413 



May 16, 1907 



American Bee Journal 



in any direction toward the liglUior a 

 considerable distance. 



But to so back to the manipulation 

 of the hive : All the work of arrang- 

 ing the bottom-boards which I have 

 described is supposed to have been 

 done on the stand of a strong colony 

 of bees, or one about to swarm, and 

 which has been set off its stand for the 

 purpose. The first thing to do after 

 arranging the bottom-boards as de- 

 scribed, is to put on the front one a 

 brood-chamber arranged as for the 

 hiving of a natural swarm, with frames 

 of foundation, or combs, as the bee- 

 keeper may think best, and on it put 

 the supers, bees and all from the re- 

 moved hive. Back of this, on the rear 

 bottom-board, put the brood-chamber 

 of the removed hive, containing the 

 brood and queen, and close up the 

 space between with the piece of board 

 described. 



In Fig. 4 the prepared brood-cham- 

 ber is marked 11, and the one contain- 

 ing the brood and queen is marked 1. 

 Next remove the queen from 1 and put 

 her (and perhaps a few of her bees for 

 company until enough return from the 

 field) into hive 11, put on the covers, 

 and see that all the parts are closed up 

 bee-tight except the entrances, and the 

 work is done. 



I still use a queen-excluding honey- 

 board, which is shown in dark color on 



the hive in l'\)S.. 4. There are reasons 

 for this, but I will not take up that 

 part of the suliiict, nor other details of 

 management, for that must be accord- 

 ing to location, the size and kind of 

 hive in use. etc., and if any one wishes 

 to try this method he must arrange 

 those things to suit himself. 



E. F. Atwatcr, in the February Bee- 

 Keepers' Review, tells of his method, 

 which is similar to this, and speaks of 

 putting a comb containing water into 

 the brood-chamber containing the 

 brood. I believe that is an excellent 

 idea, and I will try it in the future. 



So far this method is the most satis- 

 factory of any I have tried, in meeting 

 all the requirements of both comb and 

 extracted honey production, and if any 

 one thinks well enough of the plan to 

 try it, I wish he would report result to 

 the American Bee Journal, no matter 

 if it is a failure, for by failures we 

 often learn to succeed. 



One thing I forgot, which is, that I 

 think it is best to cut out the queen- 

 cells before they hatch, that will be 

 built in the rear brood-chamber, for 

 the bees will agree better when they 

 come together at the entrance ; but the 

 queen-cells can be left long enough to 

 make use of them in the bee-yard, if 

 required. 



Downers Grove, 111. 



^^" 



Qiir _ 

 ee- Keeping 



Conducted hs Kmma .Vi. Wilso><, Alarcusu, . 



Beginning Bee-Keeping-Management 

 of Swarming 



Mt Dear Miss Wilson:—! always look 

 forward with pleasure to the arrival of my 

 bee-paper, aod enjoy very much the Sisters' 

 department. And now I feel inclined to 

 " speak in meetin'." 



In early childhood an uncle kept bees on 

 my father's place, and having been stung a 

 few times, I regarded the bees with fear and 

 terror. I well remember my feeling of relief 

 when at last they were taken off the place. 



In later years my eldest son contracted the 

 " bee-fever " by association with a neighbor 

 bee-keeper; and yieldingto his importunities, 

 I bought 3 colonies very much against my 

 inclination. As we knew nothing about the 

 management of bees, papers were subscribed 

 for and books procured, and we read with 

 increasing interest of the various manipula- 

 tions to be performed. He would put on the 

 veil and gloves and go out to manage the col- 

 onies, while I would look out of the window 

 and counsel him what to do. But this did not 

 satisfy me long, so I donned the togs, and 

 timidly ventured out to investigate for myself ; 

 but it was with fear and trembling. It re- 

 quired all my self-control when I heard the 

 bees buzzing around me, not to drop things 

 and run, and I had frequently to reassure my- 

 self that they couldn't possibly get at me any- 

 where. Yes, and it was cruel the way we 

 smoked them. 



Our neighbor had said the bees were pure 

 Italians, and we knew not differently ; but 

 after sending oil for a few pure queens, and 

 watching their hees as they hatched, we soon 

 discovered that our first colonies were mostly 

 blacks, with only a little Italian blood. 



Our mistakes that summer were many, and 

 considering the good instruction in our 

 papers and books, some of them were inex- 

 cusable. My son was stung several times, 

 and after the bees had crawled up bis pant- 

 legs, he said "twn in one pair of pants was 

 too many," and he finally gave up the whole 

 business of bee-keeping to me. 



That winter we lost all our bees— the result 

 of our mismanagement; but my interest was 

 aroused, and the next spring I sent off for 

 nuclei, and started again. I am not so fear- 

 ful now, and I greatly enjoy my pets. 



