1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(97 



CBnnyatioDs 



witbm 



Poolittll 



SECTION HONEY AND NO INCREASE. 



' ' Say, Doolittle, are you too busy to have 

 a little talk with me on bees this morning?" 

 "Well, Mr. Robinson, it a busy time of 

 the year just now; but as this 'busy' is 

 with the bees, perhaps we can make it prof- 

 itable to stop a little while and talk about 

 bee business. What is on your mind this 

 morning? " 



" I have not been a bee-keeper very long, 

 and so come to you wishing your advice re- 

 garding the best method of producing comb 

 honey on a no-increase plan." 



"What are your reasons for wishing no 

 increase?" 



" This year I want to balance up the led- 

 ger, so I do not wish to buy extra hives, 

 using no more hives than the bees now oc- 

 cupy, which is all I have." 



" Well, you are getting me down to a fine 

 thing— just no increase, and no chance for a 

 hive or two for an emergency. ' ' 



" Do you not think such a thing possible?" 

 " Yes, it is possible; but it is of doubtful 

 expediency, ' ' 



" Then if it is possible I want you to tell 

 me how I can do it." 



* ' I suppose you have plenty of supers of 

 sections?" 

 "Yes." 



"Then the first thing to be done is to 

 have all these in readiness for use, having, 

 in the first super put on, quite a few * bait ' 

 sections." 



" What are bait sections? " 

 ' ' They are sections partly or nearly filled 

 with comb, left over from the season previ- 

 ous—such as did not have the honey in them 

 sufficiently completed so that they were 

 salable. Have you such sections? " 

 " Yes, quite a lot of them." 

 ' ' Well, practical bee-keepers use from 

 two to twelve of these sections in the first 

 super put on the hive at the commencement 

 of the honey season, as they entice the bees 

 in the super at once, with the first honey, as 

 there is now in such prepared supers a place 

 for the immediate storage of honey, and the 

 bees will take advantage of these open cells 

 and fill them with honey before they would 

 draw out any comb foundation, and much 

 sooner than they would build comb; and in 

 this early entering of the sections come s the 

 desire to draw the foundation in the other 

 sections, so that the bees are fully at work 

 in the whole super almost before they know 

 it, and from this desire to fill the whole su- 

 per the swarming fever does not come on 

 nearly so quickly as it otherwise would; 

 while if more super room is added as fast as 



required the colony may not think of swarm- 

 ing during the whole season." 



"Well, now, that makes the matter so I 

 can understand it. I had read about bait 

 sections, but could not comprehend the mat- 

 ter before in all of its bearings. But these 

 baits will not prevent swarming entirely, 

 will they?" 



"No. If they would, the bee-keepers of 

 the world would go wild with joy; for the 

 swarming of bees is the great bane in our 

 pursuit, especially after one has all the in- 

 crease he desires." 



"Then how am I to keep down the in- 

 crease if this will not do it? " 



" The main object of the baits is to coax 

 the bees early into the sections, thereby de- 

 laying preparations for swarming for a week 

 or two, this giving you a better chance for 

 profit from your bees, and working for no 

 increase at a time when it will be more 

 surely successful, and the least damage to 

 your crop of surplus honey." 



' ' Then I have other work than this to 

 do?" 



"Yes. About seven days before you ex- 

 pect your honey harvest to commence in 

 good earnest you will go to each hive, tak- 

 ing with you a queen- cage made of wire 

 cloth; hunt out the queen and put her in 

 this cage, after which you will look over the 

 combs in the hives for queen-cells; and if 

 you find any with larvae in them, or any 

 which are sealed, you will cut them off." 



"What is this for?" 



" So that no young queen shall emerge 

 from her cell in that hive while the old 

 queen is in the cage." 



" How long is she to be left in the cage? 



"Ten days, or till all the larvae and eggs 

 which are in the hive when the queen is 

 caged shall have become sealed over; for I 

 find that, when any colony goes without a 

 laying queen long enough so that all the 

 brood is sealed over, such a colony loses its 

 desire for swarming, with the cutting of all 

 queen-cells and the liberating of the queen. 

 And where any queen-cells with larvae in 

 them, or any such cells which are sealed 

 over are in the hive at the time of the cag- 

 ing of the queen, they are liable to emerge 

 from their cells before we are ready to let 

 the queen out, and thus our work is thwart- 

 ed." , ^., .,. 



"Where do you keep the cage while the 



queen is in it ? " 



"By looking the frames of comb over 

 which are in the hive you will be likely to 

 find one or more which do not have the 

 comb built down the bottom-bar of the 

 frame" the whole length. Taking advantage 

 of such places I slip the cage with the 

 queen between the comb and the bottom- 

 bar, where it is held securely till I wish to 

 let out the queen." 



"What about food for the queen? Do 

 you put any in the cage ? " 



"No. The bees will take care of that 

 part unless you allow young queens to 

 emerge from their cells, in which case they 

 might neglect her and leave her to starve," 



