1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



89 



find foul brood in the healthy stock. This 

 happened so many times that we came to 

 accept it as a matter of course that all colonies 

 having entrances facing the same way, and 

 near each other, would be either perfectly 

 healthy or diseased. If one got it, the other 

 was sure to get it later. 



I do not know that this is a direct answer to 

 your correspondent's question, but it certainly 

 has a strong bearing on the point. It is true, 

 that young bees might account for all the 

 phenomena I have described ; for, of course, 

 these young chaps make a good many mis- 

 takes, and young bees are acceptable in any 

 hive. — Ed.] 



TWO POINTS ON LARGE HIVES. 



Strong Colonies at the end of Winter the ones to 



Get the Honey; Working Bees for the Harvest, 



and How to Get Them. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Some time ago an invitation was extended 

 to the contributors of Gleanings, requesting 

 them to give their opinions on the subject of 

 " expansion versus contraction." So far only 

 the Dadants have responded, by an able con- 

 tribution on the advantage of large hives and 

 correspondingly large colonies. They have so 

 well covered the subject that nothing needs to 

 be added so far as the practical side of the 

 question is concerned. There are, however, 

 two points that are worth a careful investiga- 

 tion. 



I think it is unanimously agreed (or prac- 

 tically so) that, by the time the main honey- 

 flow conies, the brood-nest ought to be full of 

 brood and honey, so that, when the flow 

 comes, the honey would necessarily go into 

 the sections. So far, so good ; but is it suffi- 

 cient for the best results ? Not in my locali- 

 ty. With me the colonies that are the strong- 

 est at the beginning of the season or at the end 

 of the winter are those which give the most 

 surplus, regardless of the fact that those which 

 were weak at the beginning may have their 

 brood-nest just as full as the other when the 

 flow comes. 



That puzzled me a good while ; but after I 

 had thought the matter over and over, the 

 thing appear*, d to me very simple and very 

 natural. In order to get the largest surplus 

 possible, it is necessary, not only that the 

 brood-nest be full, but also that the number of 

 the field bees in the hive should be as large as 

 possible. How can that result be attained ? 



vSuppose the honey-flow begins July 1st. 

 The worker-bee emerges from the cell three 

 weeks after the egg is laid. Two weeks after, 

 she begins her field work. This field work 

 lasts four weeks, and then she dies. These 

 numbers are, of course, only approximate av- 

 erages, but close enough to answer the pur- 

 pose. It follows, then, that the oldest field 

 bees in the hive July 1st are those that hatched 

 from eggs deposited nine weeks before ■ — that 

 is, April 28th ; and the youngest, those from 

 eggs deposited five weeks before July 1st, or 

 May 26th. So in order to have the largest 



number of field bees July 1st it is necessary 

 that the queen should lay her full capacity of 

 eggs from April 28th to May 26th. This 

 means practically a full brood-nest already, 

 April 28th, and one of sufficient size at that, 

 and also a strong colony. Can that be done 

 with a weak colony ? Evidently not. Let us 

 now begin the problem at the other end. 



We will suppose that the bees are taken out 

 April 1st. For the first few days only a few 

 eggs will be laid. Probably a week or so is 

 practically lost. Three weeks will elapse be- 

 fore any brood emerges, and the old bees will 

 be dying all that time. The bees emerging 

 during the first week following will not more 

 than make up for the number dead since the 

 colony was taken out ; so it will be fully five 

 weeks before the colony will begin to increase 

 over what it was at the start — that is, about 

 May 5th. 



Now, is it not plain enough that, unless we 

 have strong colonies at the beginning, it is 

 impossible to have a very strong force of field 

 bees at the opening of the honey-flow? 



And what does that foolish talk about " use- 

 less consumers " we hear so often amount to? 

 No, sir; these "consumers" repay a good 

 deal more than their board when the following 

 spring comes. 



In using large hives and large colonies it is 

 absolutely necessary that swarming should be 

 controlled Unless this is done the large hives 

 are a failure. If swarming occurs, neither the 

 swarm nor the parent hive will be able to do 

 more than regain its normal strength during 

 that season, with all the chances that the 

 process may be repeated the following year. 

 In working for extracted honey it is easy to 

 prevent swarming. All that is necessary is to 

 have enough empty combs so that there will 

 be ample room for the queen to lay in, and 

 for storing the honey gathered. When this 

 condition is fulfilled, only a very few swarms 

 will issue, and these only in case of supersed- 

 ure of queens. Even that could be prevented 

 if the apiarist would take the trouble to renew 

 the queens every two years. 



In working for comb honey the case is a 

 little different. By giving plenty of sections 

 filled with foundation we can, under ordinary 

 circumstances, obtain the seme result as by 

 giving empty combs, for it takes but little 

 time for the bees to draw the foundation and 

 get room to put in the honey coming from the 

 field. 



But it is not always so. In the first place 

 the building of comb is done, in great part, 

 during the night ; and if we add too many su- 

 pers the bees will not be able to maintain a 

 temperature high enough in the supers to 

 draw the foundation and complete the comb. 

 This can be obviated to a great extent by out- 

 er cases and packing, inclosing not only the 

 brood-nest but the supers, at least until the 

 weather is warm enough to dispense with 

 them. If, to economize the warmth, we give 

 only a few sections, there will not be room 

 enough to prevent the crowding of the brood- 

 nest and the subsequent swarming. 



But even with enough room and enough pro- 

 tection, in many localities the honey-flow 



