American Hee Journal 



what is to be done? That depends large- 

 ly upon our wants. If we do not care 

 for an increase of colonies, probably the 

 best thing to do is to unite the colony 

 having such workers, with one having a 

 laying queen, which should be done by 

 thoroughly smoking each near sunset, 

 when the combs should be taken out of 

 each hive and alternately placed in an- 

 other hive, so the bees will be so mixed 

 up that they vi-ill not quarrel ; or a new 

 hive may be placed on the stand of the 

 colony having the queen, when the bees 

 may all be shaken off their combs in 

 front of this hive, shaking them off the 

 frames alternately so as to mix them up 

 completely, setting the frames having 

 the most brood and honey in the hive, 

 leaving out the rest. 



If. on the other hand, we wish to keep 

 all the colonies we can, the colony hav- 

 ing the laying workers may be treated 

 in this way : Go to several colonies in 

 the apiary which can spare a frame of 

 brood and take enough frames of brood 

 (one from each) to fill out the hive, or 

 at least two-thirds fill it, being sure that 

 you do not get the queens from any col- 

 ony with this brood and bees, for we 

 want the bees that are on the combs to 

 go w'ith them in this case. 



Now take the combs out of the hive 

 having the laying workers, or what is 

 better, set this hive off the stand it is 

 occupying, placing another hive on this 

 stand, when the frames of brood are to 

 be placed in it. If it is filled only two- 

 thirds full, fill out the vacant space with 

 dummies, as such a colony would build 

 only drone-comb if it built any at all. 

 As each of these frames of brood and 

 bees have a different scent, they will 

 not quarrel when thus mixed up, for 

 each bee that another meets is a strang- 

 er, which so confuses them that they do 

 not know what to fight for. When all 

 is fixed and the hive closed, carry the 

 hive having the laying workers in it 

 several rods away, and after having 

 drummed on it a little so the bees will 

 fill themselves with honey, open the hive, 

 take the frames out and shake every bee 

 off on the ground, thus compelling them 

 to fly separately back to where their old 

 home used to be. Arriving here they 

 find a different state of affairs existing 

 from what there was when they left, 

 and if the laying workers get back 

 (which some claim they cannot do) they 

 seem to accept the fact that their reign 

 is over. In any event, the bees seem to 

 be in a condition to accept a queen or 

 rear one, as the circumstances are placed 

 before them by the apiarist. 



It is usually best to give them a queen, 

 if possible, or, what is next best, a queen- 

 cell just ready to hatch ; but if neither 

 can be done, they will do fairly well at 

 rearing one, as the brood which has been 

 given will keep emerging till they get a 

 laying queen, so that they arc nearly or 

 quite as well off, even if now left to 

 themselves, as a colony would be which 

 had cast an after-swarm. 



I have frequently gotten rid of laying 

 workers by setting brood in the hive 

 having them, and shaking the bees off 

 their combs at the entrance, letting them 

 run in at once; but as many as s frames 

 of brood are needed so as to give enough 

 bees to overcome the influence of those 

 desiring to cleave to the laying workers. 



In this case, as in the above, the colony 

 is not allowed any of their combs in 

 which the laying workers have laid, for 

 thus allowing them their combs gives 

 them an advantage over the bees that 

 have come on the combs of brood, which 

 advantage we do not wish them to have. 



The reason why the questioner failed 

 with the brood w-as in not giving enough 

 of it, or in not giving bees with it, or 

 else in allowing the bees having the lay- 

 ing workers to retain their own combs. 



The Cyprian, Syrian and Holy Land 

 bees are much more liable to have laying 

 workers than the Italians, and the Ital- 

 ians are somewhat more inclined that 

 way than are the German bees, well 

 known as the black bee of this country. 

 The first three named varieties will fre- 

 quently fill the cells with eggs, which, 

 after being "fed and cradled," will give 

 only drones, and this while the young 

 queen is becoming fertile and laying, 

 thus hurting the combs and the pros- 

 perity of the colony very much. How- 

 ever, these races of bees do not cling 

 as closely to such laying workers when 

 they have them as do the Italians and 

 the blacks, so they are more easily got- 

 ten rid of. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Chunk Honey for Small Bee- 

 Keepers 



BY .XLLEX LATHAM. 



We read not a little of chunk-honey 

 production in Texas, and can readily see 

 that such honey can be more easily pro- 

 duced than can section-honey. The lo- 

 cal demand settles whether we shall pro- 

 duce this or that sort of honey. In 

 the Xorth there is a poor market for 

 comb honey except section-honey, and 

 until we create, a demand for chunk- 

 honey we cannot profitably go into the 

 production of the same in large amount. 

