1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



821 



honey too, in the "shole four or five fram* s 

 as the case may be, especially if they be less 

 than the Langstroth depth. 



Unless one desires to find the queen and 

 clip her or destroy her and introduce another, 

 there will be no need for one at any time to 

 look for the queen, much less pull all the 

 frames apart. * The mere presence of eggs 

 seen on one of the brood surfaces examined, 

 laid in regular order, is suflScient guarantee 

 of her presence; and a practiced eye will soon 

 tell whetber she is doing her duty as a good 

 mother ought to do. 



I have heard this hue and cry time and 

 again about how closed-end frames will kill 

 bees. If one is to examine every bit of 

 comb surface, I am free to admit that he 

 will increase his chance of bee-killing. But 

 why waste valuable time in hunting the 

 queen or going over every inch of brood 

 surface when the examination of frames in 

 the manner indicated will suffice? 



As the particular style of closed- end 

 frame shown in the illustration is pivoted in 

 the center there is very little chance for 

 killing bees when putting them back into 

 place. Even if the end-bars are completely 

 smothered with them, they can be set down, 

 the action itself brushing them out of the 

 way, when not a bee netd be killed. We 

 will suppose that we have put back both sets 

 of frames en masse. If the combs are not 

 lou'ged apart, and there are not too many 

 bees, we can space them just far enough 

 apart— that is, the two sets of tdem— to leave 

 just barely room enough to slide in the 

 frame we first took out, and which we have 

 leaned against ourselves. This will brush 

 all the bees off the end-bars, and not kill a 

 bee. If the combs are slightly bulged, space 

 the two sets of frames apart as far as they 

 will go. Pick up the smoker, and with one 

 or two whiffs at each end of the hive drive 

 the bees away from the end bars. Do the 

 same with the frame that is still out and is 

 yet to be inserted. Quickly put it in place, 

 and while doing 'so blow smoke down near 

 the end- bars; and if jou then hear bones 

 crack it will be your fault unless time is 

 more important than a few bees. 



I dislike smashing bees between end-bars, 

 for two reasons; first, from a humane point 

 of view; and, second, because the little car- 

 casses of the bees, even when mashed down 

 flat, leave a space between the end-bars in 

 which the bees will be sure to chink propo- 

 lis. Next time the frame, by reason of the 

 chinked-in propolis, will be much harder to 

 remove. 



Hoffman frames may be handled in pre- 

 cisely the same way as the closed ends shown 

 here in the illustration. When one uses the 

 old unspaced Langstroth h« will have to 

 work on a little different plan; and even 

 then he will be liable to kill bees under the 



* If one is not lookincr for disease it is a waste of time 

 when running for honey to pull apart all ihe frames 

 except to clip or remove the quf en, and ev n then an 

 expert will often locate her on the first two or three 

 frames. The course of her egg-laying will show where 

 she ought to be. Frames should be handled as little as 

 possible, and hives should be handled more. 



projections of the top-bar if wooden rabbets 

 are used, unless he blows smoke along the 

 rabbet, or brushes away the bees that may 

 be in the way. The main thing to observe 

 in handling unspaced frames is to space such 

 frames carefully; then when one desires to 

 remove one frame he squeezes those on ei- 

 ther side together slightly until room is secur- 

 ed. But with such frames it is impractic- 

 able to handle frames en masse as shown in 

 the illustrations. This en masse method of 

 handling big chunks of the brood nest when 

 fixed or spaced frames are used saves the 

 lives of a good many bees. An unspaced 

 frame must be fingered into place one at a 

 time, and not four or five at a time as may 

 be done with the self-spacers. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW TO SA.VE UNNECESSARY LIFTING IN 

 TAKING OFF FILLED SUPERS OF HONEY. 



But favorable weather did not come and 

 continue; for on the very next day in the 

 afternoon another rainstorm commenced, 

 and bad weather continued the most of the 

 time during the next eight days, at the end 

 of which the clover bloom is nearly past. 

 We now have a few days of fine bee weath- 

 er, still and clear, ^^iih hot days and nights, 

 which the bees improve a^ best they can on 

 the few nectar giving flowers which are 

 still in bloom. The first blossom-buds on the 

 bas«iwood-trees commenced to open on the 

 sixth day of July, and I hoped that the good 

 weather would continue right along; but 

 with the afternoon of the seventh a two- 

 days' rain commenced, which kept the bees 

 in the hive nearly all the time. It is now 

 the tenth day of July, and 15 days since my 

 last visit to the out-apiary. As there is a 

 prospect of a fine day I start to make my 

 sixih visit to that enchan ing place. Before 

 going, however, I catch and cage three just- 

 laying queens, from as many nuclei in the 

 home yard, that I may be prepared to give 

 them to any of the nine colonies I made at 

 the last visit, which may, by any mean?, 

 have failed to get a laying queen from the 

 cells then given, taking them, together with 

 a load of supers, with rre. As the bass- 

 wood is now nearing full bloom I am hoping 

 for better weather, the same as the farm- 

 ers are, whi, all along the road, are open- 

 ing out their hay, which "got caught" out 

 in the rain. Arriving I find the bees rush- 

 ing out of and into the hives, almost like 

 mad in their wild scramble for the bass wood 



