cells. The capillary 

 attraction that holds the drops together 

 causes the liquid to cover the tops of 

 the cells instead of soaking into them. 

 But a certain quantity liquid food may 

 be inserted in the cells with careful 

 pouring and some jarring. This method 

 will never be much practiced, because 

 in addition to the trouble it gives in 

 getting the liquid down into the cells, 

 it necessitates the opening of the hive 

 twice — first to get the combs, and after- 

 wards to insert them back in the hive. 

 During these manipulations there is loss 

 of heat and danger of robbing. The 

 manipulation may be reduced to a single 

 opening of the colony if we have spare 

 combs in sufficient quantity before the 

 feeding is begun, for we then are enabled 

 simply to make the exchange of a comb 

 of feed for one dry comb removed. 



The supplying of heavy combs of 

 honey from over-fat colonies to the 

 needy ones, by exchange, is a good prac- 

 tice. But as these combs of honey are 

 usually sealed, if w'e wish to incite 

 breeding, it will be well to uncap a part 

 of the cells, for bees are very parsim- 

 onious when it becomes necessary to un- 

 cap honey. They seem unwilling to 

 do so, and do it probably with as much 

 regret as the provident housekeeper 

 who finds herself compelled to remove 

 her last jar of fruit-preserves out of the 

 cellar for use, when several montlis are 



yet to elapse before a supply of fresh 

 fruit may be obtained for the table, 

 which she has been regularly supplying. 



Some European apiarists use an out- 

 side feeder which reaches the brood- 

 chamber through a hole made opposite 

 the center of the brood at about the 

 middle of the height of the brood-cham- 

 ber. This has the advantage over the 

 bottom-feeder that it is in much closer 

 proximity to the brood, and on a level 

 with it, so that even in unpleasant 

 weather the bees may visit it. The 

 only objection is the hole which has to 

 be bored through the outer wall to con- 

 nect the body with this food supply. 



A very good body-feeder is the Doo- 

 little feeder. It consists of a, frame made 

 the exact size of the brood-frames, 

 though sometimes a little wider, and 

 enclosed on both sides by thin boards 

 which change the frame into a deep box, 

 with openings at the top. The feed is 

 poured into this, and the frame is in- 

 serted at the most convenient part of 

 the brood-chamber. The lumber used 

 must be rough on the inside, so that the 

 bees may readily climb in and out. Even 

 with this help they sometimes have dif- 

 ficulty in climbing out, and we have 

 found it necessary to place a float on 

 the feed that is given, so the hurrying 

 bees may not drown in it and find their 

 numbers diminished by the very thing 

 which js intended to help increase the 

 colony. 



A thin slat, or a couple of cleats, 

 nailed together so the bees may crawl 

 between them at will, should be dropped 

 into this feeder. Some careful apiarists 

 drive two tacks at each end of the un- 

 derside of this float, so that it may be 

 held ofif the bottom when the feeder is 

 emptied by the bees. In this way the lit- 

 tle workers are enabled to suck up the 

 very last drop of liquid, from under the 

 floa't. 



The life of our bees is of the utmost 

 importance at all times, but it is the 

 more so at the time of breeding, when 

 all the efforts of the colony are turned 

 towards obtaining the means of rearing 

 large quantities of brood. To be sure, 

 the importance of warmth in the brood- 

 nest is greater in some seasons than in 

 others, for there are seasons when the 

 colony comes out of winter with a 

 strong force, while in others it has to 

 struggle for weeks before it recuperates 

 its winter losses. But we may set it 

 down as a rule that food must be given 

 in a way that will cause neither loss of 

 bees nor loss of heat. In seasons when 

 the colony is strong at the opening of 

 spring, feeding is rarely necessary, and 

 seldom practiced. Therefore, when we 

 find it advisable to feed, the conditions 

 of warmth and economy of life are im- 

 perative and indispensable to success. 



Hamilton, 111. 



A *'Badger" Bee-Keeper in 

 Texas 



BY C. .\. HATCH. 



It would be presumption on my part 

 even to say that I know much about 

 bee-keeping in Texas, for I have spent 

 only a few months here and have had 

 onlv one colonv of bees to take obser- 



