Makiii. 1917 



A X I N G S T N 15 K K C I' 1> T f H K 



179 



-«,.g»»- 



Ffi'diiig vi'vy thin syrup outdoors with thin Ijoards for floats. 



bee busiut'ss J was confronted witli the 

 swarming problem. I studied the various 

 conditions that were calculated to cause 

 swarming, and worked out a system that has 

 proven \evy successful in the production of 

 extracted honey. During the season of 

 1916, in this vicinity, every one's bees 

 swarmed, and continued to swarm, except 

 mine, so I am pretty sure the system is all 

 right. 



HOW I CONTROL SWARMING. 



I use full sheets of comb foundation in 

 the brood and extracting frames, to avoid 

 the raising of drones in large numbers, 

 which is one of the causes of swarming. 



I inei'ease the size of the entrances ju.st 

 before the honey-tlow opens, giving ])lenty 

 of ventilation. 1 give a super of combs, cut 

 deep wdien extracting, so as to be just right 

 for the queen to lay in, just as soon as the 

 bees cover the combs in the brood-nest near- 

 ly to the outside, giving the queen abun- 

 dance of laying room. I give another if re- 

 quired before July first. 



July 1 a queen-excluder is placed be- 

 tween the brood-nest and supers. July 

 4 or 5 the queens are easily found, and 

 placed below the excluder if they are not 

 already there. This date is selected for 

 two pui'poses: First, the brond-chamber at 

 this time is usually right for the queen, she 

 having been above for several we?ks; and 

 the honey-flow being at its height, the bees 

 naturally fill cells witli honey as soon as the 

 brood emerges. Thus conditions ai'e still 

 normal, the queen unerowded, and there is 

 plenty of storage room. Yet if it is a very 

 strong colony an additional super is given 

 at this time, and still another later if re- 



(liiiied, putting a final check on swarming. 

 The other reason for selecting July 4 or 5 

 to put on the excluders is that by the first 

 of August all brood is out of the supers; 

 and as the white flow has just ceased, the 

 honey is immediately taken otf with bee- 

 escapes. 



The above plan is figured out for this 

 Wcinity and for our particular honey-flow. 

 In other localities the dates would have to be 

 changed somewhat. 



TAKING THE HONEY OFF THE HIVES. 



As I use the queen-excluder 1 can easily 

 get the bees out of the supers with the 

 Porter bee-escape. It takes but a fraction 

 of a mitiute to insert one. I use enough 

 of them for the whole apiary, taking off 

 i)ut one super at a time with each escape. 



To economize in time, all honey is taken 

 off before extracting. I heat the honey in 

 the extracting-rcom with oil-stoves. This 

 makes uncapping and extracting easy; and 

 as there are no bees in the room it is much 

 more pleasant working. 



In time the tops and bottoms of brood 

 and extracting combs become more or less 

 covered with i^ropolis and wax, and burr- 

 combs will be run from one comb to an- 

 other. In the spring, when the colonies are 

 light, there is no honey in these burr-combs, 

 and they are easily cut out and the tops of 

 the brood-frames scraped clean, making it 

 much easier to work in the hives later on. 

 I find it very profitable to do this, and to 

 clean all extracting-combs likewise. The 

 amount of wax the scrapings contain will 

 pay well for the time expended. What 

 appears to be clear propolis is about h.alf 



