130 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



condition; May 10 14 packages re 

 ceived in fine condition; May 11 10 

 packages received in fine condition ; all 

 queens alive and very few dead bees 

 in cages. May 18 all package colonies 

 inspected and all queens laying but 

 four. Two by accident not yet out of 

 cages, one other seen and found lay- 

 ing following day, and one missing. 



Fifty 3-pound packages delivered by 

 parcels post cost $377.50, fed 300 lbs. 

 of honey at 2Sc — $75, making total 

 cost of $452.50, or an average cost of 

 $9.05. These 50 packages gave a total 

 yield of 7,552 lbs., worth at 20c per 

 pound, $1,510.40, or an average of 151 

 poimds, worth at 20c $30,20, making a 

 total net profit of $21.15 per colony, or 

 $1,057.90 for the 50 packages. 1920 

 was an exceptionally good season. In 

 all of the above experiments no brood 

 or other help was given except in 

 cases where the queen was missing, in 

 which case a comb with small amount 

 of brood was given to hold bees to- 

 gether until other queens would ar- 

 rive. 



You will note in all of the above 

 that the original packages with such 

 stores as they contained at end of 

 season are not considered. During 

 the first three years of my experi- 

 ments with packages many queens 

 were liberated in transit and many 

 colonies found queenless later, and by 

 keeping tab on conditions I discov- 

 ered that nearly all losses of queens 

 were where the queen had been lib- 

 erated in transit. This led me to be- 

 lieve that since a newly introduced 

 queen is apt to be balled if the hive 

 is opened or disturibed too soon after 

 introducing, that the missing queens 

 were likely balled on account of be- 

 ing liberated while bees were in 

 transit and being disturbed; so in the 

 spring of 1919 I made a note when 

 putting packages in hives of all cages 

 where queens were liberated and, as 

 I expected, found that nearly all 

 queens liberated were lost. This led 

 me in 1920 to request the shipper to 

 fasten the queens in the small cages 



with a piece of wood or tin and place 

 among the bees so that they could get 

 acquainted, but not liberate her; and 

 out of the 50 received all arrived alive, 

 and only one got lost in introduction. 

 I think this is a good stunt, and would 

 advise shippers of packages to confine 

 queens in cages so the package bees 

 cannot let them out until after in- 

 troduction in the hives. They should 

 lie placed in the package with the bees 

 and close enough to the food so that 

 the bees will not neglect t'hem in case 

 of cold weather, when it is necessary 

 for the bees to cluster close to the 

 stores. 



I think a 3 pound 'package is much 

 preferable to a smaller one, and if re- 

 ceived two months before main honey 

 flow, will equal the best home-win- 

 tered colonies, provided that they are 

 given drawn combs, shelter and plenty 

 of stores. 



My method of handling packages 

 is as follows: The hives with combs 

 aire placed on stands before bees ar- 

 rive, entrances closed, and if 2-pound 

 packages are expected, all combs are 

 removed but 4, one of which should be 

 full of honey. If 3-pound packages 

 are to be hived, I place a bo.x of combs 

 on the top with one or more combs of 

 honey for food, and see tbat no open- 

 ings are left. When packages arrive 

 t'hey are taken inside where it is 

 warm and fed all the thin syrup that 

 they will take. (Syrup is made two 

 parts water and one part sugar). They 

 are then placed in a quiet, cool, dark 

 place until evening. I like a tempera- 

 ture of about 60 degrees, as they keep 

 nice and quiet then. In the evening, 

 when it is too late for bees to fly, I 

 take them to the hives, remove queen 

 cage with the bees clustered on it 

 and hang it between two combs near 

 the top. The openings at both ends 

 of large cage are opened, all food re- 

 moved, and in the case of 2-pound 

 packages, the package is placed in 

 the hive alongside of the 4 combs, the 

 first comb next the cage being the one 

 containing the honey; replace the 





\m*' 



cover, open entrance so that one bee 

 can pass out at a time and leave alone 

 for at least a week. I always run a 

 match through the candy in the queen 

 cage so the bees will release the 

 queens as soon as possible after hive 

 becomes quiet. The 3-pound package 

 is handled the same as the 2^pound ex- 

 cept it is placed in the empty hive 

 body under the bo.x of combs, with 

 one end raised up until it touches the 

 bottom of the combs. After one week 

 from the time bees were put in hives 

 remove cages, note if all queens are 

 laying, place a good tight chaff di- 

 vision board up next the fourth comb 

 in the hives containing the 2-pound 

 packages; see that there are no 

 cracks or other openings to let in 

 the cold air or, let out the heat; see 

 that there is a wind protection and 

 leave entirely alone for at least three 

 weeks. You can't overdo this leaving 

 alone, early in the spring, so long as 

 you are sure they have stores and 

 protection. The 4 combs will be all 

 that they can use if received early. 

 With the 3-pound colonies I remove 

 the empty hive-body, place upper 

 story wit'h bees and combs on bottom- 

 board and otherwise treat same as the 

 2-pound colonies, except that I leave 

 all of the 8 combs in the hive. I use 

 the 8-frame hive. When young bees 

 begin hatching plentifully, more room 

 should be given as needed, being care- 

 ful not to give too much at once. From 

 this time on, packages are given same 

 management as home wintered bees. 

 Michigan. 



Package bees as they go to the Northern beekeeper. 



PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE 

 RELATIVE VALUE OF THE 

 PHYSICAL FACTORS CON- 

 CERNED IN HONEY GATHER- 

 ING. 



By J. H. Merrill, 



Apiarist Kansas State Agricultural 

 College and Experiment Station. 

 (Contribution No. 67, from the En- 

 tomological Laboratory, Kansas State 

 Agricultural College. This paper em- 

 bodies some of the results obtained in 

 the prosecution of project No. 126 of 

 the Agricultural E.xperiment Station.) 

 The fact that some colonies in a 

 beeyard greatly exceeded other colo- 

 nies in the atnount of honey which 

 they stored during the honey flow, 

 has long been known. Advice has been 

 given to have all of the colonies 

 strong before the honey flow, and 

 that they ibe of as nearly equal 

 strength as possible. Yet, even when 

 this advice has been followed, it has 

 been found that bees of the same race 

 and of the same age, raised from 

 (lucens bred by one breeder, differed 

 in the amount of honey which they 

 stored, even though the colonics were 

 brought to as equal a strength as pos- 

 sible. In order to learn why these 

 facts existed, the following experiment 

 has been started at the Experiment 

 Station of the Kansas State Agricul- 

 tural College. While the results given 

 here are not as conclusive as they 

 would be after the experiment had 

 been carried on a few more years, yet 



