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THE SBdEKieSPC BEE JQURKMt, 



■--■--"fc.-^ 



wiES P Replies, 



Average Yield Per Colony for a 

 Term of Years. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 584.— What is an average yield of 

 honey, per colony, lor eight or ten years ?— 

 Illinois. 



Twenty-five pounds. — Mbs. L. Har- 

 bison. 



From 50 to 85 pounds, according to 

 the location. — Dadant & Son. 



In this locality (Michigan) about 30 

 pounds of combhonej^ — H.D. Cutting. 



In my location (Georgia) it would 

 be about 40 pounds. — J. P. H. Bkown. 



Fifty pounds of comb honey, or 100 

 pounds of extracted. — Eugene Secor. 



The average with me (Louisiana) 

 has not been over 50 pounds. — P. L. 



VlAlLON. 



From 35 to 40 pounds in Michigan. 

 — E. L. Taylor. 



That depends upon the locality and 

 season. — A. B. Mason. 



More or less, according to locality. 

 Fifty pounds would be a big average 

 in my own vicinity — Massachusetts. — 

 J. E. Pond. 



I guess that 75 pounds of comb 

 honey, and 100 pounds or more of ex- 

 tracted. Perhaps that is rather too 

 high. — A. J. Cook. 



An average yield with me (Illinois) 

 for such length of time has been about 

 40 pounds. — C. H. Dibbern. 



I have kept no statistics, and have 

 but little idea ; in my location (Indi- 

 ana) I have got all the way from more 

 than 100 pounds to nothing. — M. 



IdAHIN. 



In my location (New York) my 

 average has been about 75 pounds per 

 colony of comb honey, for the past 16 

 years. — G. M. Doolittle. 



I do notsuppose that I could tell close 

 enough even in my own location 

 (Michigan) to give you anj' better idea 

 than jou now have. — James Heddon. 



All depends ■ upon the bee-keeper, 

 the kind of bees, the kind of hives, 

 and other appliances, and upon the 

 location ; all the way from nothing to 

 100 pounds per colony. — J. M. Shuck. 



I do not value veiy highly my repu- 

 tation as a guesser, but I would not 

 risk it on that. The question is a fair 

 one, and I shall be glad to sec the an- 

 swers. — C. C. Miller. 



If I could forget the past three years 

 I would say 50 pounds in my locality 

 (Kentucky), but I hate come to the 

 point that I never expect to see any 

 honey any more. — G. W. Dbmaree. 



Much depends on location, and the 

 care taken of the bees. Any estimate 

 would probably be guess-work. In 

 average years each colony should pro- 

 duce at least 75 pounds of extracted, 

 or 40 pounds of comb honey in my 

 locality — Illinois. — -J. M. Hambaugh. 



A " guess " is all that can be ex- 

 pected as an answer to the question. 

 Our guess is about 50 pounds of both 

 comb and extracted honey as an aver- 

 age for ten years, if that average is to 

 include all the bee-keepers of the 

 countr}". If only the more enlightened 

 about 100 pounds. The specialists 

 will average 25 pounds more. — The 

 Editor. 



ReinoTing the Queen to Seeure 

 more Surplus Honey. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



QuerySSS.— 1. Will removing the queen 

 from a colony three weeks before the honey- 

 harvest, secure more honey in the sections, 

 instead of in the brood-nest, as the bees do 

 after a swarm issues ?— Ohio. 



I have had no experience in that 

 line. — A. B. Mason. 



I think so, if I understand the ques- 

 tion. — A. J. Cook. 



I have never practiced this method. 

 J. M. Hambaugh. 



I do not belive it will, I do not un- 

 derstand the latter part of this ques- 

 tion. — Eugene Secor. 



No ; if I understand the question, to 

 do so would be disastrous. — R. L. 



TAYtOR. 



In most of such colonies there would 

 be less honey in the sections, and 

 more in the brood-nest. — J. P. H. 

 Brown. 



No. A good queen should be in the 

 hive at all times. — C. H. Dibbern. 



Nothing can be gained by removing 

 the queen, except that swarming may 

 be prevented. — M. Mahin. 



It will secure more honey in the 

 brood-nest, and less honey altogether. 

 — Dadant & Son. 



I do not propose to remove any good 

 queen from any colony, unless I see 

 better reasons oflered for so doing. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



My efforts along the line of removal 

 of the queen to secure a good yield of 

 comb honey have all been failures. — 

 G M. Doolittle. 



No. If the queen be removed at 

 the beginning of the harvest, and no 

 queen is allowed to develop, and the 

 honey-yield only lasts about ten days, 

 yes ; otherwise, no. Comb honej' se- 

 cured by this method is almost certain 

 to be badly polluted with pollen, and 



later on with the lavvas of the wax- 

 moth. The best work and the cleanest 

 crop can be secured only by having 

 the colony complete — a good laying 

 queen, a few drones, and a host of 

 willing workers made cheerful by the 

 perfect organization of their forces. — 

 J. M. Shuck. 



The honey will not be used in rear- 

 ing brood, and its place will be filled 

 with honey. I would prefer a laying 

 queen for this locality — Illinois. — Mrs. 

 L. Harrison. 



I do not think that it will. The 

 question has been discussed somewhat 

 in days past, but with the conclusion 

 that it is unnatural, and therefore 

 valueless. — J. E. Pond. 



I am not sure that I know what you 

 mean by " as the bees do," but I doubt 

 if removing the queen increases the 

 surplus, unless indirectly by prevent- 

 ing swarming. — C. C. Miller. 



You will always notice that when a 

 colony is queenless, that the bees will 

 always store honey in all the brood- 

 combs below, and it is only when they 

 have a virgin or laying queen that they 

 remove the honey to make room for 

 the laying of the queen. — P. L. Vial- 

 LON. 



No, sir, not in this locality (Michi- 

 gan), and I am so positive that the 

 idea is impracticable, if not nonsensi- 

 cal, that I am pleased to go on record 

 as saying that it will never come into 

 general use. — James Heddon. 



I do not have room here to discuss 

 this subject. If the queen is removed 

 as described by you, the bees will 

 store more honey because they will not 

 have so much brood to feed. They 

 will generally till the brood-combs as 

 the larvre hatch out, after the fashion 

 of a colony that has cast a swarm, and 

 you will find that the extra consump- 

 tion of stores necessary to replace the 

 loss in way of bees, owing to the re- 

 moval of the queen, will be greater 

 than was the gain in honey by reason 

 of the removal of the queen. Try it 

 and report. — G. W. Demaree. 



We doubt the policy of removing a 

 good queen at any time from a colony 

 of bees. Queenlessness is an abnor- 

 mal condition, and should not be 

 forced on a colony, except for good 

 and sufficient reasons. It would prob- 

 ably result in having less honey in the 

 sections instead of more, and more in 

 the brood-nest, where surplus honey 

 should not be tolerated in these days 

 of enlightened metliods of storing the 

 surplus honey in neat sections con- 

 taining virgin comb. — The Editor. 



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