914 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 





ITALIAN BEES NOT WORKING IN SECTIONS. 



"I understand that you keep the Italian 

 bee, Mr. Doolittle. Is this correct? " 



"Yes, I have kept the Italian bee ever 

 since 1872, and like them %ery much." 



" Do you never have trouble by their not 

 entering the sections to work therein? " 



" Not of late years. Before I fully under- 

 stood their habits I did somewhat." 



" Do you think they enter the sections as 

 readily as do the black bees? " 



" ProbabU' not quite so much so. But I 

 have no reason to complain along- this line. 

 Do you have trouble with them? " 



" Yes. I have had Italian bees for the 

 past two years, and they have not done 

 half as well in the sections as the blacks; 

 but for extracted honey they exceed the 

 blacks by quite a little. What do you sup- 

 pose is the cause of this, and what course 

 shall I pursue? '' 



" H)w many colonies of Italian bees have 

 you ? ' ' 



'• Only two, one of which I have worked 

 for section honey and the other for extract- 

 ed honey." 



" If you have tried only one colony of 

 Italian bees for comb honey, it is not so 

 strange that you have not succeeded. But 

 before we talk further, allow me to ask how 

 large a hive j-ou u~e. " 



" I use the ten-frame Langstroth hive." 



" Do you leave all of the ten frames in 

 that hive when the sections are on? " 



"Yes. Why not? " 



" One important point in the construction 

 of a hive for comb honey where Italian bees 

 are used should not be overlooked ; and that 

 is, the brood- chamber should not be too 

 large. Had you used only seven combs in 

 your hive a''ter the honey-flow had begun, 

 and your sections were put on, j-ou might 

 have secured a yield from that colony of 

 Italians that would have eclipsed anything 

 done by any of your colonies of black bees, 

 the same as jou did with the other that you 

 worked for extracted honey." 



" What does the smaller brood-chamber 

 have to do with the matter? " 



" Italians are more prone to store honey 

 in the brood-chamber than the blacks. Es- 

 pecially do they show a preference toward 

 storing in the brood-chamber rather than 

 in the sections, if the queen does not have 

 the combs occupied with brood when the 

 honey season commences: and if they have 

 room to store from .50 to 40 lbs. of honey in 

 the combs below, they will very likely not 

 go into the sections at all." 



" Well, that helps to solve the matter, for 

 each fall this hive of Italian bees has been 



so heavy that I could hardly lift it, while I 

 have had to feed many of my black colonies 

 to get them through the winter; and I have 

 taken advantage of this matter by taking 

 filled combs from this Italian colony and 

 exchanging them for combs having very 

 little honey in them from the blacks. But 

 would you reduce this ten-frame down to a 

 seven-frame hive this fall ? " 



"No, I would not do that; but use it as 

 it is till just as the honej'-flow comes on. 

 when I would reduce the size of the brood- 

 chamber to the number of combs the queen 

 had brood in. even were that not more than 

 six combs. But you will be most likely to 

 find brood in from seven to ten combs in 

 each hive, were 3'ou to have a whole apiary 

 of Italian bees. By thus working, the bees 

 will enter the sections at the commencement 

 of the honey- flow, when j-our Italian bees 

 will work in the sections as well as the 

 blacks, as a rule." 



" How do j-ou reduce the size of the hive 

 to suit the number of combs which have 

 brood in them? " 



"By using dummies, or division- boards, 

 as they are sometimes called." 



" How are these made? " 



" In various ways. The way I like best 

 is to take a piece of rough or cheap lumber, 

 an inch thick, and cut it so it will be the 

 same size as the frame I use. under the top- 

 bar, when the top-bar of a frame is nailed 

 to it. This gives you something which you 

 can use in the place of a frame at any time 

 and in anj- place. So, should you wish to 

 contract one. two, three, or four frames, on 

 account of having that many in j-our hive 

 unoccupied with broi d when the honey har- 

 vest came, you could do the same at once by 

 putting in these dutrmies in place of the 

 frames taken out; then at the close of the 

 white-honey harvest you can set the combs 

 back in the hive in place of the dummies, 

 so that the bees can fill them with dark 

 honey for wintering." 



" That appears as if it would be handy, 

 accomplish its purpose, and cost but little, 

 which is the best of all. I'll try it another 

 season, at any event. But is there no other 

 way of making an obstinate colony work in 

 sections? " 



"Yes, the next best way that I know of 

 is to take a section, or several of them, from 

 a hive where the bees are at work nicely in 

 them, and place them on the hive where 

 the bees are quite loath to enter the sections, 

 carrying all the bees that adhere to the 

 sections with them. This will usually in- 

 cite the non-working colony to go to work 

 in the sections also." 



" I never tried that, but it looks as if it 

 might work all right." 



" Then with very obstinate colonies I 

 have taken a piece of drone comb, contain- 

 ing small larva;, and fitted the same into 

 one or two sections, placing the same in the 

 center of the surplus-apartment, much on the 

 same principle that a frame of brood is plac- 

 ed in an extracting-super, when the bees 

 would enter the sections to care for the 



