128 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 1 



Conversations with 

 Doolittle 



At Borodiao 



EABLY OR LATE SETTING OUT — WHICH? 



" I wish to talk with you about taking 

 colonies from the cellar. Shall I set them 

 out early or late?" 



"There is no set time as to when bees 

 should be taken out, for years vary so 

 that in some seasons the middle of March 

 is fully as early as the middle of April in 

 others. Our best apiarists are more often 

 governed by the forwardness of vegetation 

 than by any thing else. By very many the 

 right time used to be considered when the 

 elms and soft maples were in bloom. Oth- 

 ers left a few colonies on the suromer stands 

 during the winter; and when such colonies 

 commenced to find pollen from natural 

 sources, those wintered in the cellar were 

 brought out. Some years ago I set a part 

 of my bees out quite early in March when 

 there were two or three warm days so they 

 could fly nicely. As the weather turned cold 

 again, and continued unfavorable for the 

 flight of bees, all were left in the cellar till 

 about April 1, when about half of them were 

 set out. As the good weather did not con- 

 tinue, the others were left in the cellar till 

 nearly the first of May. As the seastm ad- 

 vanced it became evident that those set out 

 on April 1 were much the better off, as they 

 had brood in all stages w hen the later ones 

 had eggs only. As this brood came to ma- 

 turity thtse first colonies built up rapidly so 

 as to have the maximum number of bees 

 just in time for the white-clover harvest, 

 while those set out later did not come up to 

 the required standard till about ten days la- 

 ter, so that the result in comb honey was 

 not nearly equal to that of those having a 

 full force at the beginning of the flow. 



"On another occasion 1 set a part of the 

 bees out quite early, and then followed ten 

 days of snow and cold weather so that the 

 rest were not gotten out till three weeks 

 later. In this ins'ance the last out did 

 much the best, owing to many bees in the 

 first lot dying during the cold and snowy 

 time. It kept warm right along after the 

 last were set out; and as they had lost none 

 of their old bees they went to breeding with 

 a vim, so that very many of the colonies 

 had their hi\es practically full of brood 

 three weeks later, while those set out first 

 did not have bees enough to cover more 

 than two-thirds as much. 



"It is hard to tell just when to set bees 

 out, as you will see by the results of these 

 two instances I have given you. However, 

 as a rule you will not go far wrong to set 

 them out with the appearance of the first 

 pollen-producing flowers. I used to advo- 

 cate waiting till the elm and soft maple were 

 in bloom, as I spoke of at the beginning; 

 but from many years of experience my bees 

 which were set out when pollen from skunk 



cabbage first appeared have averaged better 

 than those set out later. Where bees winter 

 well in the cellar, there will be little brood 

 in any hives when set out; and the earlier 

 setting-out starts brood-rearing sooner than 

 with the later. I know that it used to be 

 argued that where bees were set out early it 

 took two old bees to perfect one young one; 

 while if set out when the weather had be- 

 come fairly settled and warm, one old bee 

 would perfect two young bees; therefore it 

 was iBuch to our advantage to wait till the 

 elm and soft maple bloomed, as in the 

 blooming of these trees nature told us that 

 settled warm weather had appeared." 



"But you mentioned settin , the bees out 

 early, thereby giving them a flight and then 

 returning them to the cellar and allowing 

 them to stay till the elms and soft maples 

 bloom. This would give the bees a chance 

 to unload, thus putting them in a healthy 

 condition, while it would start brood-rear- 

 ing as well, would it not? " 



"That depends very much on other 

 things. If there were only one or two days 

 in March or the first of April for a flight, as 

 is almost always the case in this locality, so 

 that the bees would have to be returned to 

 the cellar the next day, no more brood would 

 result than if the bees were left in, and all 

 the work required for this carrying out and 

 in would be thrown away. If in a locality 

 where a week or more of warm weather is 

 likely to occur in early March, so that the 

 brood started has progressed bejond the egg 

 state, all that in the larval or sealed form 

 would likely be perfected into het s after re- 

 turning to the cellar. But where colonies 

 are out only long enough for a few eggs to 

 be 'aid, this brood idea would cut no figure." 



"But giving the bees a chance to unload 

 would be beneficial, would it not? As I un- 

 derstand the matter, when in a normal 

 start of health, bees are compelled to void 

 their excreta at certain regular intervals. I 

 know that they do retain them during the 

 winter; and I am told that, just as soon as 

 set out, the fiist thing they do is to spot 

 every thing in the neighborhood." 



"If the bees are wintering so poorly that 

 the fronts of the hives are spotted to running 

 down with excreta, it doubtless would be 

 humane to set them out for a flight during 

 the last of February or in March, should a 

 day occur in which they could fly; but un- 

 der these conditions there will be litile dif- 

 ference in the end any way, for such colo- 

 nies will be of little value, if any at all, when 

 the white clover arrives, no matter how 

 many times they were set out and in. 

 Where bees are wintering well, your talk 

 about bees spotting every thing in the neigh- 

 borhood upon being set from the cellar is 

 quite unreasonable, for such is not a fact, 

 as very many colonies consume so little 

 when in winter quarters that they void lit- 

 tle more in setting them out than do those 

 during the summer after being shut in dur- 

 ing a three-days' storm. My advice is, not 

 to set the bees out till the time for leaving 

 them out for good has come." 



