American ^ec Journajj 



June 13, 1907 



inch, which stiffens the tin and gives 

 a finger-hold. 



There are other ways of making 

 these cages, but it will pay you to 

 make as directed, except you may vary 

 the size to suit your notion ; but do not 

 make it too small, for you may want 

 to put a good many bees in sometimes. 

 You can put a few bees into a big cage, 

 but can not put many into a little one. 

 Then, too, alwaysmake 2 sidesof wire, 

 and have these opposite, for then you 

 can see what you have inside, and par- 

 ticularly look for a queen. 



Another thing, always have that tin 

 slide put in as directed, Jiill-width of 

 the cage, made so it is easier to get 

 bees either in or out ; they can be 

 scooped up or shaken out. If you have 

 a rim around the end of the box at the 

 opening, and projecting inward, you 

 are at a disadvantage, both going and 

 coming. 



It is a wise thing to have some of 

 these cages always on hand and ready 

 for use. When doing regular work 

 occasionally you find a batch of hatch- 

 ing queens, and you may want to save 

 some of them. You may have queens 

 that you wish to save for various rea- 

 sons, possibly some specially reared. 

 You may be working a colony that can 

 very easily spare a pint or quart of 

 bees and not miss them ; just have the 

 cage by you and shove in as many bees 

 as you may wish to take from the col- 

 ony, and set the cage in the shade or 

 in the sun, if not too hot. In this way, 

 as the day's work progresses, collect 

 bees in the cages, taking them from 

 wherever it suits your notion as you 

 work. A swarm may be divided in 

 this way to populate your cages. 



In a few minutes your caged bees, 

 queeuless and broodless, will get on 

 the anxious seat. If they have not 

 gone in with full sacs, see that they 

 are made full— every one of them — by 

 giving thin honey or sweet water — fill 

 them full. Now when you find a queen 

 you want to save, just get one of the 

 cages and dump the bees all to the bot- 

 tom, away from the tin slide; open the 

 slide and drop the queen in. You can 

 make more sure by dipping the queen 

 in honey ; this will fix her so she can 

 not run, and so by the time she is 

 licked dry the odor is all right. Do not 

 cuddle the caged bees too much ; make 

 them think they are in hard straights, 

 sure ; and if cold enough that they 

 want to snuggle up to each other, all 

 the better. This is the slickest way to 

 make nuclei you ever struck. Just 

 take these cages to another yard and 

 hive the contents as you would a little 

 swarm, or dump them right into the 

 hive. I think probably this is about 

 the best way to form nuclei in the 

 same yard ; they can be made any time 

 during the day, and hived late in the 

 evening, so they get settled over night 

 and start out in the morning to mark 

 their new home ; but the hive should 

 have a board or special marking at 

 the entrance. 



As to how many bees to use, that de- 

 pends upon the time, and what you 

 want to accomplish. If it is just to get 

 a queen mated to be used elsewhere 

 later, a pint to a quart of bees will do 

 it in warm weather. And, too, if you 

 can put into the hive a very little patch 

 of brood it will help to make them con- 



tented. I would recommend caging 

 the bees at any time during the day 

 when it is convenient, but hive them 

 just about sundown, or, at least, late 

 in the evening when they will not fly 

 before morning. I have brought home 

 these cages from out-yards and hived 

 them after dark by dumping them in 

 on top of the frames. I have also hived 

 in the morning. It is little trouble, 

 and will rarely fail to succeed, done at 

 any time, if they are gathering nectar 

 freely ; but if nectar is scarce, so that 

 they will be bothered by robber-bees, 

 hive only after done flying for the day. 



One thing that should always be 

 looked after in hiving bees, whether 

 big or little swarms, is to make them 

 comfortable, and protected from heat 

 and from robbers And for little swarms 

 or bunches I prefer to give a little 

 brood ; a patch of drone is all right, or 

 even a small bit of any kind of brood 

 cut from a comb and grafted into one 

 of .their combs. In making small 

 nuclei always give them more or less 

 comb, and also some honey. 



If you wish to make small nuclei 

 early in the summer, with a view of 

 their building up during the season to 

 full colonies, they should be given 

 well-nigh a quart of bees, though in 

 favorable seasons a pint will make a 

 full colony by fall. For queens to sup- 

 ply these always have them matured in 

 full or normal colonies, but they can 

 be mated all right in the small colony. 

