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THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



eighths of an iiicli, that bees may go 

 around and lielp themselves to honey 

 placed on the other side. Bees can 

 better control the temperature of their 

 hive when in close quarters, and noth- 

 ing is a better stimulant for brood- 

 rearing than division-boards properlv 

 used. I put division-boards in and 

 «utrance-blocks on at a time when, in 

 my estimation, cold weather is over. 

 It is generally best that bees be kept 

 from rearing brood too early, for a late 

 frost may compel them to contract 

 their cluster and thus expose their 

 brood to being chilled, which sets 

 them back, sometimes, for a whole 

 season. A colony should have be- 

 tween the division-boards no more 

 <;ombs than the bees can well cover. 

 AVhen breeding goes on lively they 

 should be looked after every 10 or 12 

 days, and anew comb inserted if the 

 additional number of young bees 

 hatched justifies it. Some experience 

 IS necessary to do this properly, and I 

 should advise beginners to be rather 

 too slow than too fast, as a great deal 

 of mischief is done by a premature 

 spreading of brood. All spreading is 

 an evil unless the bees can cover their 

 brood well during a cold night. 



In a country like ours where white 

 clover is the only source, we should 

 prevent all early swarming; but in 

 due time equalize our colonies. As 

 some colonies will always be found 

 stronger than others, combs with 

 hatching brood and adhering bees 

 from strong colonies should be ex- 

 changed for empty combs of weak 

 colonies ; but this should not be done 

 until our spring colonies are very 

 strong, almost ready for swarming. 



As our honey harvest begins at the 

 latter part of May, or beginning of 

 June, all the colonies shoud be ready 

 for the emergency by that time, and 

 every one of the combs in the brood- 

 chambers should be lilled with brood 

 betore the honev-chamber or second- 

 s[oi"y )s put on. Some little items 

 should here be mentioned which may 

 be unknown to many. In no case will 

 tees Irom a hive with a virgin queen 

 be accepted by a colony which has a 

 laying queen. The last one of the 

 former \yill be killed before the fight 

 ends. >(or should a comb with adher- 

 ing bees from a strong colony be added 

 to a colony having a virgin queen, for 

 she is sure to be killed. One had best 

 wait until the young queen is laying, 

 when combs may be added with im- 

 punity. The only precaution to ob- 

 serve IS that the queen be not on that 

 side of the comb against which the 

 new comb is placed, as a too sudden 

 contact with the new bees might en- 

 danger her life. Do not let combs 

 mostly filled with honey remain in the 

 brood chambers during the honey sea- 

 son, but exchange them for empty 

 combs and place them where the little 

 brood they contain does the most good. 

 A large brood-chamberis synonymous 

 with a largeuumberof workers, with- 

 out wiiich no large crop of lioney is 

 possible; while from a small brood- 

 chamber we realize a large nqmber of 

 swarms and a smaller crop of honey. 

 The combs of the brood-chamber 

 should, therefore, not be crowded 

 with honey. When there is honey in 



the blossoms there is nothing more in- 

 ducive to coax bees into the second 

 story than to have the brood-frames 

 toll of brood. Many people have no 

 idea what a tendency it has to prevent 

 swarming. 



In ten frames of the brood- cham- 

 ber there is a hatching capacity for 

 about i>0,000 young bees. Between 2,- 

 000 and 4,000 young bees are hatching 

 daily during the season, and the queen 

 being busy refilling with eggs the va- 

 cant cells, never causes the swarming 

 impulse ; nor do the bees, provided 

 there are enough empty cells for them 

 to store honey in. 



A friend stood by on June 27, 1885, 

 when I was overhauling a strono- 

 colony of bees, which had the upper 

 story full of honey and which would 

 have swarmed the same day if the 

 weather had been favorable. I broke 

 out five queen-cells, two of which con- 

 tained mature young queens which I 

 at once introduced to newly made 

 colonies. The queen having an ao-ed 

 appearance, was left in the hfve 

 though it was full of brood and an ap- 

 parently mature queen-cell; ten 

 empty combs were placed in the sec- 

 ond story. My friend thought that I 

 had a chance for a swarm in a day or 

 two ; I replied that such was possible 

 but that it was more likely that the 

 young queen would hatch and lay ct^s 

 at the same time with her mother un- 

 til the latter should disappear. Three 

 days afterwards the young queen was 

 quietly crawling about the combs 

 without any signs of a swarm. Honey 

 comes in lively from a large patch of 

 wild mustard and linden trees about a 

 mile off, while white clover is an en- 

 tire failure. 



