THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



93 



utes the bees in the super realize that they 

 are cut oflf from the colony. Perhaps some 

 will remaiu separate from the colony lor 

 more than a half hour before they realize 

 that they have lost their queen. But many 

 will realize the loss in fifteen minutes, or 

 less : so we will give thirty minutes as ap- 

 proximating the average time. 



The loss discovered, the first act of those 

 bees is to hunt every part of that super in 

 search of the queeu. After a thorough 

 search of the super, tliey uext hunt for an 

 opening to get out. Of course they readily 

 find this, since I have placed the super in the 

 open air beside the hive, and they now take 

 up their march for the hive. 



Now, should the super be right on the 

 alighting board, i. e. in direct communica- 

 tion with the hive and colony, the news of 

 the '* lost is found " is soon known in that 

 super, and the bees therein will cease to 

 " travel :" but if the connection is entirely 

 broken between the colony and super, great 

 hustle will be made to vacate the latter. 



Suppose the super has been placed on a 

 board with a Porter escape in it, and set 

 upon the hive. As described above, the bees 

 800U realize their separation from the queen 

 and colony — not separation alone, but & com- 

 plete loss — and after hunting the super over 

 they want to get out, and " want badly." 



Now, friends, note right here, this : I claim 

 that within an hour from the time of sepa- 

 ration, the highest pitch of excitement is 

 reached : but that from fifteen to thirty min- 

 utes will elapse before there is a decided 

 move to vacate the super. I claim, too, that 

 right at this time, just when the intense de- 

 sire to find •* mamma " has possession of the 

 bees, is the time the escape should do its 

 work. Right at this point is where the Por- 

 ter fails, just as a small bit of a hole will fail 

 to successfully hive a swarm. A large, free 

 entrance will permit the swarm to rush in 

 when the " excitement is on ;" but the little 

 hole takes so long that the swarm will settle 

 down to quietude before they can all get in- 

 side. Just so the escape fails ; the bees not 

 being able to pass when the excitement has 

 possession of them, they begin to "settle 

 down to their fate," and thereafter will pass 

 through very slowly. I believe that, after 

 the first hour and a half to two hours, but 

 few bees go out except as they want to take 

 a fly or go to the fields. 



We find, then, that the Porter escape lacks 

 capacity, and I think I can make this very 



plain. Suppose a congregation of 600 people 

 in a building — reasonable creatures too, that 

 know their wants and where they are going. 

 They begin to file out, single file, through a 

 narrow door with a spring behind it that 

 compels each one to push for himself. How 

 long do you think it will take them to va- 

 cate ? I will just practice a bit by myself 

 and find out. Well, I have just taken a 

 walk, and find I took 100 steps per minute. 

 (!00 people in a solid line, bodies practically 

 touching each other, would not take over 

 fifty steps per minute and would vacate the 

 room in twelve minutes. A line of bees can 

 pass in single file through a hole at the rate 

 of about 150 per minute, or 9,000 per hour. 

 But to get through at this rate they must 

 almost go on a run in solid file. Now I have 

 watched bees passing through both cone and 

 spring escapes and I very much doubt their 

 passing faster than an average of fifty per 

 minute for any length of time. That means 

 ;5,000 per hour ; 15,000 in five hours. A bee 

 usually tries those springs from one to five 

 times before she passes. 



Now if a super contains many bees, it is 

 almost a physical impossibility to free the 

 super in the time of the usual excitement 

 that arises upon the bees finding themselves 

 separated from ihe queen, and, beyond that 

 time, I think there will be no question that 

 the movement will be very slow. 



Now, friends, put these figures, and the 

 statements of those who have tried the es- 

 capes and reported, together ; and see if I 

 am not correct, Some report supers cleared 

 in two to three hours. Such contained not 

 more bees than could pass in that time. I 

 made a trial escape (I had poor springs, how- 

 ever), having six or more openings. Over 

 the springs I placed glass. Over this escape 

 I put an extracting chamber — brood cham- 

 ber hive — and watched the bees pass out. 

 About one hour cleaned it out. Some of the 

 springs worked poorly — were too stiff or 

 close. Then, too, there was not more than 

 one-third to one-half the number of bees in 

 the chamber that is usually in an extracting 

 chamber. The same escape on stronger col- 

 onies did not do the work in less than three 

 to ten hours. The limited extent of my ex- 

 periments proved but little. 



Give me an escape that makes the bees 

 feel that they are completely separated ; that 

 will allow and favor the passage of 10 to 

 15,000 bees per hour when they are anxious 

 to get out, that will keep them out when they 



