GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apiary and poultry-house of Roscoe F. Wixson, conveniently located close together. 



winter does not lay as well as a pullet or a 

 year-old hen. Without the use of leg-bands 

 I often had trouble in telling the older 

 fowls. The hens are now so banded that 

 no fowl is kept for the third winter. The 

 bands are aiTanged in two sets of numbers, 

 the bands on the pullets being all No. 1, 

 while the year-olds are numbered 2. When 

 the yearlings arrive at the two-year mark 

 they are sold, and the bands changed to the 

 pullets of that year's raising. The selling 

 generally comes along in October, so they 

 are someAvhat over two years old when sold. 



For feeding I follow the balanced ration 

 given out by the experts at Cornell Univer- 

 sity. They consider 60 pounds of wheat, 

 60 pounds of corn, 30 pounds of oats, and 

 30 pounds of buckwheat mixed together an 

 ideal feed for winter use. During the late 

 frll and winter, ground bone and meat can 

 be obtained at the markets. This food will 

 induce hens to lay when all others fail. At 

 this writing, November 28, it is impossible 

 to procure the ground bone, so I am feeding 

 m^at scraps with good results. 



In looking over the books for 1913 up to 

 the present time, I find that the total num- 

 ber of egg-s sold from 23 hens is 2495. In 

 this amount no attention has been paid to 

 the number used in the household during 

 the year for cooking. The hens still have 

 yet a month left to their credit before the 

 year is up. At the present, the average 

 yield per day amounts to about 9. There- 

 fore for December they would have at least 

 270 more, which would bring a total of 



2765, or an average of 120 eggs per hen for 

 the year. If the total number used for 

 cooking were known, quite a good showing 

 could be made. 



By also referring to the books, results 

 show that the hens up to the present time 

 have i^aid me a profit of 95 cents each. This 

 does not take into consideration the value of 

 17 pullets, although the cost of raising them 

 has been charged to the hens. 



Ever since the spring of 1905 I have been 

 interested in bees. Last season gave me some 

 experience, and also a fair crop of honey 

 from thirty colonies of bees, spring count. 

 In the Aug. 1st issue, page 525, I told some 

 of my experiences in regard to beekeeping, 

 so I will give only a brief report of last 

 season. The total number of sections of 

 honey produced amounted to 1397. In addi- 

 tion to this I obtained about 500 pounds of 

 extracted honey. On account of a number 

 of colonies being reinfected with foul brood 

 in the spring, there was an increase of only 

 11 colonies. When the season commenced, 

 it never occurred to me that an extractor is 

 a necet^sity in every bee-yard, especially 

 when one increases by artificial methods. 

 By July 1 I realized the great importance 

 of a machine, and ordered one, but it did 

 not arrive until the latter part of July, so 

 I was able to procure the above amount 

 only. I have no doubt that 1000 pounds of 

 extracted honey could have been produced 

 if the extractor had been in the yard the 

 entire season. 



There is considerable profit and pleasure 



