ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION - 



69 



from 25 to 30 pounds of winter stores 

 per colony — ample to last until the sur- 

 plus season opens in June. 



Our chafP-hive colonies are packed 

 for winter about Oct. i ; those in clamps 

 the last of November. The latter are 

 set on the summer stands as soon in 

 spring as the frost is out of the ground, 

 usually the last week of March. These 

 are wrapped in building-paper for spring 

 protection. 



There is nothing more done with either 

 paper - protected or chaff - packed colo- 

 nies until May 20 to 25, when the paper 

 is removed from the clamp-wintered 

 bees, and the chaff removed from the 

 chaff-packed colonies, and upper-stories 

 are given to all the medium and strong 

 colonies. Those familiar with this lo- 

 cality, will recognize this date as being 

 about two weeks previous to the open- 

 ing of the main honey-flow in June. At 

 this date our freezing nights are usual- 

 ly over, and our colonies are getting 

 strong, although there is no honey com- 

 ing in during this period. Were we to 

 leave our bees in one single story, many 

 of them would feel crowded, and swarm 

 at the opening of our main honey-flow. 

 Others that did not swarm would sulk, 

 and likely store only a part as much 

 honey as if they had been supplied with 

 an abundance of empty comb-room dur- 

 ing this period. This abundance of 

 comb-room keeps the bees in that con- 

 dition so essential for the best results 

 in honey-production. The old way was 

 to tear down the strong colonies to build 

 up the weak. While the results will be 

 about the same, this handling of brood- 

 frames is neither practical nor profitable 

 in extensive bee-keeping. One visit a 

 week during the honey - flow, to give 

 comb-room to store honey in, is all that 

 is necessary, and as we have comb- 

 storage to hold our crop, and do not 

 extract until a week or 10 days after 

 our white honey crop is over, one man 

 can attend to four or five established 

 yards of 100 colonies each, and do all 

 the work until extracting time, when ad- 

 ditional help is employed. 



With this system, no queen-excluders 

 are used. Put upper stories on top. 

 While the queen will occupy the first 

 upper story given, by adding additional 

 upper stories on top, she will be crowd- 

 ed down into the hive below long before 

 extracting time; while if this first up- 

 per story given, now containing brood, 

 were to be lifted up and empty combs 

 placed between, and were to continue 



this practice of placing our empty up- 

 per stories next to the hive, we would 

 be quite likely to have the whole brood- 

 nest in - the upper stories at extracting 

 time. But by placing the upper stories 

 always on top, without extracting, we 

 have been able to keep down swarm- 

 ing, and have an extracting department 

 practically free from brood at extract- 

 ing time. We have used queen-exclud- 

 ers extensively for several years, and 

 find that about every third year we have 

 excessive swarming when excluders are 

 used ; and as we get practically the same 

 results without them, with the above 

 management, we are discontinuing their 

 use. 



Each yard is provided with a 12 x 16 

 foot sectional honey-house, with all the 

 necessary paraphernalia for managing 

 them, so there is no moving of tools 

 from place to place. This makes it 

 possible to run one or more crews at 

 extracting time as occasion demands. 



Keep piling on empty combs clear 

 through the season, being careful to- 

 wards the close not to give unneces- 

 sary room, or, in other words, get every 

 upper .story sealed and finished that is 

 possible, as sealed honey is of a much 

 better grade than unsealed, even when 

 left on the hives several days after the 

 season closes, as is our practice. 



A week or 10 days after the season 

 closes — usually the last week in July in 

 this locality — we begin extracting. As 

 we have added all our upper stories on 

 top, all our partly full upper stories will 

 be on top at extracting time. These 

 partly full upper stories are all taken 

 off, and extracted separately, and the 

 honey is sold at a less price than our 

 best grade. This second-grade honey is 

 as good as, or better than, most of the 

 extracted on the market. 



With this method we get about J4 oi 

 our crop'in No. 2 stock. The No. i stock 

 is put into new 60-pound cans, and 

 brings about 2 cents a pound above the 

 market price, with more customers than 

 I can supply. 



In conclusion, I would say: Don't do 

 unnecesary work with the bees. Don't 

 do work that the bees can do just as 

 well as you can. Don't handle brood- 

 frames. Produce a superior article of 

 honey, then ask a good, fair price for 

 your product. 



This is an outline of the way we are 

 managing in the profitable production 

 of extracted honey. 



E. D. TOWNSEND. 



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