158 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



MOVING BEES A LONG DISTANCE 



How 600 Colonies of Bees Were 

 Moved From Kansas to Cali- 

 fornia in a Freight Car 



By Roy Bunger 



Following the failure of our honey 

 crop last year, we were more than 

 ever anxious to move to California, 

 as many another beekeeper has done. 



We began moving our yards (nearly 

 600 colonies in 10-frame hives) near 

 town about October 1, and had only 

 about 100 colonies placed there when 

 the inspector, Mr. Whitehead, arrived 

 to begin inspecting. This work took 

 up 10 days of our time 



We finished hauling all healthy 

 colonies near town, united about 40 of 

 the weaker ones, finished up the usual 

 routine of preparing them for winter, 

 about November 1. On account of the 

 high freight rate on an automobile 

 we decided to drive the one through 

 that we used in this work, a Dodge 

 Commercial, which weighs 2,600 

 pounds. 



The freight rate demanded on this 

 car was $7 per 100 pounds, so it would 

 have cost about $182, but even at this 

 rate I am not sure but it would have 

 been cheaper by freight than by driv- 

 ing it through as we did. 



We left our old home at Eskridge, 

 Kans., November 3, and drove over- 

 land, arriving in San Bernardino 

 about November 18. We came over 

 the National Trail, which was very 

 rough. 



After visiting friends and relatives, 

 and attending the short course for 

 beekeepers, I found Mr. B. F. Stanley, 

 County Inspector of San Bernardino 

 County, who acompanied me to help 

 find a location. To eastern beekeep- 

 ers this might seem like an easy mat- 

 ter, but in a county of over 50,000 

 colonies it is not so easy as it seems. 



I left San Bernardino December 12 

 and arrived at Eskridge three days 

 later, where work of making moving 

 screens was iiiiiiu-dialfly begun. The 



thermometer was hanging around 

 zero at this time, hives were covered 

 with layers of ice, which was quite a 

 change from California orange blos- 

 soms. 



It was necessary to get part of the 

 wooden material for these frames 

 from a factory at Riverside. The 

 material for these frames is very 

 light and cost 5 cents each here. 

 It was necessary to ship this material 

 to Kansas by express, which cost over 

 10 cents for each frame, which is an- 

 other case of transportation costing 

 more than double the original value 

 of the article. 



I used the ordinary pearl screen 

 for this frame, which I made by 

 nailing together two sides and two 

 ends, then tacking a screen on this, 

 and next laying four more strips on 

 this in such a way as to cross ends. 

 Then nail these strips on the frame 

 so the edges of the screen will be held 

 by the nails, also by the upper and 

 lower half of the frame. 



This work was completed just be- 

 fore- Christmas. The screens were 

 nailed on the hive-bodies with four 

 6-penny nails, then the covers placed 

 back on the hives. Christmas day we 

 placed a slat entirely over the hive 

 entrance, closing this very tight. Be- 

 fore doing this it was necessary to 

 scrape the ice away from each en- 

 trance, as the thermometer was still 

 hanging near the zero mark. 



On the following day we hired a 

 large truck and began hauling bees to 

 the car, 48 colonies to each load. 



The accompanying photograph 

 shows the truck being loaded. The 

 entire car was loaded before night. 



These hives averaged 58 pounds 

 each as they were hauled to the car. 



The weather turned suddenly warm 

 that day and the bees were badly in 

 need of a flight, as some colonies 

 were badly affected by dysentery, due 

 to poor stores. The following day 

 we began loading another car with 

 emigrant movables, also including 

 over 1,000 supers, mostly drawn 

 combs, which filled over half of a 40- 

 foot car. The other half of the car 

 was loaded with bee supplies and fur- 



niture, and last the family cow was 

 loaded in a small space between the 

 doors. We were ready to start on the 

 long trip by freight, which required 

 eleven days. 



I left Eskridge December 29 and 

 arived at Upland January 9. The fol- 

 lowing day we were ready to begin 

 unloading early, but the agent re- 

 fused to allow anything unloaded till 

 he could get the freight rate from 

 headquarters at Los Angeles. This 

 he failed to do till nearly noon, which 

 was very bad for the bees, as the 

 weather was very warm here. They 

 were given plenty of ventilation in 

 loading, the car being 8 ft 7 in. inside 

 width by 40 ft in length. 



On account of scarcity of box cars 

 it was impossible to get a ventilated 

 car, so it was necessary to keep the 

 doors open at all times. For this 

 reason it is necessary for a person to 

 be in charge of every car of bees. 

 These hives were loaded lengthwise 

 in the car, which was wide enough to 

 allow a small air space between each 

 of the 6 hives which were placed in 

 each row, after the cover and inner 

 cover had been removed. 



I had purchased rough, heavy fenc- 

 ing boards and had them sawed in 2 

 strips at a mill, then sawed them just 

 the right length to fit in the car 

 crosswise, 2 strips being placed over 

 each row of hives and nailed to the 

 hive bodies to prevent shifting. An- 

 other row of 6 hives was then placed 

 on these and strips on top of this row, 

 nailed as the others had been, till 

 they were stacked S high in rows 

 all over the car. They were fit in so 

 tight no hive could shift lengthwise. 

 As all hives are exactly alike this was 

 an easy matter. There was no loss in 

 shipping, every colony came through 

 alive. 



Our bees are doing well and on this 

 date (March 7) have many colonies 

 working in supers; also quite a num- 

 ber of young queens laying, which we 

 have reared since coming here. The 

 cost for truck hire was $45; freight 

 was $1,107.87. 



California. 



Roy Hunger and the car he drove through to California 



KiUing Wax Moth 



W. S. Pangburn, on page 90, March 

 number of the American Bee Journal, 

 on the use of carbon disulphide for 

 killing eggs of the wax moth, re- 

 quires too much labor and material 

 for economy. While I don't know 

 whether by my method I kill the eggs 

 or not, I never treat but once, and 

 when treated combs are properly 

 covered; they have never needed any 

 further treatment. My management 

 consists of a galvanized iron can ISx 

 22 inches by 6 feet deep, and a pan 

 20x24 inches by 2 inches deep. The 

 pan is set on the ground and leveled, 

 with about 1 inch of water in it. Two 

 small sticks arc placed in the pan to 

 pile the hives or supers on to keep 

 them out of the water. 



The combs to be treated are piled 

 as high as the can will cover, no at- 

 tention need be paid to tight joints 

 between hives. 



About a tablespoonful of carbon di- 

 sulphide is poured over the tops of 