To keep the brood-chamber full of 

 brood, and the honey-combs above it 

 emptied promptly when filled, or ex- 

 changed tor empty ones when they be- 

 came heavy, is the best means I knbw 

 of to prevent swarming and to realize 

 a full crop of honey. 



When comb honey is the object, the 

 same precautions have to be observed 

 in regard to the brood-chamber ; every 

 comb must be full of brood. Sections 

 may be filled with thin-bottomed 

 foundation to within a >4 of an inch 

 above the bottom. Fidl sections 

 should be removed as they are finish- 

 ed, and replaced by new ones duly 

 primed ; or when a set of sections are 

 almost finished, they should be raised 

 and a new set placed under them. For 

 one-pound sections I prefer a section- 

 box, covering the whole brood-cham- 

 ber. For two-pound sections, being 

 larger, I prefer a section-box in three 

 separate parts, or three section-boxes 

 covering the whole brood-chamber. 

 Bees, needing a certain amount of 

 heat for comb-building, etc., form 

 themselves into clusters for this pur- 

 pose, and thrive best the less empty 

 space is given them inside of their 

 hives. It is therefore best to put on 

 only one section-box at a time and to 

 add another when the previous one is 

 nearly filled, and so on ; section-boxes 

 almost filled should be raised and new 

 ones placed underneath, when no in- 

 terruption of comb-building or stor- 

 ing honey will be apparent. ' 



EXTRACTING FROM BEOOD-COMBS. 



It is the greatest folly to extract 

 honey from combs containing brood. 

 A close examination will show every 

 time that even brood in capped cells is 

 injured. If you are ever so careful 

 you will find larvse floating on top of 

 the honey ; and while a mere disloca- 

 tion in the cells may not kill the larvae 

 it cannot be beneficial, and we often 

 find them removed by the bees on the 

 following day. The larger the num- 

 ber of our working bees during the 

 honey season, the larger our honey 

 crop ; it pays, therefore, to take care 

 of the brood before and during the 

 honey season. The honey being se- 

 cured we can afford to let the brood 

 hatch before the comb is extracted. I 

 have seen good bee-keepers— so-called 

 —extract every comb of the brood- 

 chamber even for an inch or two of 

 honey stored under the top boxes ; 

 and I know of one case where an 

 apiary of some 70 colonies was almost 

 ruined by such foolish proceedings. 

 A rainy spell of two weeks set in just 

 after extracting was over, when most 

 of his colonies were starved out, and 

 those remaining were minus all un- 

 capped brood. After every extract- 

 ing there should be enough honey left 

 in the hive to prepare for a rainy or 

 cold spell. I admit that feeding is 

 necessary in some cases, but I con- 

 sider those who do the most feeding 

 none of our best bee-keepers. What 

 benefit does any one derive by report- 

 ing 100 pounds of honey or more per 

 colony when he is obliged to feed 40 or 

 50 pounds of sugar to run his bees 

 through the winter and up to the time 

 honey is coming in the following 

 spring y I do not want to feed when- 

 ever it can be avoided, because my 

 time is worth something and sugar 

 costs money. But I always take care 

 to have a number of full combs on 

 hand to supply a needy colony. 



We know that by their natural in- 

 stinct bees store honey above their 

 brood most readily. As profit or the 

 production of honey is our object, we 

 use shallow brood-frames, frames just 

 deep enough to warrant a safe winter- 

 ing, i. e., Langstroth frames. We 

 have the honey-chamber commence 

 just where the brood-chamber ends. 

 Allowing under the top box of the 

 brood-frames about an inch for honey, 

 we have in a two-story frame-hive a 

 breeding capacity for about 60,000 

 bees, which is synonymous with at 

 least that number of a worker force, 

 consequently, a large crop of honey, 

 and not many swarms, but large 

 swarms if any. Towards the close of 

 the honey season the extent of the 

 brood diminishes and honey takes its 

 place, growing gradually but steadily 

 in extent. The combs next to the 

 sides of the hives become filled first; 

 as brood hatches the cells are being 

 filled with honey, and bees and queen 

 concentrate towards the center of the 

 brood-chamber, where, at the ap- 

 proach of winter, we find the emptiest 

 combs and the last brood of the sea- 

 son. Such will be the state of affairs 

 if extracting has not been too close 

 and the season has been an average 

 one, and the precaution has been 

 taken, at about the close of the sea- 



