276 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaX 



Comb Foundation in Brood Frames 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



On page 672 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1883, I promised to discuss the 

 matter regarding the economy of 

 comb foundation, as Mr. Chas-. flitch- 

 ell seems to think (page 362 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1883) that my plan 

 of getting the bees to build i or 5 

 nice combs before helped by empty 

 combs or foundation, to be " mistaken 

 economy."' 



I have reason to doubt Mr. Mitch 

 eirs following out the plan as I gave 

 it on page 80, of the Bee Journal 

 for 1883 ; for he does not even allude 

 to that wav of working, but tells us of 

 giving his bees frames half filled with 

 foundation, which was placing them 

 in just the condition I cautioned 

 against, viz. : a condition tending 

 toward the production of drone comb 

 in the brood frames. The object of 

 the plan I gave on page 80, was to 

 have this drone, or store comb, built 

 in the sections, if any such was built 

 at all. 



The majority of the bee-keepers of 

 the United States seem to have gone 

 crazy over the using of comb founda- 

 tion in the brood frames; so it appears 

 to me. This is causing all, whether 

 rich or poor, to believe it necessary to 

 invest a large sum of money in comb 

 foundation, or mills to make it. To 

 those who have plenty of money to 

 use lavishly, I have nothing to say ; 

 for it is their privilege to use it as 

 they please ; but to those who must 

 deprive their families of the neces- 

 saries of life, in order to purchase 

 foundation for their bees, 1 say do 

 not do it ; for in my opinion natural 

 comb can be built just as cheaply as 

 we can bother with foundation. 



I realize that this assertion will call 

 down manv hard thoughts, if not hard 

 words upon myself ; but I desire that 

 those who think otherwise, will fol- 

 low my plan on one or two hives be- 

 fore they are too severe in their criti- 

 cisms 



The' plan I wish them to follow, 

 and the one which has led me to the 

 above opinion, is this : Wait till nat- 

 ural swarming has fully commenced, 

 when two swarms are to be hived on 

 the same day, each being as near 

 equal as possible ; one is to be treated 

 to foundation the same as you form- 

 erly have done, and the other is to 

 have empty frames given them, each 

 frame having a nice starter of worker 

 comb, or a wax guide the whole 

 length of its top bar, or a strip of 

 foundation ^ of an inch wide ni place 

 of the comb or guide, as you prefer. 

 Place as many frames in tlie hive thus 

 prepared as it will contain except one; 

 and in place of this frame use a di- 

 vision-board coming within H of an 

 inch of the bottom-board, having this 



division-board in the centre of the 

 hive. 



Mow, hive the swarm, and in 36 to 

 48 hours see on which side of the 

 brood the bees have commenced to 

 build comb the most largely ; for 

 there is where the queen will be ; take 

 out the frames on the other side of 

 the brood from where the queen is, 

 and over the part having the frames 

 now left, place a set of sections wliich 

 are filled with the thin foundation. 

 Leave them (frames and sections) 

 thus, till the bees begin to be crowded 

 for room, when you are to put two or 

 three of the empty frames you re- 

 moved, in the brood-nest, placing them 

 between those already built, so that 

 each empty frame will come between 

 two full ones. At the same time 

 raise up the partly filled sections, 

 putting another one, prepared the 

 same as the first, under them; if you 

 use the tiering-up plan, or place the 

 sections at the side if you use the side 

 storing plan. 



By this plan I get combs built wliich 

 are all straight worker combs just as 

 good as can be prepared when built 

 of foundation ; and also get the foun- 

 dation thinned and drawn out in the 

 sections ; while, if I hive the bees on 

 empty combs or foundation, they use 

 their secretion of wax by placing it 

 upon the foundation in the sections ; 

 and thus we have the thick, hard, side 

 walls of the foundation in our section 

 honey, as I have repeatedly proven by 

 scraping the honey off and washing 

 the foundation, when I had a piece 

 that no one could tell from the 

 original. 



l)id Mr. Caldwell (see page 25) try 

 the above plan in his experiment y or 

 did he hive the bees, giving them the 

 full hive I* If he gave them the full 

 hive, of course they would not go into 

 the sections till the hive was all filled 

 below. 



