.38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1920 



EXTRACTED-HONEY PRODUCTION 



Gets Increase and 30 to 50 Pounds More per Col- 

 ony, all with no Swarming 



As we are constantly receiving tliru the 

 mail so many inquiries as to our hives, 

 methods, and systems, we have decided to 

 select this channel to answer all the ques- 

 tions simultaneously. We would like to say 

 to the beekeeping fraternity that what we 

 are contributing is from our close observa- 

 tion and lifelong experience. 



After testing different sizes of hives and 

 giving all the attention we thought the dif- 

 ferent systems required, we found we could 

 seldom get the same results with any par- 

 ticular hive. For instance, with our 10- 

 frame hives we could get along nicely, build 

 up in prosperous shape for the clover, often 

 two or three stories high, when all at once 

 Dame Nature might pass into a cloudy pe- 

 riod for two or three days, and when the 

 earth took on her brightness again the colo- 

 nies would begin to show the greatest ac- 

 tivity. Some years ago we experienced such 

 a season, when in less than eight minutes 

 we had six swarms in the air at the same 

 time. What a jollification! Now some of 

 the beekeepers of today would call this good 

 luck, but we find at this period whenever a 

 swarm issues it means only one-half of a 

 clover crop. If there only could be some 

 means devised that would keep the bees con- 

 tented, rain or shine, and hold the whole 

 working force in readiness for the clover 



harvest! Perhaps it would be well to men- 

 tion that we sometimes have three bodies 

 high by the 25th of June, and in ordinary 

 seasons add extra bodies as fast as needed. 



After giving every make and size of hive 

 a trial we adopted what we call the Business 

 Man's Hive, which is 20 inches square, out- 

 side measurements, 10 inches deep, and con- 

 tains standard self-spacing frames (Hoff- 

 man). We are strongly in favor of stan- 

 dardizing everything pertaining to a bee- 

 yard. With a 13-franie hive and a follower 

 we can contract to either 8, 10, or 12 frames 

 if we ever have any occasion to do so. But 

 with our three-banders and young queens, 

 we find that this size is none too large. 

 They always have plenty of honey to back 

 up their brood-rearing and for this reason 

 always surge ahead. 



Let me outline a little of our method of 

 handling bees. After settled weather 

 during sweet-cherry bloom, Myers and my- 

 self start clipping queens' wings and mark- 

 ing conditions of each hive. We have clip- 

 ped as high as 75 in a day. When clipping 

 the queens ' wings we always select colonies 

 for our breeders. Then June 10 to 15 we 

 start queen-cells from these colonies with 

 choice queens by removing old queens with 

 two frames of hatching brood forming a 

 nucleus, and add one comb of honey and 

 two empty drawn combs and place the nu- 

 cleus in a new location. We do this with as 

 many as we think we shall require, allowing 

 an average of 20 queen-cells to each of our 

 large hives. About 12 davs later we remove 



This api;ii-.v tit' Aihims & Myers was loratcd lliu.s to fertilize the hirsie on-hard shdwn in thi 



n-ouii(L 



