June 1, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



339 



Some Observations on Queen-Rearing'. 



BY HENKV BOSWORTH. 



I AM one of those who believe that we should improve 

 upon Nature in whatever line we may be engaged ; and 

 just how is the best way to accomplish this object, is the 

 great secret of success. It has been my good fortune to be 

 engaged in apiculture nearly all my life, and while the oc- 

 cupation has been fairly remunerative, it is not from this 

 cause alone that I have continued in the business. 



I am very much interested in the study of the operations 

 of the honey-bee in all its phases, and particularly in 

 queen-rearing, in which I have had some experience, and 

 will give a glimpse of the result of my observations. 



First, the colony to do the work should be strong in 

 bees, and, I think, the stronger the better; if not so nat- 

 urally, it should be made so by feeding, or by supplying 

 bees from some other colony. Man)- talk about the szvarm- 

 ing ivipulsf, but I prefer the business impulse: and if there 

 is not honey enough coming in to make this impulse, you 

 must secure it by means of feed. 



When you have the colony in the right condition, make it 

 queenless, and let it form queen-cells; let it remain in this 

 condition until the larva; are too old to rear queens from ; 

 then overhaul and destroy all queen-cells, which will put 

 the colony in the right condition to rear queens from eggs 

 that you may supply. To obtain the eggs for this purpose, 

 I place an empty comb or two, or more if desired, in the 

 center of the brood-chamber of m.y best breeding queens 

 two or three da^-s before I wish to use them in the prepared 

 colony. When the queens are all started from the e%^, 

 they will all hatch about the same time, and you vaz.y ex- 

 pect that they will be ready to cut in about 14 days ; or you 

 might wait a little longer. 



I now divide the colony into which the combs with eggs 

 have been introduced, into nuclei — one or two frames each — 

 aTid insert one of these newly-formed queen-cells in each 

 nucleus. If there are enough cells to supph' the demand. I 

 make the nuclei but one frame each ; and if there are more 

 cells than frames, which is often the case, take frames of 

 comb and brood from other hives. Make the nuclei in the 

 afternoon; shut the bees in until the nest morning, then 

 liberate them, and but few will go back to the old hive. I 

 want brood in each nucleus, and before the queens are 

 ready to take their •' wedding flight," they should be sup- 

 plied with unsealed larvje. Geauga Co.. Ohio. 



When to Put Supers on the Hives. 



BY C. P. D.\D.4.NT. 



A BEGINNER inquires as to the best time to put on the 

 supers, and how he can ascertain what colonies are 

 likely to need them, as he has been told that it is a mis- 

 take to put supers on a hive when the bees are unlikely to 

 be able to put honey in them. 



The time to put on supers, whether for extracting or 

 for comb honej', is just before the beginning of the real 

 harvest or at its very inception. When the harvest is about 

 to begin, or is beginning, the least delay is injurious, as the 

 possible lack of room may cause preparations for swarming 

 on the part of the strongest colonies, and it must be borne 

 in mind that these colonies are the ones upon which we 

 should depend for the best of the crop. 



In this, and other States near us, it is of no use to ex- 

 pect a flow of honey suflicient for surplus before the bloom- 

 ing of the white clover. There are exceptional cases in 

 which the fruit-bloom has produced a surplus, but I believe 

 that, if such cases could all be reported, we could still count 

 them on the fingers, every year, in Illinois. So it is to lit- 

 tle purpose to worry about g-etting ready for the crop until 

 the white clover gets into pretty full bloom and the weather 

 is satisfactory. I have seen — and so have probably a num- 

 ber of our readers, among those who have had practical 

 experience — I have seen the bees starving, actually throw- 

 ing out their brood, early in June, while the pastures and 

 meadows were turning white with the abundance of the 

 bloom, just because of a few cold, rainy days. The hives 

 being very populous, and having a great deal of brood in 

 all stages, and a great many young bees hatching daily, 

 the consumption of stores is rapid, and a bad turn in the 

 weather makes it imperious on the apiarist to closely watch 

 his colonies. Even with a plentiful bloom and seemingly 

 fair weather for honey, there is sometimes such delay iii 

 the crop as to disappoint the eager bee-keeper. The causes 

 of a production of honey in the calyx of the flowers are a 



mystery to us all, so we are still unable to ascertain, other- 

 wise than by an ocular examination of the hive, whether 

 the bees are getting much of a surplus. 