 For the small bee-keeper, however, and 

 for him who does not care to go to 

 the trouble of manipulating his colonies 

 for section-honey, the production of 

 chunk-honey is an excellent thing. 



Chunk-honey production has two dis- 

 tinct advantages — less labor is involved 

 than in section-honey production, and 

 less trouble with swarming. With any 

 sort of hive it is an easy matter to sup- 

 ply a super of empty frames, having, 

 except in the case of one or two, only 

 narrow starters of foundation. One or 

 two frames should be to a greater or 

 les.s extent filled with virgin comb. 

 Even without excluders a fair amount 

 of honey will be obtained thus at a 

 trifling cost, and with excluders the very 

 choicest of honey will reward one's ef- 

 forts. 



Simple as such a method is, it involves 

 more labor than many bee-keepers (more 

 properly bee-owners) care for, and 

 doubtless many a man would welcome a 

 method which calls for almost no 

 manipulation, and yet at the same time 

 is attended by almost certain honey 

 crops. 



For some 6 years I have run a small 

 apiary upon a certain hill in Norwich 

 in which I term my let-alone hives. 

 During that time only two swarms have 

 issued so far as I know, and I have 



harvested an average of 50 pounds. 

 Only one season proved a failure, and 

 that was due to the bees suffering from 

 pickled brood. Last year (1907) I har- 

 vested 600 pounds from the 10 colo- 

 nies, and this year 550. I practice vs 

 iting this apiary twice per year for 

 manipulation — once in the spring to see 

 that each colony has a good queen, 

 and once in the fall to take the honey. 

 Sometimes the spring visit is omitted 

 because of lack of time. 



During the past year I have run some 

 60 of these let-alone hives, and har- 

 vested an average of 50 pounds of 

 honey. I have not put in over 3 days 

 of labor on these hives this year, aside 

 from the time spent in caring for the 

 honey. Having but little demand for 

 chunk-honey I strain the honey to sell 

 bottled. Strained from virgin comb it 

 is the equal of the best extracted, and 

 superior to most extracted honey. 



These let-alone hives are extremely 

 simple, though their construction in- 

 volves certain fundamental principles 

 which unquestionably have much to do 

 W'ith the success attendant upon their 

 use. It is out of the question to give a 

 minute description of these hives in this 

 article, though I will mention some of 

 their cardinal points: 



The hives are roomy ; they have the 

 storage apartment back of instead of 

 above the brood ; they have ample en- 

 trances with space below the front 

 frames ; the frames hang parallel to the 

 entrance; a sheet of excluder zinc sepa- 

 rates the brood-chamber from the store- 

 chamber. 



Simple as this hive is in construction, 

 it answers every need, and demands in 

 telligent though minimum amount of 

 care. I have run them now for 7 years, 

 and each year I discover some simple 

 improvement in construction or in man- 

 ipulation. No time is used upon this 

 hive in preparing- for winter, for the 

 hive is constructed with particular ref- 

 erence to the needs of the bee. If one 

 is kept from visiting these hives for 

 any reason, no serious harm would re- 

 sult if 2 or 3 years elapsed, barring the 

 possible loss of the queen. 



Think for a moment of going to one 

 of these hives late in November and 

 removing 140 pounds of good chunk- 

 honey, the entire labor put upon the 

 hive previous to that covering a period 

 of time not exceeding 10 minutes. Last 

 May I opened up one of my hives on 

 Raymond Hill and noted that the queen 

 was all right. I did not see the hive 

 again till Nov. 27. Upon that date I 

 took out 140 pounds of honey, most of 

 it of the finest quality. This hive has 

 13 storage frames, each 13 -"^ '7 inside 

 measure, with an upright in the middle 

 of the frame to prevent slumping of 

 the comb in hot weather. In this case 

 the 13 frames were full from top to 

 bottom — 26 beautiful chunks of honey, 

 each 13 by about SYz inches. 



These hives are not perfect non- 

 swarmers, but the swarming does not 

 exceed 20 percent. It is far less than 

 20 percent in some apiaries, and 50 per- 

 cent in otiiers. I am hard at work 

 solving the problem, and am fairly con- 

 fident that I have solved it already. I 

 hope soon to cut down the swarming 

 to 10 percent. Of course, I do not see 

 the swarms, and they go to the woods, 



