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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mav, 1922 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



The plan I am about to describe may not 

 be and probably is not original. When one 

 lias read hundreds of bee books and about a 

 dozen magazines every month go under his 

 eyes, he oft stores away in the mind little 

 items which are for the time forgotten and 

 later bob up as original ideas; so I am not at 

 all sure that the following plan is original 

 with me, but it does work profitably. 



First, let me explain that we have a 

 series of short flows from which we at times 

 get a surplus; but the flows are erratic, we 

 are never sure of any one of them and now 

 and then get none of them. Sometimes a 

 good flow conies when no colonies are big 

 enough to profit thereby, and then we must 

 be able to step in and help the bees or lose 

 out so far as surplus goes. 



I keep all my colonies in pairs, as advised 

 and practiced by Dr. Miller; it has many 

 advantages, though at first I thought differ- 

 ently. That is the basic item in the plan 

 under consideration. The next item is to 

 help up the colonies which are slightly be- 

 low profitable size; and I do it by pulling 

 from the weak ones, even to the extent of 

 exterminating them. This makes fair ones 

 good, and cuts out all colonies which are not 

 and cannot be producers. It will also be 

 noted that the big, strong colonies are not 

 disturbed — in other words, weakened to help 

 weak or medium colonies. 



Now a keen eye is kept on the condition 

 of the plants from which we may get a sur- 

 plus, also a sharp eye on the weather. Tt 

 will be seen that one must be familiar with 

 llie honey sources of his locality and the 

 nature of the soil and moisture conditions. 

 Even with all this knowledge a change in 

 temperature may upset tlie best of fore- 

 cast. 



But granting that we anticipate a good 

 flow from some source, at once we proceed 

 to grab for it, making all colonies that have 

 a fair chance of getting it so strong in 

 field bees that they cannot miss it. Eight 

 here is seen the immense advantage of the 

 twin stands. One of the two colonies on 

 the stand is moved to a new location, pre- 

 ferably some little distance off, say several 

 hive spaces or into another and distant row. 

 This is to lessen the possibility of the field 

 bees finding their old home. 



The hive left undisturbed on tlie old stand 

 is provided with an excess of storage room, 

 oft by lifting the supers with contained 

 bees from the removed colony to the one on 

 the old stand. This practice is followed 

 with every pair of hives, the only excep- 

 tions being where both colonies of a pair 

 are very strong, big enough to produce a 

 surplus without help; such are let alone. 



Now for the results. The field bees from 

 the removed colonies are a bit confused on 

 their return, but soon go into the hive ad- 

 jacent to their old location. Having a load 



they are well received, and soon all confu- 

 sion disappears and work proceeds with vim. 

 Henceforward it is only necessary to see 

 that tliey have plenty of storage room. 



What happens to the removed colonies, do 

 you ask? Usually they quite promptly pro- 

 ceed to requeen, and if we are alert we can 

 get without trouble a fine lot of young 

 queens for all our colonies. If we remove 

 the old queen as soon as the cells are well 

 started swarms seldom appear, and even if 

 the old queen is not removed, only super- 

 sedure occurs in most cases. These particu- 

 lar colonies get into the very best of shape 

 for later flows or for winter, where the 

 moving practice occurs for a late summer 

 flow. 



The producing colonies produce honey as 

 we intended, rarely swarm, but usually fin- 

 isli tlie season with Avorn-out queens, though 

 sometimes supersedure occurs. 



All this is very plausible, but what are 

 the drawbacks? Absolute need of knowl- 

 edge of locality as regards soil, moisture 

 and honey sources, and some lifting of colo- 

 nies. This latter is done before the moved 

 colonies are heavy with honey; in fact, the 

 best time to move them is a day or two 

 after the bees get really busy on the source 

 of the expected surplus. 



For a postscript let me add, keep an eye 

 on the removed colonies if a change in the 

 weatlier suddenly checks the flow; other- 

 wise they may suddenly starve, because 

 they have very few field bees. 



Providence, R. I. Arthur C. Miller. 



HEAVY YIELDS IN MONTANA 



Average of 300 Pounds per Colony from Alfalfa 

 and Sweet Clover 



While our location is rather far north to 

 be considered a beeman 's paradise, I still 

 think we are able to compete fully with most 

 so-called bee countries. I had 40 colonies, 

 spring count, increased to 68, and took off 

 8,000 pounds of first-grade light honey, most 

 ly from sweet clover and alfalfa. We have 

 quite a bit of dandelion in spring which 

 comes in handy for brood-rearing. 



I left 5,200 pounds on the bees, or an av- 

 erage of 80 pounds, which will seem an ex- 

 cessive amount to southern beekeepers, but 

 we try to play safe up here. 



A man within one mile of me took off 

 12,000 pounds from 40 colonies, spring count; 

 but, of course, he did nothing else, while I 

 ran an irrigated farm in addition to my bees. 



In packing bees for winter, we use the 

 quadruple case without covers or tunnels for 

 entrances, just contract to about three 

 inches, and use fine straw or chaff for the 

 packing. My cases are built of shiplap and 

 covered with cheap tar paper. 



Carterville, Mont. Claude M. Pease. 



