February, 1909. 



American Vae Journal 



Briefly, the colony wintered over in a lo- 

 frame Langstroth hive has a queen^excluder 

 placed on top of it as soon as it is pretty 

 well filfed with brood and bees, and on top 

 of this excluder is placed another lo-frarae 

 hive filled with combs which are partly full 

 of honey. Say the lo frames have lo to 15 

 pounds in them. If the bees gather more 

 before the clover bloom, it is stored above, 

 or added to that which was in the combs 

 in the upper hive when given. At the open- 

 ing of the clover bloom, both hives are lifted 

 from the bottom-board, and the upper hive 

 is taken from the queen-excluder and set on 

 the now vacated bottom-board _ where the 

 original hive has been up to this time. On 

 top of this hive containing 10 frames of bees 

 and more or less honey, the supers of sec- 

 tions are now placed, and on top of these 

 the cover to the hive. The bees are now 

 shaken off the combs of brood and from the 

 original hive in front of what was the upper 

 hive, now on the bottom-board, into which they 

 will run as fast as shaken, and, as the hive 

 now on the bottom- uoard was a part of 

 their old home, they are perfectly contented 

 there, and go from it to the supers of sec- 

 tions the same as they did from their old 

 hive to the upper one of combs before this 

 exchange; thus wasting no time, as is the 

 case where supers are put on a hive which 

 has previously been but one-story high. As 

 the queen lays, the honey in these combs is 

 taken out to make room for her eggs, which, 

 together with that coming from the fields, 

 makes a "BOOM" in the sections, and that 

 with no desire to swarm, on account of the 

 working of the plan which is given in all 

 of the minutia in the book alluded to above, 

 which Editor York will send for 50 cents. 

 Or. if you have Gleanings for 1906, you will 

 find the whole thing there as a ^serial, much 

 the same as the book. 



G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



Uniting Colonies to Keep Them at 

 Same Number of Hives. 



When the honey-flow stops, I move near 

 my house say 10 colonies. Putting an empty 

 box on the old stand, the next thing I do is 

 to take all the full combs of honey out of 

 the hives near the house and take them into 

 the bee-room. I fill a hive with brood, and 

 then set the hive at some other place. Here 

 I find 3 or 4 combs of brood and honey in 

 each hive. The empty boxes get the old 

 bees, and the hives to keep get the young 

 bees. I don't have trouble with moths. 1 

 haven't had for 25 years. Why? I always 

 keep the colonies strong. _ I leave empty 

 combs out all summer or in the bee-shed, 

 and have no trouble with moths. Why? 1 

 lieep the combs separated by an inch or 2. 



A. ASPINWALL. 



Wahpeton, N. Dak. 

 Some Interesting Experiences. 



Early last fall I wrote you that I had 

 extracted 500 pounds of honey, and that I 

 expected about 200 pounds more from my_ 18 

 colonies. This has exceeded my expectation, 

 for I extracted 1,040 pounds. and,_ besides, 

 got some fine comb honey. It is indeed a 

 puzzle for the bee-keepers where the bees got 

 the honey last fall, as it was the dryest fall 

 we had here for years. All bee-keepers in 

 this vicinity agree that the past season was 

 one of the "best we have had for many years, 

 and the honey of the finest quality, in spite 

 of the cold and rainy spell we had durini^ 

 the months of May and Tune. 



Swarming has also been excessive, some 

 swarms coming out as late as the^ middle of 

 August for some bee-keepers, and it was only 

 tion during the swarming season to keep even 

 ten during the swarming season to keep even 

 the best of Italians from excessive swarming. 

 As stated before, I increased my colonies to 

 18, and they went into winter quarters No- 

 vember 26, in perfect condition. As I have 

 kept a record of all queens and colonies 1 

 shall know exactly where I stand next spring. 

 About June 5, I noliced a colony very weak 

 in bees, and queenless, with no inclination 

 whatever to build queen-cells. As I was anx- 

 ious to save that colony I sent for a queen. 

