Everett Franklin Phillips

“ As a rule, it is not considered best to keep more than 100 colonies in one apiary, and apiaries should be at least 2 miles apart. There are so many factors to be considered, however, that no general rule can be laid down. The only way to learn how many colonies any given locality will sustain is to study the honey flora and the record of that place until the bee keeper can decide for himself the best number to be kept and where they shall be placed. ”

“ As the weather grows warmer, and the colony increases in size by the emergence of the young bees, the quantity of brood is increased. The workers continue to bring in pollen, nectar to be made into honey, and water for brood rearing. When the hive is nearly filled with bees and stores, or when a heavy honey flow is on, the queen begins to lay eggs in the larger cells, and these develop into drones or males. Continued increase of the colony would result in the formation of enormous, colonies, and unless some division takes place no increase in the number of colonies will result. ”

“ An essential in honey production is to have the hive overflowing with bees at the beginning of the honey flow, so that the field force will be large enough to gather more honey than the bees need for their own use. To accomplish this, the bee keeper must see to it that brood rearing is heavy some time before the harvest, and he must know accurately when the honey flows come, so that he may time his manipulations properly. Brood rearing during the honey flow usually produces bees which consume stores, while brood reared before the flow furnishes the surplus gatherers. ”

“ If uniting can be done during a honey flow, there is less danger of loss of bees by fighting, or if done in cool weather, when the bees are not actively rearing brood, the colony odors are diminished and the danger is reduced.
It is an easy matter to unite two or more weak swarms to make one strong one, for during swarming the bees have lost their memory of the old location, are full of honey, and are easily placed wherever the bee keeper wishes. They may simply be thrown together in front of a hive. Swarms may also be given to a newly established colony with little difficulty. ”

“ When a swarm issues from a hive provided with a queen trap, the queen goes to the upper compartment and remains there until released by the bee keeper. The workers soon return to the hive. When the operator discovers the queen outside, the colony may be artificially swarmed to prevent another attempt at natural swarming. A queen trap should not be kept on the hive all the time for fear the old queen may be superseded and the young queen prevented from flying out to mate. ”

“ The condition of a colony of bees in the early spring depends largely upon the care given the bees the preceding autumn and in the method of wintering. If the colony has wintered well and has a good prolific queen, preferably young, the chances are that it will become strong in time to store a good surplus when the honey flow comes.
The bees which come through the winter, reared the previous autumn, are old and incapable of much work. As the season opens they go out to collect the early nectar and pollen, and also care for the brood. ”

“ Where any financial profit is derived, beekeeping requires hard work and work at just the proper time, otherwise the surplus of honey may be diminished or lost. Few lines of work require more study to insure success. In years when the available nectar is limited, surplus honey is secured only by judicious manipulations, and it is only through considerable experience and often by « 6 » expensive reverses that the bee keeper is able to manipulate properly to save his crop. ”

“ If, however, a bee comes heavily laden from the field and flies directly into the wrong hive without hesitation it is rarely molested. In uniting colonies, the separate colony odors must be hidden, and this is done by smoking each colony vigorously. It may at times be desirable to use tobacco smoke, which not only covers the colony odor but stupefies the bees somewhat. Care should be taken not to use too much tobacco, as it will completely overcome the bees. The queen to be saved should be caged for a day or two to prevent the strange bees from killing her in the first excitement. ”

“ The Italian bees, the next introduced, are the most popular race among the best bee keepers in this country, and with good reason. They are vigorous workers and good honey gatherers, defend their hives well, and above all have been more carefully selected by American breeders than any other race. Especially for the last reason it is usually desirable to keep this race. That almost any other race of bees known could be bred to as high a point as the Italians, and perhaps higher, can not be doubted, but the bee keeper now gets the benefit of what has been done for this race. ”

“ Anyone can produce honey in seasons of plenty, but these do not come every year in most locations, and it takes a good bee keeper to make the most of poor years. When, even with the best of manipulations, the crop is a failure through lack of nectar, the bees must be fed to keep them from starvation.
The average annual honey yield per colony for the entire country, under good management, will probably be 25 to 30 pounds of comb honey or 40 to 50 pounds of extracted honey. The money return to be obtained from the crop depends entirely on the market and the method of selling the honey. ”

“ If, as cold weather approaches, the bees do not have stores enough, they must be fed. Every colony should have from 25 to 40 pounds, depending on the length of winter and the methods of wintering. It is better to have too much honey than not enough, for what is left is good next season. If feeding is practiced, honey may be used, but sirup made of granulated sugar is just as good and is perfectly safe. If honey is purchased for feeding, great care should be taken that it comes from a healthy apiary, otherwise the apiary may be ruined by disease. Never feed honey bought on the open market. ”

“ It is a good plan to begin on a small scale, make the bees pay for themselves and for all additional apparatus, as well as some profit, and gradually to increase as far as the local conditions or the desires of the individual permit.
Bee culture is the means of obtaining for human use a natural product which is abundant in almost all parts of the country, and which would be lost to us were it not for the honey bee. The annual production of honey and wax in the United States makes apiculture a profitable minor industry of the country. ”

