Rants
ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
NEw York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS
BEEKEEPING LIBRARY
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
JOHN J. DUNN, Secretary.
ENTOMOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT,
A. EDWARD STENE, Entomologist.
Island Bee keepers.
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND.
ARTHUR C. MILLER.
Abstract from Report of State Board of Agriculture for 1910.
PROVIDENCE:
EK. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS.
1911.
Cornell University
Library
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003243346
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND.
ArtHuR C. MILLER.
1S RHODE ISLAND ADAPTED TO BEE KEEPING?
Bee keeping as a profitable pursuit in connection with some other
business, or as an exclusive vocation is just beginning to assume its
proper place in the industries of the State.
Investigations of the honey-producing possibilities of Rhode Island
have shown that in yield per colony and quality of the honey it ranks
well with other northern states. Many parts of the State are particu-
larly good for bee keeping, and only those parts most fully covered
with woods and brush are unfavorable.
Tur PrincipaL SourcEs oF HONEY ARE:
First.—Blossoms of the fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, such as
apple, cherry, pear, blueberries, raspberries, etc., together giving a
light colored honey of fine flavor and body.
Second:—White and alsike clover, and in some sections locust.
Honey from these sources is of the highest grade.
Third:—The sumachs, clethra, clematis, the European linden,
where found, and occasionally, in some places, clover. All of these
sources yield honey of good quality, although that from clethra is
rather too spicy to please all palates.
Fourth:—The goldenrods and asters, which yield a fine aromatic
honey.
Cost oF Equipment. Lasor REQUIRED.
The investment per colony need not exceed ten dollars for the
first one or two, and thereafter only the hives need be bought. The
4 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
average yield per colony under fair management is fifty pounds,
while individual colony yields have gone above three hundred pounds.
The wholesale prices range from ten cents to eighteen cents per pound,
varying with quality and package, and the retail prices are from fif-
teen cents to thirty cents.
Modern methods of management have overcome many of the seem-
ing annoyances of the past, and the labor involved is slight as com-
pared with what is necessary for any other live stock.
THE Marxer’s DreMAND FOR HONEY.
The Rhode Island market for honey is very good but it is at pres-
ent supplied largely from without the State. Climatic conditions are
favorable for bee culture, and there seems to be no good reason why
it should not be undertaken by many more persons than are now
engaged in it. A few persons are already extending their apiaries,
looking forward to bee keeping as an exclusive business.
Bre KEEPING AND ORCHARDING.
The orchardists are beginning to realize the importance of hav-
ing bees in or near their orchards, and are either buying bees or of-
fering inducements to bee keepers to move bees to their vicinity.
DIFFIcuLTIES IN Ber KEEPING.
Some bee keepers are not getting the returns they might from
their bees, and the greenhouse and fruit men often find the keeping
up of the necessary stock of bees no small expense. These results
are due chiefly to incomplete knowledge as to the proper care of bees
and partly to losses caused by diseases.
CONTROL OF BEE DISEASES.
At the present time there seems to be no contagious diseases of
bees within the State, though such exist close to the northern and
western border. Reasonable care should hinder their introduction
and prompt action prevent their spread, should they obtain a foot-
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND. 5
hold. Under the existing law, copied in full below, for the control
of bee diseases, an inspector is appointed to aid bee keepers in the
eradication of the diseases if found among their bees or bees in their
vicinity, and to give such suggestions as he may deem advisable.
AN Act PROVIDING FOR THE INSPECTION OF APIARIES AND THE SUP-
PRESSION OF ConTaGious Diszasrs AMONG BEES.
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
Section 1. The state board of agriculture is hereby authorized
to appoint some qualified person to be state inspector of apiaries,
and he is empowered to appoint one or more assistants as needed, who
shall carry on the work under his supervision.
Src. 2. The inspector or his assistant shall at his option or when
notified in writing by the owner of an apiary, or by any three dis-
interested taxpayers, examine all reported apiaries, and all others
in the same locality not reported, and ascertain whether or not the
diseases known as American foul brood or European foul brood, or
any other disease which is infectious or contagious in its nature, and
injurious to honey bees in their egg, larval, pupal, or adult stage,
exists in such apiaries; and if satisfied of the existence of any such
diseases he shall give the owners or care-takers of the diseased
apiaries full instructions how to treat such cases, as, in the inspector’s
judgment, seem best.
Src. 3. The inspector or his assistant shall visit all diseased
apiaries a second time, after ten days, and, if need be, burn all
colonies of bees that he may find not cured of such disease, and all
honey and appliances which would spread disease, without recom-
pense to the owner, lessee, or agent thereof.
Src. 4. If the owner of an apiary, honey, or appliances, wherein
disease exists, shall sell, barter, or give away, or move without the
consent of the inspector any diseased bees (be they queens or workers)
colonies, honey, or appliances, or expose other bees to the danger of
such disease, or fail to notify the inspector of the existence of such
6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
disease, said owner shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of not less
than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.
Sec. 5. For the enforcement of the provisions of this act, the
state inspector of apiaries or his duly authorized assistants shall have
access, ingress, or egress to all apiaries or places where Lees are kept;
and any person or persons who shall resist, impede, or hinder in any
way the inspector of apiaries in the discharge of his duties under the
provisions of this act shall on conviction be fined not less than ten
nor more than one hundred dollars for each offence.
Src. 6. After inspecting infected hives or fixtures or handling
diseased bees, the inspector or his assistant shall, before leaving the
premises or proceeding to any other apiary, thoroughly disinfect any
portion of his person and clothing and any tools or appliances used
by him which have come in contact with infected material, and shall
see that any assistant or assistants with him have likewise thoroughly
disinfected their persons and clothing and any tools and implements
used by them.
Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of any person in the State of Rhode
Island engaged in the rearing of queen-bees for sale, to use honey in
the making of candy for use in mailing-cages, which has been boiled
for at least thirty minutes. Any such person engaged in the rearing of
queen-bees shall have his queen-rearing apiary or apiaries inspected
at least twice during each summer season; and on the discovery
of the existence of any disease which is infectious or contagious in
its nature, and injurious to bees in their egg, larval, pupal, or adult
stage, said person shall at once cease to ship queen-bees from such
diseased apiary until the inspector of apiaries shall declare the said
apiary free from all disease. On complaint of the inspector of
apiaries, or of any five bee keepers in the state, that said bee keeper
engaged in the rearing of queens is violating the provisions of this
section, he shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of not less than
twenty-five nor more than one hundred and fifty dollars.
Sec. §. The inspector of apiaries shall make annual reports to the
state board of agriculture giving the number of apiaries visited, the
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND. 7
number of diseased apiaries found, the number of colonies treated,
also the number of colonies destroyed, and the expense incurred in
the performance of his duty. He shall also keep a careful record
of the localities where disease exists; but this record shall not be
public, but can be consulted with the consent of the inspector of
apiaries.
Sec. 9. All fines collected under the provisions of this act shall
be paid to the state treasurer, and by him addcd to the appropria-
tion of the state board of agriculture, to be used in carrying out
the provisions of this act.
Sec. 10. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby
repealed, and this act shall take effect June first, A. D. 1910.
BEE DISEASES.
There are two contagious diseases of bees now recognized, both
of which attack the brood or bees in the larval stage, and are known
respectively as American Foul brood and European Foul brood, the
latter being sometimes called Black brood. The so-called Pickled
brood is seldom met with and does not seem to be infectious. The
term foul as applied to brood disease was given on account of the
odor emanating from the dead brood.
The following is a description of the diseases mentioned and the
general manner of their treatment.
AMERICAN Fouu Broop.
The cause of this disease is now known to be a microscopic organ-
ism called Bacillus larve, White. Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of,
apicultural investigations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
describes this disease as follows:
*“ When the larve are first affected they turn to a light chocolate
color and in the advanced stages of decay become darker, resembling
roasted coffee in color. Usually the larve are attacked at about
*The Brood Diseases of Bees. By E. F. Phillips, Ph. D. Circular 79, Bureau of Ento-
mology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, pp. 1-2, 1906.
8 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
the time of capping, and most of the cells containing infected larve
are capped. As decay proceeds, these cappings become sunken
and perforated, and, as the healthy brood emerges, the comb shows
the scattered cells containing larve which have died of disease, still
capped. The most noticeable characteristic of this infection is the
fact that when a small stick is inserted in a larva which has died of
the disease, and then slowly removed, the broken-down tissues adhere
to it and will often stretch out for several inches before breaking.
When the larva dries, it forms a dark brown color, which can best
be observed when the comb is held so that a bright light strikes the
lower side wall of the cell. Decaying larve which have died of
this disease have a very characteristic odor, which resemlles a poor
quality of glue. The disease seldom attacks drone or queen larvee.”
European Fouu Broop.
Dr. Phillips describes this disease as follows:—
“This disease attacks larve earlier than does American foul brood,
and a comparatively small percentage of the diseased brood is ever
capped. The diseased larve which are capped over have sunken
and perforated cappings. The larve when first attacked show a
small yellow spot on the body near the head and move uneasily in
the cell. When death occurs they turn yellow, then brown, and
finally almost black. Decaying larve which have died of this dis-
ease do not usually stretch out in a long thread when a small stick
is inserted and slowly removed. Occasionally there is a very slight
“ropiness,” but this is never very marked. The thoroughly dried
larvee form irregular scales, which are not strongly adherent to the
lower side wall of the cell. There is very little odor from decaying
larvee which have died from this disease, and when an odor is no-
ticeable it is not the “glue-pot” odor of the American foul brood,
but more nearly resembles that of soured dead brood. This disease
attacks drone and queen larve very soon after the colony is infected.
It is as a rule much more infectious than American foul brood and
spreads more rapidly. On the other hand, it sometimes happens
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND. 9
that the disease will disappear of its own accord, a thing which the
author never knew to occur in a genuine case of American foul brood.
European foul brood is most destructive during the spring and early
summer, often almost disappearing in late summer and autumn.”
If taken in time, both of these diseases may be controlled without
serious loss to the bee-keeper, but if allowed to go unchecked, they
will soon ruin any apiary, great or small.
The basis of treatment of both diseases is to deprive the infected
colonies of all combs, whether empty or containing brood orhoney, the
bees being put into a new or thoroughly disinfected hive and allowed
to start housekeeping anew. It will be from four to six days before
they have any young to feed, and by that time all the honey they
had in their honey sacs when taken from their infected hive will be
gone, and the young will receive pure food, fresh from the flowers.
Except in fairly large apiaries, it is not worth while trying to save
any of the brood from infected colonies. When it is desired to save
such brood, it should all be given to one or two diseased colonies and
allowed to remain for two or three weeks, after which these colonies
should also be treated. In transferring diseased brood it is best
to put it above a queen-excluding honeyboard, so that the queen
of the colony may not lay eggs in the diseased combs. It is not
wise to dequeen such colonies, for colonies without a queen are less
likely to keep out robbers, and if robbers gain access to the infected
honey, the disease will then appear in the colonies to which they belong.
The combs from diseased colonies may be melted and the wax re-
covered, and wax from such sources appears to be safe to use in foun-
dation making, etc. The refuse from the combs should be burned.
The honey as a rule is not worth trying to save. It is so difficult to
sterilize it, that its return to the bees for food is most unwise. If it
is clear and nice, its use as human food is all right, for the micro-
scopic plants are harmless to the human system. But do not let a
single drop of it get to the bees.
The frames from diseased colonies may be saved by immersing
them for a few minutes in a very strong solution of washing soda
2
10 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
that is kept boiling during the operation. As soon as all wax and
bee glue (propolis) are dissolved from the frames, they are rinsed 1n
clear water, and after drying are ready for use again. Hive bodies,
floors, covers, and other parts may be similarly treated, but usually
it is easier to scorch these over with a gasoline torch, or by some
similar method.
PIcKLED Broop.
The larve die just preceding or just after capping and usually
present a watery appearance. The cause is not known and the dis-
ease does not seem to be infectious.
It is usually treated by requeening, on the assumption that it is
congenital.
DIsEASES OF ADULT BEES.
Paralysis is a disease of the adult bee. Its cause is not known
and it is not common in the northern states.
