308 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tlie American Bvje Journal. 



At What Age Do Bees Gather Honey ? 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The above heading may be tlKnight 

 by some to be of little interest, but as 

 it has much to do with the surplus 

 honey we get, I thought a few words 

 on the subject would not be ainiss. 

 Many seem to suppose that the bee is 

 capable of going to the (ields to gather 

 honey as soon as hatched, or in three 

 or four days at least, but some facts 

 prove that I liey do not do so. Bees 

 may be forced to go to the fields for 

 pollen and honey at the age of 5 or 6 

 days old, but when the colony is in a 

 normal condition, as it always should 

 be to store honey to the best advan- 

 tage, the bee is 16 days old before it 

 gathers honey. If we take combs of 

 bees just hatching, and place them in 

 a hive without any bees, as is fre- 

 quently done to introduce a vahiable 

 queen, we will see young bees not 

 over 5 or 6 days old go to the fields, 

 losing compelled to do so for water, 

 pollen, etc., because there is none of 

 older age to go ; but this does not 

 . prove that bees of that age usually do 

 so any more than the experiment of 

 feeding 20 pounds of honey to bees 

 confined to the hive before one pound 

 of wax was produced, proves that it 

 always takes 20 pounds of honey to 

 produce one pound of comb. I have 

 conducted .two experiments since I 

 kept bees, to ascertain the age at 

 which bees gather the first honey, 

 and as each proved the same. I be- 

 lieve 16 days to be the time when the 

 bee brings her first load of honey, 

 when the colony is in a normal condi- 

 tion. 



The experiment which I tried was 

 this : A black queen was removed 

 from a colony, and an Italian queen 

 introduced in her place about the 

 middle of June. The date was 

 marked on the hive, and as the 21st 

 day thereafter arrived, a careful 

 watch was kept to see when the first 

 Italian bee hatched. When the first 

 Italian had emerged from the cell, a 

 careful watch was again kept of tlie 

 hive to see when the first Italian took 

 its flight. This happened about 2 p. 

 m., on the eighth day after the first 

 Italian was found hatched, when a 

 few came out for a play spell, but in 

 an hour all had returned, and none but 

 black bees were seen going to and 

 from the hive. As the days passed 

 on the numbers increased at each 



Elaj^ spell (about 2 o'clock), but none 

 aving the Italian markings were 

 seen, except at these play spells, till 

 the 16tli day after the first Italian 

 hatched. At this time a few came in 

 with pollen and honey, commencing 

 to work at about 10 a. m. After this, 

 the number of Italian honey gatherers 

 increased while the number of blacks 

 decreased, until on the 4.5th day after 

 the last black bee was hatched, when 



not a black bee was to be found in or 

 about the hive. If the above is cor- 

 rect, and I believe it is, it will be seen 

 that the eggs, for our honey gatherers, 

 must be laid by the queen 37 days be- 

 fore our main honey harvest, if we 

 would get the best results from our 

 bees; as it takes 21 days from the 

 time the egg is laid to the time the 

 bee emerges from the cell, and this 

 added to the 16 makes the 37 days. 

 The above is applicable to any por- 

 tion of tlie country, where a certain 

 fiora produces the "larger portion of 

 the honey crop. To be sure, the bees 

 from the time they are three days old, 

 help to perform the labors in the hive, 

 such as building comb, feeding the 

 larvae, evaporating nectar, etc., hence 

 are of much value toward securing 

 the crop of honey, if we have plenty 

 of bees besides, over 16 days old, but 

 otherwise all hatching after the middle 

 of the honey harvest are of little use. 



Another thing 1 ascertained by 

 these experiments, which was that 

 the bees which gather the honey are 

 not the ones which deposit it in the 

 cells. I was reading in a bee paper, 

 not long ago, how the loaded bees 

 from the field carried their honey 

 easily to the top of a four story hive. 

