198 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



•^•N-/^^ 



MANAGING OUT-APIARIES. 



BY M. A. GILL. 



The Work must be Generalized, yet Systematic, and 

 Done just a Little Ahead of Time. 



Make vise of time, let not advantage slip— Shakespeare. 



workers should be set to work on another 

 set of combs, if the flow will warrant it. 



¥HEN a person is running a number 

 of out-apiaries for comb honey, and 

 can visit each apiary only once each w^eek, 

 the work must be generalized, yet at the 

 same time it must be systematic. 

 ANTICIPATING THE NEEDS OF THE BEES 

 A GREAT FACTOR IN PREVENT- 

 ING SWARMING. 



In bringing an apiary up to the honey 

 flow, no better advice was ever given, to 

 specialist or novici, then that given by 

 Father L,angstroth when he said "confine 

 your experience to pecks of bees instead 

 pints." After reaching this condition, or 

 as near it as possible, if the apiary is 

 healthy, I put on the supers several days 

 before the honey flow begins, and all 

 manipulation of the brood nest is stopped 

 unless the necessity for it is indicated 

 at the entrance; or unless swarming is 

 going to be managed without a man to 

 -watch, in which case the supers must be 

 removed and a careful examination made 

 in the brood nest, as often as once in six 

 days, until after the fever ceases. An- 

 ticipating the needs of the bees, and giv- 

 ing a super a little before it is needed, is, 

 I am sure, a great factor in influencing a 

 large per cent, of colonies with regard to 

 swarming. 



BEES ARE OFTEN IDLE FOR LACK 

 OF ROOM. 



I think many make a mistake in not 

 giving the second super soon enough. I 

 think it would be a surprise to some to 

 see how few bees can be contained in a 

 super that is all done but finishing. 

 Hence, in my opinion, before this finish- 

 ing process begins, the idle bees and wax 



ONE MAN CARING FOR 50O COLONIES 

 IS NOT A MYTH. 



I see by the Review that there are some 

 who think it is a dream for any one to 

 talk of caring for 500 colonies of bees. 

 I will say that I am managing 712 colo- 

 nies, spring count. I have a partner in 

 200 colonies, who is getting to be quite 

 proficient, and can be trusted to do any 

 part of the work, but I make it a rule to 

 go over the colonies with him once each 

 week. This leaves 512 old colonies, be- 

 sides their increase, for my wife and me 

 to attend to. I have a young man to hive 

 swarms at one apiary. 

 WHAT MUST BE DONE IN ONE WEEK. 



I will give a summar^^ of the work involv- 

 ed during the past week. We go out to 

 an apiar}' each day, and come home at 

 night; and in order to visit all the apiaries, 

 it is necessary to travel 100 miles each 

 week with a team; besides this travel, we 

 hauled out 160 supers, put them on the 

 hives, made an individual examination of 

 the 500 colonies, drove and shook 65 

 swarms, made stands and leveled them, 

 hauled home 50 hives heavy with honey, 

 attended to the distribution of a lot of 

 choice queen cells in each apairy, besides 

 doing many little matters of detail that 

 we found necessary to do. 



HOW TO PREVENT SWARMING. 



The coming week will be more busy; 

 as the bees will no doubt need 500 more 

 supers, and the 500 colonies must be ex- 

 amined to see if any foul brood has de- 

 veloped; also to see if any are going to 



