Frank Benton

“ When the weather has become sufficiently settled to render safe the inspection of the brood combs, or, in general, when the bees fly - 70 - the greater part of each clear day, the work of the queen may be inspected. Should the comb having the largest area of brood in it be toward one side of the hive it is best to locate it as near the center as may be, placing on either side successively those combs having smaller circles of brood and on each side of these the combs containing no brood, but well stored with pollen, while those having honey only will come still outside of these. ”

“ Then if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time or other yields come later in the season, is likely, or even nearly sure, to be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood rearing may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. ”

“ Many bee keepers, having more attractively colored and frequently better bees, are inclined to consider this race as possessing hardly any redeeming qualities, or at least to underrate these because accompanied by undesirable traits. While it is true that they have some serious faults, the latter are not so great as those of some other races. They have become thoroughly acclimated since their first importation, over two centuries ago, and besides possessing good wintering and comb-building qualities, they will, when the flow of honey is quite abundant, generally equal Italians in gathering. ”

“ It is easier to prevent robbing than to check it at once or without loss after it is well under way. Leaving honey exposed about the apiary often induces robbers to begin their work; hence extracting and similar work must be done in bee-proof rooms whenever the bees are not gathering honey freely. It may at such times be necessary to do all manipulating early in the morning, before many of the bees have begun to fly, or later in the day, after they have ceased, or even under a tent made of mosquito netting and placed temporarily over the hive to be manipulated. ”

“ Buckwheat honey is dark and strong, but is relished by some, and when well ripened is good winter food for bees, so that whenever this plant can be made to blossom at a time when the bees find nothing better and a crop of grain can also be harvested from it, a plentiful supply should by all means be sown: the clovers, white, alsike, crimson, and mammoth or medium red may be sown for pasturage, hay, forage, for purposes of green manuring, or for seed, and honey of fine quality obtained if a sufficient number of blossoms are allowed to appear. ”

“ In regard to the particular style or form of hive to be used to insure the best results, it should be stated that while an intelligent apiarist whose experience has been considerable may be successful with almost any hive, even with poor ones, there can be no doubt that a hive not only adapted to the nature of the bees but also to the climate of the bee keeper's particular locality, and at the same time permitting the rapid performance of all operations necessary in securing surplus - 41 - honey, will very materially affect the net profit of an apiary. ”

“ Most bee manipulators, however, grow somewhat indifferent to stings, since in time they become so inoculated with the poison of the bee that the pain of the sting is less severe and the swelling slight. But to avoid the stings is, with some of the races more recently introduced into this country, simply a question of care in manipulation and a free use of smoke. It is not meant that the bees should be stupefied with smoke, but merely alarmed and subjugated, and whenever they show any disposition to act on the offensive recourse is to be had to smoke. ”

“ Plenty of good bees.—Bees that are several months old or that have gathered a heavy fall harvest of honey are not good to depend upon for the winter. They drop off gradually of old age before there are young bees to fill their places, and the queen, however prolific, not having bees enough to cover her eggs, can not bring up, as she otherwise would, the strength of the colony to a proper standard in time for the harvest. There should be young bees emerging at all times up to the month of October, or, in the South, even later. ”

“ Whatever plan be pursued, expedition is advisable, and it is best before leaving them to see that nearly all of the bees are inside of the hive: at least no clusters, however small, should be left on the tree, as the queen might be among those left behind, in which case the swarm would desert the new hive and return to the tree or go wherever the queen had settled, or, failing to find her, would return to the hive whence they had issued, unless meanwhile some other swarm should issue, which they would be likely to join. ”

“ The new swarm, having the old queen, with nearly all of the flight bees, will be in prime condition for storing honey, so that supers may be placed on it as soon as it has made a fair start in its new home—that is, on the second or third day after the swarm was hived. If there are uncompleted supers on the parent colony which has been removed, they should be lifted over to the new hive on the second or third day, as the parent colony, having parted with so many of its workers, will not be able to store at once. ”

“ With the common or black bees it is never safe to do without the veil as a protection to the face, and with these bees it will also be very difficult to avoid stings on the hands unless considerable smoke has been driven into the entrance beforehand and time has been given the bees to get well filled with honey before the hive is opened; even then frequent recourse to smoke will generally be necessary. Blacks are by far the most troublesome of all races about flying from their hive entrances to sting in an unprovoked manner. ”

