450 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE OULTL'RE 



June, 1917 



^=^ 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



bunch of bees brushed off on the ground, 

 seeking their queen, will rise in the air, 

 hover about in search of her, and gTadually 

 return to the hive they came from. When- 

 ever you see a nice little army of bees 

 marching into a hive, fanning as they go, 

 you have found the hive that originally east 

 the swarm. If it is in the middle of the day 

 and the bees are very active in front of all 

 hives, it will be difficult to tell, unless you 

 dust some flour on the few bees brushed off 

 on the ground. 



Another way to tell which hive the swarm 

 came from is to find the queen, put her in 

 a cage and remove her, and the bees Avill 

 then return to the hive they came from, 

 provided no other swarm happened to be 

 flying at the time. The first plan is the 

 quickest, for it is not always possible to find 

 the queen quickly ; and, besides, there is 

 then no increase, as the swarm goes back 

 where it came from. Either plan will work 

 when there is no other swarming going on 

 in the yard. If other swarms are out, wait 

 until about three in the afternoon when 

 swarming is well over for the day. The 

 dusting with flour is not always necessary 

 but is helpful. I have found occasional 

 bees with flour on their coats going into 

 several different hives, which jDroves that in- 

 dividual bees from different hives join a 

 swarm when they hear what is going on. 

 Geo. W. Strangways. 



Elora, Out., Canada. 



Instantaneous Increase 



One day I drove to one of my outj^ards 

 intending to introduce a few queens. I 

 found that one of the colonies that I had 

 marked for requeening had relieved me of 

 I he job by superseding their queen, which 

 left me with one queen that I had no place 

 for. As many of the colonies were so 

 strong that they could spare both brood 

 and bees I decided to form a new colony, 

 little thinking that by so doing I was stum- 

 bling on to a method of increase that I had 

 often wished for — a method that would give 

 me comb-builders, nurse bees, field bees, and 

 a laying queen, the whole job being com- 

 pleted at one trip to the yard. 



I placed the bottom-board and empty 

 hive-body on a new stand with a cover and 

 super cover near by. The entrance was 

 plugged with grass, except a two-inch hole 

 in the center. I then filled the hive-body 



with bees and brood from colonies tkat had 

 plenty to spare; and, after putting on the 

 cover, introduced the queen by the smoke 

 method. 



I returned to the yard after dinner; and 

 because of the unusual amount of activity 

 at the new colony my first thought was rob- 

 bers, but I found the excitement was due to 

 the young bees taking their playspell. Then 

 I saw something else which is very unusual 

 with artificial increase. Old bees were 

 coming and going just as they do in any 

 normal colony. My curiosity got the best 

 of me; and, even tho I had just introduced 

 a queen, I looked inside the hive. The 

 queen was there doing business, and no one 

 would have imagined that the colony had 

 been made artificially less than six hours 

 before. 



With all other forms of artificial increase 

 that I have any knowledge of, the old bees 

 will return to the hive they were taken from, 

 leaving the colony made up largely of young 

 bees, too young to do field work. The only 

 explanation I can offer why they do not 

 do so with this plan is that they are taken 

 from different colonies and are thoroly mix- 

 ed up, and that they received so good a 

 smoking when the queen is introduced that, 

 when they are released, they mark the new 

 location. 



Befoi'e I left the yard I put on a super, 

 and at my next trip I found the colony just 

 as far advanced as any in the yard. Know- 

 ing full well that one trial does not prove 

 the merits of any method I kept on trying, 

 and the results were always the same. Af- 

 ter repeated trials I found that the best 

 time of the day to make the increase is in 

 the early morning while the old bees are at 

 home. In that way a better force of field 

 bees is secured. 



There is another factor that may have 

 something to do with the success of this 

 method. My queens are all raised and mat- 

 ed at my home yard; and when caged to be 

 taken to the outyard I do not put in any 

 escorts, neither do I provide any food, so 

 the method of introducing that I use might 

 be called a combination of the starvation 

 and the smoke method. I have seen quite a 

 number of unfavorable reports on the smoke 

 method, but up to date I have liad but one 

 failure and then the fault was not with the 

 method but with the man who was using it. 

 I know that queens taken from one colony 

 and put into another one inside of an hour 

 are very easily accepted, but I have also 