Diarrhoea, or dysentery, as it is often called, is more properly a
temporary digestive disturbance than a disease. It most fre-
quently follows confinement to the hives for an undue length of
time and under unfavorable conditions. Bees maintain the heat
necessary for life by the consumption of honey. When the honey
is deficient or low in the natural sugars, as when it is thin and unripe,
or contains honey dew or an excess of pollen, they have to consume
an undue amount to keep up the normal heat, and the system be-
comes over-loaded with waste matter. Unless the weather permits
the bees to fly occasionally, the matter is voided in the hive and the
trouble is aggravated.
Leaky or insufficiently ventilated hives will cause the bees extra
effort to keep warm and so bring about the trouble, even though the
honey is perfect for their purpose. A warm, sunny day will usually
cure the trouble, but if combs are badly soiled, it may be necessary
to give the bees a clean set of combs and a clean hive and feed them
some warm sugar-sirup.
BEE KEEPING IN RHODE ISLAND. 11
Moderate spotting of hives when bees fly in winter and spring need
cause no alarm, but if the trouble seems excessive about any par-
ticular hive, it had better be opened and examined.
In case of trouble or suspected disease, bee-keepers are requested
to write to the Entomological Department, State Board of Agricul-
ture, State House, Providence, R. I.
The Entomological Department of the State Board of Agriculture
has in preparation a bulletin on Modern Bee Culture written especially
for Rhode Island conditions by the author of this article, and fully
illustrated. When published it will be sent to all who will apply
to John J. Dunn, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, State House,
Providence, R. I.
HOW TO KEEP BEES
ARTHUR C. MILLER
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
JOHN J. DUNN, Secretary.
Entomological Department.
A. EDWARD STENE, Entomologist.
Part of a Fifty Colony Apiary at Howard, R. I.—After Providence Journal.
HOW TO KEEP BEES.
ARTHUR C. MILLER.
Abstract from Report of State Board of Agriculture for 1910.
PROVIDENCE:
EB. L, FREEMAN COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
1911,
OULNO PF aUAPWOtT LAYP— TY ‘epPAsysiuy aveu Areide suvwo0oMm y
PREFACE.
Bee keeping as a pastime or hobby is quite extensively practiced
in this as well as in other States. Only occasionally, however, do
we find persons who enter into it as their principal business, or even
as a money-making side line.
There is a good chance for an enlargement of this industry in
Rhode Island. The market for good honey is not overstocked. In
fact, we could with great advantage to ourselves supplant with
honey some of the sweets now consumed, and it is safe to say that
were the advantages of honey as a food well and generally known,
and were the supply adequate, the number of bee keepers of both
kinds, vocational as well as avocational, could be increased many
times over without creating a surplus in the market.
From an economic standpoint also bee keeping should be en-
couraged. Bees gather and store for human consumption a product
which is otherwise wholly wasted, and while so doing they render
valuable service to the plants by aiding cross fertilization in return
for the nectar secured. In the case of fruit trees, this is of immense
advantage to the orchardist.
Bees require but little attention, and the outfit necessary for their
care and housing is nominal in cost. While, as Mr. Miller states,
our thickly forested areas are not adapted to extensive bee keeping,
still there is abundant pasturage for a great many times the number
of hives which are now in the State. It is therefore to be hoped that
we may have in the near future a considerable increase in this in-
dustry, and it is the purpose of the Board of Agriculture to foster it
so far as lies within its power.
4 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
An excellent apiary inspection law has been passed which will aid
in checking the spread of bee diseases and in the dissemination of
better knowledge in regard to diseases and methods of eradicating
them.
A brief bulletin entitled ‘“Bee Keeping in Rhode Island,” which
deals with the principal bee diseases and their control, has already
been issued. The present bulletin on “How to Keep Bees,” aims to
give a full account of the practice of bee keeping, and the fact that
the author is a bee keeper of long experience, who not only knows the
practical side, but has also sought the fullest information through
other avenues, assures us that the directions presented can be given
the fullest credence and can be studied to advantage by every bee
keeper, but particularly by beginners who wish a brief and concise
treatise relating to the industry.
The Board of Agriculture is indebted to the A. I. Root Company,
Medina, Ohio, for all the cuts used in this bulletin, and to A. H.
Gurney, of the Providence Journal, for the pictures from which
halftones were made, showing apiaries at Howard and Knightsville.
A. E. STEeNnrzr.
HOW TO KEEP BEES.
ArtHur C. MILLER,
INSPECTOR OF APIARIES.
INTRODUCTION.
Rhode Island offers excellent opportunities for profitable bee
culture. The soil is diversified, the flora is varied and extensive
and the climate is not rigorous. Some of the more densely wooded
parts of the State are not adapted to the pursuit as a business, nor
even adapted to the support of more than a few colonies here and
there. Other parts, particularly those having considerable dairy
farming or fruit growing, are well adapted to bee culture on a
substantial scale and here and there are locations which compare
favorably with the best in the land and will profitably support large
apiaries.
In times past bees were to be found on many farms and in many a
village yard, but to-day they are far less often met with. The reasons
for this condition are many, but probably the most important has
been loss or meagre profit due to the lack of information as to the
proper care of bees.
To aid in extending bee-keeping in this State and to make it easier
and more profitable are the objects of this bulletin.
PASTURAGE.
Bees may be kept almost anywhere and in almost any sort of a
receptacle, but to make them profitable several factors must be con-
sidered. The first and most important is the pasturage, for if that is
not good, all the skill in the world will avail but little.
6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
The sources of honey in Rhode Island grouped in the order of their
appearance are willows, maples, elms and other less numerous trees
which furnish the bees with the early supply of pollen and honey so
useful and so needful in building up the bee population preparatory
to the harvest in which the beekeeper shares.
Next comes the fruit blossoms, peach, plum, cherry, pear, apple,
huckleberries and blueberries which, when the spring is favorable,
yield good crops of the finest honey. In some places dandelions are
an important addition to the fruit bloom, though not always coming
at the same time. After the lapse of a week or ten days the main
crop of the year comes from the white and alsike clovers. In some
parts of the State these are accompanied by a heavy but brief flow
of water-white honey from the locust, and are soon followed by
chestnut which yields a rich, heavy, but dark honey.
In many sections sumacs furnish the next crop, and where they
are abundant the beekeeper may rightly look for a good crop of a
very fair honey.
In some of the more swampy and less settled sections, button bush,
clethra (sweet pepper bush) and clematis yield a white and highly
flavored honey, that from clematis being of the very highest quality.
But the yield from these plants seems to be irregular, in some years
being almost absent.
In some of the villages and cities the European Lindens are num-
erous and yield heavily. The bloom comes toward the end of the
clover flow, though the time of flowering of different trees in the
same neighborhood varies greatly. Native Linden (Basswood) is
now found only in a few places. The season closes with the golden-
rods and asters which yield a rich aromatic honey, but which is not
acceptable to many persons. The crop from these two sources is not
always to be depended upon, being more affected by the weather
than some of the others.
Many other flowers contribute to the harvest, but seldom to any
great extent.
It is important that the bee-keeper should know well the pasturage
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 7
of his bees and govern himself accordingly. If his crop must depend
only on one of the groups, he must needs bend every energy to get
that, but if he has two or more to depend on he can vary his plans.
Bees range for food about two miles from home, but the best results
are secured when the pasturage is within a mile of the apiary. Bear
these facts in mind when seeking the location for an apiary and if
already located, make acareful inspection of the country round about
and determine the sources of supply.
LOCATION OF THE HIVES.
The hives should be in a somewhat sheltered place, preferably
where they get the morning sun and are shaded in the heat of the day.
As the prevailing winds in the State are from the west and southwest,
it has been found advantageous to face the hives to the southeast or
east. If on flat lands or low lands, by all means raise the hives about
a foot from the ground. It puts them above a strata of cold fog
which in the night often lies about six or cight inches deep in such
places.
Having the hives so raised will be found to be helpful in other
ways. They are more convenient to work at, are up out of the grass,
weeds and dirt, and where sundry vermin will not disturb them.
Any convenient thing will do to set the hives on, but a stand made
of spruce fence-rails after the following design has proved satisfac-
tory in many years of service. The writer prefers a stand which
will hold two hives and allow about eight inches between them. (See
Figure 1.)
Fic. 1.—Hive Stand.
8 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
If the legs are creosoted or limed, or lime or waste from electric
batteries is put on the ground where they stand, they last a long
time. Battery waste will also kill the grass and weeds.
HIVES.
Any of the hives commonly offered by the manufacturers of bee-
keepers supplies will do, but the more simple they are and the fewer
the loose parts, the more satisfactory they will prove in the long run.
Perhaps the most universal hive now in use is called the “ Dove-
tailed” hive, named from the manner of its locked corners. (See
Figure 2.) The hives known by this name all take the Langstroth
frame, which measures 17% by 91 inches outside measure.
Fic. 2.—Dovetailed Hive.
These hives are commonly furnished in two widths called the
eight-frame and the ten-frame. The former has had a great vogue
but is now rapidly being discarded for the ten-frame size, and the
beginner should be sure to get the latter. The keeper of a few
colonies who contemplates increasing should by all means change to
the larger size.
The hives having double walls with confined air spaces between
or filled with chaff or sawdust are good, but they cost more, are
unwieldy, and in many ways less desirable. They are supposed to
keep the bees warm in winter and make safer wintering, but as the
temperature within the hive and outside of the cluster of bees in
winter is practically the same as out of doors, the advantage is im-
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 9
aginary rather than real. During the rest of the year, however,
such hives are some help to the bees, but in this climate the advan-
tages are not commensurate with the cost andinconvenience. An
outer case answers the same purpose and is more convenient. (See
Figure 3).
Fic. 3.—Outer Case.
Hives of different sizes and proportions are used and advocated by
different persons. They are designed to meet some need of the bee-
keeper, or are based on some theory of bee habits, but with one ex-
ception it is believed they all call for a lot of attention and manipula-
tion at critical times. The average person will do well to avoid
them. There is one type of hive, however, which is designed to
minimize labor and give average results. It is known as the “ Let
Alone” hive. The type was originally exploited by Gen. D. L.
Adair, in the late ’60’s, and was then called the “ Long Idea” hive.
Some few years ago Mr. Allen Latham of Norwich, Conn., experi-
mented with it, and finally developed the present type which he has
called the “Let Alone.” It is approximately thirty-six inches long,
twenty inches wide, and eighteen inches high. In the Adair hive
the entrance was in the middle of the long side, in the Latham hive
it extends across one end. Mr. Latham had the advantage of an
invention which Adair had not, namely, the so-called queen-excluding
metal. Also Mr. Latham is a very careful student of bee habits,
2
10 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
and with the knowledge acquired in many years’ work with the bees,
was able to accomplish what had not before been done.
In the Adair hive the queen had the run of all the combs (about
twenty); in the Latham hive she is confined to the seven at the
front, being kept from the others by a sheet of the queen-excluding
metal. (See Figure 4).
Fic. 4.—Excluder Metal.
These hives are really the tools of a high class specialist and while
they will often succeed in the hands of a novice, their continued and
uniform sucecss on the minimum of labor plan calls for the knowledge
only to be gained by long and careful observation of bees and their
ways.
These are special hives which must be made to order. The frames
are nearly five inches deeper than the standard Langstroth frame and
these frames also have to be made to order. The top bars and end
bars of the frames touch the whole length when the frames are in
place in the hive, so that the becs can only pass out at the bottom.
Beveled cleats are nailed along the lower inside corners of the hive and
against these the bottom corners of the frames touch, keeping the bees
from going behind the frames and virtually making a box within a box.
The tops of the frames are about an inch below the top edge of the
hive and Mr. Latham uses a few layers of newspapers and a thin
wooden cover on top of the frames. The cover proper has a three
inch rim and fits down over the hive. Hive body and cover are
covered with heavy waterproof paper, black in color. The entrance
which is an inch high, is guarded by a row of fine wire nails driven
up through the floor. These are spaced far enough apart to permit
the bees to pass frecly and yet prevent the ingress of mice.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 11
The bees and queen are started in the frames in the front end of
the hive and are thereafter never disturbed unless external appear-
ances indicate something wrong inside. When the bees have the
front or brood compartment filled they spread through the excluder
metal into the space behind. The frames there have only “starters ”
of comb foundation as guides for the bees. At the convenience of
the beekeeper the honey in these frames is removed and the frames
returned. 7
FRAMES, SUPERS, ETC.