 This was used as an argument in 

 favor of placing the empty combs on 

 top of the full ones, instead of raising 

 up the second or third story and plac- 

 ing them between full combs, on the 

 tiering up plan. As far as the loaded 

 bees are concerned, it makes no dif- 

 ference, as will be seen when I state 

 that on the loth day after the first 

 Italian hatched, when none but black 

 bees were going in and out at the en- 

 trance, 1 found by taking off the 

 cover and examining the sections, 

 that scarce a black bee was in them, 

 but all were Italians, which were at 

 work there, building comb and de- 

 positing honey. After this I used an 

 observatory hive containing but one 

 comb. In this I also had black bees 

 as field bees, and young Italians for 

 the inside work. By watching the 

 entrance through the glass, I could 

 see the loaded bees come in, and when 

 one came on the side next to me, I 

 could easily see what it did with the 

 load of honey. The bee would pass 

 along on the comb till it came to a 

 young bee, when it would put out its 

 tongue toward the young bee. If this 

 bee had no load, it would take the 

 honey, but if it had, our field bee must 

 try again till one was found that 

 could take the load, when it was given 

 up to it. The field bee then rested a 

 little while, when it would go for 

 another load. Thus it will be seen 

 that any entrance leading direct to 

 the surplus arrangement, as was 

 formerly made in the Langstroth 

 hive, is of no use, but, on the contrary, 

 a positive damage, as in cool nights 

 it causes the bees to leave the boxes, 

 from allowing too much cold air to 

 enter them. To secure the best re- 

 sults, it is necessary to be fully ac- 

 quainted with all of these minor 

 points of interest about the bees, so 

 that we may combine them all, and 

 bring them all to bear on that which 

 will produce us the most honey. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Country Gentlenan. 



Using a Standard Frame. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



One can now scarcely pick up a bee 

 paper without finding an article with 

 the above heading, and, although all 

 the writers do not agree as to which 

 frame should be taken as the standard, 

 they do agree as to the desirability of 

 all bee-keepers using a frame of the 

 same size. The traffic in bees is be- 

 coming quite large, and with so many 

 different-sized frames as there are 

 now in use, the purchaser of bees fre- 

 quently not only has to perform the 

 disagreeable fast of transferring them, 

 in order that they may be in hives 

 like his own, but the discarded hives 

 and frames are seldom of any value, 

 except for kindling wood. Were some 

 frame adopted as the standard, and 

 used by all bee-keepers, the supply 

 business would be greatly simplified 

 and made more profitable, both to the 

 manufacturers and the consumers. 

 Hives, frames, etc., could be manu- 

 factured in large quantities, and, at a 

 corresponding lower price, and the 

 delays caused by having to wait while 

 some odd sizes are being manufac- 

 tured, would be entirely avoided. Ex- 

 periments, especially those in regard 

 to wintering bees, would be more con- 

 clusive and satisfactory, were all 

 frames of the same size, as success or 

 failure could not be attributed to the 

 difference in the size or shape of the 

 frames used. 



As the majority of bee-keepers use 

 the Langstroth frame, it is not to be 

 wondered at, that nearly all writers 

 upon this subject, advocate the adopt- 

 ion of the Langstroth frame as the 

 standard. I have always used the 

 American frame, which is about 12 

 inches square, and I have nearly 100 

 hives, yet I shall, this season, com- 

 mence using the Langstroth frame, 

 and another season shall discard the 

 American frame entirely. If I cannot 

 sell the hives and combs to some one 

 who uses that style of hives, I shall 

 transfer the best of the combs, melt 

 the remainder into beeswax, and have 

 the wax manufactured into comb 

 foundation. I will knock the hives to 

 pieces, and use what I can in making 

 Langstrotli hives. Heretofore I have 

 reared queens and extracted honey, 

 and for these purposes 1 regard the 

 American frame as good as any. 

 Now, I shall give the production of 

 comb honey a trial, and, for this Ijusi- 

 ness, I am convinced that a shallow 

 frame is preferrable. Since the Langs- 

 troth is a shallow frame, and is used 

 by a majority of bee-keepers, I shall 

 adopt it. 



It has been manjr times asserted 

 that the Langstroth frame is too shal- 

 low for wintering bees successfully in 

 our cold, northern climate. It is as- 

 serted that in order to pass the winter 

 safely, bees should cluster beneath 

 their stores— as the heat arising from 

 the cluster keeps the honey warm and 

 in proper condition to be used. It 

 should be remembered that when the 

 warm air arising from a cluster of 

 bees strikes against the covering over 

 the frames, the heat spreads out in a 



