926 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



store honey ; but it may be undesirable for 

 comb-honey production, and we will speak of 

 this afterward. 



When the honey-flow ceases, the colony in 

 the large hive will not be stronger than that 

 in the small hive ; and this equality will re- 

 main till the end of the spring development. 

 The consumption is theoretically the same in 

 both colonies in fall, winter, and early spring; 

 but during the last 21 dajs of development 

 one colony kept up the same strength, while 

 the other one doubled its population. 



If, in fact, the development of the brood 

 does not occur in this restive way, and if many 

 other influences change the outcome, this will 

 not change the value of the proof. I think I 

 have explained the reasons for the advantages 

 of large hives and prolific queens. 



The locality has some influence in this mat- 

 ter. If the main honey-flow is very early, 

 the colony may have no time to develop to 

 such a degree that the queen can lay to her 

 fullest capacity. In this case stimulative feed- 

 ing in the fall is recommended, to have very 

 strong colonies in early spring. By that not 

 much seems to be gained by strong colonies 

 and large hives, if we do not admit that strong 

 colonies consume less, comparatively, in win- 

 ter, sometimes even absolutely less than a 

 weaker colony. 



If the main honey-flow is very late it is 

 probable that the queen, long before, has reach- 

 ed her highest egg-la}ing capacity, and the 

 colony may be even weaker, when the honey- 

 flow commences, than it was some time before. 



As long as the queen increases the number 

 of eggs laid daily, the number of young bees 

 is increasing also. If suddenly the egg- lay- 

 ing remains stationary, or is diminishing, the 

 number of young bees will still increase dur- 

 ing the next 21 days ; consequently we shall 

 have a surplus of young bees compared with 

 the open brood, and this causes the swarming 

 impulse. To explain this scientifically would 

 take too much space here. This swarming 

 impulse appears as soon as the queen reaches 

 her highest egg-laying capacity, be this caused 

 by crowding her in a small brood-chamber or 

 by the limit of her fertility. This is the rea- 

 son why small hives swarm more and earlier 

 than large ones. 



With a late honey-flow and small hives the 

 colonies will swarm before the honey-flow 

 commences, and now every swarm and every 

 old colony undergoes a new progressive devel- 

 opment. This explains why under some cir- 

 cumstances the swarm and old colony will 

 give more surplus honey than a colony undi- 

 vided. A locality with very late honey flow 

 requires quite a different hive and manage- 

 ment from a locality having an early honey- 

 flow. 



The problem is, always to keep the colonies 

 in a progressive development till the main 

 honey-flow commences, and at this time we 

 shall attain the most strength. The more pop- 

 ulation we gain in this time the better for the 

 honey crop. During the honey-flow it is nec- 

 essary to have as little open brood in the hive 

 as possible, for two reasons : The bees raised 

 from this brood are of no use for this season ; 



and, second, if the bees have less brood to 

 nurse, more bees can engage in other work. 



WHY ARE SMALL HIVES PREFERABLE FOR 

 COMB HONEY? 



Most comb-honey producers say the eight- 

 frame hive has given them more surplus honey 

 than a larger one by their management and in 

 their locality. This seems to be in contradic- 

 tion to our researches in the foregoing, and 

 needs an explanation. 



With the beginning of the honey-flow we 

 set the section-supers on top of our hives; and 

 the main difficulty now is to force the bees 

 into the sections and to induce them to com- 

 mence work in them. If we can not do this, 

 at least some days of the best honey-flow are 

 lost — may be the entire crop. Eor this pur- 

 pose the brood chamber must be in a certain 

 condition : 



1. No empty cells should be in the brood- 

 chamber, because they would be filled with 

 honey ; and if the bees have started to carry 

 honey into the brood-nest they become accus- 

 tomed to it and refuse to go into the sections 

 (Doolittle). 



2 If possible the brood-chamber should 

 contain brood exclusively ; especially the 

 frames should be filled as near to the top bar 

 as possible. This needs no explanation. 



A large brood-chamber can hardly be in this 

 desired condition. In a very good honey -flow 

 the bees will work in the sections nevertheless; 

 but generally they do not Dadant recom- 

 mends two methods for getting a large brood- 

 chamber in proper condition : 



1. From early spring, empty combs are giv- 

 en to the colony ; by and by, as soon as more 

 room is needed for the brood, the brood cham- 

 ber is always contracted to the space the queen 

 can occupy. 



2 At the beginning of the honey-flow the 

 brood- chamber is contracted to as many frames 

 as are needed for brood. 



Both methods did not work satisfactorily 

 with me. The first one is, in fact, the same 

 as recommended by Doolittle. If we want 

 the frames full of brood, the queen must be 

 always crowded. I can not see how Dadant 

 can get more brood than Doolittle by the same 

 management, if the brood-chamber is in prop- 

 er condition. In fact, in this case he will 

 have a large hive, but will not avail himself of 

 its advantages. 



The second method has the disadvantage 

 that the brood-combs are not in proper condi- 

 tion. Every comb ma3? contain empty cells, 

 brood and honey on top, which combs we al- 

 ways select for the contracted brood-chamber. 

 This will not be the desired condition. 



Both methods have the disadvantage that 

 some of the sections are over the dummies 

 and not over brood. If the colony has really 

 developed in the large brood-chamber to its 

 fullest extent, the queen will be overworked 

 and will probably not lay as many eggs; as yet 

 some cells will be free for storing honey in 

 them. This state is favorable for the amount 

 of honey stored; but the brood-chamber is un- 

 fit for the production of comb honey. This I 

 have mentioned already. 