Frames may be placed in two classes, free hanging and self spacing,
and the latter again into hanging and standing. Probably the most
extensively used and the best for the beginner are the self spacing
frames of the Hoffman type illustrated here. (Figure 5a).
jo
7
nw
Fic. 5a.—Self-Spacing Frames.
These frames have grooves in the top bar for fixing the comb
foundation and holes in the end bars for wires. Fine tinned wire is
threaded through these holes, stretched tight and fastened. To
these the sheets of foundation are fastened by embedding the
wire in the wax. Various devices are sold for the purpose, but any
narrow piece of iron with a notch filed in the end will do. The tail
12 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Fic. 5b.—Showing manner of fastening Foundation
in Frame.
of an old file is just right. This is kept warm over an oil stove or
lamp and is used by drawing the notch along the wire, bearing on
just enough to bed the wire without cutting through the sheet of
wax. In doing this work the frame is slipped over a board on which
the foundation is laid.
It is advisable to wire all brood frames as they may then be
handled more readily, and if colonies of bees are shipped any distance,
there will be no danger of wired combs breaking down.
Fic. 6a.—Shallow Extracting Frame.
“Shallow frames” are much like the others except that they are
only from 44 to 54 inches deep. They are used in shallow chambers
Fic. 6b.—Hive with Shallow Extracting Super.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 13
called supers, and the filled combs are either cut from them or un-
capped, and the honey extracted. They are not usually wired.
(Figures 6a and 6b).
Arrangements for producing honey in sections are somewhat more
complicated. The shallow chamber is much the same as above, but
special holders are provided for carrying small boxes or “sections”
in which the bees build the combs. Strips of tin or wood separate
each row of sections to prevent the bees bulging the surface of the
combs. (Figure 7).
Fic. 7.—Hive with Comb Honey Super.
HONEY BOARDS.
Honey boards, so-called, are devices for use between the body
(brood chamber) of the hive and the surplus compartment (super).
The most satisfactory one is made of slats between which are fixed
perforated strips of metal or accurately spaced wires to prevent the
Fic. 8.—Honey Board.
14 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
queen passing into the super. There is a rim around the edge so
placed as to be flush on one surface and raised on the other, giving a
bee space. The bee space side is used uppermost. (Figure 8).
BEE ESCAPES.
A bee escape is a sort of fly trap device, permitting the passage of
the bees in one direction only, and is used in a board placed between
the brood chamber and the super to free the super from bees when
Fic. 9.—Bee Escape in Board.
it is desired to remove the honey. It is a most useful contrivance,
but its success depends upon there being no brood in the supers.
(Figure 9).
DRONE AND QUEEN TRAP.
The drone and queen trap is a two compartment box for use at the
hive entrance to catch drones and the queen, if aswarm issues. So far
as drones are concerned, it is far better to avoid their presence by
having combs built from full sheets of foundation. The few drone
cells then constructed around the edges will not produce enough
drones to do any harm. .\s a device for catching the queen when a
swarm issues, it is successful, unless the queen chances to be abnor-
mally small.
A word of caution regarding the use of the trap will not be amiss.
It calls for attention and thought. It must frequently be freed of
drones, else ventilation is obstructed and the colony may suffocate
if weather conditions are right or shade is lacking. As a queen trap,
it must be looked at every day, or the qucen may be caught and
perish if too long confined or a storm occurs. Many beekeepers have
given up their use.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 15
SMOKER.
A good smoker is absolutely necessary.
Without one it is impossible to readily handle
the bees under all the varying conditions to be
met with. Get one largeenough. One having
a barrel three and one-half inches in diameter
is a good size, but if many bees are kept, a
larger one will be found better. (Figure 10).
Fic. 10.—Smoker
FOUNDATION FASTENERS.
If one is using sections, some sort of a device must be used for
fastening the foundation in the sections, and any one of the various
machines using a heated metal plate
will be found satisfactory. For only a
few score sections a little melted wax
may be used, but for rapid and ex-
tended work buy a fastener.
HONEY EXTRACTOR.
For extracted honey an extractor is
necessary, and if much work of the kind
is to be done, one of the “reversible”
type will be found best. (Figure 11).
Fic, 11.—Extractor.
HIVE TOOLS.
For prying open hives, separating frames, etc., for scraping off
wax and propolis, some sort of a tool is needed. A putty knife if
fairly stiff is excellent, or one of the special tools sold for the purpose
may be obtained.
16 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
COMB FOUNDATION.
Comb foundation is beeswax made into thin sheets run through
embossing rolls which give it the shape of the midrib of honey-comb
with an outline of the cell walls. It is made in several thicknesses
and of worker size cells, drone comb foundation only being furnished
on special order. It is one of the devices which the modern beekeeper
cannot afford to do without. Drone comb has about four cells to
the linear inch, while worker comb has five. (Figure 12).
In brood frames use the lighter grades of “ Brood foundation” and
wire the frames.
Drone Cells. — Fra. 12. Worker Cells.
In sections use the “light super ” foundation until skilled in the art.
The ‘ extra light” sometimes bothers the novice. Many persons hesi-
tate to use full sheets of foundation in the brood frames, deeming the
sixty to seventy cents necessary for each ten frames an extravagance.
It is a real economy, and the wise beekeeper will never hesitate to
make an expenditure in that line.
CLOTHING.
A veil for protecting the head from the bees is necessary. It
may be purchased ready made or made at home from netting. The
part used before the face should be black and preferably of silk tulle.
The top may have an elastic cord run around it to slip over the hat
crown or it may be sewed to the rim of ahat. Similar veils are made
of wire cloth with a “skirt” of cotton cloth attached to the lower
edge to tuck under the coat or to tie down. (Figure 13).
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 17
Oftentimes the experienced beekeeper works
without any veil, but one is always kept at
hand in case the bees become irritated or cross.
Short gathered sleeves with elastic band in
each end will be found excellent to keep bees
from getting inside the coat sleeves. Rubber
or leather gloves give confidence to the be-
ginner, but will soon be discarded. Many
other devices are offered for sale, but they are
not necessary, and should not be purchased by
the beginner. Fic. 13.—Bee Veil.
Light colored clothing of smooth texture, preferably of cotton,
will be found better than rough woolens of dark color.
UNIFORMITY OF APPLIANCES.
Whatever type of hive is used be sure to have all alike, for unless
all hives, frames, etc., are interchangeable endless trouble will ensue.
It is not wise to try to make one’s own hives. Few persons have
the tools or the skill necessary to produce a satisfactory article, and
accuracy is essential. The vital principle of all movable comb
?
beehives is the “bee-space,’’ 7. e., a space through which bees can
pass and yet not so large as to induce them to build combs therein.
A space through which they cannot pass they fill with propolis.
Factory made hives have this detail carefully worked out.
Catalogues of dealers in beekeepers’ supphes furnish full information
on the various appliances.
The matter of hives and tools has seemingly perhaps been given
undue attention, but unless the outfit is good the beekeeper will find
much annoyance and needless labor, and unless he is a veteran, the
troubles will make beekeeping so laborious and disagreeable that it is
likely to be abandoned in disgust. It is true that honey may be
obtained even though the bees are kept in an old box or hollow log,
but profitable bee culture demands a suitable equipment.
3
18 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
MAKING A START.
It is best to buy a good colony of bees in a standard hive, buying
from some nearby beekeeper if possible. Also get for the first colony
as gentle or easily-handled bees as the seller can furnish. If one’s
means warrant it, buy two such colonies, using one for study and
experiment, and the other for honey, and as a reserve in case of
disaster to the first, for frequent overhauling of a colony of bees is not
conducive to its success or thrift.
It has sometimes been advised to start by buying bees in a box or
any old hive and transfer them to a modern hive “for the experience.”
It is the sort of experience to dampen the ardor of the most en-
thusiastic, and an experience which a wise and thrifty veteran
avoids as he would a pestilence.
TIME TO START.
May and June are the most favorable months to make a beginning,
but July or August will do, provided the novice does not try to
increase the stock by division of the colonies. In buying earlier
than May, one 1s not so sure of obtaining a strong colony, and the
desire to examine and overhaul them may be irresistible, and is likely
to prove disastrous to the bees. If purchased in September or
October, little opportunity is offered for study, and about all that can
be done is to sce that sufficient food is in the combs for winter use.
Winter is a most unwise time to buy bees, and even the skilled
veteran avoids purchase then, unless he is thoroughly familiar with
conditions as they were in the fall.
BEES AND THEIR LIFE HISTORY.
The more complete one’s knowledge of the life and habits of the
bees the easier and more rapid will be the progress in learning how
to keep them and the better the chances for success.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 19
THE QUEEN.
The “queen,” so-called, is merely
the mother bee, and there is normally
but one in a colony. She lays all the
eggs from which the bees of the col-
ony are produced. Upon her vigor and
the virtues of her blood and mating
depend the thrift of the colony. If she
is old or failing, the colony dwindles. If
her “blood” is not good her offspring can-
not be expected to accomplish the results
of offspring from a better bred queen.
(See Figure 14).
A queen lives for several years, but as a rule is past her prime and
Fic. 14.—Queen.
period of greatest usefulness after her second summer. There are
exceptions to this, but the rule is a safe one to go by, and all queens
should be replaced by young ones after the second summer. Many
successful beekeepers re-queen all colonies each year,
THE WORKERS.
These are the most numerous members of
the colony. They are females, but with the
reproductive organs not fully developed and
only under some abnormal conditions do any
of them lay eggs, such layers being termed
“laying workers” and their eggs produce only
drones (males).
The workers gather all the honey, pollen and
Fic. 15.—Worker.
propolis, secrete the wax, build the comb,
maintain the heat of the colony, feed the larve and do all the
work of the hive. They are also the ones which do the stinging.
(See Figure 15).
20 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
THE DRONES.
These are the male bees and normally are
produced only at such seasons as bees rear
young queens and swarm. They have not the
instinct nor are they constructed so they can
work. Their sole known function is to per-
petuate the race. They are much larger than
i _ workers or quecn and they have no sting. (See
te | Figurs 16).
Fic. 16.—Drone.
BEE BEHAVIOR.
The fundamental law of honey-bee life is co-operation. Though
each individual goes about her work of her own volition, the results
of her efforts are added to those of the rest of the colony.
The bees cluster in a more or less compact mass for mutual warmth,
and when so clustered build their combs and care for their young.
Within that cluster the temperature during the active season is close
to 98° F. The greater the number of bees the easier it is for them to
maintain throughout the hive the necessary temperature. If colonies
are not populous, the bees have to cluster more compactly, the
quecn’s room for laying is restricted, and during the harvest time the
field force may only be able to get food enough for themselves and
the nurses and young.
In the winter a good colony of bees contains from 3,000 to 6,000
workers. Along about the first of January the queen begins to lay,
slowly increasing her laying as the season advances. As the young
bees begin to emerge from the comb the queen becomes more active
and, if everthing is normal, by the time fruit trees bloom, the whole
ten combs will contain some brood, most of the combs being well
filled. A colony in such condition is ready for the harvest.
If the inquisitive beekecper frequently opens the hive in the spring,
or keeps out combs unduly at that chilly scason, abnormal conditions
are produced and the colony will not be as strong or may even be
destroyed.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. Pal
SWARMING.
As the season progresses and the population of the hive increases,
preparations for swarming may be made. Queen cells are built, (See
Figure 17) and when the young queens are nearly ready to hatch, the
swarm emerges, usually on some sunny morning. They pour out like a
torrent of living water and rapidly rising into the air, dart and circle
about until finally they begin to gather on some limb or other object,
and soon they are all clustered in a big irregular mass. If not taken
down and hived they will seek some cavity and enter it. Within the
Fic. 17.—Queen Cells.
hive or cavity they again cluster and most of them remain very
quiet. Slowly the wax scales push out from between the rings of
the abdomen and are taken and worked into comb, which is soon
occupied with eggs, pollen and honey.
Bees of most all ages go out with the swarm and the queen joins
the throng usually when the swarm is about half out. If the queen
fails to go with the swarm they will return to the parent hive.
If only a small part of the bees go out as a swarm, another swarm
may follow when the young queens begin to hatch, or it may be
delayed until the surviving young queen flies to mate.
