182 



EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



quickly you could move that back and 

 get the first frame out; and, of course, 

 if the colony needs the space you do 

 not need to have any division board 

 in there. I think this is quite an im- 

 I>ortant point because life is siiort and 

 anything that helps in manipulation is 

 an advantage. 



Mr. Holterman — I would like to ask 

 Mr. Aspinwall a question, whether he 

 would think that a colony which had 

 been brought forward to the honey 

 flow with twelve combs of brood 

 would give him the same yield as one 

 that had been brought forward with 

 eight; and I would also ask him 

 whether he is indifferent as to the 

 number of bees which go into w^inter 

 quarters and which then are there to 

 begin again the next season to breed 

 for the honey flow? 



Mr. Aspinwall — Mr. President, Ladies 

 and Gentlemen, I certainly agree with 

 both speakers, as I have said before, 

 and I would prefer the number of bees 

 providing the queen would keep up 

 with the demands in laying for a 

 twelve-frame hive. There are lots of 

 colonies where we find the queen equal 

 to about eight frames, I use an ex- 

 pansive hive. I have had ten and 

 twelve and fourteen frames in some of 

 my hives, and if I have a queen prolific 

 enough to produce the bees, I would 

 not reject them for a minute, and they 

 will store me the greatest possible 

 amount of honey. With reference to 

 winter quarters, I think I touched it 

 Incidentally when I said the early 

 yields require every bee to produce a 

 maximum amount of honey, therefore 

 I w^ould limit the brood during the 

 storage for that short period, say from 

 three to four or five weeks at the most. 

 After that I should give them every 

 opportunity to increase and breed for 

 winter quarters. Furthermore, about 

 the control of swarming I am biased 

 perhaps a little in my remarks. I have 

 plenty of bees in either case as no 

 swarms issue with me. 



Mr. Pressler — ^I would like to ask if 

 there is a blackboard in the house 

 that is available? I would like Mr. 

 Chapman to show on the board how 

 he figures 48,000 or 56,000 bees ready 

 for the flow in 21 or 24 days in an 

 eight -frame hive. I am here to learn 

 and here to gain some information. 

 If the eight -frame hive is the best hive 

 I want to adopt it. If the twelve is 

 the best I want to adopt it, and I have 



never been able to figure out how 

 many bees I can produce preparatory 

 to the honey flow. 



Mr. Chapman — If there are three 

 -thousand cells on one side and three 

 thousand on the other, that would 

 give us six thousand in one comb, and 

 six times seven is forty-two, and at 

 the end of 21 days we would have just 

 eactly 42,000, the number of cells 

 contained in seven combs. I would 

 not say w^e would get in seven combs 

 that amount. I use anywhere up to 

 24,000 if the queen wants them. I put 

 up brood and let the queen go up, or 

 else I keep putting up fhore brood and 

 let them build just as fast as they 

 want to. 



Mr. Pressler — I mean by confining 

 the bees to eight frames I w^ant to 

 know how many bees you can get 

 ready for the honey flow in 21 days, 

 or as many as you like? 



Mr. Chapman — ^I don't know just 

 how many I would raise in an eight- 

 frame, but I would judge it would be 

 about fifteen or eighteen thousand, 

 somewhere along there. It would de- 

 pend largely upon the condition of the 

 combs, the amount of honey and the 

 amount of brood they would contain, 

 and so on. "We hardly ever get a 

 solid frame of brood. 



Mr. Pressler — I would like to say 

 what I find with reference to my 

 queens. By way of illustration we will 

 say that the queen will fill one comb 

 with eggs in one day, in an eight- 

 frame hive she fills it in eight days. 

 My queen is idle then for thirteen 

 day^. I have thirteen days of cessa- 

 tion of the emergency of yoUng bees. 

 I don't get any bees for thirteen days. 

 My queen cannot lay again for twenty- 

 one days. In other words, my queen 

 is loafing for thirteen days. 



Mr. Hershiser — Have you got any 

 queens that lay 6,000 eggs a day? 



Mr. Pressler — I say that by way of 

 of illustration. 



Dr. Bohrer — I have timed them at 

 six to the minute; that comes about it. 



Mr. Pressler — I want to make the 

 point that a prolific queen will fill an 

 eight-frame hive inside of 21 days, and 

 if she don't, I say, gentlemen, pinch 

 her head ofC. 



Dr. Bohrer— She will do it inside of 

 six days. 



Mr. Pressler — If that is the case the 



