GLEANING S IN BEE CULTURE 



c 



Beginners 



H. H. 



July, 1917 



AS S TIMING 

 t h a t i li e 

 p r e 1 iniiii- 

 ary work with 

 the bees has been 

 oared for, as 

 outlined in Les- 

 son No. 5, in the 

 last number, wa lesson no. 6.— the 



are now face to face with that very im- 

 portant part of the beekeeper's year, the 

 honey harvest. 



For convenience, three factors may be 

 mentioned which have the most to do with 

 the success of the undertaking, here named 

 in the order of their importance — the 

 honey-flow, the queen, and the manage- 

 ment. 



The hone,v - tlow depends upon locality 

 and the season. Since the average beginner 

 can not change either one, and since it is 

 out of the province of this series of lessons 

 to point out the advantages of certain lo- 

 calities over others situated a few miles dis- 

 tant, we shall pass on to a brief considei-a- 

 tion of the second factor, the queen. Few 

 beginners realize how much depends upon 

 the queen. With a locality second to none, 

 an ideal season, and the very best of 

 management, a colony with a queen of poor 

 stock, or with one that is failing, is likely 

 to be a useless consumer rather than a pro- 

 ducer — a source of expense rather than of 

 profit. In fact, there is no time when a 

 poor queen shows up so noticeably as at the 

 opening of the honey-flow. If the queen 

 is not vigorous and prolific, and has not 

 been able, therefore, to keep expanding the 

 brood-nest as the warm weather warrants, 

 thus furnishing by the time the main honey- 



' Lessons 



Root 



1 



E 



539 



flow commences 

 a hive fairly 

 boiling over with 

 bees, a n d (a 

 brood - nest a 1- 

 most solid with 

 brood in all 

 stages, the bees. 

 honey harvest. when the first 



rush of the new honey commences, will 

 have a considerable amount of room for 

 the storage of honey in the brood-combs, 

 and invariably will start storing the honey 

 close around the brood, and filling the cells 

 from which the bees hatch, thus " clogging " 

 the brood-combs with honey and limiting 

 the already deficient queen in her room for 

 laying eggs. Once having begun storing in 

 the brood-combs, the bees are very slow 

 about entering the super, and are more like- 

 ly to swarm because of the ovei'crowded 

 condition tlian to stick steadily to their 

 work of biinging in honey. The very best 

 way to avoid such a condition is to see that 

 the colony has a vigorous young queen of 

 good stock; in fact, if there is any doubt 

 about the queen she should be replaced by 

 a new queen some time after the first honey- 

 flow is over and before tlie fall honey-flow 

 begins. This will not help out in honey 

 production very much the first season, but 

 is a mighty good form of insurance for the 

 next season. There is just as much dif- 

 ference in queens as in hens; and such differ- 

 ences are quite as important, if not more 

 important, because more is at stake. 



THE best management. 



With a good queen, the upper story, soon 

 after being put on as recommended in the 

 last lesson, will become a part of the brood- 







»*a: 



It is poor policy to have any queens that are not prolific. Wlu-u Hkic i.s a.s nunh ilrune 

 brood as this the combs should be replaced. A good queen ouffht to have her brood-chamber so 

 packed with brood at the opening of the honey-flow that there will be very little room, for honey except 

 in the super. 