Young queens mate about ten days after leaving the cell, though
from adverse weather or scarcity of drones, it may be deferred for
Ww
bo
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
two or three weeks. As soon as mated the queen returns to the hive
and within a day or two begins laying.
Young queens sometimes mate several times before they begin
to lay, but after they commence to lay they never mate again. Ifa
queen fails to mate she will ultimately begin to lay, but her eggs will
produce only drones. These may be placed in worker comb, but as
soon as the bees cap the brood the raised bullet-like cappings betray
the sex of the contained young. Such a queen should be replaced
with a good one.
The average time of incubation of the eggs is three days, though it
varies with the temperature. From the eggs a minute white grub
(larva) is hatched, and this is supplied with and lies in a milky white
food prepared in the stomachs of the nurses from pollen and honey.
It is fed thus for six days by which time it has grown until it fills the
cell and it is then capped over and spins its cocoon and metamor-
phoses, turning from a grub into a bee as does the caterpillar into a
butterfly.
The worker takes twelve days to make the change and the drone
fifteen.
The “ queen larve” receive a more abundant supply of the prepared
food and take only seven days to change from grub to perfect bee.
It is currently said that larve intended for queens receive a different
food from that given to the worker larvie, but there are now good
reasons for believing that it is quantity only that is varied, the chem-
ical difference arising after it is put into the cells.
If the queen of a colony is removed intentionally or accidentally,
the workers procecd to raise one or several more by enlarging some
of the cells containing worker (female) larvee, and supplying the
necessary food. In due time such individuals emerge as perfect
queens. If the bees have neither eggs nor young larvee they cannot
raise a queen and unless the beckeeper supplies brood or a queen,
the colony will perish. The becs rarcly tolerate more than one laying
queen in the hive at a time. Perhaps it were more correct to say
that the queen rarely permits another quecn to remain long, for
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 23
man can put in several queens and have each one laying for a time,
but sooner or later all but one disappear.
IMPORTANCE OF GOOD QUEENS.
The success of the colony depends upon the queen, so it behooves
the beekeeper to see that each colony has a young and vigorous one.
INTRODUCING QUEENS.
Introducing a new queen is a matter of much anxiety to the be-
ginner. The first essential is to remove the old queen or if she is
missing to be sure that no capped cell or young queen is present.
Two methods of introduction are in common use, the ‘cage method ”
and the “direct.” By the first, the queen is confined in a small cage
usually with a few attendants, and the exit of the cage is plugged
with a sort of candy made of powdered sugar and honey kneaded
together. The cage is placed on top of the frames or between the
combs and allowed to remain until the candy has becn eaten out
and the queen freed.
The “direct method” consists of letting the queen run in free. It
is helpful to confine the queen alone and without food for
twenty to thirty minutes before running her in, in the meantime
keeping her warm. The key to success in this method really lies
in getting the beesof the colony to which the queen is to be
given into a condition of extreme distress or “fear.’’ The experienced
operator does this readily with smoke, and his ear quickly tells the
“pitch” of the bees “roaring,” which indicates the desired condition.
When this is reached the queen is run in either at the entrance or on
top of the frames, preferably at the latter place, and the hive quickly
closed. She is immediately one of the mass of distressed bees each
turning to the other for “help” and when the disturbance subsides
she is quite as much at home as they are. A colony infested with
laying workers will accept a queen run in in this way when they will
not in any other, but unless they have been given a frame of un-
24 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
sealed brood shortly before or soon after the queen is introduced, they
not infrequently destroy her in a few days or a week, or fail to properly
feed the young. As a rule a colony containing laying workers is of
too little value to try to save and should be united with some normal
colony.
CLIPPING QUEENS.
For the convenience of the beckeeper at swarming time all queens
should have their wings clipped. As the queens use their wings in
helping themselves out of cells after laying it is not wise to cut both
pairs of wings. It will be found sufficient and best to snip only the
tips from the wings of one side. The queen may be able to fly a
very little, but not enough to enable her to go far or to rise to some
inaccessible limb with the swarm.
HANDLING BEES.
Bees are more easily handled in the forenoon than later. At such
times most of the field bees are out and the young bees in the hive
are not as troublesome as the older or field bees. Very young bees,
however, do sometimes have a faculty for running wildly over the
combs, particularly when the older bees are present only in small
numbers. This action often bothers a novice when he is trying to
find a quecn.
USING THE SMOKER.
Oftentimes no smoke is necessary in handling bees, but it is a good
rule never to open a hive without having a good supply of smoke
available. Most anything which will burn will do for fuel in the
smoker, but on most farms old burlap bagging which has been lying
around in the open untilit has begun to decay is available in abun-
dance and makes ideal fuel. New or unrotted burlap does not kindle
or burn at all well. Chips, partly decayed wood, cotton waste or
rags, or any similar substance, will do. Some beckeepers always
begin with a puff of smoke at the entrance, others never use it there,
and results seem to favor the latter. After starting the cover loose,
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 25
a slight puff of smoke is blown under it, and then it is removed. If
the bees show signs of “boiling up” over the tops of the frames, more
smoke is blown over them from time to time. Not much smoke is
needed, in fact, the beekeeper should study to see how little can be
used.
REMOVING FRAMES.
To remove a frame from the hive push back and remove the
“division board” (follower), (Fig. 18), making room to spread the
frames so as to give space to take out the desired one. If a little
room is not thus secured, the bees are rolled over and over with
the bees on the adjacent combs and much irritated, making work
difficult and disagreeable for the beekeeper. ‘“Ten-frame” hives
ay
Fie. 18.—Division Board or Follower.
will not take ten frames and allow for such sliding back, so for
easiest work nine frames and a division board (follower) are used.
Handle combs with quiet easy movements. Avoid quick, nervous
motions or striking at bees. If stung scrape out the sting with knife
or finger nail and blow a little smoke on the spot to hide the odor, as
bees are excited by the odor of the bee poison and often follow up
the first sting with others when it is not so treated. The veteran,
however, gets more or less immune to bee stings, and unless they come
thick and fast, pays but little attention to them.
If the bees get much excited and begin to dart at one’s veil, bur-
row into the clothing and generally show signs of “anger,” the hive
should be closed as quickly as possible and operations deferred until
some other day.
4
26 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
STINGS.
Bee stings are rarely serious unless received in great numbers,
The pain is not long continued, and the swelling which (except on
seasoned veterans) usually follows rarely remains for more than a
couple of days. A little honey smeared over the injured spot will
affocd as much relief as anything. If you fail to appreciate your
appearance after a sting or two on the face try to console yourself
with the thought of the amusement it gives those who look at you,
then grin—but not when anyone is looking.
CAUTION.
Avoid handling bees on cold or wet days or on very windy days:
Do not go prying into the brood nest of big colonies when they are
busy piling up a surplus. Interference at such times is needless and
detrimental, besides, a populous colony, for instance, one that is filling
the body and several supers, isa difficult thing for anyone but a skilled
bee-master to pull to pieces, and he rarely does it if it can be avoided.
In handling combs always keep them “edge up.”’ Do not turn
’
them over “flat ways” or you may find them breaking from the
frames.
Keep your colonies strong. This is old advice but good. Unless
they are strong they will not give the best results. Vigorous queens
will do more towards giving strong colonies than any possible fussing
of the beekeeper. For Rhode Island it has been found that best
results follow when the colonies ure re-queened in August with
queens which were reared in late July or early August. Also the
colonies are not so populous then as earlicr and finding the old queen
is easier.
UNITING BEES.
When honey is being gathered freely the bees of different colonies
may be put together without any precaution, but at other times it
may be necessary to get them into quite an uproar with smoke
before uniting them. The uniting may be done by setting one hive
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 27
body directly on another, letting the bees mingle at will; or the
combs with bees on them may all be put in one body; or the bees
may be shaken from the combs before a hive and allowed to crawl in.
Queenless bees unite more readily than those having a queen. If
one of the queens is not removed by the beekeeper the bees attend.
to the matter, at least one queen or the other is soon despatched.
MOVING COLONIES.
Do not change the location of the hives in the apiary after the bees
have begun to fly in the spring, unless one of these two methods is
followed: either moving but about a foot each day; or confining the
bees to the hive and ‘placing them in a cool cellar for three or four
days and then liberating them at night and placing some obstruction,
such as a bunch of grass or a bush, before the entrance. This assists
in making them “take their location” when starting out the next
day. When confined to the hives they should have wire cloth over
the top of the hive and over the entrance. If the weather is hot, a
sponge or roll of cloth saturated with water should be laid on the wire.
ROBBING,
When working among the bees take pains not to spill any honey
about or leave comb containing honey where the bees can get at it.
Sweets so exposed may start robbing and this is particularly likely
to occur if little or no food is to be found in the fields. Robbing once
‘well under way is an unpleasant, even a serious matter. The easiest
way the writer has found to stop it has been to put an abundance
of syrup or honey a few rods from the apiary and get the bees started
on it by walking among the hives with a comb of honey until it was
well covered with bees and then gently carrying it to the food and
Jeaving it. If enough food is put there to keep the bees busy until
dark and the empty receptacles left there for the bees to smell over
the next day, the evil is generally stopped without further trouble.
28 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
FEEDING.
The bee master rarcly has to feed his bees, but sometimes drouth
or storm make it necessary to supply the bees with food to keep them
alive or for their winter stores. The feeding is preferably done
inside the hive. An empty body is placed on top of the brood
chamber, and a number of fruit jars filled with syrup and their tops
covered with cheese cloth are inverted on the frames and the hive
cover put on. The bees will take the food through the cloth. Be
sure the cloths are tied on securely. A syrup, half sugar and half
water, stirred together until the sugar is dissolved is right. If the
feeding is done in the fall when the weather is cool, have the syrup
Fic. 19.—Division Board Feeder.
warm, say about 100° to 120° Feeding is preferably done near
nightfall. For “winter stores” a colony needs about thirty pounds of
honcy or syrup. As the bees consume more or less of the syrup while
moving it, it is usually necessary to feed about ten pounds more.
Feeding for winter should be finished before the middle of October,
preferably before the last of September.
Normally strong colonies re-queened in August will, with an abund-
ance of stores, come out strong in the spring, and no “tinkering” in
the way of stimulative feeding in the spring will help them. Various
feeders are sold by the supply houses, the most convenient being the
division board feeder. (Fig. 19.) The fruit jar will be found to
meet most needs, however.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 29
THE HONEY CROP.
With strong colonies the securing of the honey crop is a relatively
simple proposition. It may be tersely stated as putting on the supers
and letting the bees alone. Put on the queen-excluding honey board
and the “super” on top of that. If the beekeeper is away much or
cannot see the bees for a week or more at a time, put on at the start
all the super room thought necessary. Do not be afraid to give
“too much.” If the colony is properly strong it will use the space
as it needs it. If it is convenient, give the supers when the first
flowers open of the kind from which the surplus is gathered, as at
the time of apple bloom, &c. If not convenient to be on hand, then
give them earlier.
Do not give supers to colonies which have not bees enough to fully
cover the combs of the brood nest. Better unite two such colonies,
making one strong one, and give that the supers.
In producing honey in “sections” it is desirable to remove them
as soon as the bees have capped the combs in order to retain the
whiteness of the cappings. As part of the combs are often finished
sometime ahead of the rest, it is sometimes deemed wise to remove
the supers, take out the finished sections, refill the supers with the
partly filled sections and return them to the bees. The bee escape
board is excellent for removing comb honey as the bees leave the
combs quietly without cutting the cappings. Put on the escape
boards near night and remove the honey in the morning. Usually
only one super is removed from a hive at atime. If two or more are
to be taken from one hive or if the weather is hot and close, it is often
wise to slip nails or chips under the hive cover just enough to let the
air circulate, but not enough to let bees pass.
In removing combs for extracting, the escape board may be used
and is especially helpful to beginners. If it is not used, the combs
are taken from the super or upper story one at a time, and the bees
shaken or brushed from them either into the hive or in front of it, and
the combs taken indoors. A bunch of asparagus tops or coarse grass
30 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
makes an excellent brush. When it gets sticky throw it away and
get a fresh one.
EXTRACTING.
At best, extracting is a sticky and laborious job. It comes when
the weather is hot and often when other work is pressing. It may,
however, be deferred until some more convenient season, if one has
plenty of surplus combs. Also the longer honey rcmains in the hive
the richer and better it becomes. All one has to look out for is to get
the crop of light-colored honey off before the dark honey begins to be
gathered, and herein the value of knowledge of the honey yields (pas-
turage) of the locality becomes apparent.
