Brood comb

“ 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. ”

“ If he intends to say that they cluster at the bottom of the brood comb, so that the heat will ascend and warm up the upper part of the brood comb for the extension of brood, facts do not warrant the assertion; for it is well known that bees do not commence breeding at the lower end of the comb, except in a very rare case, when they have had the hive full of honey and have consumed none or only very little during the winter. As a general thing, they commence breeding near the centre, and frequently in the upper part of the hive. ”

“ Frames of foundation, empty combs, frames of brood or honey may be used to complete the set of combs when expanding the brood chamber, and these are usually given just before or at the close of the honey flow. Contraction of the brood chamber to less than one hive body, except in hiving swarms, is not usually advisable. ”

“ The use of full sheets of foundation in the brood frames has the decided advantage of resulting in straight combs having the maximum number of cells of the worker size, but is more expensive than the narrow strips and allows a more rapid building of comb in the brood chamber, which under some conditions is considered a disadvantage. ”

“ Empty combs are of little use at this time outside of the brood nest as thus arranged, and should be replaced by combs of honey if the latter is needed, or removed altogether. If the combs are well crowded with bees and the queen shows by her regular and compact placing of the brood, as well as by the quantity she seems to have, that she is vigorous and thus capable of accomplishing more than any ordinary brood nest will require of her at this time of the year, a frame filled with worker comb may be slipped into the center of the brood nest. ”

“ For comb-honey production the brood chamber should be of such a size that by proper management it may be well filled with brood at the beginning of the honey flow, so that the brood and surplus apartments maybe definitely separated. A brood chamber may be considered too large if by proper management it is not on an average fairly well filled with brood at the beginning of the honey flow, and too small if it provides an average of less room than the colony is able to occupy with brood previous to the honey flow. ”

“ I have known stocks repeatedly to mature brood from the egg to the perfect bee, when shut in a dark room for months, when it was impossible to obtain a drop; also stocks that stand in the cold, (if good,) will mature some brood whether the bees can leave the hive or not. These facts prove that some are reared without water. As they get sufficient honey to require more comb to store it, they will at the same time have a brood; and it is easy to guess they need it for brood as comb, without a little investigation. ”

“ When you find a nest like the one in the picture (Fig. 355) , you will see how the comb is fastened to the roof or to a tree or to the under side of a stone.
As soon as the cells are completed, the mother lays an egg in each. From these eggs little grubs or larvæ are hatched. They are fed by the mother until they become pupæ. The cells are sealed over while the wasps are in the pupa state. They have to break open the seals before they can come out.
All members of the first brood are workers. As soon as they are hatched the mother has nothing to do but to provide eggs. ”

“ After the comb is freed from the bees, it requires some experience with honey-comb topography to see at a glance just the condition of the brood. There may be cells that look empty until a ray of light reveals at the bottom a glistening egg; and there may be cells with a little milky substance at the bottom in which the young larva is floating; or in some cells the bee grubs may be distinctly seen if they are four or five days old. If the cells are capped, it may puzzle the novice to know what lies behind that closed waxen door. ”

“ If the cells contain honey, the substance of which the cap is made is whiter than that which covers the brood. In case of worker-brood the cap is depressed slightly below the plane of the comb, which is not the case if the cells contain honey. ”

“ It requires a smaller stock of extra brood chambers and combs, at least previous to the honey flow. (3) The brood is in a more compact form, which is a very desirable condition in comb-honey production. (4) When properly done, the total number of young bees reared in a given time is probably considerably greater, owing to the fact that none of the colonies is strong beyond the capacity of the queen, the workers of the entire apiary being so distributed that all the queens are utilized to the best possible advantage. ”

“ There should be no restriction whatever in the room for brood rearing up to the time of putting on the supers, just previous to the honey flow, for a crowded brood nest at this time tends to diminish the number of workers available for the honey flow as well as to encourage swarming. ”

“ The queen, being separated from the brood by means of the excluder, lays few eggs in the comb on which she is confined during this period of separation. After a week or 10 days the queen cells are again destroyed, and the brood and queen are put back into a single hive body as before. ”

“ Though often found in different places on the comb, and often to the number of a half-dozen or more in one stock or hive, yet its relative position is always the same. It will always present the same appearance, whether at the edges or on other parts of the comb. Near the queen cells is seen the worker cells, containing brood in all stages of growth from the tiny egg just deposited by the queen to the full-grown grub or young bee. Near the worker cells, at the bottom, are the empty cells. ”

“ Both ideas are good, but judicious stimulative feeding usually more than pays for the labor. Colonies should be fed late in the day, so that the bees will not fly as a result of it, and so that robbing will not be started. When the weather is warmer and more settled the brood cluster may be artificially enlarged by spreading the frames so as to insert an empty comb in the middle. The bees will attempt to cover all the brood that they already had, and the queen will at once begin laying in the newly inserted comb, thus making a great increase in the brood. ”

“ Under some conditions it may be found profitable to stimulate brood rearing early in the spring by slowly feeding diluted sugar sirup to each colony, by spreading brood, or by doing both, but any very early stimulation of this kind should be used with caution. ”