As my bee-keeping has to be sandwiched in 

 between household cares, poultry-raising, the 

 care of an aged mother, and the general over- 

 sight of a large farm (I am a widow), 1 have 

 little time to hunt queens, and the question 

 of swarming hiis been studied by me most 

 earnestly. I have finally settled on a plan 

 that is a combination of the ideas of several 

 prominent bee-men. I think I can give credit 

 to Mr. Doolittle, Dr. Miller, and .Mr. Alexan- 

 der, and I have added some thoughts of my 

 own. The main feature of my plan is a piece 

 of wire-screen the size of a queen-excluder, 

 with 4 holes lone in each corner) large 

 enough for one or two bees to pass through. 

 These are covered on the lower side with 



West queen-cell proteotor», and on the upper 

 aide with a piece of q"6e?-«"'"'^«';- ,„?i^ 

 placed between 2 hives "l^^ '"«',, '=*"-P,?\'l: 

 tore pointing downward, will alow al the 

 bees Id the upper hive to go below, and the 

 queen-exclu<ler prevents It becoming cloKged 

 with drones. For transferring from h ves 

 with crooked combs to those with straight 

 combs it is unequalled on y » ■"=" .^"f ° 

 must be provided, or the old hive ta^ke" »» 

 pieces when the bees are all out, anJ h« 

 queen hunted and run in below. In which 

 case the brood is lost. 



Now my plan of management is somewhat 

 variable, depending upon what I wish to ac- 

 complish. I hardly ''>»'"' th^^V^^rri'X 

 would care for this device, but it Is all right 



tor comb honey. , ic fnil nf 



We will suppose that hive No. lis full of 

 brood and in need of more room. " \ ^av* 

 plenty of time and want to save »" lh« br<»^ 

 I manage this way: Set hive No. 1 off its 

 stand ol a box or wheelbarrow near at ha d 

 and put hive No. 2. supplied with frames of 

 foundation or starters, i° '"./'»<%«• ^"k' 

 nlace hive No. 1 on hive No. 2, and smoke 

 ?he bees until they have nearly all go"e down 

 into No. 2, and we hope lbe^?"'=''° '» "'i" 

 them. Remove No. 1 q^'clcly-before the 

 bees have time to boil up i^'o. No. l---and 

 place a queen-excluder on top of -"*0; ^' J^e 

 p aclDg No. 1 on No. 3, with the excluder be- 

 fween.^ This, I believe, is Mr. Alexan- 

 der's plan of saving the brood only ^g 

 shakes the bees down instead of smoking 

 them. I have lost queens that way, and it 

 takes more time, but it is more certain ^ 

 think Dr. Miller has somewhere suggested 

 smoking, but if smoked down the frames 

 must be examined in a day or two for eggs W 

 see where the queen is; and if she is not be 

 low she must either be smoked or shaken 

 down. If the smoking was well done, she 

 wm nearly always be found below-'M» f/... 

 '"Tn's^days after the ^'^een has been placed 

 in the lower hive I remove the queen-excluder, 

 replacing it with the screen above descnbed- 

 or- bee sieve," as I call n-and '" 3 weeks 

 hive No. 1 is empty of brood and bees. 



If you want increase, Mr. Alexander's plan 

 is all rieht iust as he gives it. 

 "After the brood in No. 1 is capped remove 

 it to a new stand, and supply it with a good 

 Queen but if you are a comb-honey man, 

 and your time is worth more than the brood 

 and [f you don't care for increase, place the 

 sieve between the 3 hives at the h^st opera- 

 tion, and either introduce a °ew queen to hive 

 No 2 in anv way that recommends itselt to 

 vou or the n^t day or two you can easily 

 ^'thequeenTn hive No. 1. and run her into 

 No. 2. She will be accepted, as she has the 



same scent. . „„„„_ „:(ij 



If the honey-flow is on place the ^"PfJ r'° 

 sections between the two hives, wi h the sieve 

 between it and hive No. 1 now on top. 



If your bees get ready to swarm again;ust 

 change-puttini hive No 1 below and No. 2 

 Bhnvp usine the sieve as above. _ ,. , , 



I t^ink I am indebted to Mr. DoolUtle for 

 the suggestions which led me to plan the bee- 



''pTease tell Mr. Aikin (Page 261) that I 

 think the rhyme he referred to, but could not 

 remember, ran something like this . 

 " some water and oil one day had a broil, 



ATdown in a dish they ,''«™ ,'l™''i'',o^flght 

 They would not unite. l;uV°,°nin?n,? 

 Without any prospect of stopping. 



•• Mr Pearlash o'erheard, and as quick as a word 



He iumued in toe midst of the clashing : 

 a" allThree S/reed tbey united with speed, 

 And the soap was created for washms. 



I would like to close with a stanza which 

 beekeepers would do well to think of in a 

 bad year. 



"The inner Bide of every cloud 

 I8 always hrtght and shininK ; 

 I therefore turn my clouds about. 

 And always wear them inside out. 

 To show the lining." 



Mrs. Emilt H. Hafford. 

 FennviUe, Mich., March 31. 

 You have evidently been doing your 