After the combs are safely indoors they may be left in some warm
and dry room shut up from bees and ants until it is convenient to
extract, or the honey may be extracted at once and the emptied combs
returned to the bees. Give such combs at as near night fall as possi-
ble. Combs fresh from the extractor create great excitement among
the bees, and if given in the day time are liable to cause trouble.
UNCAPPING.
Uneapping the combs is done with a keen stiff-bladed knife, a
butcher’s knife with a twelve-inch blade is excellent. A pan or tub
is used to catch the cappings. The frame rests on a strip of wood
placed across the tub and while the frame is held by one hand, the
other slices off the capping with a downward sawing stroke. Deep
cutting docs no harm as the bees quickly repair the combs.
If the honey is very thick or not very warm it may throw out very
slowly. If so, throw it partly from one side, then all from the other,
and then finish the first side. This procedure avoids crushing the
combs into the wire baskets of the extractor.
For a limited amount of honey an extractor is not necessary. If
the combs are newly built and are filled above a queen-excluding
honey board, they will be free from young bees and contain little or
no pollen, hence may be cut from the frames, crushed in a bag of
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 31
strainer cloth and hung in some warm place to drain. This treat-
ment may be given the cappings to obtain the honey mixed with
them. After the honey has drained out, the comb is emptied into any
convenient receptacle — except one of black iron or rusty tin—and
melted and strained.
SWARMS AND THEIR TREATMENT.
With all man’s care and precautions bees seem prone to swarm
just when it is least desired, which is when they are most busily at
work gathering honey, and this seems particularly so when they are
storing in sections. Shade, large entrances, an airy location, plenty
of room for queen as well as for storage, all tend to deter swarming,
but some always seem bound to swarm. About half the colonies in
an apiary usually swarm under the systems mostly in vogue.
When the bees do swarm, if the queen was clipped she will be found
on the grass or ground not far from the hive. She should be picked
up and caged with a few of her workers. The hive should be sct to
the rear and another containing only frames with narrow starters of
foundation put in its place. By this time the bees, not having a
queen with them, will be coming back. Lay the caged queen at the
entrance while transferring the honey board and supers, with all the
contained bees from the old to the new hive. Next shake all the
bees from about half of the combs of the brood chamber of the old
hive in front of the new one. In doing this have a wide board, hive
cover or box placed level with the hive entrance to shake the bees on.
When the majority of the bees are in, liberate the queen at the hive
entrance and see that she goes in, using a puff of smoke if need be.
Usually the bees will settle down to work again, and having no combs
for storage below, will put all the honey above. Generally this is an
excellent plan, but sometimes it does not work, the bees trying to
swarm again. If this occurs, re-cage the queen, and place the cage
in the hive for a few days. If the beekeeper is not on hand to see the
swarm, the bees, on missing the queen, will return to the hive. A
few may find the queen in the grass and gather about her and thus
32 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
indicate her whereabouts to the beekeeper. If she is not given back
to the bees, or if the beekeeper is away and the queen perishes, the
bees, after a day more or less of uneasiness, settle down to work again.
If they have plenty of ventilation and storage room they rarely
swarm with the young queen which succeeds the first swarming.
If the queen is not clipped and the swarm clusters where it can be
reached, it is usually easiest to shake it into a basket or box, cover
it with a cloth, carry it to the stand it came from, and when the new
hive is ready, pour out the bees in front of and against the hive just
as if they were so many beans. IXeep empty hives which are awaiting
swarms in some cool place or shaded. Bees do not readily enter hot
hives.
FORCED SWARMING.
When a colony scems to be preparing to swarm, indicated by great
population, starting of queen cells, bees hanging in masses on front
of hive or about the entrance, it is the practice of some beekeepers
to shake the bees from the combs, giving the bees a new hive on the
old stand as in natural swarming, transferring to it the supers with
the contained bees and giving the old brood chamber with its combs
to some other colony to care for. Some vary this method by leaving
about half the combs unshaken and placing the old hive at one side
of thenew. Ina week it is changed to the other side of the new hive,
and a week later back again; this is to throw the force of young field
bees into the “swarm.”
Another variation is to give the brood from which the ‘ swarm”
was shaken, to some weak colony, a week or so later de-queen it, and
the next day shake most of the bees into or before the swarm. In
forced swarming it is wcll to make the “swarm” enter the new
hive through a queen-excluding honey board temporarily placed
under the hive body or through an “entrance guard” of excluder
metal or through a drone trap. This shuts out all the drones. The
queen is put inside the hive. It is wise to leave the guard or “ex-
cluder board” in place for a few days, for “forced swarms” some-
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 33
times get uneasy and “swarm out.” As soon as they have settled
down to work again the guard should be removed. The drones
are kept out so as to avoid one disturbing element (as they are such
when confined) and also to keep them from choking the entrance in
their efforts to get out while the guard is on.
Forced swarming is profitably followed when treating colonies
afflicted with any of the contagious diseases, except that the combs
taken away are not later shaken before the “swarm” for if they were,
re-infection would be certain.
REARING QUEENS.
Every beekeeper should raise his own queens and not depend upon
the commercial queen breeders for anything but a new queen for
breeding purposes.
The easiest way to secure a few young queens is to divide the combs
of a colony that has swarmed into lots of twos or threes, seeing that
each lot has one or more queen cells. Place these combs in empty
hives, reduce the entrance so but one or two bees can pass, and place
the hives away from the large colonies, if convenient. In due time
the young queens will hatch and mate and may then be used as
desired.
Another simple way is to take a comb, preferably not a very old
one, put it in the middle of the colony from the queen of which it is
desired to raise new queens and five days later remove it. It will be
found to be filled with eggs and very small larve. With a knife slice
off a couple of inches or more from the lower part of the comb. This
is to give the bees a better opportunity to build cells and also they
will be built in a more convenient place for the beekeeper.
Place this comb with its adhering bees, but without the queen,
inan empty hive and on each side of it place a comb containing
honey and pollen. Also give water in a division-board feeder or by a
sponge. Now shake into this hive all the bees from two frames taken
from the center of the same or of another good colony, being sure not
to get the queen. Close the hive entrance with wire cloth and put
5
34 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
the hive in the cellar or some moderately cool place for twenty-four
hours, then set it out of doors, remove the wire and reduce the
entrance. The liberation is prefcreably done near nightfall.
Four days after the first cell is sealed, form small colonies (nuclei)
of a frame or two of brood and hees, confine them as the cell building
colony was treated, liberate them the next evening and give each
little colony a sealed ‘cell. To do this easily, cut the cell from the
comb together with a piece of the comb, say an inch square, and
slightly separating two combs of the small colony (nucleus) place
the cell part way down betwecn them and push the combs together
enough to hold it.
Two factors are important in raising queens, food and warmth.
The first is secured by having an abundance of young bees (nurses),
and the second by the abundance of bees, reduced entrance, and if
needs be, as during a cold storm, covering the hive with tarred paper
or some similar method.
The best queens are generally raised in warm weather and during
a good honey flow. If they are to be raised when little honey is to
be found in the fields, feeding will be necessary. It must be constant
until the cells are sealed. Use only sugar syrup for such feeding.
Honey sv used is liable to induce robbing.
RACES OF BEES.
If the becs one has are good workers and handle fairly well, it is
wise to go slow in changing them. Most bees in Rhode Island are
Blacks or Italians, or a mixture of the two. Some of the less common
races have been introduced, but have soon become merged with the
others. The Italian bee is probably the best all-round bee we have.
The different strains vary in color or work in slight degree. If it is
desired to change one’s stock, buy a few queens, getting one or two
each from different breeders. Try them out for a year and then
breed from the best. The ‘‘leather-colored”’ Italians are to be pre-
ferred to the ‘‘ yellow” or “ golden” type.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 35
INCREASE.
If increase is not desired, the brood and remaining bees left by a
swarm are united with some other colony after removing its queen
or after destroying the queen cells in the hive the swarm left. If
increase is desired, the old hive, now much reduced in numbers and
without a queen, is placed on a new stand and looked at in about a
fortnight to three weeks to see if the young queen is laying. With a
good young queen it will soon become strong.
ARTIFICIAL INCREASE.
Colonies of bees may be divided into two or more parts, the old
queen left with the part on the old stand and a new queen given to
the other part. The hives are filled out with combs or frames con-
taining full sheets of foundation and the bees allowed to build up.
This form of increase is excellent, but needs to be done with caution.
It is best done during a good honey flow, but done then it puts an
end to hope of surplus from the colonies treated. Indiscriminate
division is unwise, and if a colony is divided into many parts, cach
may be too small to thrive, and the whole colony be lost.
Another excellent way to increase, but a little more laborious is to
take a frame of brood with adhering bees from each of five or six
colonies, put them together in one hive, fill out the empty space with
combs or frames of foundation, and introduce a queen. If seven
or eight frames of brood are taken this method may be used as late
as the middle of September, but as a rule it is not wise to divide
colonies after the middle of August. .An expert may safely do it later
but the beginner had better not try it.
MARKETING HONEY.
There are a few rules which should never be forgotten and should
always be followed if one wishes to succeed in the honey business:
First: Never sell or give away any unripe or ill-flavored honey.
36 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Second: Always have the packages clean and free from stickiness.
If in bottles, jars or cans, be sure they do not leak.
Third: If producing considerable quantities of honey and selling
to stores or shipping it away have each case of comb honey all of one
kind, and all sections as near as possible equally filled and capped.
Have the honey of each lot in bottles of the same kind.
Sell first to your neighbors, next to the stores in your nearest town,
and by the time your crops are too large for them to handle you will
have learned where and how to sell large quantities. If you start
supplying a store, try and reserve enough honey of the kind you
start with to carry that customer through to the next season. Noth-
ing so upsets the honey trade as a change in the flavor of honey.
Many beekeepers are now practicing “blending” or mixing their
various sorts of extracted honey so as to have it all of one general
flavor. This is excellent practice, but requires experience for its
greatest success. Strong flavored or very dark honeys must be
scrupulously left out of such blends.
The best that can be done with comb honey is to see that in each
case all of the sections are of the same crop and endeavor to supply
only one kind to one customer for the season.
When customers comment on the differences in flavor it is necessary
to explain that the flavors of honey from different sorts of flowers
vary as do the odors.
Extracted honey will granulate or crystallize in time, hence it is
not wise to bottle at one time more than the customer is likely to
dispose of before it begins to granulate.
In melting granulated honey heat it slowly and as soon as it softens
stir it from time to time that it may heat uniformly. Be careful not
to over-heat it or the flavor will be injured or spoiled, and the honey
darkened. About 130° F. is as high as it is safe to heat it.
PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING.
These should begin in August with the re-queening of the colonies.
If there is a dearth of nectar and the prospects of an immediate flow are
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 37
slight, it is good policy to stimulate the production of brood. Prob-
ably the very best way to do this both for economy of labor and
material and for the excellence of the results is to hang in each brood
chamber one of the “ division board” feeders (Fig. 19), filled with soft
“Coffee A” sugar. Do not add any water to it. This system was
devised by Mr. Samuel Simmins, an eminent British beekeeper, and
is one of the best things he ever gave to the public. The bees feed
on the sugar just fast enough to keep the queen laying well. They
do not store any of the liquified sugar in the combs.
By the time the first frost cuts short the flowers, the colonies will
be found to have a large population of young and vigorous bees.
If the “fall flowers” did not yield enough to fill the combs well with
honey the bees must be fed at once. Syrup of granulated sugar and
water is the proper thing to use. Do not use “Brown” sugar. Make
the syrup half sugar and half water, or if you have delayed too long,
until the days as well as nights are cool, make it two-thirds sugar and
one-third water. Feed enough so that the bees have not less than
thirty pounds of stores. A Langstroth comb when filled contains
about six pounds of honey, and in estimating supplies remember that
brood combs contain much pollen and if hive and contents are weighed
and from the gross weight the weight of a dry hive and set of combs
are deducted, remember that old leathery or pollen-filled combs weigh
very much more than new ones and that the bees weigh from three to
six pounds or even more ina very strong colony. Better give more
than you think they need, and then some more.