The idea is, that a swarm of bees 

 are going to build comb somewhere, 

 or the wax secretion taking place at 

 the time, must go to waste ; and if 

 you give them comb foundation in 

 the brood-chamber, they will use their 

 wax in the sections on the founda- 

 tion. If you give them only a part of 

 the hive, as I have given above, they 

 will use their wax in making ni(fe 

 worker comb below, instead of wast- 

 ing it by adding it to the foundation 

 given them, as I have described above. 



Again, at all times of a heavy yield 

 of honey, the bees secrete wax 

 whether any combs are to be built or 

 not ; and if the sections are all sup- 

 plied with foundation, and the hive 

 tilled with comb, this wax is wasted, 

 or else the foundation given is wasted; 

 have it which way you please. 



The past season I had several hun- 

 dred sections placed side by side on 

 colonies hived on a full set of combs : 

 one-half of which had a starter of 

 natural comb, and the other half filled 

 with foundation, and all were ready 

 to come off together; thus proving 

 that in such times of plenty the foun- 

 dation was simply thrown away, when 

 a full hive of comb was used below. 

 To remedy this waste, I use the l}., 

 and 2 pound sections containing only 

 starters, upon colonies whose hives 



are full of comb (except to have 3 or 

 4 sections full of comb foundation, as 

 a leader into the boxes), and place 

 sections filled with foundation in col- 

 onies which are building comb. With 

 the one-pound and smaller sections, 

 foundation seems to be a necessity : 

 for the bees seem averse to building 

 comb in so limited a space. 



To show that I am not alone in this 

 matter regarding the waste of wax, I 

 wish to quote from two or three of 

 our best apiarists ; the first is Prof. 

 Cook,and no one will say that he is not 

 good authority. He says, on page 103 

 of the latest edition of his Manual, 

 " But I find upon examination that 

 the bees, even the most aged, while 

 gathering, in the honey season, yield 

 up the wax scales the" same as those 

 within the hive. During the active 

 storing of tlie past season, especially 

 when comb-building was in rapid pro- 

 gress, I found that nearly every bee 

 taken from the flowers, contained wax 

 scales of varying size, in the wax- 

 pockets."' 



This is my experience during " ac- 

 tive storing," and the wax scales are 

 to be found on the bees just the same 

 whether they are furnished with foun- 

 dation or not ; and I can arrive at no 

 other conclusion than that arrived at 

 by Mr. S. J. Youngman, when he 

 says, on page 103 : " The bees secrete 

 wax during a honey flow, whether 

 they are building conib or not ; and if 

 they are not employed in building 

 comb, this wax ismost certainly lost.'" 



Once more, on page 93, of the 

 Amei-ican Apiculturist, Mr. G. W. 

 Demaree says: "Observation has 

 convinced me that swarms leave the 

 parent colony better prepared to build 

 comb than they ever are under other 

 circumstances ; and if they are not 

 allowed to utilize this accumulated 

 force, by reason of having full sheets 

 of foundation at hand to work out. 

 there will necessarily be some loss ; 

 and I think that when the matter is 

 computed, to find the loss and gain, 

 the result will show that the founda- 

 tion really costs the apiarist double 

 what he actually pays for it in cash." 



One more point and I will close. In 

 our locality there is very little white 

 clover, as this is mostly a grain rais- 

 ing district, so the land is plowed so 

 often that white clover cannot get a 

 foot-hold. Thus our bees generally 

 get only enough honey during the 

 month of June to keep up brood-rear- 

 ing, while our swarming commences 

 from June 15 to 20. 



Now, I have often noticed, and es- 

 pecially in looking back over the last 

 year, after reading Mr. Mitchell's 

 " Mistaken Economy," that swarms 

 hived in June would fill tlieir hives 

 full of nice straight worker combs, 

 and the combs would be tilled with 

 brood during the first two weeks after 

 hiving ; while a colony not casting a 

 swarm would not make a gain of a 

 single pound of honey ; nor would a 

 swarm having a full set of combs 

 given them, or the frames filled with 

 foundation, be a whit better off at the 

 end of two weeks. 



Mr. P. H. Elwood has noted the 

 same thing ; thus proving that the 

 theory that it takes 20 pounds of 



