436 



Gleanings in Bee CuUiire 



pump I put a little cool air in at the entrance 

 of a colony, and it made them wild. 



In regard to smoking bees at the entrance, 

 I wish to refer to Dr. Miller's comments on 

 smoking at the entrance, in the American 

 Bee Journal, page 134, where he says, " If 

 the sum total of smoke be the same in each 

 case, will not the interruption and confusion 

 be the same?" I can not quite agree with 

 Dr. M. in this case. A little further on he 

 says, "If I am correct, Mhen a hive is jarred 

 the bees come out at the entrance to attack 

 the disturber, and a little smoke at the en- 

 trance quiets these guards." The way I 

 handle bees, I have failed to discover that 

 jarring has any effect on a colony; and it is 

 seldom that any bees come out at the en- 

 trance to attack me, and I use no smoke at 

 the entrance. I am referring now to the 

 time when it is warm, and at least a little 

 honey is coming in. 



Let us take two colonies with the same 

 disposition. One we will smoke at the en- 

 trance. The first ])uflf of smoke striking 

 the guards in the face turns them end for 

 end, so they start for the inside of the hive, 

 and they start roaring, which excites the 

 whole colony. If we give them any more 

 smoke at the entrance we drive the bees to 

 the top of the frames; and when we remove 

 the cover, for every puflf of smoke given at 

 the entrance we must vise two to drive the 

 bees down. We find we have made bad 

 work of it; and the result is, we have destroy- 

 ed the benefits of a quick observation to de- 

 termine the true condition of a colony. A 

 man with a few colonies can get along al- 

 most any way; but the one with several hun- 

 dred must cut out unnecessary work. 



Let VIS go to the other colony. It is better 

 to approach it in a way so the guards will 

 not discover us. We place a hand on each 

 end of a cover, and it comes off quickly. 

 How do we find them? No bees are coming 

 out at the entrance to attack us. Why? Be- 

 cause the first disturbance is above them, 

 attracting their attention to the top of the 

 hives. They are crawling toward us, and 

 we have all the bees facing us ready for the 

 first puff of smoke. We can now judge the 

 true condition of a colony. To explain this 

 more fully, let me show you how I go through 

 100 colonies in one hour, just to find out 

 their condition. I believe I have examined 

 100 colonies in 30 minutes. It is only once 

 in the season I do this. Some may think it 

 is not advisable to do this, but it ]iays me. 

 The first time I go over my bees in the spring 

 is only to scrape the under side of the covers 

 and to]! of the frames. 



The second time, I choose a warm day about 

 the time fruit-trees are coming in bloom. I 

 do not take out any frames nor do any work 

 with the colonies, but find out their condi- 

 tion. First, if there is a colony that has 

 lost its queen during the winter or early 

 spring the bees show it the instant we re- 

 move the cover. Second, we look for young 

 bees. Third, one puff of smoke over the top 

 of the frames starts the bees downward, and 

 we look for sealed honey. Fourth, the con- 



dition of the colony regarding its strength. 

 Fifth, the record. This record is worth to 

 me ten times its actual cost. In going over 

 these colonies we use no smoke at the en- 

 trance. We ha\e the smoker going; and 

 when we come to a colony we set the smok- 

 er on the ground, using both hands to re- 

 move the cover, and with one hand we bring 

 the cover in front of the hive, striking one 

 corner on the ground, dislodging all the bees 

 from the under side of the cover. 



At the same time, with the other hand we 

 bring the smoker just above the hive and 

 give them one puff of smoke to start the 

 bees down. The hive has not been open 

 more than six or eight seconds to find out 

 the condition of the colony. We put the 

 cover on just as quickly as it was removed. 

 There is not a bee in the way, and this cover 

 sometimes comes tlown with quite a little 

 jar; but bees seem to pay no attention to 

 such jarring. One or two puffs of smoke at 

 the entrance will cause more excitement 

 than a dozen such light jars. 



When the co\er is on we place a brick on 

 it, and this brick we use to keep the record. 

 If the hives face the east, and it is a strong 

 colony, we place the brick on one edge so 

 the ends point east and west; for medium, 

 northeast and southwest; and if very poor, 

 the ends of the brick point north and south. 

 When it is time to put on the first upper 

 stories I can go near the middle of my home 

 yard, where there are 175 colonies, and I 

 know their condition just as fast as the eye 

 can catch those bricks, and we have to open 

 only the strong colonies. Later in the sea- 

 son, when the first upper stories are partly 

 filled, by observing the bees at the entrance 

 I can tell almost every colony that will soon 

 need more room. 



Mancelona, Mich. 



[Our views are given in part on this sub- 

 ject on page 384 of our last issue. Our cor- 

 respondent raises the question whether it 

 ever pays to use smoke at the entrance. 

 This is a good subject for discussion. Let 

 others join. — Ed.] 



MORE ABOUT WINTERING A SURPLUS OF 

 QUEENS IN ONE COLONY. 



It is Worth a Trial. 



BY G. W. JOICE. 



In Gleanings, page 221, April 1, many 

 readers jierhaps noticed a communicatinn 

 from the writer concerning the problem of 

 wintering a suri)lus of queens in one colony. 

 The many queen-breeders who have written 

 me for further particulars will find all my 

 answers in (ileanings, as I can not reply 

 to these questions by mail. ^ 



To start in at the beginning, I try to raise 

 a surplus of queens after the main honey- 

 flow, or in August. I introduce these 

 queens to nuclei, giving one to each nucleus. 

 This may be done by feeding a little syrup, 

 and I think it is safer to fill the bees in the 