Bees do not use much food in winter (sometimes as low as two
pounds), but when they get right down to brood rearing in the spring,
stores vanish like snow in the summer’s sun. When all colonies are
supplied with food, see that all covers are water tight, that the hives
are level, or tilt slightly toward the entrance, fix the covers so they
cannot blow off and then let them strictly alone until late spring.
If mice are numerous it is a good plan to put across each hive entrance
a piece of wire cloth with meshes large enough for bees to pass, but too
small to admit mice.
38 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
If single ply tarred paper or any other waterproof black paper is
laid over cach hive, folded down around the sides as one would do
up a bundle and secured by strips of lath tacked along the lower edge,
excellent protection is afforded both from moisture and from wind.
Never close the entrance. It may be reduced in size, even down to a
square inch, but the experience of years has shown that colonies with
entrances wide open (t. e. 14 by 1 inch) are not only just as strong
in the spring as those with reduced entrances, but often stronger.
Attend carefully to this full work No amount of fussing and feed-
ing in the spring will make amends for neglect in the fall.
CELLAR WINTERING.
It is quite unnecessary to put bees in the cellar in this climate, in
fact they are much better off out of doors. Some persons put them
under sheds, packing all about with leaves or similar material. This
is unwise as the hives get damp and the bees do not get the benefit of
the sun and air. Leave them where they stood all summer, merely
erecting some sort of a wind break if in an exposed place.
ENEMIES.
Bees have few real enemics here. Skunks sometimes disturb them
when the hives sit close to the ground. Ants not infrequently annoy
them and occasionally become a real nuisance. They are readily
destroyed by pouring gasoline into their nests, or the legs of the hive
stands may be placed in tin can covers and a little crude oil or
kerosene poured into each. Birds rarely disturb them. The king
bird or bee martin catches a few, but as these birds do so much good
in devouring various noxious insects, we can well afford to give them
a bee now and then. To a person engaged in commercial queen
rearing a pair of king birds may become a decided pest, for they seem
prone to catch the young queens. If shot at a few times with blank
charges they rarely fail to change their hunting ground.
“Wax moths” are often accused of killing out the bees. The bees
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 39
whose hive becomes infested with the larve of these moths will be
found to be depleted in numbers through loss of the queen, discase,
or some unfavorable circumstance. The strong colonies will quickly
dislodge any they can reach. Weak colonies, however, seem dis-
couraged and give up the struggle against them until ere long the
combs are reduced to a mass of webs and dirt. When discovered in
this condition, scraping the hive clean and burning all the refuse is
all that can be done. The chief preventive to their inroads is to keep
the colonies strong, by having a vigorous queen in each one.
Combs not in use should be stored in some dry room and inspected
occasionally. If the ‘‘wax worms” appear, the combs should be
fumigated with burning sulphur and returned to the room.
DISEASES.
There are two contagious diseases of bees now recognized, both
of which attack the brood or bees in the larval stage, and are known
respectively as American Foul Brood and European Foul Brood, the
latter being sometimes called Black Brood. The so-called Pickled
Brood is seldom met with and does not seem to be infectious. The
term “foul” as applied to brood disease was given on account of the
odor emanating from the dead brood. The larve die in the cells and
turn brown or black. The colony becomes depleted in numbers
and unless treatment is prompt and thorough the disease will spread
through and destroy the whole apiary.
In case of trouble or suspected disease, beekeepers are requested
to write to the Entomological Department, State Board of Agricul-
ture, State House, Providence, R. I., and the Apiary Inspector will
render such aid as may be necessary.
HOW TO KEEP BEES
ARTHUR C. MILLER
Part of Apiary of Henry Sowden in Manton, R. I., one of the most profitable in the State.
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
J. J. DUNN, Secretary
Entomological Department
Old Fashioned Straw Hive at Linden Apiary of Miss Dorothy Quincy Wright,
Chelmsford, Mass.
HOW TO KEEP BEES
ARTHUR C. MILLER
PROVIDENCE:
E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS
1918
Rhode Island State Board of Agriculture
R. LIVINGSTON BEECKMAN,
Governor.
EMERY J. SAN SOUCI,
Lieutenant Governor.
J. FRED PARKER,
Secretary of State.
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FREDERICK R. BROWNELL............. bop ere ates LittLE Compton
*THOMAS G. MATHEWSON.... . : BS. ates ee thaee East GREENWICH
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WILLIAM E. NICHOLS .......... ...GENERAL DELIVERY, PROVIDENCE
JOHN J. DUNN, Secretary.
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Entomological Department
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PREFACE
Since the first edition of this bulletin was issued in 1911, there has
been a considerable development in bee-keeping in Rhode Island, as
well as other states, and the prospects are bright for a healthy and
steady growth in the future. People generally are learning more and
more to use and appreciate honey as a food and the demand is there-
fore growing. The possibility of keeping and tending a few swarms
of bees to produce honey for home use even in small back yards, is
becoming more fully known and the profitableness of larger ventures
in the production of market honey is also being established.
While some of this development is due to an increase of interest in
all lines of agriculture, and especially in such ventures to help reduce
the high cost of living, which can be pursued on limited areas, such
as a small back yard, nevertheless, I believe that a considerable part
of it in Rhode Island comes as a result of the educational campaign
carried on by Mr. Miller, under the auspices of the State Board of
Agriculture through such publications as this bulletin, through
lectures and through visits and demonstations in connection with the
administration of the Apiary Inspection Law.
Before the advent of this work, bee-keepers had frequent dis-
astrous experiences due to bee diseases, insect pests and a general
lack of knowledge of bee-keeping which discouraged many of those
already in the business and kept otkers from attempting to enter
the field. Mr. Miller has been able in connection with his inspection
work to demonstrate how to effectively deal with most of the troubles
with which the bee-keeper must cope and make bee-keeping an
assured success instead of:a partial or complete failure.
As stated in the preface to the first edition of this bulletin, the
production of honey is a natural resource of comparatively limited
extent when compared with some of the more staple agricultural
products; nevertheless it is one which is easily developed and which
is reasonably constant in its availability and which when fully. de-
4 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
veloped, will add a great many thousands of dollars to the resources
of the State. Furthermore, the gathering of honey by bees and other
insects is a natural process on which many plants depend for the cross
fertilization necessary to the best production of their fruits. For in-
stance, it is becoming more and more patent to orchardists that in
many cases the aid of bees is necessary to affect the cross fertilization
required for the set and development of a good crop of apples and
other orchard fruits.
Taking these and also other items not mentioned into consideration,
it is evident that the further promotion of bee-keeping is a step in the
right direction towards the development cf our agricultural resources
and towards reducing the high cost of living and increasing the health
and well-being of the people of the State. The great demand for the
first two bulletins written by Mr. Miller and issued by the State
Board of Agriculture, both of which have long since been exhausted,
assures us that the present bulletin will meet a definite need and aid
in the promotion of bee-keeping.
It is to be hoped also in connection with this campaign for bee-
keeping that a slight revision of the Bee Inspection Law may be
achieved this coming year so as to bring it in line with the more
recent «levelopments in the processes of controlling bee diseases.
And, finally, it may not be amiss to express a hope that the bee-
keepers of the State will soon find it possible to organize a bee-
keepers’ association, as already broached by Mr. Miller and others,
which will have at least quarterly meetings for the discussion of their
problems and for codperating in the promotion of educational work
relating to production, marketing and use of bee products.
The Board of Agriculture is indebted to the A. I. Root Co., Medina,
O., for permission to use cuts for figures numbered 1 to 23, and to the
A. G. Woodman Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., for cut numbered 38-A,
and to the W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co., Jamestown, N. Y., for cut of
Air Space Hive (cut number 3-B).
A. E. STENE.
Provipence, R.I., Dec. 14, 1917.
HOW TO KEEP BEES
ARTHUR C. MILLER,
Inspector of Apiaries.
INTRODUCTION
Since the first edition of this bulletin was issued bee-keeping in
Rhode Island has progressed considerably. Several commercial
apiaries have been established, numerous fruit growers have bcught
bees for the pollination of the bloom, and two men have established
commercial queen rearing business which is proving a help to local
bee-keepers.
Rhode Island offers excellent opportunities for profitable bee
culture. The soil is diversified, the flora is varied and extensive, and
the climate is not rigorous. Some of the more densely wooded parts
of the State are not adapted to the pursuit as a business, nor even
adapted to the support of more than a few colonies here and there.
Other parts, particularly those having considerable dairy farming
and fruit growing, are well adapted to bee culture on a substantial
scale and here and there are locations which compare favorably with
the best in the land and will profitably support large apiaries.
The greater part of the Island of Rhode Island, the southerly part
of Bristol County, the southwesterly part of the State bordering on
Narragansett Bay and around the coast to the State line for one to
five miles inland and several places adjacent to the Great Swamp
are among the good locations referred to.
6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Methods of bee culture have changed radically within recent
years, apparatus has been improved and more nearly standardized
and bee-keeping thereby made less laborious. To aid in extending
bee-keeping in this State and to make it easier and more profitable
are the objects of this bulletin.
PASTURAGE.
Bees may be kept almost anywhere, but to make them profitable
several factors must be considered. The first and most important is
the pasturage, for if that is not good, all the skill in the world will
avail but little.
The sources of honey in Rhode Island grouped in the order of their
appearance are willows, maples, elms and other less numerous trees
which furnish the bees with the early supply of pollen and honey so
useful and so needful in building up the bee population preparatory
to the harvest in which the bee-keeper shares.
Next come the fruit blossoms, plum, peach, cherry, pear, apple,
raspberries, huckleberries and blueberries which, when the spring is
favorable, yield good crops of honey. In some places dandelions are
an important addition to the fruit bloom, though not always coming
at the same time. In several parts of the State there are large areas
of locust. This blooms the latter part of May and when conditions
favor, yields for about eight days, a heavy water white honey. The
clovers usually follow this, but are of consequence only under favor-
able conditicens of rainfall, save in a few sections where soil conditions
afford abundant moisture.
In many sections sumacs furnish the next crop, and where they are
abundant the bee-keeper may rightly look for a good crop of a very
fair honey.
In some of the more swampy and less settled sections, button bush,
clethra (sweet pepper bush) and clematis yield a white and highly
flavored honey, that from clematis being of the very highest quality.
But the yield from these plants is irregular, in some years being almost
absent.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 7
In some of the villages and cities the European. Lindens are
numerous and yield heavily. The bloom comes toward the end
of the clover flow, though the time of flowering of different trees in
the same neighborhood varies greatly. Native Linden (Basswood)
is now found only in a few places. The season closes with the golden-
rods and asters, which yield a rich aromatic honey, which though not
acceptable to many persons commands a fancy price from others.
The crop from these two sources is not always to be depended upon,
being more affected by the weather than some of the others.
Many other flowers contribute to the harvest, but seldom to any
great extent.
It is important that the bee-keeper should know well the pasturage
of his bees and govern himself accordingly. If the crop must depend
only on one of the groups, he must needs bend every energy to get
that, but if he has two or more to depend on he can vary his plans.
Bees range for food about two miles from home, but the best
results are secured when the pasturage is within a mile or less of the
apiary. Bear these facts in mind when seeking the location for an
apiary and if already located, make a careful inspection of the country
round about and determine the sources of supply.
HONEY DEW.
Honey dew, so-called, is a secretion of plant lice (aphids) and is
deposited on the surface of the leaves. Some seasons it is very
abundant and bees work on it eagerly. It varies in color from light
gray to dark brown, is usually of unpleasant flavor, and is often
bitter and spoils any honey with which it is mixed. All that the bee-
keeper can do is to remove all honey or the hives as soon as the
gathering of honey dew is noticed, replacing the supers with others
until the bees cease to gather it, when the supers of gcod honey can
be returned and the stored honey dew saved and be given back to
the bees during any slack period of the summer. It is not a good
winter food for the bees. It should not be sold as honey.
8 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Apiary of G. B. Willis, Pontiac, R. I. (Moone’s Cut.)
LOCATION OF THE HIVES,
The hives should be in a somewhat sheltered place, preferably
where they get the morning sun and are shaded in the heat of the
day. Avoid exposed windy lccations. As the prevailing winds in
the State are from the west and southwest it has been found advan-
tageous to face the hive to the southeast or east. If on flat lands
cr low lands, by all means raise the hives about a foot from the
ground. It puts them abcve a stratum of cold feg which in the night
often lies six or eight inches deep in such places.