“ We can not control what the bees bring to the hive to any great extent, but by proper manipulations we can get them to produce fancy comb honey, or if extracted honey is produced it can be carefully cared for and neatly packed to appeal to the fancy trade. Too many bee keepers, in fact, the majority, pay too little attention to making their goods attractive. ”

“ Unless increase is particularly desired, both natural and artificial swarming should be done away with as far as possible, so that the energy of the bees shall go into the gathering of honey. Since crowded and overheated hives are particularly conducive to swarming, this tendency may be largely overcome by giving plenty of ventilation and additional room in the hive. Shade is also a good preventive of swarming. Extra space in the hive may be furnished by adding more hive bodies and frames or by frequent extracting, so that there may be plenty of room for brood rearing and storage at all times. ”

“ It is advisable for hives to be so placed that the sun will strike them early in the morning, so that the bees become active early in the day, and thus gain an advantage by getting the first supply of nectar. It is also advantageous to have the hives shaded during the hottest part of the day, so that the bees will not hang out in front of the hive instead of working. They should be so placed that the bees will not prove a nuisance to passers-by or disturb live stock. This latter precaution may save the bee keeper considerable trouble, for bees sometimes prove dangerous, especially to horses. ”

“ If no increase is desired, the bees which emerge from the removed brood combs may later be united with the artificial swarm and by that time there will usually be little danger of natural swarming.
Artificial swarming can readily be combined with the shaking treatment for bee diseases, thus accomplishing two objects with one manipulation. If disease is present in the parent colony, only strips of foundation should be used and the colony should be confined to the hive until a queen and drone trap and not with a frame of brood. ”

“ It is usually unpalatable and should never be used as winter food for bees, since it usually causes dysentery (p. 40) . When nectar or honeydew has been thickened by evaporation and otherwise changed, the honey is sealed in the cells with cappings of beeswax.
It is not profitable to cultivate any plant solely for the nectar which it will produce, but various" plants, such as clovers, alfalfa, and buckwheat, are valuable for other purposes and are at the same time excellent honey plants; their cultivation is therefore a benefit to the bee keeper. ”

“ The best time to handle bees is during the middle of warm days, particularly during a honey flow. Never handle bees at night or on cold, wet days unless absolutely necessary. The work of a beginner may be made much easier and more pleasant by keeping gentle bees. Caucasians, Carniolans, Banats, and some strains of Italians ordinarily do not sting much unless unusually provoked or except in bad weather. Common black bees or crosses of blacks with other races are more irritable. It may be well worth while for the beginner to procure gentle bees while gaining experience in manipulation. ”

“ The hive should be kept as warm as possible in early spring as an aid to brood rearing. It is a good practice to wrap hives in black tar paper in the spring, not only that it may aid in conserving the heat of the colony, but in holding the suns heat rays as a help to the warmth of the hive. This wrapping should be put on as soon as an early examination has shown the colony to be in good condition, and there need be no hurry in taking it off. A black wrapping during the winter is not desirable, as it might induce brood rearing too early and waste the strength of the bees. ”

“ There are two infectious diseases of the brood of bees which cause great losses to the beekeeping industry of the United States. These are known as American foul brood and European foul brood. Both of these diseases destroy colonies by killing the brood, so that there are not enough young bees emerging to take the place of the old adult bees as these die from natural causes. ”

“ The purchaser of a section of comb honey may be absolutely certain, however, that he is obtaining a product of the bees, for never has anyone been able to imitate the bees' work successfully. To show their confidence in the purity of comb honey, the National Bee Keepers' Association offers $1,000 for a single pound of artificial comb filled with an artificially prepared sirup, which is at all difficult of detection. ”

“ Italian bees have been carefully selected for color by some breeders to increase the area of yellow on the abdomen, until we now have what are known as "five-banded" bees. These are very beautiful, but it can scarcely be claimed that they are improved as honey producers or in regard to gentleness. They are kept mostly by amateurs. Some breeders have claimed to select Italians for greater length of tongue, with the object of getting a bee which could obtain the abundance of nectar from red clover. ”

“ It is often profitable to sow some plant on waste land; sweet clovers are often used in this way. The majority of honey-producing plants are wild, and the bee keeper must largely accept the locality as he finds it and manage his apiary so as to get the largest possible amount of the available nectar. Since bees often fly as far as 2 or 3 miles to obtain nectar, it is obvious that the bee keeper can rarely influence the nectar supply appreciably. ”

“ In the spring the bees gather pollen and nectar from various early flowers, and often a considerable quantity from fruit bloom and dandelions. During this time brood rearing is stimulated by the new honey, but afterwards there is usually a period of drought when brood rearing is normally diminished or not still more increased as it should be. This condition continues until the white clover flow comes on, usually with a rush, when brood rearing is again augmented. ”

“ A frame or two of brood may be added to a queenless colony, not only to increase its strength, but to provide young brood from which they can rear a queen Bee keepers in the North can frequently buy queens from southern breeders early in the spring and naturally this is better than leaving the colony without a queen until the bees can rear one, as it is important that there be no stoppage in brood rearing at this season. ”

“ The excessive rearing of brood at the wrong season or increase in the number of colonies greatly reduces the surplus honey crop by consumption. The ideal to which all progressive bee keepers work, when operating simply for honey, is to stimulate brood rearing to prepare bees for gathering, to retard breeding when it is less desirable, and to prevent swarming. ”