MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES. 



45 



bee-escape, and super of foundation-filled sections, is again brought into 

 use, when all the fully completed supers are set on the empty hive, and the 

 others on the empty super, the same as with my last visit. If a super is 

 found having two-thirds or more of its sections completed I think it best 

 to take off the same, as those finished will lose in price, if left on the hive, 

 from coloring. With those having a less number finished I used to take 

 out those finished and supply their place with sections filled with the extra- 

 thin foundation ; but of late years the extra work involved in this has made 

 me mostly abandon the plan. Such sections will sell for more money than 

 they will if left on till the end of the season; but I am not sure that they 

 will sell for enough more to pay for the extra work required in thus taking 

 them. Of course, the whole super can be freed from bees with the escapes, 

 then taken home, and the sections which are filled sorted out, the others 

 being repacked in the supers and taken back to the apiary again ; but this 

 makes still more work, and an extra trip to the apiary. 



WEST'S QUEEN-CELL PROTECTOE IN USE. 



These things are all right where time hangs heavily on one's hands; 

 but with the overworked apiarist, having 300 to 500 colonies in five or 

 six out-apiaries it is better to put all supers not more than two-thirds full 

 back on the hives again. Any super which has been worked in, yet not "suf- 

 ficient to be taken off, is put back first next to the brood-chamber, when a 

 super of foundation-filled sections is set on 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 88 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.^ 



^ Usually it is not advisable to leave unfinished sections or supers containing 

 sections filled with foundation on the hives after the close of the honey flow, expecting 

 them to be filled during a later honey flow. When this is done the bees are inclined 

 partly to seal the unfinished sections before the comb is completely drawn out, and 

 then propolize the surface of the combs so that when more honey is added these sec- 

 tions are not at all attractive. They also gnaw away the edges of the foundation and 

 sometimes propolize its surface so it is unfit for use later. In the author's case the 

 honey flow from buckwheat followed that from basswood so closely that there was 

 probably little, if any, trouble from this source. It would certainly seem advisable to 

 take off all supers in which work is not begun, even tho this would require an extra 

 trip to the apiary to put them back on the hives at the beginning of the buckwheat 

 honey flow. 



