3IO 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



In the hurry of the busy season it is 

 next to impossible to keep close track of 

 our brushed swarms as to their building 

 comb. At the close of our white-honey 

 season they should then have at least an 

 overhauling. The combs taken from 

 them in the early part of the season may 

 in part be used to replace drone combs, 

 and to regulate things generally in their 

 brood-chamber. If the drones in the 

 combs that are to be removed have not 

 yet hatched I behead them with an un- 

 capping-knife and shake the carcasses out 

 of their cells. They make good chicken 

 feed and excellent bait for fishing. The 

 combs are placed in upper stories to be 

 extracted later. Finally, they must be 

 melted up, if not wanted for extracting- 

 combs. 



It is not an uncommon thing for brush- 

 ed swarms to store pollen in sections. 

 Nearly all my pollen-containing sections 

 have come from this source. A small 

 brood-chamber, and particularly a shal- 

 low one, will often force a good deal of 

 pollen into the sections when the honey- 

 flow is light, as is usually tlie case with 

 the large majority of honey-producers. 

 The 400 lbs. surplus per hive (Gandy), 

 or the 450 U>s. of section honey ( Wilson, 

 Nebraska, p. 739), appear like myths to 

 most of us. and I think we having these 

 meager honey yields are excusable for 

 not believing such reports. This is voic- 

 ing the sentiments of the people here- 

 abouts. 



In order to prevent pollen being stored 

 in sections, a zinc excluder will ht-lp. 

 The old Heddon honey-Vjoard, of which 

 James Heddon once said, "I want to go 

 on record as saying my honey-board has 

 come to stay, "is the best thing, anyway, 

 to produce fancy comb honey, an(l may 

 also be used for the purpose here. It 

 lessens pollen in the supers; it lessens 

 travel-stain ; it lessens burr-combs and pro- 

 polis. Let us give it another trial, friends. 

 We would certainly have better quality if 

 we used it extensively. 



I am about done, and only wish to say 

 that, with all of the enumerated disad- 

 vantages, I still continue to "brush." 

 The best yield (comb honey) I have had 

 in out-apiaries came from the brushed 

 swarms. It is the best we can do under 

 the circumstances. 



vSome of the brushed swarms have now 

 superseded their queens, with others I 

 have taken matters into my own hand. 

 It is about the same with my natural 

 swarms. 



As to melting up good combs ( worker 

 size) I would say, don't do it. They are 

 worth more as combs than wax. If I had 



a sutplus I would advertise them tor sale. 

 A set of combs full of brood, as we gain 

 them by the brushing method, may be 

 set up in the yard as a separate colony af- 

 ter having been kept eight days on some 

 other hive with queen-excluder under it. 

 A matured queen-cell or a queen should 

 be given after the separation. A colony 

 thus formed will do well on buckwheat, 

 and be in good shape for another year. 

 If thought best, or in order to reduce the 

 number of colonies, it may also be reunit- 

 ed with its parent having the old queen. 



This matter of tae age of the queen has 

 much to do, even with natural swarms, 

 in regard to the building of drone comb. 

 In hiving natural swarms cu starters, it 

 is almost invariably the swarms with the 

 old queens that build the drone comb. 

 With queens only one year old there is 

 not nmch drone comb built. 



I am pleased to see Mr. Greiner say a 

 good word for the Heddon, slatted honey 

 board. He says "let us give it another 

 trial." I have never discarded it, and 

 have never been able to understand why 

 any one who has tried it should discard it. 

 As he says, it lessens pollen in the super; 

 lessens travel-stain ; lessens ( he could .safe- 

 ly say, absolutely prevents) burr-combs; 

 and lessens propolis. 



The next man to tell of the advantages 

 of shook or brushed swarms, is als-o from 

 New York. His name is George Shiber, 

 and he writes as follows: — 



I have for a number of years practiced 

 shaking bees off their combs at the ap- 

 proach of the honey-flow (white clover 

 with me), and I must say the plan is all 

 right. It practicalh- cures the swarming 

 fever for that season; in fact, it is as good 

 a cure as swarming itself. But there are 

 several things to be taken into consider- 

 ation when practicing the plan. First. 

 we ought to wait until queen-cells are un- 

 der way; for if we do not, such a colony 

 may not swarm nor offer to. We are so 

 much ahead in saving labor, although it 

 can be (fbne if the hive is very populous; 

 but we must observe very carefully the 

 following: 



Second, we must cau.se the bees to fill 

 themselves with honey This is impor- 

 tant. 



This is my method of making these so- 

 called "shook" swarms. For instance, if 

 a colony is examined, and we find queen- 



