492 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



Against this gross cost I 

 have the following credits: 



Credits 



5 new queens raised for use or 



increase, at $1 $ 5.00 



8 frames of brood taken for 



increase 8.00 



1 swarm taken for increase _- 5.00 



33 new brood combs built dur- 

 ing the season, at 40c and 

 50c added to investments _. 14.60 



100 new extracting combs built 

 during season, at 20 and 

 25c added to investments.- 23.80 



8.7 pounds cappings wax at 25c 2.15 



310 lbs. of honey left on hives 



for use of bees 31.00 



Total credits for season __.$ 89.55 

 Either taken for investments 



or chargeable against future 



operations, leaves 



Net cost of production $ 59.24 



My honey was all extracted and put 

 up in 5-pound pails delivered to the 

 honey house ready to hand out. Pro- 

 duction amounted to: 

 White clover honey produced 



5641/4 lbs. 

 Mixed light amber fall honey 



290 Va lbs. 



Total --__ 854%lbs. 



Average net cost of production, 



per 100 pounds $6.93 



In my small apiary, handled at odd 

 times, it has been necessary to esti- 

 mate the item of production, labor 

 taxes and insurance. The item of 

 labor I have based on the figures 

 given by H. C. Dadant in the June 

 issue, covering 550 colonies for 1919 

 and 700 colonies for 1920, the highest 

 average there used being $3.00. So I 

 think I have my estimate high enough. 

 Taxes, insurance and site rent may be 

 a little high, but will do. 



For my own personal satisfaction, 

 I have kept cost figures on each indi- 

 vidual colony. There is one striking 

 thing I observe. Individual produc- 

 tion runs high for the Dadant hives, 

 but lower for the Langstroth. Be- 

 sides, I cut queen cells an average of 

 3 times for each Langstroth colony to 

 keep my bees together, but cut no 

 queen cells in the Dadant, and had but 

 one swarm. Results are proportion- 

 ate. 



My colonies are numbered consecu- 

 tively. D used with a number indi- 

 cates Dadant hive, L, a Langstroth, 

 and numerals following the letter in- 

 dicate number of frames. 



Pro- Cost 

 duction. per 100 

 No. ID — Worked every 



minute 228 V2 $ 4.28 



No. 2D— (Swarmed).. 78 7.11 



No. 3D— (Only strong 6 



frame nucleus at 



opening of clover). 70% 12.16 

 No. 5D — Gave 4 frames 



brood and 3 queens 



for increase) 196 3.80 



No. 6L10— Worked all 



time 791/2 13.29 



No. 7D — (8 frames nu- 

 cleus divided in half 



May 15) 26 11.80 



No. 8L10 — Worked 



right through 90% . 9.19 



No. 10L8 — Worked 



right through 56% 10.48 



Grouping the 5 Dadant hives to- 

 gether, which included 1 4-frame nu- 

 cleus and one 6-frame nucleus at the 

 beginning of clover, in one group, and 

 the 3 Langstroth, which were all full 

 colonies, 2 lO-frame and 1 8-franie, 

 I got the following results: 

 Average production per colony — 



Dadant 120 lbs. 



Langstroth 751/2 lbs. 



Average cost of production per 100 



pounds — 



Dadant $5.74 



Langstroth 10.94 



So much for my costs the first sea- 

 son, running almost exclusively for 

 extracted honey, without attempting 

 much increase. 



I feel quite good over the season's 

 outcome. I have no very great ex- 

 pense after my honey is on the shelf, 

 and have sold my clover at an aver- 

 age price of 29c a pound, and the fall 

 honey at 24 %c, so I have come out 

 all right on my little bunch of bees. 



Michigan. 



MULLINS CELL-BUILDING NUR- 

 SERY AND MATING HIVE 



By Jes Dalton 



Having experimented and used this 

 hive two years with uniform success, 

 I believe a description will be of in- 

 terest to American Bee Journal read- 

 ers. The idea came from Mr. O. L. 

 Mullins, of Uniontown, Pa., formerly 

 President of the Kansas Beekeepers' 

 Association. 



