GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fkbruarv, \921 



Moving to the Oranges. 



MijJiatory beokeepors know tliat moving 

 is expensive and that it costs no more to 

 transport a prepared tlian it does an unpre- 

 jiarcd colony to a flow. They know, too, 

 that the best time to move to a flow is not 

 a few days before it starts, but just at the 

 time that it opens. If the colony to be moved 

 had not been j^repared the fall before, it 

 will more than likely lack the 50,000 to 75,- 

 000 workers and likewise a good-sized brood- 

 nest of emerging bees. It will be necessary, 

 then, to make up colonies of required 

 strength by either uniting or by the utiliza- 

 tion of frames of emerging brood from 

 weaker colonies. Before moving, each two- 

 story colony .should have at least 10 to 15 

 pjounds of bees and several frames of well- 

 sealed brood. In addition to this they should 

 have 10 pounds of stores. To make up colo- 

 nies is a very costly procedure. It shows 

 that a good deal of wasted time has been 

 spent on weak colonies, and that a certain" 

 amount of bees and bee equipment is lying 

 idle at a time when it might be very useful. 

 Colony Manipulation During Orange Flow. 

 There are two important considerations 

 liere: first, maintaining intact the working 

 force of each colony; and, secondly, provid- 

 ing at all times suflicient storage capacity 

 for incoming nectar. The former considera- 

 tion is, of course, to prevent the issuance of 

 a swarm, and the procedure is as follows: 

 Put the queen in the brood-chamber with 

 one frame of unsealed brood in the center 

 (having first destroyed all queen-cells), and 

 then fill out with empty worker comb, if 

 the colony is to be used for a honey flow 

 other than the orange. If the orange is the 

 only source of nectar for the season, then 

 substitute an empty comb for the comb o1' 

 brood and frames of foundation for tlu' 

 frames of comb. This will considerably rv 

 tard the production of bees at a, time when 

 they are not needed. A queen-excluder is 

 next placed over the brood-chamber, and 

 then two full-depth supers of empty comb 

 (spaced eight to a ten-frame body or seven 

 to an eight-frame body, as the case may be) 

 are placed over the excluder. If tlie colony 

 liad but ten frames containing brood then 

 these are placed in a super which is put 

 above the two supers of empty comb, tak- 

 ing care to remove any queen-cells that may 

 be found. However, the colonies should 

 have from 12 to 18 frames containing brood 

 at this time or at a time when the colonies 

 hav^e reached their peak in lirood-rearing, 

 and if such be tiie case there will be two 

 hive-bodies containing brood to be placed 

 above the two bodies containing emjjty 

 comb. The frames of brood should be s{)ace(i 

 nine to a ten-t'rame sujier, filling fiie t(»]> 

 super full of brood, with sealed Vjrood on 

 the outside, and the remaining brood in tiie 

 center of the story below. 



This plan, for all ])ractical purjxjses, })re- 

 vejits swarming and, jn fact, is ;i plan where- 



by artificial swarming lias been practiced. It 

 is important that two supers of drawn comb 

 be between the queen and the emerging 

 brood above. It is not necessary to destroy 

 any queen-cells that may be started on the 

 brood after it has been placed above. This 

 method of swarm control must be put into 

 practice only when the colony is strong and 

 on the ijoint of swarming. 



The second consideration, namely, that of 

 sutficient storage space, regulates, as it were, 

 the orange crop. At the onset of the flow, 

 after the colonies have been treated for 

 swarming, they are normally five stories 

 high. The two top stories when they were 

 ])laced above, besides containing the brood, 

 lield also considerable honey, and, as the 

 flow progresses and the brood emerges, these 

 are the first to be filled with honey.. In the 

 meantime the two empty supers below are 

 serving a twofold purpose in that they pre- 



() 114 lilo-,(i,ii- s\,i.. I 1^ ihi'N ,111 licautifiil. 



vent swarming and provide ample space for 

 rapid intakes of nectar. These two supers 

 act as safety reservoirs, and the greater the 

 honey flow, the more thin nectar or unripe 

 honey will these reservoirs contain. Sliould 

 the intake for any certain day amount to 

 some 20 pounds, one super of empty combs 

 is none too large to be filled with this thin 

 nectar, wdiich is spread out in every cell of 

 the eight combs. Two or three such days of 

 rapid nectar-secretion may mean the addi- 

 tion of one or two extra supers of comb, and 

 whenever extra supers are needed they 

 should be }ilaced immediately above the ex- 

 cluder. Thruout the honey flow always 

 watch the super just above the excluder, and 

 as it fills up slip an empty one between it 

 and the excluder. Even if the colony mounts 

 to seven stories high, there is no other way 

 in which a strong colony can handle all of 

 the nectar which it hag the abilitv to gatlicr, 

 Mo'.U'sto, Calif. 



