26 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



in existence than a half-feathered Light 

 Brahma chick I have yet to see it. I have 

 never been out of hens since. I commenced 

 beeli:eeping in 1871, and have enjoyed both 

 as well as helped to keep the family pocket- 

 book from getting entirely emjoty at times. 



I have kept many pure breeds and some 

 crosses; but after all these years and the 

 experiences which they have brought me T 

 prefer the White Wyandottes for a general 

 all-round-purpose money-making fowl. If 

 well bred I find them healthy, good feeders, 

 good layers of handsome eggs, and always 

 ready for market from broiler size to adult 

 fowl. I have of late years tried the Rhode 

 Island Reds and Barred Rocks beside them, 

 and found the White Wyandottes ahead in 

 many respects. I have hatched for thirty 

 years, mainly with incubators, and raised in 

 brooders. I used at first the Monarch as 

 made by James Rarkin ; later the Cypress 

 incubators and brooders, which we have 

 found perfectly satisfactory if given proper 

 care. We hatched chicks then by the hun- 

 dreds for several years, and had very little 

 loss by disease, my husband using the incu- 

 bators and I the brooders, and caring for 

 the laying hens. For the last 15 years I 

 have kept from 50 to 100 layers, and raised 

 from 100 to 200 chicks, seldom with a loss 

 of more than half a dozen for the trying 

 time the first two weeks. 



I know well from experience that bees 

 and poultry go well together in the way I 

 manage it. While my husband is running 

 the incubators in March and April (as we 

 must hatch in those months in this State to 

 get well-matured pullets for winter laying), 

 I am looking over the brooders, cleaning 

 them out, etc., and any thing needful, doing 

 also the same with the bees. We ran a bee- 

 supply business at our village; had for 15 

 years before coming to the farm, and I did 

 about all the nailing and painting, putting- 

 together the frames and other inside work 

 of the hives, so I well know how to do it, 

 and enjoy doing it. Still, when the chicks 

 hatch I take the sole charge of them and the 

 brooders. After the bees are all looked over 

 in April there is not much to do for them, 

 so I give the chicks my sole attention for 

 two weeks, then get them on to dry chick 

 feed; and after that, with full feed and 

 water-dishes, they nearly care for them- 

 selves. V/hen the busy time comes with the 

 bees in July, swarming time, as I have my 

 queens all clipped, and practice brushed 

 swarming, I soon have them so but little 

 needs to be done for them except to give 

 them room if needed; and as I have their 

 fixtures all ready in early sming I have 

 nothing to do but set on the filled supers. 



About Aug. 1 I take ot¥ all clover honey. 



prepare the hives for the fall flow from 

 goldenrod, fireweed, and aster; cut out and 

 sell all the cockerels that have reached the 

 broiler size, and all the undersized pullets; 

 sell alive all my two-year-old hens, which 

 compose about half my flock of about 100, 

 leaving room for my 50 or more pullets 

 which I get into the house for winter laying. 

 I sell all my stock alive to a neighbor who 

 sui)23lies a large summer hotel. My bees 

 usually get enough for winter from the fall 

 flow, and seldom swarm after July. So I 

 generally have little feeding, if any, to do ; 

 so by October I am pushing my pullets with 

 good feed, and get them to laying by 

 Thanksgiving or before. 

 Auburn, Maine. 



OLD HIVES RETAIN THEIR VALUE 



Painting Necessary 



BY L, W. CROVATT 



Apropos of the discussion, p. 750, Nov. 

 1, regarding the value of old hives to the 

 producer of honey, I wish to say that the 

 article was correct in all essential details, as 

 has been demonstrated in a practical man- 

 ner in my own yard. Dr. John S. Howkins, 

 who was, perhaps, one of the largest bee- 

 keepers of this section of Georgia, had at 

 one time 400 colonies located in West Sa- 

 vannah. Illness caused the physician to turn 

 the active management of his yard over to 

 other parties, and, as usual, neglect caused 

 a quick deterioration both as I'egards the 

 attractive appearance of the yard and the 

 production of honey, the bees having been 

 allowed to dwindle rapidly. 



After one year Dr. Howkins decided that 

 to attempt caring for his bees was out of 

 the question; and at the eleventh hour, in a 

 fig-urative sense, I was called upon to take 

 over the bees and fixtures. Of the latter 

 there were, perhaps, some hundreds of 

 frames and a hundred hives. These had 

 been in use for three or four years, some 

 longer; but after getting the bees and 

 empty hives to my home yard I immediately 

 stored them out of the weather and made 

 such small repairs as necessary, this being 

 largely in the form of new rabbets, etc. The 

 hive-bodies, after exposure to the elements, 

 have proven, after a thorough examination, 

 to be absolutely sound, only about ten or 

 twelve being bad. These were discarded, 

 and the sound ones again placed in use. The 

 old hives are doing full service, having been 

 in use in my yard for over nine months, and 

 lliey compare favorably with the new ones 

 — that is, stock made up for increase, etc., 

 within the past few months. 