To build it, use the old "Long Idea" 

 plan. For convenience use 24 close- 

 spaced or 21 wide-spaced frames. I 

 always use wide spacing in every- 

 thing. Build it so three 8-frame su- 

 pers will exactly set on top of it 

 side by side. Leave a good-sized en- 

 trance at each end. 



Now build in solid excluders at the 

 points that come just under the edges 

 of the center super; I tear up an or- 

 dinary wood and wire excluder and 

 use the wires, furnishing a perfect 

 excluder without any extra hindrance 

 to bees and ventilation. This divides 

 the 21-franie compartment into 3 

 nearly equal 7-frame parts; the cen- 

 tral part having no entrance except 

 through the excluder. 



Stocking 



Stock with two good colonies, head- 

 ed by young queens of quiet disposi- 

 tion, putting a queen and unsealed 

 brood in each end. Place combs of 

 sealed honey and sealed brood in cen- 

 ter part. Put covers on ends, and 

 super on center part, and fill out with 

 frames of emerging brood, even if 

 you have to borrow some from other 

 colonies. 



Operating 



It is now ready for use. Graft cells 

 (10 to 40) in center of super, using 

 any method you choose (dry grafting 

 can bo used to get started). I use 

 the Doolittle system. I use several of 

 these hives and graft, in sone one, 

 every other day, transferring started 



cells to other building and finishing 

 colonies of this same type. Keep ex- 

 changing the brood combs in super 

 that have hatched for combs of 

 emerging brood with the queens down 

 in the ends. 



This keeps a fresh supply of nurse 

 bees up around the cells all the time, 

 and confines all operations to the top 

 super, and this saves lifting a super 

 to hunt "wild cells" that they might 

 have built over the unsealed brood in 

 the combs you brought up. 



Advantages 



I hardly know where to start in 

 enumerating its advantages over any 

 other system I ever tried out. To be- 

 gin with, it is perfectly balanced, 

 timed or primed all the time. For 

 ideal cell building and nursing you 

 have that double force of nurse bees 

 backed by the heat of the two colo- 

 nies, and a double field force that 

 brings in honey all the time if there 

 is any. 



It is double queen-right, thus giving 

 the best impulse to proper cell build- 

 ing. It is semi-automatic in that it 

 sorts the nurse and field bees, the 

 former remaining up on the emerging 

 brood around the cells and the latter 

 occupying the compartment near the 

 entrance around the queen, if you 

 keep it leak proof. 



And as it is natural for bees to car- 

 ry honey up and to store it in cells 

 from which brood has just emerged, 

 there is a steady flow of honey up 

 around those cells all the time. 



As the whole outfit gets more pow- 

 erful, as the flow advances, you can 

 keep raising the super you are oper- 

 ating on and putting empties under 

 it. They may fill one in a few days 

 and you may have to even super the 

 end compartments over the queens. 



You may now have a colony with 

 some hundred pounds of honey, 20 

 to 30 frames of brood, bees in propor- 

 tion, and if there is a more ideal place 

 or plan to raise cells I would like to 

 hear of it. 



It will store more honey than 

 any other colony in the yard, while 

 turning off' cells by the hundred. 

 As a Mating and Increase Hive 



Build and stock exactly as for cell 

 building. Put a tight division board 

 in center of an 8-frame super. Nail 

 screen wire over bottom of it, nail- 

 ing to division board at bottom. Bore 

 a small entrance hole at opposite ends 

 of super for flight holes or entrance. 



Stock this super with 3 good frames 

 of emerging brood and bees on each 

 side, from same colony. Insert ripe 

 cell in either side. Warmth and odor 

 come up from below. In a few days 

 you have two laying queens in supers, 

 all with odor of parent colony. You 

 can take them out with frames of 

 brood and bees, to ship, or requeen, 

 or increase, and restock super from 

 queens below, add fresh cells and go 

 right ahead. 



I have taken a queen out of one of 

 those, with 2 frames of brood and ad- 

 hering bees, and requeened a colony 

 at once, right in the midst of robbing, 

 killing old queen and smoking all bees 



