1014 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



AYEAR5 WORK IN AN OUT AmAfil^ 



CHAPTER X. 



TAKING OFF THE HONEY AND STORING IT AT 

 THE OUT- YARD. 



From two to four days later, in accord 

 with the weather, I go again, the same 

 making the tenth visit, when the supers are 

 taken off, free from bees. I said, " Accord- 

 ing to the weather," for the reason that a 

 hot clear day is not suited for the work we 

 must do at this time, when there is no hon- 

 ey coming in from the fields. Robber bees 

 would drive us home long before we could 

 get the work done. The day desired is a 

 cool cloudy one— one so much so that it will 

 keep the bees in their hives. I do not usual- 

 ly go till afternoon, as by noon it can gen- 

 erally be told what the rest of the day will 

 bring forth. 



In taking off the supers, those that have 

 no honey in them are piled up top of each 

 other till they are six to ten high, when a 

 cover is put on each pile, and a 25-lb. stone 

 on the cover, where they are left until want- 

 ed for use the next year. As many of those 

 having honey in them as I can carry are 

 packed into the auto or wagon, in accord 

 with which I have with me; and if there is 

 more than I can carry they are piled up, as 

 were the empty supers, seeing that each pile 

 is bee-proof, to wait till I can draw them 

 home. The tiered up hives are now piled 

 away (using the wheelbarrow as much as 

 possible in all this work), the same as were 

 the supers, those being heavy with honey 

 being piled by themselves, and the light ones 

 in a separate place. These are our reserve 

 combs for next year. 



"SWEETENING" UP THE NEIGHBORS. 



I now take off the escape-boards, put the 

 covers on the hives, and store away the 

 escapes for the next year. Some are deter- 

 red from starting out-apiaries by what they 

 consider necessary— an outlay for buildings 

 to store things in; for should they continue 

 only a year or two at any place with an out- 

 yard, such buildings would be almost an en- 

 tire loss. But I do not find it necessary to 

 have any thing more at the out-apiary than 

 a few extra hives and covers, and often all 

 but two or three of these get into the bees ' 

 possession before the season's work is end- 

 ed. Smoker fuel, smoker, bee- veil, tools, 

 etc., are stored in these hives; and with the 

 finish up in the fall all are piled away as I 

 have given, where they stand right in the 

 bee-yard all the fall, winter, and spring, till 

 they are needed again, the hives and supers 

 giving all the protection that I find necessary 

 in this locality, and all that is needed in any 

 locality, in my opinion, unless it should be 

 the "wild and woolly " West, where thieves 

 are liable to carry off every thing not under 

 lock and key. And even there a few pounds 

 or sections of honey handed out to those liv- 

 ing near the out- apiary will generally win 

 for miles around. No one knows how a few 

 sections of honey given to the half-dozen 

 families living near the out-apiary will 

 sweeten for miles around till they try it. 

 The few receiving these little tokens will be 

 your friends; and as those further away are 

 the friends of these few, the good words 

 they say about you will make friends of the 

 whole, so that all will almost fight for. you, 

 and if they want some honey they will come 

 to you to purchase it. never thinking of tak- 

 ing it otherwise. But be stingy with the 

 product of your out- apiary, so the few near- 

 est it call you "a louse," then there will be 

 no end to the annoyance you will have, and 

 I guess this will apply in nearly equal terms 

 to the home yard as well. 



WEIGHING UP THE HIVES. 



When I come to the colonies which were 

 tiered, I weigh them, as some are liable to 

 be short of stores, through storing too much 

 in the combs above; and any that are light 

 are supplied with plenty by giving them full 

 combs taken from the ' ' heavy ' ' pile in ex- 

 change for their light ones. I do not now 

 look after the stores of those that worked in 

 sections, as it is seldom that there is a lack 

 with any of these, as the plan used, togeth- 

 er with the ten- frame hive, nearly always 

 causes the storing of plenty of honey for 

 winter. If, when turning the bottom-boards 

 for winter, at our next visit, any are found 

 to be light, a change of heavy combs for 

 some of their light ones is made, so that all 

 are known to have 25 lbs. or more, which is 

 amply sufficient for all their needs till they 

 can be looked after in the spring, when 

 starting them on their road to prosperity, 

 for both themselves and owner. After again 

 carefully looking over all the piles of hives 

 and supers containing honey, to see that 

 there is no crack or hole about any of them 