 Never have these little colonies build 

 cells — they will not get one good queen 

 in 25. 



Loveland, Colo. 



Swarming and Section Honey 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE 



A correspondent wishes me to tell, 

 in the American Bee Journal, the best 

 plan of working for section honey and 

 allow natural swarming. First, I wish 

 to say that I doubt about natural 

 swarming being the best plan when 

 working for section honey, as I believe 

 that what is known as the "shook" 

 plan of swarming is better for section 

 honey than natural swarming. But it 

 will do no harm to tell the readers of 

 the American Bee Journal how I man- 

 aged swarming for years, which gave 

 me good results during my former 

 years of bee-keeping. For years I used 

 a plan which seemed to me to give the 

 best results of anything known during 

 the years when honey brought from 20 

 to 28 cents a pound, which was as fol- 

 lows : 



I used every effort to bring all colo- 

 nies in the apiary up to where they 

 were in readiness for the sections about 

 IS days before the harvest from white 

 clover was at its height, and, where 

 this is the main dependence for .white 

 honey, all swarming should be finished 

 during the next 7 days; and where 

 basswood is the source that gives us 

 our honey-flow, swarming should be 

 done within 10 days before the yield 

 from that source commences. 



At that time I did not practise arti- 

 ficial swarming, only so far as it was 

 necessary to have all swarming done 

 in accord with the above. All swarms 

 issuing previous to the 7 days before 



the clover bloomed, and 10 days before 

 the basswood, were hived singly in 

 hives containing frames of empty 

 combs, and in 2 or 3 days from the 

 time of hiving the sections were put on. 

 Those issuing during the next 5 days 

 were hived 2 swarms in a hive, where 

 it was possible to do so, and the sec- 

 tions put on at ouce. Where this could 

 be done, the new swarm was set on the 

 stand occupied by another colony 

 which had not swarmed, and such col- 

 ony carried to a new stand, thus secur- 

 ing to the new swarm all the field-bees 

 from the colony moved. Each swarm 

 thus hived was given a hive full of 

 empty comb, if I had them, and if not 

 the frames were filled with comb foun- 

 dation, and the sections put on at once. 



From this it will be seen that all of 

 the new swarms were in splendid con- 

 dition to take advantage of the flow of 

 nectar when it came. Where 2 swarms 

 were put together, the queen belonging 

 to one of the old colonies was put back 

 in her old hive, when the same was 

 moved to a new location, and the 

 double swarm set in its place. The old 

 colony losing its queen by its going 

 with the swarm, was allowed to rear its 

 own queen. Eight days after a swarm 

 with its queen had gone from any hive 

 the same was opened, and having as- 

 certained that a young queen had 

 emerged from a queen-cell, by finding 

 one open at the end, I cut off all the 

 rest, and thus stopped all second or 

 after swarming. 



By waiting till the first queen had 

 emerged from her cell, I had a certain 

 thing, when the queen-cells were all 

 off, which is not always the case where 

 all but one queen-cell is cut off from 4 

 to 6 days after the prime swarm issues, 

 as is so often recommended in our bee- 

 literature. 



After the time had arrived when I 

 thought all swarming should be done, 

 I proceeded as follows with all which 

 had not so far swarmed : 



A hive was filled with frames of 

 empty comb or foundation, and then 

 placed on the stand of any colony 

 which had not yet swarmed, or had 

 been carried to a new stand as spoken 

 of above, the colony being set close by 

 after the new hive was so placed. All 

 the sections were then taken off and 

 placed on the new hive, when all of the 

 bees were shaken off their combs and 

 out of the old hive in front of the new 

 one, into which they would run as fast 

 as they were shaken down. Thus I 

 had a colony that was ready for busi- 

 ness as soon as the harvest commenced, 

 as they had the queen, the bees and the 

 partly-filled sections all in readiness 

 for work. Previous to this nuclei 

 had been formed so that I might have 

 plenty of laying queens to use when- 

 ever an occasion might require. 



I now took all the combs of brood 

 from which the bees were shaken ex- 

 cept one, arranging them in the hive 

 the bees were shaken out of and car- 

 ried them to the stand of another col- 

 ony which had not swarmed. Next, I 

 took the frame of brood which was left 

 out and went to one of the nuclei, tak- 

 ing out the frame having the laying 

 queen on it and put the frame of brood 

 in its place. I then took the frame — 

 bees, queen and all — and set it in the 



