378 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



apparently the same condition gathered 

 only their daily supply. In the face of all 

 this, the assertion is frequently heard that 

 only strong colonies yield a surplus ! 



When such results come about with the 

 colonies, combs, hives and pasturage 

 apparently the same, there must be other 

 factors not so easily discovered. By re- 

 peated examination and observation 1 

 have learned that there exists a certain 

 condition under which a colony will gather 

 the most honey whether it be strong or 

 weak. If this condition has not yet been 

 reached, or if it has been passed, the 

 storing of surplus will be neglected or at 

 least carried on only n.oderately. 



That being the case, the question natur- 

 ally arises, what is this condition ? By 

 an exact examination there will be found 

 five central points. Three of these are 

 well-known to first-class bee-keepers, 

 and they are mentioned only that 1 may 

 be able to give a complete statement, and 

 in my second part be able to refer to them 

 if desirable. 



1- -The ideal colony must have a fault- 

 less queen: hardy, sound of body, and 

 above all things, fertile, and her progeny 

 distinguished by diligence. 



2 — Nevertheless, such a queen alone 

 does not make an ideal colony. At the 

 right time, that is, when honey is coming 

 in freely there must be plenty of empty 

 comb that no time nor honey be lost in 

 building comb. 



3--0ur ideal colony must swarm at the 

 right tim.e or not at all. It swarms at 

 the right time when it swarms so early 

 that the queens of the after-swarm, if 

 such are allowed, become fertile, and the 

 first or prime swarm has its combs com- 

 pleted, before the opening of the main 

 harvest. 



4 — The ideal colony must not be over- 

 populous. A hive is over-populous when 

 its working force is too great in compari- 

 son to the dimension of the hive and to 

 the number of wax-building bees. 



Such a condition is intolerable to the 

 bees and they try to help themselves by 

 loafing. Their instinct teaches them to 

 begin this loafing even before the hive is 

 over-populous. The bees seem to see 

 that the combs are filled and capped, that 

 bees are daily hatching and that they will 

 soon be crowded. A colony in such a 

 condition will never perform the wonders 

 in gathering honey that we may expect 

 from one less populous. Such a colony 

 feels instinctively that its abode will soon 

 be too small, and the swarming fever sets 

 in, and we know that when that is 

 awakened the bees will continue to loaf. 

 At the most, only as much honey will be 



gathered as is needed for making the 

 swarming preparations. A colony with 

 the swarming fever is of little value as a 

 honey gatherer. 



5- -The best honey gathering colonies 

 are not kept at home during the best 

 honey flow by the nursing of too much 

 brood. If there is too much brood in pro- 

 portion to the working force, most of the 

 honey gathered will be consumed by the 

 brood. The bee-keeper whose bees rear 

 a large amount of brood during the main 

 honey harvest, or near its close, will find, 

 as he stands before his colonies at the 

 close of the harvest, that although they 

 are strong in bees and the combs fault- 

 less, the latter will he empty Sind will stay 

 so. 



A queen may be faultless in the fall, 

 and fail in the spring. To discover this 

 failure early in the spring and give the 

 colony another queen is all-important. 

 To introduce a queen with no danger of 

 loss, remove the poor queen and all of the 

 combs, giving the latter to some colony 

 that can care for them temporarily. Al- 

 low the bees three or four frames with 

 starters only. Give them the new queen 

 in a cage. Watch closely and see what 

 kind of comb they build. If it is drone 

 comb they will not accept the queen. Cut 

 it out and let them start again. If no 

 honey is coming in they must be fed. 

 When they begin building worker comb it 

 is a sign that they have accepted the 

 queen and it is safe to release her. The 

 second day after her release three or four 

 of the brood combs are returned. The 

 remainder are given the next day. As a 

 rule, queens are not kept after the second 

 year. If the colony with the newly given 

 queen does not prove diligent, exchange 

 three or four of its combs for the same 

 number of combs of sealed brood taken 

 from the most industrious colony in th3 

 yard. 



The second point is that of supplying 

 colonies with abundance of empty combs. 

 When the bees build their own combs 

 there is not only tlie loss of the honey 

 that is consumed to furnish the wax for 

 comb building, but the bees that are se- 

 creting the wax and building the combs 

 could be gathering honey were they not 

 thus employed. I have always worked 

 with all my power to have on hand a suf- 

 ficient supply of comb, but 1 must admit 

 that I have sometimes wished that 1 had 

 more. At such tim.es I would have given 

 much if 1 could have gotten Warnstorfs 

 combs, but his discovery is of recent date 

 and 1 was obliged to use foundation which 

 is a great helo, but not the equal of com- 

 pleted combs. (The Warnstorf combs 



