18'.>'J 



GLEANINGS IN WKK CULTURE. 



503 



COLORADO, IOWA, AND WISCONSIN. 



SO.MK INTKl{K.><riN(i FACTS AND STATISTIC." 



KKOM c. w. davton; vam'k of pko- 



TKCTION; hood I.OCAMTIKS FOK 



AI'IAHIKS IN COI.OHADO 



VKKY FKW. KTC. 



Ilaviiifx assisted in tlic iiiaiiiiniliition in a 

 Colorado apiary for a little iiioic tliaii a inotitli. 

 and as we are lapidly apinoacliintr the opetiini,' 

 of the hoiu-y harvest and haviiifi more or less col- 

 onies sctitterod here and tliere ahoiu tiie apiary, 

 which are so weak as to trouble us to get theiii 

 up to tlie proper streiifith to take the best a<l- 

 vaiitaiiP of said hai'vest. I can begin to look 

 back over the records of tlie colonies and un- 

 derstand liow the springing of bees in Colorado 

 compares with the same season in Iowa or Wis- 

 consin. 



The following table gives the number of 

 combs containing brood in each of 2.*) colonies 

 on liie difTerenI dates. It is remembered tliat 

 Iho amount of honey tiiat is ol)taiiied is directly 

 dependent upon the amount of brood the colo- 

 nies have about 30 days before the harvest. 



No. of colony No. fr'm'sof br"dj 

 on register. Mar. 5. | May 27. | 



4 

 4 



Kind of hive for 

 winter. 



Sing-le-wall. 



Sing-le-wall. 



Cliatf. 



Sing-le-wall. 



Chair. 



Chaff. 



Chaff. 



Singl('-w;ill. 



Single-wall. 



Chaff. 



Siiig'le-wali. 



Sing-le-wall. 



Cliaff. 



Single-wall. 



Single-wall. 



Chaff. 



Chaff. 



Single-wall. 



Single-wall. 



Single-wall. 



Chaff'. 



Chaff. 



Single-wall. 



Single-wall. 



Chaff. 



This table shows an average number for the 

 11 chaff hives as 4 combs, and the single-wall 

 hives .^K, whicli makes a point in favor of pro- 

 tection, the live colonies averaging a little 

 more' than four combs of brood eacli. 



My old rule for Iowa, and a ruh; that has 

 proved good for sevei'al years past, is. to get 

 from (5 to 7 combs of brood in each colony by 

 May 20 to 2."). Only one season in the last ten 

 have 1 failed to average r,^.: combs of brood on 

 May 2.5. and that was pronounced a very late 

 spring. The honey liarvest is looked for on 

 .lune 15 or 20. the same date as in Iowa or Wis- 

 consin, on the 43d parallel: and those which 

 have*) combs of brood on May 2.') in Iowa are 

 able to take good advantage of the harvest at 

 the start. If a colony had more than that. I re- 

 duced them by helping up w(?aker colonies. If 

 a colony had but. 5 combs of brood they were 

 slow l'._, frames, which, in the amount of honey 

 obtained, I estimate at from 15 to 30 lbs. 



What the outcome in Colorado will be I cotild 

 not guess: but the be<'s are from otu! to two 

 combs of brood below what they should be, and 

 I probably have one of the best if not the best 

 apiary in the State to judge from. 



Basswood and clover often yield at the rate 

 of 10 or 15 lbs. p<'r colony a day: but the harvest, 

 being of short duration, together with several 

 cloudy days, prevents our obtaining a large 



yield. < »ne year t here were barely 7 days from 

 spring until fall when the bees laid by a sur- 

 plus; still, in that short sjiace of time my colo- 

 nics stored neatly 70 lbs. of extracted honey 

 each. lOvery colony was ready and wailing for 

 the blossoms to open. 



Here, with this probably lengthy honey-How, 

 the yield each day nuist be light or wff should 

 hearof some astonishing reports from this State. 

 In Colorado the honey nearly all comes from 

 alfalfa, a plant very much resembling clover, 

 but larg<'r and stouter in growth, and it is said 

 to yield honey for 50 or (50 days. With so long 

 a harvest, even weak coloni(!S should be able to 

 build uj) to the necessary strength, and do good 

 work for a month or more. 



White clover and basswood in Iowa or Wis- 

 consin seldom yield honey over 20 days. 



The most noticeable feature of the above 

 table of colonies is the large amount of brood 

 in March, and but little mor<' late in May. The 

 cause of this is, that there are many siiiishiny 

 days along through the winter, and that, when 

 the sun shines, it is very warm: and when there 

 are clouds, and during the nights, it is very 

 cold. These warm days (or, I may truthfully 

 say. hot days) thorougiily arouse the bees as iii 

 mid -summer, and they begin breeding in Feb- 

 ruary for all they aro worth. The cold checks 

 the brood-rearing, and the waimth again 

 stimulates it. When there comes a week of 

 warm prosperous weather, and then suddenly 

 comes a cold snap, its eft'eet can be as plainly 

 seen in the brood combs as on the tomato- 

 plants in the garden— not always in brood 

 killed, but in the appearance and manner in 

 which it is placed in the combs. For instance: 

 On April 23 to 2(3 there were three very warm 

 days. Previous to those days it had been 

 quite cold. The brood in the combs was in 

 patches from 4 to 6 inches in diaineter. and was 

 of all ages— eggs, larva?, capped and hatching 

 bees, all mixed together. That is the way the 

 brood is when the bees must cluster compactly 

 to keep it warm. When the three warm davs 

 came, the bees began to get a little new pollen, 

 and the cluster spread out through all the 

 combs, and the queen went to depositing eggs 

 at a great rate until, at the close of the warm 

 days, there was a stripof eggs from 2 to 3 inches 

 wide around every patch of old brood. Then the 

 weather tui'ued a little colder — not cold enough 

 to destroy the eggs, but cold enough to prevent 

 the queen from making a circle of eggs any 

 larger. The eggs hatched, and the larvic were 

 capped and maintained as a belt of brood of one 

 age. and nearly every cell occupied. The 

 weather continued cold and rainy for 15 or 20 

 days more, and for 20 days this belt of brood 

 measured the size of the brood-space. It is very 

 convenient, sometinu^s, to help a weak colotiy 

 by giving it a comb from a stronger colony that 

 has many hatching bees. In the case of such 

 brood-rearing, if the comb was secured before 

 this belt of brood had hatched, it was all right; 

 but if this belt of brood had hatched before it 

 was given to the weak colony it would b(! the 

 worst thing that could be done, as there were 

 scarcely a dozen bees a day hatching afterward 

 for 21 days, or until this belt brought out an- 

 other quota of bees. One mod(!rately warm day 

 would not send the queen over the belt: but 

 threeor four /(of days did it. It was about the 

 21st f)f May when these last hot days came. 



It is a question for consideration. If the 

 queen, during th(! three hot days in April, will 

 lay an amount of eggs more than t^qual to all 

 the brood there was in the hive, will she not, 

 with all the days hot. or at a t(nnperatur<! of 

 85 to 'M degrees, lay that much every three 

 days? This would amount to (J or 7 such belts 

 of brood where we now have only one and a 