“ When a swarm has fairly settled it is best to hive it as soon as possible, lest others coming out may join it, occasioning a loss of queens, and sometimes of bees, or much trouble in separating them. The operation of hiving may appear very formidable to the novice and attended with great risks, but a little experience will dispel such apprehensions. The bees before swarming usually fill their sacs with honey and are quite peaceable, so that by the use of a little smoke in hiving there is seldom any difficulty. ”

“ A plain box with frames and as few other loose parts as possible will yield in the hands of a skillful bee-master far better results than the most elaborately constructed bee palace manipulated by one who does not understand the nature and requirements of bees; in fact, the most experienced generally prefer the former. The important point to decide in connection with any proposed modification or adjunct of the hive is whether its adoption will more than compensate for the resultant loss of simplicity. ”

“ Among plants of economic value in other directions fruit trees and shrubs are to be counted as of much importance to bees. The apple and the cherry yield well, the others less, though the gooseberry, were it more plentiful, would be of considerable value. Strawberry blossoms are, in general, visited sparingly and yield only a small amount, but the raspberry, coming later, when the colonies are stronger, is a most important source, greatly liked by the bees, and furnishing as fine a quality of honey as is known. ”

“ The less drone comb the better. There will always be enough, an area half the size of a man's hand being quite sufficient for each hive. The larger size of the drone cells and greater thickness of the combs (11⁄4 inches) will make it readily recognizable. If over one-eighth of the surface is drone comb the colony should be rejected. If the combs are so old as to be nearly black and to show cell walls much thickened they are very objectionable. There should be several pounds of sealed honey in each hive in early spring. ”

“ The loss of a queen during winter or early spring can generally be discovered by noticing just at nightfall, after the first or second general flight, which colonies are restless and continue to buzz excitedly when the others are humming in a contented manner or have quieted down for the night. The workers of the queenless colony run in and out excitedly, searching over the front of the hive. Should it be opened they will not resent the intrusion, but, remaining on the combs, will at once set up a loud and prolonged buzzing. ”

“ In the more northern States, where the main honey yield comes on suddenly and is abundant for a short period only, and swarming is confined mainly to a period of four to six weeks, or even to three weeks if the colonies are of pretty uniform strength, this question has less weight; but farther south, where the yield is more prolonged and the period during which swarms are liable to issue is sometimes extended over three or four months, it is of considerable moment, and the bee master who intends to multiply the number of his colonies will do well to follow some good system of control. ”

“ Furthermore, it is easy to exchange the young queen of the nucleus, as soon as she commences laying, with the queen of the full colony. If the nucleus has been started early, the full colony will thus secure a queen of the current season's raising sufficiently early to reduce greatly the probability of its wanting to swarm that year, even though permitted to get very strong, as it is almost certain to do under such circumstances. These nuclei build straight combs and may be relied on to build, even without foundation, worker comb only. ”

“ The disadvantages of wiring frames are, first, its expense, caused chiefly by the time employed in doing it; and second, the fact that wherever the wire does not get embedded into the midrib of the foundation, as is sure to happen in many cases, the rearing of brood is interfered with, and also, under the methods employed by the majority in wintering, moisture is very likely to cause the combs to cleave from the wires, whereupon the bees are disposed to gnaw the combs away from the wires in spots and not rebuild them. ”

“ Opening the hives once or twice - 102 - weekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But sometimes swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. ”

“ Should a laying queen be at hand to supply to the queenless portion of the divided colony, the queen found in the hive at the time of the division had better be left in that part of the colony which remains on the original stand, since the old bees will of course return to that spot and will not as readily receive a strange queen as will the removed portion of the colony which has parted with its flight bees. By introducing a laying queen when the division is made the deposition of eggs will be begun a week earlier than if a cell only should be given. ”

“ Prolonged and intense cold in the interior of the hive, especially if the stores are not of the best quality, causes distention and resulting weakness and soiling of the hive and combs. Dampness and chilling of individual bees frequently cause it. The effort some make to avoid the dampness often results in the chilling, for the cover is removed, and also some portion of the packing or the quilt or honey board to let the air pass through to dry the interior. The true remedy is a cleansing flight and warmth in the hive. ”