794 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



cate the outside frames of brood by the 

 amount of bees between the ranges of combs, 

 unless the hive is full of bees and brood." 



"I was told, that in the morning- or near 

 sunset was the best time to handle bees." 



"This was a mistake, no matter what 

 you are handling bees for, and especially 

 when looking for a queen. Where I am 

 obliged to work early or late, I rarely find 

 a queen on the outside frames of brood, but 

 generally in the center of the brood- nest. 

 But remember we are talking of a colony 

 whose brood-nest has not been interfered 

 with. If an empty comb is inserted any- 

 where in the brood-nest, the queen will be 

 quite likely to be found on this comb 24 

 hours later; but in such case the brood-nest 

 would not be in a normal condition." 



"Then just at sunset is not a good time 

 to look for queens? Here is a part of my 

 trouble, for I had looked near sunset." 



"Near sunset does not give a good light, 

 even were the hive not crowded with bees 

 at that time. To find any queen, the best 

 time to look is from 11 a. m. to 1 p. m., as 

 at that time the most bees will be in the 

 field and out of the way; and if your hives 

 face south, as is generally the best way to 

 face them, the sun will shine quite directly 

 between the combs; and the light thus 

 striking them will show you the queen 

 much better than at any other time." 



"That is a point I had not thought of." 

 "This is a great help; and if you sit or 

 stand with your face to the west before noon, 

 and face east after noon, the sun will not 

 shine in your face, and you will also be 

 looking on the combs where the rays of the 

 sun light every thing up." 



"This is also a new thought, and I should 

 think it would help much; for when the sun 

 shines on the front of my veil it interferes 

 very much with my seeing well." 



"That is right; and you should always 

 have a light box with you, about two inches 

 wider than your hive is wide; and when 

 opening the hive, do it as carefully and 

 with as little smoke as possible; for if you 

 are careless, and jar the hive much in open- 

 ing, the bees will get angry, while the 

 queen becomes excited and runs about and 

 ofif the place where she was laying, some- 

 times into the corners of the hive, or clear 

 out of it entirely." 



"That shows me another of my mistakes, 

 for I have at times gotten the bees so angry 

 by my clumsy handling that I have smoked 

 some colonies till the most of the bees ran 

 out of the hive; but I did not suppose the 

 queen would ever run out. But just tell me 

 the whole proceedings of finding any queen 

 in a hive that is full of bees as they are 

 now." 



"About eleven o'clock, having opened the 

 hive so carefully that the bees hardly know 

 they have been disturbed, and as carefully 

 removed the first frame on the side of the 

 hive next to you, look it over for the queen. 

 Having satisfied yourself that she is not 

 there, set the frame on the further side of 

 the box from you, and take out the next 



from the hive, carefully looking it over and 

 setting it in the box as you did the first. 

 On lifting the next frame you will have 

 plenty of room so you can readily look 

 down into the hive and on the face side of 

 the comb next to you; and as the sun lights 

 up all as 'plain as day,' if the queen is on 

 the face side of that frame you will see her 

 at a glance as she attempts to run around 

 to the opposite or dark side of the comb, as 

 nineteen out of every twenty queens will at- 

 tempt to do when the strong sunlight strikes 

 them. If jou do not see her, immediately 

 swing the frame you have in your hands so 

 the sunlight will strike the opposite side of 

 the comb, or the side that was from you 

 when you lifted it from the hive, for the 

 queen will be on one of these dark sides, if 

 anywhere. Now set this comb in the box, 

 if you have not seen the queen, and proceed 

 in the same way with the next, and so on 

 till you find the queen, or all of the frames 

 are out of the hive and in the box. It is a 

 rare thing I miss in finding the queen in 

 going through a hive like this, no matter 

 what the queen, and whether laying or 

 otherwise; and if, in the prolific part of the 

 season, or before the hive is full of bees and 

 brood, I do not usually have to lift more 

 than three combs at most before I find her, 

 if I keep in mind that she should be on one 

 of the two outside combs of brood." 



"But what about that case where you do 

 not find her before you have got all of the 

 combs in the box?" 



"If from any accident I have jarred the 

 hive, or got the bees uneasy or smoked too 

 much, I now look among the bees that are 

 left in the hive to see if she is there; and if 

 I do not find her I proceed to set the combs 

 back in the hive again, from the box, in the 

 same way they were set from the hive out. 

 But there is this difference: The box being 

 wider than the hive, I can look on the dark 

 sides of the combs when lifting the first 

 comb from the box, so that I do not have to 

 look the first two combs all over while in 

 my hands, as I did when taking from the 

 hive." 



"Do you ever miss finding the queen in 

 setting back from the box?" 



"I remember only one such case during 

 the last five years." 



"What do you do where you miss in find- 

 ing both times?" 



"Where such a thing as a failure should 

 occur, the hive is closed, and a trial is 

 made some other day." 



"How fast can you find them, on an 

 average?" 



"In the spring of the year, when seeing 

 that all have their wings clipped, it takes 

 but a short time to go over the whole apiary. 

 But at this time of the year it is more slow. 

 I went to the out-apiary a few days ago to 

 look for and clip some queens where I had 

 given cells three weeks previous, and I 

 made a record of nine in an hour, with 

 hives overflowing with bees, and supers to 

 take off and adjust again. I wish I could 

 do as well at any time of the year." 



