132 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



top, you really have a pretty good chaff hive; 

 and I should not wonder that, with such 

 good protection for both top and bottom, 

 and then allowing the sun to strike directly 

 on the sides of the hives whenever it shines 

 we shall have an arrangement pretty nearly 

 as good as a regular chaff hive.]" 



Mr. Taylor is one who makes a specialty 

 of bee-keeping, and never makes the mistake 

 of conducting experiments upon too small 

 a scale. Mr. Taylor writes me that he is ex- 

 tending his experiment this spring by pack- 

 150 colonies. He adds: "I have the means 

 to experiment; and I am going to know 

 what's what. After I know, the Review 

 readers shall have the benefit." 



Bee-Escapes and How to Use Them — Will 



Their nse Enable as to Indulge 



in House Apiaries'? 



Mr. C. H. Dibberu sends to Uleaninqs such 

 a valuable article on bee-escapes that I copy 

 nearly the whole article. 



"The first thing required is the escape it- 

 self; and it should be so made that it will fit 

 into a board without any projections, and no 

 empty boxes or supers should be required. 



The next thing is the escape-board, to cut 

 off the bees in the super from the main hive. 

 This should be made of boards not more 

 than half an inch thick, and should be pro- 

 vided with bee-spaces, so that, when it is 

 placed under the super, there will be a bee- 

 space on both sides. The escape should be 

 removable from the board, so that a piece of 

 board can be substituted for the escape 

 when desired. There must Ije neither brood 

 nor queen in the super, or the escape will 

 not clear it entirely of bees. If a wood-zinc 

 honey-board is used, there will be no trouble 

 on this point. The escape should be made 

 with not too many or too large openings, as 

 the bees are no fools, and readily find their 

 way back through them where there is a fair 

 chance. The escape should also be so placed 

 that there will be no more than a bee-space 

 under it, for the bees to cluster in, for I have 

 learned that where they can cluster on the 

 cone, they are much more apt to find their 

 way Ijack through it. I have also found that 

 bees can not cluster and hang on to a piece 

 of smooth tin as they do on a wire-cloth 

 cone. If cones are made of wire cloth I 

 would place them on the upper side of the 

 board, with a piece of tin, with small holes 

 punched in it, for the bees to pass out, for 

 the lower side. This is a form or escape I 

 shall experiment with this season. I have 

 many other experiments in view on this line 

 having no less than a dozen forms of escapes 

 ready to try as soon as there is any chance 

 to test them. 



I do not see that there can be any doubt 

 as to the advantages of the bee-escape. It 

 makes it not only easier and pleasanter for 

 the apiarist but irritates the bees much less 

 than any other method. The escape-board 

 can be slipped under the super in less than 



a minute, and the bees will escape into the 

 super or hive below, so gradually and peace- 

 fully that they do not seem to know what has 

 happened. Cases can he placed over the es- 

 capes, and in a few hours the honey can be 

 carried away without disturbing the bees 

 from their workin the least. 



The escape is particu!nrly useful in the 

 management of out-apiaries. Last fall, 

 when I got ready to remove what honey there 

 was in the supers at my out-apiary, I found 

 that robbing was "just fearful," as there 

 was no honey coming in: and as I had 

 neither shop nor honey-house there, I hardly 

 see how I could have managed without the 

 bee-escape. I was digging a "bee-cave" at 

 the time; and as I had many other things to 

 look after when out, I had to make good use 

 of my time. When I got out there in the 

 morning I would place these escapes under 

 as many supers as I could haul in my light 

 wagon, and then go about my regular work. 

 When I got ready to go home I would load 

 up my honey, with scarcely a single bee to 

 bother. Once I placed the escape-board un- 

 der a super that had a small knot-hole in it, 

 that had escaped my attention. A few hours 

 after, I heard the shrill note of the robber, 

 and soon found that the bees were robbing 

 through this knot hole, there being no longer 

 any bees there to defend it. I fully believe 

 that the escape will prove as valuable for ex- 

 tracted as for comb honey. W^hit we want 

 is to get the "hang" of the proper manage- 

 ment. Last year some of our California 

 friends objected, on account of the honey 

 becoming too cold if left over night on hives 

 over the escapes. But why not put the es- 

 capes on in the morning, and at intervals 

 during the day, so that there would be a suc- 

 cession of supers that the l)ees had just 

 vacated? The sun, which I believe nearly 

 always shines there, would certainly keep 

 them warm enough. ( )f course, the bee-es- 

 cape presupposes a super of some kind; and 

 such bee-keepers as remove their honey in 

 single wide frames or sections, like Doolittle, 

 will not find much use for them. It is not 

 strange that all bee-keepers do not take 

 readily to the bee-escape. When we remem- 

 ber that we are not at all agreed as to the 

 advantages of comb foundation, the extrac- 

 tor, and many other things, it is not to be 

 wondered at. All the same, the bee-escape 

 has "come to stay" and many who are now 

 shaking their heads will "come into the 

 agency" l)y and by. 



There is yet another use for the l)ee-escape 

 besides removing the surplus, that is in hiv- 

 ing swarms, that promises good results. 

 Last year I tried a sort of combination Hed- 

 don-Tinker bee-escape system, that pleased 

 XB" greatly. I simply hived the swarm on 

 the old stand and removed the partly filled 

 super to it from the old hive. I then put on 

 the escape-board, with escape in place, and 

 the old hive on top of that, giving them a 

 small entrance of their own. I would leave 

 it there for seven days, during which time 

 bees were constantly escaping to the now 

 colony. On the seventh day the old hive 

 was removed to a new stand, and a hive- 

 cover laid on the escape-board, still leaving 

 the small entrance for the returning bees to 



