July, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



REGULAR. COMBS FOR FORMING NUCLEI. 



" I wish to rear some queens for use in my 

 apiaiy, as I think I have a good breeding 

 queen. Had I better adopt the little nu- 

 cleus hives queen-breeders use or use the 

 regular-sized combs of my brood-chambers? 

 How shall I form nuclei if I use my brood- 

 combs for that purpose?" 



From my standpoint, the best size of 

 frame for the practical beekeeper to use in 

 queen-rearing is the one used in producing 

 honey. This is especially applicable to the 

 one who has been a beekeeper only a short 

 time. For a few seasons, soon after I be- 

 gan beekeeping, I tried raising queens in 

 small hives holding four frames about eight 

 inches square. The failures I met by using 

 these small hives and frames were so numer- 

 ous that I became disgusted and almost dis- 

 couraged; but as I was hoping to overcome 

 all difficulties, I kept at it until I learned a 

 better way — using full-sized frames. The 

 bees work more to our profit when the regu- 

 lar-sized frame is used; for if any comb is 

 built by the nuclei it is in just the frames 

 we want it, and always of the size of cells 

 we wish, as these small colonies build only 

 worker comb. 



After deciding on full-sized frames I 

 reared quite a few queens the next season 

 for my own use ; and I so much enjoyed the 

 bees' work in building new combs and patch- 

 ing up old ones that I could scarcely go into 

 the apiary without taking a peep into some 

 of the nuclei. Where I have combs in which 

 the mice have gnawed holes, or the bees 

 have made holes by cutting out moldy pol- 

 len, or combs from which I have cut out 

 little patches of drone comb I always give 

 ihem to these nuclei when forming them; 

 and as soon as the young queen commences 

 to lay, the bees will commence to build comb 

 and repair these places if honey is coming 

 in from the fields, or if they are fed when 

 no honey is to be obtained. By leaving. the 

 young queen with them the leng-th of time 

 required, we have our combs all made over 

 new, nearly or quite as good as those built 

 out on foundation, thus saving the cost of 

 foundation and the work of putting it in 

 the frames. (At times when no queen-rear- 

 ing is going on such combs can be given to 

 any colony in which a young queen has 

 just commenced to lay; and if lier colony is 

 not too strong, and if there is no excessive 



flow of nectar on at the time, such combs 

 will be repaired in good shape.) 



TO PREVENT ROBBING. 



With nuclei on small frames and in small 

 hives there is often trouble from robbing; 

 but by using the regular-sized hive, and 

 placing the nucleus on one side of it, with a 

 follower next to the two, three, or four 

 combs used, while the entrance is at the 

 other side, no nucleus large enough to hold 

 a queen to advantage will ever be robbed 

 out. In other words, suppose that the en- 

 trance used is the full width of the hive, 

 and that the hive fronts south. Form the 

 nucleus on the east side of the hive, using 

 two combs, one of honey and one of brood. 

 Put the comb of honey next the side of the 

 hive, and the one of brood next, so the 

 comb of honey will be beyond the brood, on 

 which the bees will mostly cluster. Next to 

 these combs put the follower, division-board, 

 or dummy, which should lack, say, five-six- 

 teenths inch of reaching the floor. Now 

 close up all the entrance except one inch in 

 length at the west side of the hive. I have 

 not had a single nucleus robbed out since I 

 discovered this plan forty years ago. 



I use tliis way to prevent robbing of 

 weak colonies in early spring, when robbers 

 are more persistent than at any other time 

 of year. In order to get at the honey, when 

 fixed in this way, the robber has first to 

 pass thru a small entrance into an empty 

 space where it is liable to be seized by one 

 or more sentinels, then travel in the dark 

 thru danger till the follower is reached, 

 underneath wliich it must go thru scores of 

 sentinels. Should the robber arrive there, 

 no honey will be found, but, instead, the 

 colony, strongly protected and garrisoned 

 by all the warriors, while the treasure tlie 

 robber covets is still beyond. 



Suppose I wish a nucleus in the next hive 

 of the same row as the one described above. 

 In this hive I place the two frames and 

 dummy next the west side of the hive while 

 the entrance is on the east side. The next 

 hive is just the opposite, and the next like 

 the second, and so on in alternation to the 

 end. In this way the young bees do not 

 mix; and ii- returning from their wedding- 

 flights no queens are lost by entering the 

 wrong liive. 



TO :MAKE THE BEES STAY. 



To form a nucleus from a colony in the 

 home apiary and have the bees stay where 



