VOL. Ul— NO. 4 



HAMILTON, ILL., APRIL, 1921 



MONTHLY, $1.50 A YFAit 



PACKAGE BEES 



BY DAVID RUNNING 



MY experience with package bees 

 began in the spring of 1917, 

 and has continued each year 

 since. My records show as follows : 



1917 — Twenty 2-pound packages of 

 bees delivered at my station April 27, 

 cost $3.25 each, at shipping point. Ex- 

 press charges were 27c each and they 

 were fed about 5 pounds (one comb) 

 of honey each, which at 17c per pound 

 would equal 85c, making a total cost 

 of $4.37 -per colony or package. 



These 20 packages produced a total 

 of 1,675 pounds of honey, or an aver- 

 age of 83^ pounds per colony, which 

 at 17c per pound would bring $284.74. 

 of $14.23J4 per colony, making a net 

 return of $9.86J4 per package. 



Ten 2-pound packages delivered 

 May IS, or 18 days later than the 

 other 20 cost $3 per package at ship- 

 ping point. The express charges were 

 37j^c per package, and these were also 

 fed about S pounds of honey each, 

 which at 17c per pound equals 85c, 

 making a total cost of $4.32}-4 per 

 package or colony. These 10 colonies 

 produced 585 pounds of honey, or an 

 average of 58^ pounds per colony, 

 which at 17c per pound would equal 

 $99.45, or $9.94^ per colony, making a 

 net return of $5.72 per colony. 



You will notice from these figures 

 that the packages received first gave 

 me $4.14^ per package more than 

 those which were delivered 18 days 

 later, or an average of 23c per day for 

 each package for the 18 days. .'\11 30 

 arrived in good condition. 



1918 — 100 2-pound packages were 

 ordered for delivery between April 25 

 and May 1. Owing to the congested 

 conditions of transportation and to 

 the fact that not enough food was al- 

 low-ed, this lot of bees arrived in very 

 poor condition, many being entirely 

 dead, so that only 39 were built up out 

 of the lot. The shipper made good a 

 portion of the loss, so that the 39 cost, 

 delivered at my station, $356.50, Three 

 hundred pounds of honey was fed at 



25c per pound, equaling $75, making 

 an average cost of $11.07. These 39 

 colonies gave an average of 140 

 pounds per colony and a total of 5,460 

 pounds of honey, which netted 25c 

 per pound, making an average of $35, 

 and a total of $1,365, or a net average 

 of $23.83, and a total net of $933.50. 



1919 — Fifty 2-pound packages re- 

 ceived April 21 by parcels post; 2 dead, 

 5 about 50 per cent dead, 3 queens 

 dead, so far as detected. The 5 partly 

 dead were made into two colonies. 

 Fourteen packages April 25, in appar- 

 ent good shape. Thirty-three pack- 

 ages April 26 in apparent good shape. 

 Soft maple not yet in full bloom, an 

 occasional blossom open iin tops of 

 trees. Three packages April 28, in 

 apparent good shape. May 6 and 10 

 all cages removed from hives. Total 

 queens dead or missing, 23; these 



were replaced by the shippers. The 

 above 95 2-pound packages cost, de- 

 livered by parcels post, $555. Five 

 hundred pounds of honey was fed at 

 25c, equaling $125, making a total cost 

 of $680, or an average of $7.16 per 

 colony or package. 



The 95 colonies averaged 34j4 lbs. 

 at 24c, making $8.34, and gave a total 

 of 3,300 pounds at 24c— $792. Seventy 

 colonies of increase was made from 

 the above, worth $4 per colony — $280; 

 making an average gross income of 

 $11.29^4 and a total of $1,072, or a net 

 income of $4.13}^ per package, and 

 total of $392 for the lot. This was 

 the poorest season for bees during my 

 19 years in the business, owing to cold 

 weather and drought. 



1920 — May 7, fifteen 3-pound pack- 

 ages received, all in fine condition ; 

 May 8 11 packages received in fine 



i-illiiig packages with bees in a Southern apiary. 