“ I also find - 124 - comb foundation of great importance in furnishing encouragement to the bees when placed in the brood section of the Controllable Hive. The bees work with greater vigor; besides, with comb foundation we can secure all straight comb. I can confidently recommend the use of comb foundation. It will give perfect satisfaction. Use none but the very best. That with flat bottom cells, and high, sharp side walls, measuring about ten or twelve square feet to the pound, is best for surplus boxes. That for brood frames should measure from six to eight square feet to the pound. ”

“ Should the brood nest be restricted by a small brood chamber the colonies may be equalized by removing some frames of brood from the stronger colonies, exchanging them for empty combs taken from weaker colonies, or another brood chamber filled with empty combs may be given, thus building the colonies up individually. ”

“ It is hardly possible there is a great deal of dead brood in the combs to be removed. We should not hesitate, if the brood is dry and shrunken, to place the combs in strong colonies; but if the brood is putrid and ropy, and sticks to the cells, we would not wish to use them, as it is easy to imagine the possibility of foul brood or other diseases arising therefrom. If, as we suspect, your combs are filled with starved bees, you can easily remove them by adopting the plan recommended in the Weekly Bee Journal of March 16, page 86. ”

“ As soon as this has been done the female lays, on the bare ground at the further end of the hollowed-out brooding-chamber, a single very large, top-shaped, brightly-spotted egg, and begins to brood alternately with the male. ”

“ It runs very swiftly, but rises, when hard pressed, with a whirring noise to fly for a short distance. The food consists of succulent shoots, seeds, berries, acorns, beech-nuts, and insects; the nest is imbedded in grass or placed at the foot of a tree, and is made of a little herbage, which may even arch over it; the white or drab eggs number from nine to eighteen. The male is said to assist in incubation, two broods being occasionally reared in a season. The female utters a clucking sound, and will feign lameness when with her brood. ”

“ The eggs are spoken of in the books as from fifteen to twenty. I have never found less than twenty-four, and from that number to thirty-two. I think that each female lays but about eight, and that several females make use of the same nest,—never less than two, nor more than four. But this opinion is conjectural rather than ascertained. They have two broods in a season, the second in August, at which time the male is engaged in leading the first brood, of which he takes charge when they are hardly half grown. He is a courageous, watchful, and devoted guardian. ”

“ Dry grass, roots, and cow-dung are the materials employed in the construction of the nest. The brood consists of from four to seven small elongate eggs, with a dirty greenish white or yellowish grey shell, occasionally finely spotted with white. The female alone broods, and the young are hatched in a fortnight. ”

“ With the crow also the female alone broods, and broods throughout the whole period; the male bird supports the female, bringing her food and feeding her. The female of the ring-dove begins to brood in the afternoon and broods through the entire night until breakfast-time of the following day; the male broods during the rest of the time. Partridges build a nest in two compartments; the male broods on the one and the female on the other. After hatching, each of the parent birds rears its brood. But the male, when he first takes his young out of the nest, treads them. ”

“ The nests are usually about two feet broad, and old nests are often repaired for the reception of the brood. The eggs, three to five, and occasionally six in number, are laid in April, and in colour are blueish green, marked with olive green, dark grey, or black spots and streaks. The female broods alone, but receives the most unremitting attention from her mate, who only quits her when compelled to go in search of food; both assist in the nourishment and care of their young, who are protected and defended from their numerous enemies with the utmost courage and devotion. ”

“ The brood consists of seven or eight eggs of a green colour, sprinkled with brown spots. In three weeks the young are hatched, and are fed by both parents on a great variety of insects, earthworms and snails, the greatest caution being employed to avoid discovery of the nest; and so attached are the parents to their offspring, that we have known a female continue to brood after having received a shot in her body. ”

“ When there are two broods in a season, the second brood unites with the first, and, if unmolested, they keep together until the spring, under the guidance of the parents. In the mating-season they usually separate into pairs, though occasionally a male will associate with more than a single female, in which case their joint product is united in the same nest. In the spring of 1850 I found one of the nests which contained no less than thirty-two eggs. ”

“ Her mate is extremely attentive to her during the period of incubation, and should you happen to stroll near the nest, you are sure to meet him at his station. The eggs, which are four, and have their points placed together, measure one inch and one-eighth by seven and a half eighths, are pyriform, broad, and flatly rounded at the larger end, and tapering directly to the smaller, which is also rounded. They are of a pale bluish-buff colour, sprinkled and lined nearly all over with dark red, brown, and black. Only one brood is raised in the season. ”

“ Securing control over breeding is not the only advantage gained by a free use of comb-foundation. For instance, a fair swarm of, say, 5 lb. weight hived upon ten sheets of comb-foundation in a Langstroth hive will have in twenty-four hours, in an average season, several of the sheets partially worked out and a goodly number of eggs deposited in the cells, and in thirty-six hours the queen can henceforward lay to her full extent. ”

“ The brood consists of from five to six eggs, so extremely various in their colour and markings as to render any attempt at description useless. The young are fed almost exclusively with insects, upon which their parents also subsist in the breeding season, seeds of various kinds affording them nourishment during the winter. ”