MAY 1. 1916 



367 



not only know how to produce fine comb 

 honey, but they know how to produce it at 

 the lowest possible cost. That prince of 

 comb-honey producers, Mr. M. A. Gill, his 

 wife, and one helper have managed as many 

 as 1000 colonies, producing 70,000 lbs. of 

 comb honey in one season by the shook- 

 swarm method, and the plan works as well 

 here as there. 



Every one knows the plan, but I will give 

 a few details which we have found good. 

 Clip the queens early. Equalize the brood 

 in fruit-bloom to keep early swarming, 

 down. Put supers with a few baits in them 

 on before the white flow begins. Better be 

 ten days ahead of time than one day late. 

 Put a shade-board on all colonies in. the 

 sun, and raise the hive up an inch from (he 

 bottom-board a little before the swarming 

 season. Make a date, before swarming be- 

 gins, for visiting each yard once a week to 

 examine all colonies for cells. If in a hurry, 

 we tip the hive back and look between the 

 frames for cells. We may miss one occa- 

 sionally ; but as the queens are clipped they 

 will not get away before the next trip, when 

 we shall probably discover the cells. 



We have tried to discoui-age swarming 

 by destroying cells; but as a rule we have 

 found that it does not pay at this regular 

 swarming period. When the bees of a colo- 

 ny once get eggs and larvae in queen-cells 

 they have gone too far to change their mind 

 in a hurry, and the best thing to do is to 

 satisfy their desire. The queen has eased 

 up on egg-production; the workers have 

 begnin to secrete an abundance of wax; 

 there is honey in the fields, and everything 

 is as nature intended for the making of a 

 new home. Don't spoil all this preparation 

 by compelling them to forget it by cutting 

 cells, caging queens, dequeening, etc. Take 

 advantage of this natural impulse and let 

 them get the fever out of their system by 

 woi'king it out, which they will do if given 

 an empty brood-chamber. We might as well 

 try to get eggs from a sitting hen as to try 

 to get good work from bees with the swarm- 

 ing fever. Give them an empty home, and 

 they will work like beavers. 



Don't make the mistake of hiving on 

 combs or full sheets of foundation if you 

 desire to get as much fancy comb honey as 

 possible. With starters in the frames and 

 full sheets in the sections, the inducement 

 to store is practically all in the sections. 

 With full sheets of foundation in the frames 

 the inducement is largely in the brood- 

 chamber. With combs in the frames the 

 inducement is about all in the brood-cham- 

 ber, with a consequent crowding of the 

 queen, and poor work in the sections. 



When egg-s and larvae are found in queen- 



cells, shake on starters on the old stand, 

 and set the old hive at one side or corner 

 of the new. Don't shake too many bees at 

 the first shake. In two or three days con- 

 tract the swarm to the capacity of six L. 

 frames, and put on the sections from the 

 old colony. In six or seven days after 

 shaking, shake one-half or one-third of the 

 remaining bees from the old hive in front 

 of the swarm, and move the old hive to 

 another part of the yard to build up for 

 winter. There will be no after-swarming, 

 as the first queen out will destroy all re- 

 maining cells. This colony will usually 

 build up in fine shape for winter, and, hav- 

 ing a young queen, will be one of the best 

 the next spring. Before the fall flow, the 

 .swarm's brood-nest should be increased to 

 eight L. frames capacity to allow them to 

 build up for winter, and to prevent late 

 swarming which might happen if left on six 

 frames. But use full sheets of foundation 

 in the frames at this time. 



There will not be much drone comb built 

 in the six frames of starters if the queen is 

 good and plenty of room is given in the 

 boxes. A little sorting and patching in the 

 fall or the next spring will make everything 

 all right. Combs built from starters are 

 much superior to many of the combs built 

 from full sheets of foundation, as there is 

 no sagging of cells, and brood will be reared 

 up to the top-bar, which is quite an item 

 in comb-honey production. 



As European foul brood is now pretty 

 well scattered, most of us must keep Ital- 

 ians; and as they dislike to leave the brood- 

 chamber we must plan to force them into 

 the supers by using small hives and hiving 

 on a contracted brood-chamber. 



I know beekeepers who have had fair 

 success in producing comb honey with black 

 bees; but after they Italianized, they made 

 miserable failures by the same methods. 

 The cause is large brood-chambers and hiv- 

 ing in full-sized hives on full sheets of 

 foundation in the frames. 



DOES THE CENTRAL EXTRACTING-PLANT 

 SPREAD FOUL BROOD? 



From my experience I would say that the 

 danger is great. There is always more or 

 less dri^D on the wagon or auto, and robbers 

 are always around when loading or unload- 

 ing; and with ordinary help the combs from 

 different yards are sure to get mixed. 



Some of the worst scrapes I have been 

 in with horses have been in hauling full 

 combs home to extract. 



We have also used a tent for extracting; 

 but hereafter we want a bee-tight house at 

 each yard. 



East Syracuse, N. Y. 



