38 MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



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, draw- 

 ing out the foundation with now and then a section having some 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 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 detriment, 

 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 tempera- 

 ture of the hive all around the crust of 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 desires, 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 1000 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 section in the 

 super below.i 



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 such 

 a super under one in which the bees are at work often proves a great dam- 

 age, especially in a poor season. Therefore, as a rule, during late years I 

 never raise a partly full super up from the brood-chamber unless I can 

 place one underneath it, in which the bees have cotnmenced to work more 

 or less.2 



Those colonies which have not yet commenced work in the upper 

 super, or have only just begnn, are left as they are, as such have all the 

 room they will need until the next visit. In changing these supers I can 

 not resist the temptation to look into the brood-chambers of two or three of 

 the colonies, and in doing so T find the comb given them as a "starter," 

 which was from one-eighth to one-fourth full of brood when placed in the 

 center of the hive at time of "shook swarming," ten days ago, is literally 

 filled with brood, two-thirds of which is sealed over, while six of the re- 



1 They do this by forming a wall of living bees closely crowded together to retain 

 the heat within the crust or wall thus formed. The heat is generated within by the 

 activity of the bees. 



2 The author used supers holding 44 sections 3i4x5%xl%. Such a large and 

 deep super would not be so well adapted to placing the empty one under th.e partly 

 filled ones as the regular-sized super holding 28 sections 4H x iVt, xl%. When these 

 are used, the new super should be put below, if the honey flow is rapid and above if 

 it is slow. 