 I introduced that fine Italian queen accord- 

 ing to directions, and waited for results. Just 

 S days afterward I examined the colony, but 

 found no queen, nor any eggs, nor any other 

 sign that a queen might be present. Think- 

 ing that perhaps at the hour I examined them 

 the young queen was out enjoying a flight, 

 I closed the hive and then towards evening I 

 looked again, but still could not find her, so I 

 concluded that the bees had got away with the 

 queen. Then I went to my very best colony. 



whose queen I had removed 10 days before 

 for the purpose of getting young queens to 

 improve my stock — a practise I have had good 

 success with the past years, but not so in this 

 case. I took the largest and ripest cell, fast- 

 ened it in a frame, closed the hive, and 

 waited 5 days. A careful examination showed 

 no queen, and what surprised me most, I 

 could not find a trace of the cell I had in- 

 troduced. Three times in succession I tried 

 this method, always waited 5 or 6 days be- 

 fore I looked, and always the same result. 

 I was getting very much discouraged*, as 

 the bees were getting small in numbers, and 

 I had intended to unite them with another 

 colony, when, one day, I looked over ray colo- 

 nies and found a large, ripe queen-cell, whose 

 queen was just about ready to come out. I 

 laid the cell on top of a hive, and just as I 

 had taken out a frame from that particular 

 colony, out she came. I grabbed her quickly 

 by the wings and in that happy-go-lucky fash- 

 ion I put her on top of the frames, closed 

 the hive, and waited 6 days. On opening 

 the hive I saw right away that "something 

 was doing." The bees were more contented, 

 there were eggs, and general satisfaction all 

 around. I looked for the queen, and sure 

 enough, there she was, and depositing eggs as 

 fast as she could, and it seemed as if she 

 meant to say to me, "Yes, sir, old man,_ I 

 am boss here now," and boss she was, in- 

 deed. That colony built up, and increased 

 so fast that by the first of September it 

 became my second best colony. They gave me 

 a surplus of 75 pounds of fine honey, and 

 went into winter quarters in perfect condi- 

 tion, a rousing colony. This goes to prove 

 what a good queen can and will do in a 

 remarkably short time, if given the chance, 

 and conditions are right for a good flow of 

 honey. 



Now the question naturally arose with me, 

 whv did the bees not only not accept the 

 rested queen nor the cells, but completely 

 destroyed them, and then in the last hour 

 accepted the queen I introduced in such a 

 careless manner. 



I have been in the habit of clipping all 

 my queens the past years, but not with good 

 success. Out of the 8 colonies whose queens 

 I clipped, only 3 swarmed with a clipped 

 queen. The rest all superseded their queens, 

 and swarmed naturally, though none of those 

 queens were more than 3 years old. 



About Tune 10, I had just hived a fine 

 large swarm with the Manum swarm-catcher 

 when out came another very fine swarm. I 

 went quickly and looked for the clipped queen, 

 but could not find her, though the ground is 

 kept clean for 4 or 5 feet all around the 

 hives, and covered with sawdust. After 

 flying around about 10 minutes they lit on 

 the very same place where I had hived the 

 other swarm. They staved about 5 minutes, 

 then left all at once, but, to my surprise, 

 did not go back to the parent colony, but 

 came right down close to the ground, _ and 

 then they divided and entered about s differ- 

 ent hives, but to my surprise, there was no 

 fighting. Now, where was the queen? 



About a week after, I went up to look at 

 my bees. I noticed on a hive-stand a bunch 

 of bees, and in the middle of the bunch I 

 saw the clipped queen scarcely able to move. 

 Then I knew that was the queen I had lost, 

 and neither I nor the bees could find, so 

 I think next spring I will cut out all super- 

 fluous cells, and then try for one season, 

 and let my bees swarm naturally. 



The American Bee Journal is a great help 

 and aid to bee-keepers, and especially to be- 

 G. A. Barbish. 

 Minn., Jan. 



had a few colonies of bees in the orchard. 

 The old gentleman was in the orchard so they 

 talked to him for a few minutes. He told 

 them they had better go over to the old house 

 and see the boy. On their way over they 

 saw the dog barking at something in a 

 tree. He was going through the high jumps, 

 trying to catch whatever it was, but they 

 paid no attention, but went over to where 

 the boy was. They had been there only a 

 couple of minutes when one of the girls came 

 rushing in, saying the bees were on the dog. 

 Of course, they all rushed to the spot. The 

 father threw a blanket over the dog, but the 

 dog got from under the blanket and made 

 for the men. He thought he would get rid 

 of the bees by rubbing himself against their 

 legs. The air seemed to be just full of 

 angry bees. Well, the machine men thought 

 they must make their escape somehow, for 

 they had never been used to bees, so look- 

 ing around they saw the door open at the 

 house, so never waiting for an invitation, 

 tliey just went pell-mell into the house, and 

 hadn't much more than landed when Mr. 

