.528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



7(,)isuccc.s,x/iii, it was decided, by vote, that every 

 queen should have her wing- clipped. These *r>.00 

 arg-umcnts in favor of clipping were becoming- too 

 numerous. But we finally reconsidered, and de- 

 cided to wait until the bees swarmed, and tlien find 

 the queen, and clip their wings, which we have 

 done. So expert have we become in catching queens 

 that we catch most of them as they leave the hive. 

 A queen seldom takes wing the moment she reach- 

 es the entrance of the hive, but usually drops on 

 the ground about a foot in front of the hive, re- 

 mains there from one to five seconds, then slowly 

 rises and iiies. We have sometimes caught them in 

 our hands after they had risen to fly. If the 

 queen is not found as the swarm is issuing, the 

 swarm is shaken into a basket, the edge of the 

 basket placed at the entrance of the hive, when the 

 bees will begin to crawl in and to spread out over 

 the inside of the basket. As the basket is lined 

 with white cloth there is not much difliculty in 

 finding the queen. One of us is in the apiary from 

 between seven and eight in the morning until be- 

 tween four and five in the afternoon, yet one col- 

 ony cast a swarm when we didn't know it, and we 

 didn't discover it until it cast a second swarm, 

 Avhen the " brand-new " look of the queen aroused 

 our suspicions, and investigations followed. I have 

 never had more than 75 colonies, spring count; and 

 with an apiary of that size, I should prefer not to 

 have the queens clipped, if the bees would stay 

 hived, and they usually have until this season; but 

 in a large apiary it has always seemed to me as 

 though several swarms issuing at once wor.ld give 

 much trouble unless the queens were clipped. The 

 best remedy that I can suggest would be to have 

 several small tents scattered about the yard; and 

 if a swarm is .see/i at the outset, set a tent over it un- 

 til the swarm in the air is cared for. We have used 

 our tent in that way several times this season, and 

 it works like a charm. 



REVEKSAI-. PREVENTING SWARMING. 



None of our colonies that we have been practic- 

 ing reversing upon have yet swarmed; but as 

 the number is li-mited, and they may yet 

 swarm, I do not consider it a fair test, and I 

 mention it only that others who are trying re- 

 versing may also notice in regard to the matter. At 

 present I do not care to prevent the issuing ot first 

 swarms; but many bee-keepers would be glad to 

 know that inverting a hive once a week would pre- 

 vent its occupants from swarming. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Mich., June, 1886. 



You will notice, friend II., that friend 

 Alley, on another page, strikes on the point 

 yovi mention ; viz., that reversing the brood- 

 chamber will have a tendency to prevent 

 swarming. This is quite an important mat- 

 ter, and we shall be glad to have reports 

 from those who have tested it to see. I be- 

 lieve it is true, that many colonies ar.^ in- 

 duced to swarm because they hear their 

 neighbors swarming ; and this sometimes* 

 gets to l)e quite a serious trouble, especially 

 where the owner of the apiary wishes to se- 

 cure comb honey. I believe most of our vet- 

 erans own up defeated at such times. 

 Friend Hasty, you will remember, during 

 one season could discover no other way to 

 cure the swarming than to bury the truants 

 for two or three days in the ground. 



EMPTY FRAMES, EMPTY COMBS, OR 

 FOUNDATION ? 



FRIEND HUTCHINSON TELES US WHICH, UNDER 



CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, AND GIVES THE 



WHYS AND WHEREFORES. 



TN the Canadian Ike Journal for May 26, 

 M p. 169, occurs the following query : 



jl'' In the honey season, if 1 had three first swarms 

 ■^ come ott' within a few minutes of each other, 

 and I were to put one in an empty hive, another 

 in a hive filled with foundation, and the third filled 

 with worker-combs, each swarm weighing 6 lbs., 

 how much extracted honey would each yield in the 

 first ten days"? W. M. 



We have not space for the answers to this 

 query ; but friend W. Z. Hutchinson writes 

 so valuable an article in regard to the mat- 

 ter, on page 249 of the C. B. J. tov June 23, 

 that we give place to it below : 



I was much interested in query No. 7.5, asking 

 which swarm would st(jre the most extracted honey 

 the first ten days after hiving, one hived in an emp- 

 ty hive, one given foundation, or one given empty 

 combs. 



1 wish that the query had been put in a little dif- 

 ferent form. Modern apiculture has divided a bee- 

 hive into two radically different apartments— brood- 

 nest and surplus - department. Of course, the 

 brood-nest ca)i be made so large as to allow room 

 for the honey as well as the brood; but most 

 apiarists now prefer to have the brood by 

 itself, and the honey by itself. In view of 

 this I should like to put the query something 

 like this: if the hroiul - chamher of one hive is 

 furnished with foundation, another with empty 

 combs, and a third with empty frames, swarms ex- 

 actly alike are hived at the same time in these 

 hives, while the sitrpliis apartments are furnished 

 with foundation, or empty combs, which surplus- 

 apartment will contain the most honey (either comb 

 or extracted) at the expiration of ten days, or at the 

 end ot the season, and which brood-nest will con- 

 tain the most brood? The bees are to be given ac- 

 cess to the surplus at the time of hiving, and the 

 brood-chamber must be of such a size that the bees 

 must, of necessity, also occupy the surplus-apart- 

 ment. Unless empty combs are used, a queen-e.v- 

 cluding honey-board will be needed. 



According to experiments which I have made dur- 

 ing the past two years, the swarm that builds its 

 combs in the brood-nest will store the most honey 

 in the surplus-apartment, and have the most brood 

 in the brood-nest; next will come the swarm given 

 foundation, while the swarm with empty combs 

 will put the least honey in the super and rear the 

 least brood. The experiments that I have made 

 consisted of hiving- one swarm on empty combs, the 

 next on empty frames, and the third on foundation, 

 continuing in this way until about 40 swarms had 

 been hived each year. 



When combs are given, the bees proceed at once 

 to fill them with honey, which in good honey weath- 

 er they will often do in two days, in this way they 

 get the start of the queens, and they keep it. I can 

 not tell why it is; perhaps the bees feel that their 

 job is finished; but after filling a set of combs in 

 the brood-nest, bees arc very reluctant to commence 

 in the boxes. Where they store their first honey 

 after being hived, there they seem willing to con- 

 tinue to store it; and when foundation is given in 

 the brood-nest, and comfts in the surplus-apartment, 

 the first honey goes into the super, as no honey can 

 be stored in tiie brood-nest until the foundation is 

 drawn; but in two days, foundation becomes com/), 

 and then the bees will store considerable honey in 

 the brood-nest; but they will continue to work in 

 the supers, as they have "made a start there. When 

 hived upon empty frames, and given combs or 

 foundation in the super, all the honey must be 

 stored in the super until combs can be built in the 

 brood-nest; and just as soon as a few cells are start- 

 ed in the brood-nest, the queen is ready to fill them 

 with eggs; and as soon as the eggs are laid in a 

 comb that is being built, the storingof honey ceases 

 in Viat comb, as no honey is stored below where 

 brood is started. The queen can keep i)ace with 

 the building of natural comb, but not with the 

 (Irawing-out of foundation When a swarm is hived 

 upon empty frames, and given access at once to a 