The first signs of a beginning of the crop are detected 

 by the whitening of the combs by the bees. The harvesting 

 of a little honey prompts them to repair the combs that have 

 been cut down by the unsealing of the cells that contained 

 the previous crop, and they hasten to repair these and add 

 fresh wax to them, just as soon as they feel that there is 

 enough surplus produced to justify them in using a part of 

 it in that way. Even the blackest and oldest combs are 

 usually refreshened, and at the first signs of this evident 

 encouragement one should lose no time in putting on supers 

 on all hives that show it. The fresh honey itself might be 

 detected even a day or two sooner if the combs are lifted 

 out, for it drips out just like water, being thin and unripe. 



We would put extracting-supers on every colony that 

 shows whitened combs, but the comb-honey supers ought to 

 be withheld from such colonies as have not yet filled all 

 their combs with brood, unless such combs be removed and 

 the space be reduced with a dummy or division-board ; in 

 which case the space over the brood may be supplied with 

 supers. 



When we run for extracted honey it matters but little 

 whether the bees still have room in their brood-chamber 

 when we put on the supers. Unless the weather is cool, 

 and the space added is entirelj' too extensive, there is no 

 drawback to the supplying of the hive with a liberal amount 

 of empty combs. With large hives and populous colonies 

 in very bright seasons, we have placed on two supers at one 

 time, giving room for 120 pounds at one time to the best 

 colonies. It is a fact that a very populous colony, in excep- 

 tionally good seasons, can fill two supers in an incredibly 

 short time. In 1884 we had colonies with three tiers of 

 supers which were emptied and again filled five times over. 

 This was from the fall crop. In the season of 1889 we ex- 

 tracted three times, during the clover bloom, from a number 

 of colonies that were supplied with three supers. 



When running for comb honey, if the supers are put on 

 a hive which has unfilled combs below, we need not look for 

 any surplus until those combs are all filled. Such colonies 

 would better be used for increase. It is our method to take 

 the honey crop from the strongest colonies, and obtain our 

 increase, whenever any is wanted, from the colonies that 

 cannot be expected to yield any surplus. This will be the 

 subject of another article. Hancock Co., 111. 



Keeping Down the Swarming-Fever. 



BY' MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



PUTTING on sections early seems to keep the swarming- 

 fever down more than anything else we ever tried. Put 

 them on as soon as it can be done without chilling the 

 brood and retarding' brood-rearing. One year, when we had 

 not kept bees many years, we put on the supers, but gave 

 only a few sections in each super, intending to put them on 

 as soon as was needed, but the bees became crowded sud- 

 denly, and swarming was fearful ; they swarmed over and 

 over again — no time to get the supers filled, so many 

 swarms to care for. So we have learned also to have supers 

 all filled, for a super can as easily be put on as only a one- 

 pound section. 



Large entrances in hot weather are a help to keep down 

 swarming, and to keep bees working right along in the 

 supers. With our hive we often (if the hive is in the sun) 

 take down the front side of the hive, or the east side, leav- 

 ing up the division-board that is at the side of the combs, 

 and is raised from the bottom-board the height that the 

 brood-frames are raised, as we use the Quinby style of hive, 

 and the frames rest on the bottom-board. 



Also, we think that bees swarm worse with the use of 

 separators than without, and so we have not used separa- 

 tors for a number of years. Some of the combs are not 

 quite so straight and even, but we have no trouble to sell all 

 the honey we can produce. The greatest trouble, of late 

 years, is that they don't store honey as they formerly did. 

 Every year we hope for the better. 



,\N EXPERIENCE IN H.^ULING HONEY. 



Some years ago a young man helping us with bees went 

 over to our out-apiary and extracted about two-thirds of a 

 barrel or so of honey. He laid the barrel on its side in a 

 wagon, and wedged it up so he thought it would not turn 

 over and roll about. As it was late he drove prettj' fast, 

 and when he got half wa)' home a man called to him and 



