A YEAR'S WORK IN AN OUT-APIARY 



43 



first next the brood-chamber, when a super of foundation-filled sections 

 is set top of It, over which is placed the bee-escape, and the finished 

 super or supers on top of that, so that nearly all of the colonies will 

 have two supers, or eighty-eight one pound sections in which to store 

 from now till the end of the season. If any colony is found which has 

 two supers partly filled, these are both put back and a third super put 

 on, which is empty, except the sections filled with foundation. 



After a practice of ten years I find that it always pays to keep this 

 empty super of sections on top at all times when there is an expected 

 harvest, as it does no harm except the little labor of setting it on; and 

 as often as one year in three much work will be done in it if it is not 

 filled entirely; and it has much to do with keeping the bees from laying 

 out or being crowded for room, thus doing away with their contracting 

 the swarming fever, as they are quite apt to do when the other supers 

 are nearing completion. Since using this method of keeping an empty 

 super on top I have not had a single swarm during the buckwheat flow, 

 without any further effort at their prevention, while before this I was 

 bothered with nearly half of the colonies contracting the swarming fever 

 during the first week of buckwheat bloom, they keeping the swarming 

 up till very little section honey would be obtained. 



west's queen-cell pkotectok in use. 



Before going to the apiary at this time I carefully look over the 

 standing of the bee-yard as to the value of the queens in the different 

 hives, as it Is given in the little squares on my record-board, and take 

 from the home apiary the number of ripe cells required for use in re- 

 queening all colonies having queens which do not come up to the stand- 

 ard of good queens. When the sections are all piled on the wheel- 

 barrow, as given above, from a colony having a queen not considered good 

 enough to winter over, I take the opportunity to hunt up the queen and 

 kill her, as she is quite easily found at this time on account of so 

 many of the bees being in the supers just taken off. 