Having the hives so raised will be found to be helpful in other
ways. They are more convenient to work at, are up out of the grass,
weeds and dirt, and where sundry vermin will not disturb them.
Any convenient thing will do to set the hives on, but a stand made
of spruce fence-rails after the accompanying design has proved satis-
factory in many years of service. The writer prefers a stand which
will held two hives and allow abcut eight inches between them. See
Fig. 1.) So place the hives that the operator can stand beside or
behind them. Putting them so it is necessary to work at the front is
most undesirable. The legs of the stands should rest on pieces of thin
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 9
Fig. 1.—Hive Stand.
flat stone or brick to prevent their sinking into the ground and rotting
and eventually allowing the hives to topple over under the load of a
heavy crop.
Grass and weeds should be kept down and can be by heavy
salting; or squares of asphalt roofing paper slightly larger than the
stand may be laid on the ground before the stands are placed.
In cities and villages bees are often kept in. dwelling houses, being
placed in some upper room and entrance given through a window or
special passage cut through the walls.
HIVES.
Any of the hives commonly offered by the manufacturers of bee-
keepers supplies will do, but the more simple they are and the fewer
the locse parts, the more satisfactory they will prove in the long run.
Perhaps the most universal hive now in use is called the “ Dovetailed”’ ©
hive, named from the manner of its locked corners. (See Fig. 2.)
Fie, 2.—Dovetailed Hive.
10 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
The hives known by this name all take the Langstroth frame, which
measures 175g by 91% inches, outside measure.
These hives are commonly furnished in two widths called the
eight-frame and the ten-frame. The former has had quite a vogue
but is now rapidly being discarded for the ten-frame size, and the
beginner should be sure to get the latter. The keeper of a few
colonies who contemplates increasing should by all means change to
the larger size. The type of cover shown in this illustration is one
of the best commercial ones. A flat cover is always used inside of it.
The ‘escape board” is sometimes used for this purpose, the escape
being removed and the hole covered with a piece of thin wood.
(Fig. 13.)
Hives having double walls with the space between filled with
sawdust, etc., or merely a confined air space, have many advantages.
(Cut 3-B.) The bees are less affected by sudden changes in the
Fira. 3-B.—Faleon Air Space Hive.
weather; they work in the supers better and need very little labor to
prepare them for winter. These hives are excellent for the keeper
of a few colonies and for orchardists and others who for want of time
or knowledge neglect their bees more or less. They should be care-
fully nailed and well oiled between walls when making up and the
packing material should be something which will not readily absorb
or hold moisture. Ground cork in which grapes are packed and
obtainable from most any retailer of fruit is the best substance.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 11
The disadvantages of these
hives is their weight, unwieldiness
and for large apiaries the cost
becomes quite an item. One of
the best of this kind of hive is
shown in Fig. 3-A. A simple
outer case is used by some and
answers the same purpose, but
is not so convenient. It suffices
for winter protection. Another
type of outer case is shown in
Fig. 25.
Hive floors are made so that
one surface gives a 34 inch space
below the frames and the other
gives a 7% inch space. The latter
Fia. 25.—Protection afforded by sawdust filled tray and a deep cover which telescopes over all.
Tray shown on hive at left and removed cover on top of hive at right.
12 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
is to be preferred at all times. If a smaller entrance is desired reduce
it with a notched stick such as is shown in the hives illustrated.
Hives of different sizes and proportions are used and advocated
by different persons. They are designed to meet some supposed
need of the bee-keeper, or are based on some theory of bee habits,
but with one or two exceptions it is believed they all call for a lot of
attention and manipulation at critical times. The average person
will do well to avoid them. There is one type of hive, however
which is designed to minimize labor and give average results. It
has been the subject of so much discussion and so many inquiries
have been made concerning it that it seems worth while describing
it here. It is known as the “Let Alone” hive. The type was
originally exploited by Gen. D. L. Adair, in the late ’60’s, and was
then called the “Long Idea” hive. Some few years ago Mr. Allen
Latham, of Norwich, Conn., experimented with it and finally de-
veloped the present type which he has called the “Let Alone.” It
is approximately thirty-six inches long, twenty inches wide, and
eighteen inches high. In the Adair hive the entrance was in the
middle of the long side, in the Latham hive it extends across one end.
Mr. Latham had the advantage of an invention which Adair had
not, namely, the so-called queen-excluding metal. Also Mr. Latham
is a very careful student of bee habits, and with the knowledge
acquired in many years’ work with the bees, was able to accomplish
what had not before been done.
In the Adair hive the queen had the run of all the combs (about
twenty); in the Latham hive she is confined to the seven at the front,
being kept from the others by a sheet of the queen-excluding metal.
(Fig. 4.)
Fie. 4.—Excluder Metal.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 13
These are special hives which must be made to order. The frames
are nearly five inches deeper than the standard Langstroth frame and
these frames also have to be made to order. The top bars and end
bars of the frames touch the whole length when the frames are in
place in the hive, so that the bees can only pass out at the bottom.
Beveled cleats are nailed along the lower inside corners of the hive
and against these the bottom corners of the frames touch, keeping
the bees from going behind the frames and virtually making a box
within a box. The tops of the frames are about an inch below the
top edge of the hive and Mr. Latham uses a few layers of newspapers
and a thin wooden ccver on top of the frames. The cover proper
has a three-inch rim and fits down over the hive. Hive body and
cover are covered with heavy waterproof paper, black in color. The
entrance which is an inch high, is guarded by a row of fine wire ‘nails
driven up through the floor. These are spaced far enough apart to
permit the bees to pass freely and yet prevent the ingress of mice.
The bees and queen are started in the frames in the front end of the
hive-and are thereafter seldom disturbed unless external appearances
indicate something wrong inside. When the bees have the front or
brood compartment filled they spread through the excluder metal
into the space behind. The frames there have only “starters” of
comb foundation as guides for the bees. At the convenience of the
bee-keeper the honey in these frames is removed and the frames
returned.
These hives are really the tools of a high class specialist, and while
they will often succeed in the hands of a novice, their continued and
uniform success on the minimum of labor plan calls for the knowledge
only to be gained by long and careful observation of bees and their
ways.
FRAMES, SUPERS, ETC.
Frames may be placed in two classes, free hanging and self spacing,
and the latter again into hanging and standing. Probably the most
extensively used and the best for the beginner are the self spacing
frames of the Hoffman type illustrated here. (Figs. 5 and 6.)
14 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Fie. 5.—Self-Spacing Frame.
These frames have grooves in the top bar for fixing the comb
foundation and holes in the end bars for wires.’ Fine tinned wire
(No. 30 gage) is threaded through these holes, stretched tight and
fastened. To these the sheets of foundation are fastened by em-
bedding the wires in the wax. Various devices are sold for the pur-
pose, but any narrow piece of iron with a shallow notch filed in the
end will do. This is kept warm over an oil stove or lamp and is used
by drawing the notch along the wire, bearing on just enough to bed
the wire without cutting through the sheet of wax. In doing this
work the frame is slipped over a board ‘on which the foundation is
laid.
Fic. 6.—Showing manner of fastening Foundation in Frame.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 15
It is advisable to wire all brood frames as they may then be handled
more readily, and if colonies of bees are shipped any distance, there
will be no danger of wired combs breaking down.
“Shallow frames” are much like the others except that they are
only from 414 to 514 inches deep. They are used in shallow cham-
‘bers called supers, and the filled combs are either cut from them or
uncapped, and the honey extracted. They are not usually wired.
(Figs. 7 and 8.)
Fie. 7—Shallow Extracting Frame.
‘Arrangements for producing honey in small boxes or “sections”
are somewhat more complicated. The shallow chamber is much
the same as above, but special holders are provided for carrying the
Fra. 8.—Hive with Shallow Extracting Super.
sections in which the bees build the combs. These are made of differ-
ent widths and much trouble often ensues by failure to get sections
to fit the bee-keeper’s supers. Strips of thin wood separate each
row of sections to prevent the bees bulging the surface of the combs.
(Figs. 9 and 10.)
16 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
HONEY BOARDS.
Honey boards, so-called, are devices for use between the body
(brood chamber) of the hive and the surplus compartment (super).
The most satisfactory one is made of slats between which are fixed
Fie. 10.—
perforated strips of metal or accurately spaced wires to prevent the
queen passing into the super. There is a rim around the edge so
placed as to be flush on one surface and raised on the other, giving a
bee space. The bee space side is used uppermost. (Fig. 11.)
,
Fig. 11.—Honey Board.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 17
BEE ESCAPES.
A bee escape is a sort of fly trap device, permitting the passage of
the bees in one direction only, and is used in a board placed between
the brood chamber and the super to free the super from bees when
Fic. 12—Bee Escape.
it is desired to remove the honey. It is a most useful contrivance,
but its success depends upon there being no brood in “the | supers.
(Figs. 12 and 13.)
Fic. 13.—Bee Escape in Board.
These are improved by being “ventilated.” Six or eight two-inch
holes are bored through the board, or a narrow slot is cut the whole
length of it and covered with wire screen cloth.
DRONE AND QUEEN TRAP.
The drone and queen trap is a two compartment box for use at the
hive entrance to catch drones and the queen, if a swarm issues. So
far as drones are concerned, it is far better to avoid their presence
by having combs built from full sheets of foundation. The few drone
cells then constructed around the edges will not produce enough
drones to do any harm. As a device for catching the queen when a
swarm issues, it is successful, unless the queen chances to be ab-
normally small.
A word of caution regarding the use of the trap will-not be amiss.
It calls for attention and thought. It must frequently be freed of
18 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
drones, else ventilation is obstructed and the colony may suffocate
if weather conditions are right or shade is lacking. Asa queen trap,
it must be looked at every day, or the queen may be caught and
perish if too long confined or a storm occurs. Many bee-keepers
have given up their use.
SMOKER.
A good smoker is absolutely necessary.
Without one it is impossible to readily
handle the bees under all the varying con-
ditions to be met with. Get one large
enough. One having a barrel three and
» one-half inches in diameter is a good size,
but if many bees are kept, a larger one will
be found better. (Fig. 14.)
Fie, 14.—Simoker.
SMOKER FUEL.
Use any material which will give a slow burning fire and yield an
abundance of smoke when the bellows are worked. Dry rotten wood
is a staple fuel, old burlap bagging is good, greasy waste gives an
abundance of smoke, but is most unpleasant in odor. The writer
finds dead wild cherry a delightful fuel to use. The dry dead twigs
up to the size of one’s finger snap like pipe stems and burn well.
Larger limbs need to decay until easily broken with the hands. The
smoke has a spicy odor, mild, sweet and most pleasant, and which
rarely causes the eyes to smart. _Be sure and have the fire well going
in the smoker before beginning work with the bees. Keep a supply
of dry fuel ready at hand and as soon as the smoker by blowing
sparks shows signs of burning cut replenish it.
Perhaps no implement used by the bee-keeper is more misunder-
stood and misused than the smoker. With a good smoker and good
fuel the skilled bee-man can handle the ugliest bees, without it the
best bees may drive him off.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 19
Get a good smoker, oil the bellows leather, keep it under cover
when not in use and it will remain good for years. Neglect it, and
it will cause more trouble than a balky mule. When through using
it put out the fire. Don’t go off and leave it to burn out or it may
start a serious fire.
FOUNDATION FASTENERS.
If one is using sections, some sort of a device must be used for
fastening the foundation in the sec-
tions, and any one of the various ma-
chines using a heated metal plate will
be found satisfactory. For only a few
score sections a little melted wax may
be used, but for rapid and extended
work buy a fastener.
HONEY EXTRACTOR.
For extracted honey an extractcr
is necessary, and if much work of the
kind is to be done, one of the ‘‘rever-
sible’ type will be found best. (Fig.
15.)
Fria. 15.—Extractor.
UNCAPPING KNIFE.
The special knives sold for this purpose have advantages peculiar to
themselves, and where one has much such work to-do, are worth
while obtaining; but for a limited amount of work a good stiff
butcher’s knife with a blade about twelve inches long will do. Keep
it sharp. (Fig. 16.)
Fia. 16.—Uncapping Knife.
20 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
HIVE TOOLS.