 T)og was between their feet. Looking for 

 some place to escape, they saw a door oijen 

 away at the other end of the house, leading 

 to the front gate. Well, he said he didn't 

 think Tom Longboat could have made the 

 road as quickly as they did. Untying the 

 horses they both jumped into the rig and 

 drove away as fast as they could, but hadn t 

 gone far when the dog went past them like 

 a blue streak, making for the creek below the 

 hill. When they got there, there was nothing 

 but the dog's nose protruding out of the water. 



But they didn't go back to sell the mower. 

 He said he would miss the sale of a hundred 

 mowers rather than get mixed up with those 

 bees again. F. A. Metcalfe. 



Fenelbn Falls, Ont., Jan. 18. 



ginners. 



La Crescent, 



G. A. 



7- 



Hard Luck — A Bee-Story. 



I have bad 4 pretty hard years. We have 

 had bad seasons. Clover and basswood failed 

 us. I had some honey this year — mostly 

 basswood. Two years ago I lost 70 colonies 

 out of 90. My neighbor had 87 and lost all 

 but 6. Now that is hard luck. Poor honey 

 was the cause of the loss. I notice when 

 our bees go into winter with aster and buck- 

 wheat honey our losses are always heavy. 



My bees wintered very well on sugar stores 

 last winter. I have most of them on sugar 

 this winter. They seem all right, but the 

 ones wintering on their own honey have the 

 dysentery, and are very restless. 



I heard a story the other day which was 

 a good one. It was told by a traveling man, 

 who sells machinery — a local agent. 



head agent came, so they 



A Good Honey- Year. 



The past year was a good honey-year. I 

 started with 14 colonies last spring, increased 

 to 28, took off 2000 pounds extracted honey 

 and 500 pounds of sections. My best colony 

 produced 350 pounds of extracted honey, the 

 average yield per colony being 200^ pounds. 

 This is, I think, a fair yield. I introduce 

 young queens every year, and these are reared 

 from my best colony in the yard. Poor queens 

 are a poor foundation, and they are no good 

 at any price. I kill them at once. A good 

 queen is the foundation of a colony — one that 

 will lay eggs in the right time of the year, 

 and eggs in the right time means bees in 

 the right time, to be ready for the honey 

 when it is in the field. When one has not the 

 bees when the nectar is yielding, he will never 

 be able to harvest the honey. 



Clayton Co., Iowa. B. F. Schmidt. 



A Spring Day in January— Early 

 Swarm. 



Saturday, January 23, was an ideal spring 

 day, the thermometer registering 60 degrees 

 in the shade. My 30 colonies of bees are 

 in the finest possible condition, and were 

 making music last Saturday "to beat the 

 band." I might almost say the orchestra, but 

 if you like fine orchestral music as well as 

 mvself, vou might take exception. 



'I started in the spring of i9o8_ with 15 

 colonies and increased to 30 colonics. They 

 produced 1306 finished sections, about 300 un- 

 finished sections, and 40 frames well filled, 

 that I am saving for spring strengthening, 

 This is not a very good section for bees, 

 but last year the clover was exceptionally 

 fine and plentiful. The dry summer and 

 autumn fixed the clover so that there can not 

 be much of a crop the coming season, but 

 there is some basswood, and generally quite 

 a good deal of heartsease and goldenrod, so 

 I look for a light honey crop even mthout 

 the clover. 



Honey retails here at about 15 cents to 16 

 cents for No. I comb, and strictly fancy re- 

 tailed in a small way the past season at 20 

 cents. 



In making hives I allow for inside measure 

 18 3-16 inches in length, 12^ or 12 3-16 inches 

 in width, and g'A inches in depth. This 

 gives correct space for Hoffman frames with 

 staples driven in the depth of the gauge sent 

 in each package of frames. I cut the end- 

 pieces 8 11-16 inches deep, and the sides 

 954 inches. Then nail flush with the bottom 

 of the hive, and that leaves a space 13-16 

 inches deep on top of the end-pieces. 



I then notch the side-pieces at the ends }4- 



One day the head agent came, 



started out among the farmers to do busi- * -•- --i' ;- - ../ ., . , •-* 



ness They stopped in at a farmer's, where inch back, and down flush with the tops of 



thev' thought they could sell a machine. The end-pieces, and nail in a strip ;.-inch by 13-16- 



farmer lived in a large stone house, and inch clear across. This makes a neat-looking 



