140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Maech, 1920 



VALUE OF PACKAGE BEES 



cA Means for ^ick ^-stocking. 



Some Things Bee-breeders Should Do. 



A Test of Twenty-five Packages 



By H. F. Wilson 



PACKAGE 

 bees may not 

 be one of the 

 wonderful ad- 

 vances in bee- 

 keeping, but I 

 believe that 

 they are to play 

 a very large part 

 in the future de- 

 velopment of the industry. Many successes 

 have been recorded, but only a few of the 

 many failures are reported. I believe pack- 

 age bees have passed the experimental 

 stage, and that the business will continue to 

 increase for a time. It seems quite likely, 

 however, that there will be a slump some- 

 time in the future, for the simple reason 

 that the present increased interest in bee- 

 keeping will fall off, to a more or less ex- 

 tent, when conditions again become normal. 

 At the present time hundreds of people are 

 going into the business who will not follow 

 it up when they begin to meet with the dif- 

 ficulties which must come to the inexperienc- 

 ed. I do not mean to say that beekeeping 

 is not going to continue growing, for I am 

 sure it will, and it is bound to become a 

 more popular business every year. However, 

 there are a lot of mushrooms being started 

 right now that are going to turn to puff 

 balls, and loud will be the report when they 

 burst. 



Package bees are in great demand at pres- 

 ent, because it is almost impossible to buy 

 bees in small colony lots, and comparative- 

 ly few large bee-yards are changing hands. 

 At least, this is true in "Wisconsin. They 

 are also in demand because many beekeepers 

 are making a new start or are increasing 

 their holdings and cannot buy the bees in 



colonies. It is 

 also a desirable 

 way to secure 

 bees, with a rea- 

 sonable degree 

 of certainty 

 that no disease 

 will accompany 

 them. 

 At $10 or even 

 $15 a colony, I believe it is cheaper to buy 

 bees by the colony than by the package, pro- 

 vided the colonies are strong and in good 

 standard hives. It is to be presumed also 

 that the colonies will be free from disease. 

 A three-pound package of bees plus hive 

 and frames with foundation will easily cost 

 ten dollars. A colony of the same strength, 

 with a good young queen started May first, 

 will produce double the crop of that secured 

 from a three-pound package on sheets of 

 foundation. 



Many of our beekeepers have also met 

 with disastrous adventures in buying pack- 

 age bees, because they did not get the bees 

 at the promised time in the spring. One 

 beekeeper in our own State made a deal for 

 a large number of packages, and, while his 

 order called for early spring delivery, he 

 was still receiving a part of his shipment in 

 August. It would be well for bee-breeders 

 to take note of this and put their house in 

 order, for nothing will harm the package 

 business more than late deliveries. I do 

 not wish to discredit any breeders; but I do 

 think the buyer has been getting a bad deal 

 in many eases, especially when he has to 

 put up the money in advance and does not 

 get his order filled until midsummer. Surely 

 this money could be handled thru our bank- 

 ing system so that the breeder will be guar- 



Wilson and Fracker's 20 colonies started from two-pound packages. 



