A YEAR'S WORK IN AN OUT-APIARY 35 



WHY AN EMPTY SUPER OF SECTIONS SHOULD BE PUT ON TOP OF BATHEB THAN 



under sections partly filled. 



It is now nearly noon, with tlie sun shining brightly, and the air 

 becoming warm and balmy. To see the army of bees rushing in and 

 out of the hives containing the "shook" colonies is a sight to gladden 

 the heart of any bee-keeper; and those returning from the fields seem 

 quite heavily loaded, though the nectar Is very thin on account of so 

 much rain. I tried to count those coming in loaded during one minute, 

 but they dropped down so fast in almost bunches of threes, fives, and 

 sometimes ten or more, that It was impossible to do it. I counted two 

 hundred, and estimated that fully twice that number went in without 

 counting. Such colonies as these will do something at securing nectar, 

 even if it does rain the larger part of the time. 



I now take a little time to look at the supers of sections, and a 

 glance at them shows the honey being sealed in the bait sections, with 

 the most of the other sections in the lower super, having the foundation 

 fully drawn out and the honey sparkling in every cell, nearly ready for 

 sealing. With all but two colonies the bees are well at work in the 

 upper super also, drawing out the foundation, with now and then a 

 section having quite a little honey in it. Those that are as far advanced 

 as this have their supers exchanged — that is, the upper super is set 

 directly on top of the brood-chamber; and the lower one, having the 

 baits, now nearing completion, is placed on top, after which a super of 

 sections, filled with the extra-light foundation, is placed on top of the 

 whole, so that in no case shall any colony lack for room. 



In all of my working with the bees I have not found that the placing 

 of an empty super over one in which the bees are at work is any detri- 

 ment, as the bees seem capable of clustering in the openings at the tops 

 of the sections they are at work in, thereby forming a crust of bees 

 that holds the heat in the super they are at work in, to such an extent 

 that the work goes right along. 



This is done on the same principle that a colony in early spring 

 is able to maintain a temperature of 93 to 98 degrees inside of the 

 brood-nest (which is the proper temperature for brood-rearing), when 

 the temperature of the hive all around the crust bees does not rise above 

 45 to 50, when we have a spell of freezing weather. A colony of bees 

 seems to be capable of holding almost any degree of temperature it de- 

 sires, simply through a crust of bees which often does not at any point 

 touch the hive. How this is done I do not know. But I do know that 

 a handful of bees, less than 1,000 by count, kept the temperature where 

 their brood was, between two combs, at 93 degrees, when the mercury 

 outside stood at from 18 to 26 degrees above zero during a cold spell 

 in April. And I have known (many times when experimenting) of good 

 work being done in the sections, fixed as above, when it was so cool 

 that not a bee would be seen anywhere from or in the upper super, 

 except the crust between the tops of the sections In the super below. 



Since these experiments I have always kept these reserve supers on 

 top, ready to catch any overflow of bees or honey. But the placing of 



