10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



ii good tiling, and will prove a boon to bee- 

 l«H-pf'i's. It is likely that further improvements 

 will be made in the near future: and if he will 

 adopt such suggestions as are valuable, much 

 will be gained.^ In these days of study and in- 

 vention, one man can hardly hope to know it 

 all: in fact, most of the implements used in 

 bee-keeping are the joint invention of many. 



There is one thing more that I wish to men- 

 tion in connection with the hiver: and that is. 

 that we often have hives containing comb and 

 honey that we wisli to put our lirst swarms into. 

 Now." it will not do to place such hives to re- 

 ceive the swarms, on account of moths and rob- 

 bers. In such cases I use an emptv super on 

 top (how would it look if placed on the side?). 

 Now. when the swarm is in the air. and the 

 queen in the upper part of the swarmer. I un- 

 hook it from the super and slip a piece of tin 

 behind it. so the queen can not escape. Remove 

 the old hive, and place the one with combs in 

 on the old stand, and the part of the swarmer 

 with queen in. in front of the entrance, remov- 

 ing the tin. It is not best to remove the swarm- 

 er for several davs. as the bees may take a 

 notion to abscond.' I have several times liber- 

 ated the queen an hour or two after the swarm 

 was hived in this way. but soon found them all 

 in the air again, and had my work to do over. 



I can fully agree with Mr. Alley, that the 

 swarmer greatly lessens and retards swarming. 

 On this account, as well as not tolerating a 

 horde of drones in every hive, bees will gather 

 more honey per colony uith the swarmers than 

 without them. Mr. A. is certainly. mistaken in 

 his statement, made some time ago. that two or 

 more swarms issuing at the same time through 

 the swarmers would each return to its own 

 hive. They won't do that in Illinois. I have 

 used swarm -catchers for more than fifteen 

 years, and in such cases I still use them, and 

 they are just as good with the hivers to prevent 

 doubling up as ever. C. H. Dihbekn. 



M-ilan. 111. 



GIVING A LAYING QUEEN TO A PARENT 

 COLONY. 



1A)CATI()N. AN1> ITS HE.\KlNf^ ON THK (QUESTION. 



(Question 197, found on page '.>28, December 1. 

 regarding the giviiig of a laying queen to a 

 colony having just cast a swarm, is a very in- 

 teresting one, and one that has much to do with 

 our honey crop if we are situated in certain 

 localities." This whole matter of i)rotit. resting 

 on whether we should give such a (lueen or not. 

 must be decided by our location. If the loca- 

 tion gives a continuous yield of honey, then the 

 giving of a laying queen iiinnediately after 

 swarming will prove a prodtable investment; 

 but if the location is one lik(( the average loca- 

 tion, which gives a good yield of honey at one 

 or two stated periods during the season, then 

 the giving of a laying queen at the time of 

 swarming will generally prove decidedly un- 

 prolitable. We have been told for years that 

 the bee-keeper who wished to secure the best 

 results from his bees should have on hand, and 

 give to swarming' colonies, queens as above: 

 and the reason advanced for so doing has al- 

 ways been, that the time lost by th(! ])arent col- 

 ony in rearing a (jueen was equivalent to a 

 swarm. I have experimented largely on this 

 line: and tlie truth of the statement, that the 

 time lost by the bees in rearing a queen in nat- 

 ural swarming is equivalent to a swarm of bees, 

 is tlu' first reason that it will not prove a suc- 

 cess in locations similar to my own. which 

 gives, at most, only two honey-yields each year. 



If it were bees I were after, the case would be 

 different. With me white clover yields only 

 enough honey to keep the bees breeding nicely, 

 and prepares" them so that they swarm mainly 

 from June '.'O to July 1. Our honey-harvest is 

 from basswood. which blooms from July in to Hi. 

 Now. all who are familiar with natural swarm- 

 ing know that the bees are comparatively few 

 in numbers in spring, and increase by the rap- 

 idly increasing brood produced by the queen, 

 which, in due time, hatch into bees until a 

 swarm is the result. Hy giving a laying queen 

 to a colony immediately after it has cast a 

 swarm, we bring about the same result (swarm- 

 ing) as before, for we place the bees in the same 

 condition. The only dilTerence is, that, having 

 plenty of brood, they build up quicker, and are 

 prepared to swarm in a shorter time. As this 

 second prime swarming, brought about by giv- 

 ing the laying queen, comes right in our bass- 

 wood-honey harvest, it cuts off the surplus 

 honey; for it is well known that bees, having 

 the swarming fever, do little or no work in the 

 sections; and if allowed to swarm, the object 

 we have sought after (section honey) is beyond 

 our reach. If this laying queen had not been 

 given, and we had worked so that no after- 

 swarms had issued, we should have found that 

 the young queen, which was to become the 

 mother of the colony, would have hatched, as 

 a rule, in eight days after the swarm issued, 

 and in ten days more she would be ready to lay. 

 which would bring the time of her laying at 

 about the time basswood would be yielding 

 honey nicely. During this period, between the 

 time when the swarm issued and the young 

 queen commences to lay. the bees, not having 

 any brood to nurse for the last half of the time, 

 consume but little honey: hence, as fast as the 

 young bees emerge from the cells, they are lilled 

 with honey: for bees not having a laying queen 

 seldom build comb in the sections. Thus, when 

 the young queen is ready to lay she finds every 

 available cell stored with well-ripened honey. 

 At this point the instinct of the bees teaches 

 them that they must have brood or they will 

 soon cease to e.xist as a colony. A general rush 

 is made for the sections; the honey from below 

 is carried above, so as to give the queen room, 

 and in a week we have, as a result, the sections 

 nearly tilled with honey, and later completed, 

 if the season is not unusually unfavorable. In 

 this way good ivsults aie obtained in such a 

 location as this, while, if a laying queen is giv- 

 en, the basswood-honey season is nearly or 

 quite used up by the colony becoming "sulky"" 

 with the swarming fever, if they can not have 

 their own way. 



After basswood we have a honey-dearth, 

 hence the b(»es from the introduced queen are 

 of no value, but. on the contrary- bt'come use- 

 less consunu'rs. On an average, it takes :ll 

 days, from the time the egg is laid, to the per- 

 fect bee ready to emerge from the cell. Then. 

 if the colony is in a normal condition, this bee 

 does not commence labor in the Held till Ki days 

 old; hence the egg for the honey-gathei'ing bee 

 must be deposited in the cell 37 days before the 

 honey-harvest ends, or else they are of no value 

 as honey-producers. As the basswood is all 

 gone before the eggs of the introduced queen 

 i^ecome honey-producing bees, and as the larger 

 part of them die of old age before buckwheat or 

 fall flowers yield honey, a great gain is made 

 by letting each old colony, having cast a swarm, 

 rear their own queens, for thereby we save the 

 expensive feeding of the larva?, which are in 

 turn to become expensive consumei'sof the hon- 

 ey of the hive. 



These things are well worth looking into by 

 every bee-keeper; and if brood-rearing is used 

 advisedly, with an eye on our location, we shall 



