460 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



tions; and yet it has not been tried to hive a 

 swarm, so it is at least partly theory; but if it 

 clogs, it can be cleaned in half a minute. I 

 should not offer them foi' sale until I had prov- 

 en them. The reason that I sent it to you was, 

 that you might criticise it; and, if you thought 

 best, let others do the same; also, that they 

 might improve upon it. 



Geo. H. Sprague. 

 Haskinville, N. Y., May 7. 



[The self-hiver that Mr. Sprague says he sent 

 failed to come to hand. As we have had no 

 practical experience with the hiver in question, 

 nor, in fact, with any of them, we forwarded 

 Mr. Sprague's letter to Mr. Pratt. His sub- 

 joined reply possibly suggests the cause of the 

 trouble.] 



In the above, Mr. Sprague does not give a 

 clew as to how his queen-excluding escapes 

 were attached; but I should judge that they 

 simply led from the holes in the thin board di- 

 rectly into a dark chamber, and, there being no 

 provision for light, they became clogged. 



In my directions, where I tell how to attach 

 the Pratt swarmer to any hive having a loose 

 bottom, I speak of this, and it is a very impor- 

 tant matter. If these directions are strictly 

 followed there will be no fear of the escape be- 

 coming clogged. For the benefit of your read- 

 ers I will give further directions here. 



First, take any kind of thin board that will 

 cover your hive-bodies (a bee-escape board will 

 do) and nail strips of wood all around the outer 

 edge of one side so as to form a bee-space from 

 three-fourths of an inch up to seven-eighths of 

 an inch deep. Now lay the escape into this 

 bee-space, zinc up, and its apex pointing to one 

 end within an inch of the end cleat; and after 

 you have marked the position it is to occupy, 

 remove it and cut several holes through the 

 thin board so they will all come inside the es- 

 cape, but not too far up into where the escape 

 begins to taper. The more holes you can get 

 in, the better. It would do no harm if one 

 large hole were made the size of the base of the 

 escape. Place the escape in position, and fix it 

 to the thin board with a few wire nails. Pro- 

 vide an opening thiough an end cleat, directly 

 opposite the apex of the escape, at least four 

 inches long, and cover it with a piece of ex- 

 cluding metal. By thus admitting light to the 

 opening of the escape, the bees are attracted 

 there, and they will keep it clear of all rubbish. 

 Plenty of light and air let into the escape is 

 necessary for success in keeping it clear. 



The readers, of course, understand that the 

 escape-board is placed on top of the new hive, 

 escape down, and apex pointing toward the 

 front. The colony expected to swarm is then 

 set on the escape-board. E. L. Pratt. 



Beverly, Mass. 



SWARMING CONTROLLED. 



INCREASE PREVENTED OH REGULATED; QUEENS 

 RESTRICTED. 



On page 282 is a cut of a bee-escape used by 

 J. H. Larrabee. My queen-escape and exclud- 

 ing-board is made in a similar manner, except 

 that I use perforated zinc in place of the wire, 

 when a colony is expected to swarm. A set of 

 combs, frames filled with foundation or starters, 

 as I have them, or the particular line I am 

 working on requires, is placed under the colony, 

 with the above board between, the entrance 

 being closed with queen-excluding material 

 in some shape. A queen and drone trap answers 



very well. The hive now consists of two parts. 

 That above the board contains the bees, brood, 

 sections, etc.; that below, a set of frames with 

 comb, starters, or foundation, as the case may 

 be. 



When the swarm issues, the queen remains 

 in the lower part; the bees return and go to 

 work there; often the queen will go below, and 

 that part be occupied without a swarm issuing. 

 The presence of eggs below shows that the 

 queen is there. If I desire increase, I remove 

 the top part, about the seventh day from the 

 time I have reason to suppose the lower part 

 was occupied, to a new stand, doing so at a time 

 when the bees are working strongly. This 

 leaves all the field bees and many young ones 

 at the old stand, leaving them in shape to do 

 good work. They are given surplus room ac- 

 cordingly, while the part removed is weakened 

 enough to prevent any after-swarms. The 

 queen -escape and excluding - board remain 

 under them; a half-set of frames is placed un- 

 der it; the queen becomes fertile, the colony 

 builds up in good shape for winter; as the brood 

 finishes hatching, the set of frames above the 

 board is filled with fine honey for extracting. 

 This can be depended on with certainty — a 

 gain of, say. .50 lbs. by this management, as 

 otherwise no surplus would be stored above the 

 frames. 



In place of adding a full set of frames, as 

 mentioned in the first instance above, I often 

 add only a half or third set in this manner, 

 restricting the queen and reducing the number 

 of eggs laid. It does not injure the queen like 

 caging. In this case, room is added at the same 

 time above the board and under the upper set 

 of frames; in this the surplus is stored. If no 

 increase is wanted, enough surplus room is 

 added above the board and under the upper set 

 of frames to last about two weeks. By this 

 time one or more queens will have hatched out 

 and passed down through the board, and the 

 " best one " will occupy the hive. The exclud- 

 ing material is now removed from the entrance, 

 so that, if it is a young queen, she can go out 

 and mate. If a queen and drone trap is used, 

 all undesirable drones can be killed. The zinc 

 used in making the board should be wide 

 enough to allow of free passage and ventilation; 

 if too wide, the bees seem to feel that it is the 

 same old hive, and continue to swarm, or to 

 sulk; if the zinc used is not too wide, the queen 

 will almost always go below, and young queens 

 be reared above. This of itself is a cheap, con- 

 venient, and very efficient way of requeening. 

 The fittest will survive, and by this natural 

 selection we get the best queens obtainable, 

 reared under the natural impulse, in strong col- 

 onies, and at no extra cost, either by reason of 

 work done by ourselves, or by loss of work oc- 

 casioned to the bees. After all danger of 

 swarming is over, the board is removed and a 

 common excluder put in its place. 



On page 54.5 of the American Bee Journal 

 for April 31, 1892, G. W. Demaree tells how to 

 prevent swarming by placing the queen on a 

 set of frames under a queen-excluder, etc. The 

 use of the queen-escape and excluding-board 

 not only saves the work of finding the queen, 

 etc., but gives the bees a chance to put a younger 

 and better queen in her place. 



The honey is taken off by the aid of escapes. 

 There is a great advance over the methods in 

 use only a few years ago— no brushing of bees 

 in the hot sun; no hunting for queens; no clip- 

 ping of queens' wings; no loss by absconding 

 swarms; no hiving the same when they are 

 doubled up three or foiu" deep; and, by no 

 means least, no loss of honey incident to inter- 

 rupting and exciting the bees during these 

 manipulations; on the contrary, some boards 