For prying open hives, separating frames, etc., for scraping off wax
and propolis, some sort of a tool is needed. A stiff putty knife is
excellent, or one of the special tocls sold for the purpose may be
obtained.
COMB FOUNDATION.
Comb foundation is beeswax made into thin sheets run through
embossing rolls which give it the shape of the midrib of honeycomb
with an outline of the cell walls. It is made in several thicknesses
and of worker size cells, drone comb foundation cnly being furnished
on special order. It is one of the devices which the modern bee-
keeper cannot afford to do without. Drone comb has about four
cells to the linear inch, while worker comb has five. (Fig. 17.)
FL eS
Drone Cells. Fia. 17. Worker Cells.
In brood frames use the lighter grades of ‘Brood foundation” and
wire the frames.
Tn sections use the “light super” foundation until skilled in the
art. The “extra light’? sometimes bothers the novice. Many per-
sons hesitate to use full sheets of foundation in the brood frames,
deeming the sixty to seventy cents necessary for each ten frames an
extravagance. It is real economy, and the wise bee-keeper will
never hesitate to make an expenditure in that line.
COMBS.
Good ccmbs are the corner-stone of good bee-keeping. The
appliances may be of the best, the bees the finest procurable, the
location ideal, the management correct, and yet if the combs are
pocr all the rest is wasted.
HOW TO KEEP BEES, 21
To secure good ones wire the frames, stretch the wires till they
hum like banjo strings, use full sheets of foundation and have the
foundation built out in full colonies either by putting a body full of
frames of foundation on as an upper stery at a time when the bees
are gathering freely from the fields, giving the queen access to the new
story, or by placing the frames of foundation one at a time in the
middle of a prosperous colony.
The writer esteems highly the Vogeler process of painting the
foundation with melted wax after the foundation is fixed in the
frames. A thin, flat brush, two or three inches wide is used, and
melted wax “painted” lightly over the whole of each surface of the
foundation. It stiffens the sheet, prevents “stretching,” and pro-
duces splendid combs.
Some cells may be capped over in the process of painting and the
foundation made to look somewhat daubed and spoilt, but trust the
bees to put it right.
A little practice and experience will socn give the knowledge of the
best temperature to keep the wax, the amount to use in the brush,
and speed and pressure of the stroke. The results are worth all the
effort it takes to get the knowledge.
VEILS.
A veil for protecting the head from the bees
is necessary. It may be purchased ready
made or made at home from netting. The part
used before the face should be black and prefer-
ably of silk tulle. The top may have an
elastic cord run around it to slip over the hat
crown or it may be sewed to the rim of the
hat. Similar veils are made of wire cloth with
a skirt of cotton cloth attached to the lower
edge to tuck under the coat or to tie down.
They are more durable than those of net, but
are heavier. (Fig. 18.)
Fia. 18.—Bee Veil.
22 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Oftentimes the experienced bee-keeper works without any veil,
but one is always kept at hand in case the bees become irritated or
cross.
GLOVES.
Rubber or leather gloves give confidence to beginners. The oiled
cotton ones offered by the supply houses do not appeal to the writer.
Their fuzzy surface entangles the bees’ feet, irritating them and
causing the deposit of poison and then the trouble begins. Once
well poison-odored and they are always assailed. One example will
illustrate the trouble they cause. The writer was inspecting a
dozen colonies of an amateur. The amateur wore veil and oiled
cotton gloves, the writer was bareheaded and sleeves rolled to the
elbow. The gloves had scores of angry bees busily stinging over
them, no other part of the amateur was assailed and the writer got
not a single sting.
Washing the hands over with a weak sclution of propolis (bee glue)
in alcohol seals in the skin and also gives it a general hive odor which
the bees seem to consider correct and seldom assail. Very thin shellac
works in much the same way. Any strong washing powder will
readily remove either mixture.
Short gathered sleeves with elastic cord in each end will be found
excellent to keep bees from getting inside the coat or shirt sleeves.
CLOTHING.
Light colored clothing of smooth texture preferably of cotton will
be found better than rough woolens of dark color. The khaki colored
shirts and trousers are excellent. There is something about the dye
used on blue overalls and jumpers that seems peculiarly irritating
to bees, so do not use such garments for bee work when new or until
they have been washed two or three times.
UNIFORMITY OF APPLIANCES.
Whatever type of hive is used be sure to have all alike, for unless
all hives, frames, etc., are interchangeable, endless trouble will
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 23
ensue. It is not wise to try to make one’s own hives. Few persons
have the tools or the skill necessary to produce a satisfactory article,
and accuracy is essential. The vital principle of all movable comb
beehives is the “bee-space,” 7. €., a space through which bees can
pass and yet not so large as to induce them to build combs therein.
It is approximately one-quarter of an inch. A space through which
they cannot pass they fill with propolis. Factory made hives have
this detail carefully worked out.
Insist on having all parts of the hive, covers, supers, floors, etc.,
made of white pine. Some dealers substitute cypress, an inferior
wood for the purpose. The pine costs no more. If one dealer does
not have it another will. Catalogues of dealers in bee-keepers’ sup-
plies furnish full information on the various appliances.
The matter of hives and tools has seemingly perhaps been given
undue attention, but unless the outfit is good the bee-keeper will
find much annoyance and needless labor, and unless he is an excep-
tion, the troubles will make bee-keeping so laborious and disagreeable
that it is likely to be abandoned in disgust. It is true that honey
may be obtained even though the bees are kept in an old box or
hollow log, but profitable bee culture demands a suitable equipment.
MAKING A START.
It is best to buy a good colony of bees in a standard hive, buying
from some nearby bee-keeper if possible. Also get for the first
colony as gentle or easily-handled bees as the seller can furnish.
Tf one’s means warrant it, buy two such colonies, using one for study
and experiment, and the other for honey, and as a reserve in case of
disaster to the first, for frequent overhauling of a colony of bees is not
conducive to its success or thrift.
It has sometimes been advised to start by buying bees in a box
or any old hive and transfer them to a modern hive “for the ex-
perience.” It is the sort of experience to dampen the ardor of the
most enthusiastic, and an experience which a wise and thrifty
veteran avoids as he would a pestilence.
24 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
: TIME TO START.
May and June are the most favorable months to make a beginning,
but July or August will do, provided the novice does not try to
increase the stock by division of the colonies. In buving earlier
than May, one is not sure of obtaining a strong colony, and the
desire to examine and overhaul them may be irresistible, and is
likely to prove disastrous to the bees. If purchased in September
or October, little opportunity is offered for study, and about all that
can be done is to see that sufficient food is in the combs for winter
use. Winter is a most unwise time to buy bees, and even the ex-
perienced bee-keeper avoids purchase then, unless he is thoroughly
familiar with conditions as they were in the fall.
BEES AND THEIR LIFE HISTORY.
The more complete one’s knowledge of the life and habits of the
bees the easier and more rapid will be the progress in learning how
to keep them and the better the chances for success.
THE QUEEN.
)
so-called, is merely the mother bee, and there is
normally but one in a colony. (Fig. 19.)
The ‘queen,’
She lays all the eggs from which the bees of
the colony are produced. Upon her vigor
Sssand the virtues of her blood and mating
depend the thrift of the colony. If she is
old or failing, the colony dwindles. If her
“blood” is not good her offspring cannot be
expected to accomplish the results of off-
spring from a better bred queen. She
obtains most of her food direct from the
workers.
Fia. 19.—Queen.
A queen lives for several years, but as a rule is past her prime and
period of greatest usefulness after her second summer. There are
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 25
exceptions to this, but the rule is a safe one to go by, and all queens
should be replaced by young ones after the second summer. Many
successful bee-keepers re-queen all colonies each year.
THE WORKERS.
These are the most numerous members of
the colony. (Fig. 20.) They are females, but
with the reproductive organs not fully de-
veloped, and only under some abnormal con-
ditions do any of them lay eggs, such layers
being termed “laying workers” and their eggs oa
produce only drones (males). Fre. 20.—Worker.
The workers gather all the nectar, turn it into honey, gather the
pollen and propolis, secrete the wax, build the comb, maintain the
heat of the colony, feed the larve, and do all the work of the hive.
They are also the ones which do the stinging. They live about ninety
days during the busy season of the year. Those hatched in the fall
live until the following spring.
THE DRONES.
These are the male bees and normally are produced only at such
seasons as bees rear young queens and swarm.
They have not the instinct nor are they
constructed so they can work. Their sole
known function is to perpetuate the race.
They are much larger than workers or queen
and they have no sting. They are dependent on
the workers for food and when the latter want
to get rid of them they refuse to feed them
and drive them from the hive. (See Fig. 21.)
Fig. 21—Drone.
BEE BEHAVIOR.
The fundamental law of honey-bee life is coéperation. Though
each individual goes about her work of her own volition, the results
of her efforts are added to those of the rest of the colony.
26 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
The bees cluster in a more or less compact mass for mutual warmth,
and when so clustered build their combs and care for their young.
Within that cluster the temperature during the active season is close
to 98° F. The greater the number of bees the easier it is for them
to maintain throughout the hive the necessary temperature. If
colonies are not populous the bees have to cluster more compactly,
the queen’s room for laying is restricted, and during the harvest time
the field force may only be able to get food enough for themselves
and the nurses and young.
In the winter a good colony of bees contains from 3,000 to 6,000
workers. Along about the first of January, in this latitude, the
queen begins to lay, slowly increasing her laying as the season
advances. As the young bees begin to emerge from the comb the
queen becomes more active and, if everything is normal, by the
time fruit trees bloom, the whole ten combs will contain some brood,
most of the combs being well filled. A colony in such condition is
ready for the harvest.
If the inquisitive bee-keeper frequently opens the hive in the
spring, or keeps out combs unduly at that chilly season, abnormal
conditions are produced and the colony will not be as strong or may
even be destroyed.
SWARMING.
As the season progresses and the population of the hive increases,
preparations for swarming may be made. Queen cells are built, and
when the young queens are nearly ready to hatch, the swarm emerges,
usually on some sunny morning. They pour out like a torrent of
water and rapidly rising into the air, dart and circle about, finally
beginning to gather on some limb or other object, and soon are all
clustered in a big irregular mass. If not taken down and hived
they will seek some cavity and enter it. Occasionally a swarm builds
its combs to the limbs on which it clusters. It cannot survive the
winter in such condition. Within the hive or cavity they again
cluster, and most of them remain very quiet. Slowly the wax scales
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 27
push out from between the rings of the abdomen and are taken and
worked into comb, which is soon occupied with eggs, pollen and
honey.
Bees of most all ages go out with the swarm and the queen joins
the throng usually when the swarm is about half out. If the queen
fails to go with the swarm they will return to the parent hive. If
only a small part of the bees go out as a swarm, another swarm may
follow when the young queens begin to hatch, or it may be delayed
until the surviving young queen flies to mate.
Young queens mate about ten days after leaving the cell, though
from adverse weather or scarcity of drones, it may be deferred for
two or three weeks. As soon as mated the queen returns to the hive
and within a day or two begins laying.
Young queens sometimes mate several times before they begin to
lay, but after they commence to lay they never mate again. Ifa
queen fails to mate she will ultimately begin to lay, but her eggs will
produce only drones. These may be placed in worker comb, but
as soon as the bees cap the brood the raised bullet-like cappings
betray the sex of the contained young. Such a queen should be
replaced with a good one.
The average time of incubation of the eggs is three days, though it
varies with the temperature. From the egg a minute white grub
(larva) is hatched, and this is supplied with and lies in a milky white
food prepared by the nurses from pollen and honey. It is fed thus
for six days by which time it has grown until it fills the cell and it is
then capped over and spins its cocoon and metamorphoses, turning
from a grub into a bee as does the caterpillar into a butterfly.
The worker takes twelve days to make the change and the drone
fifteen.
The “queen larva” receives a more abundant supply of the pre-
pared food and takes only six days to change from grub to perfect
bee. It is currently said that larvee intended for queens receive a
different food from that given to the worker larve, but there are
28 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
now good reasons for believing that it is quantity only that is varied,
the chemical difference arising after it is put into the cells.
If the queen of a colony is removed intentionally or accidentally,
the workers proceed to raise one or several more by enlarging some
of the cells containing worker (female) larve, and supplying the
necessary food. In due time such individuals emerge as perfect
queens. If the bees have neither eggs nor young larve they cannot
raise a queen and unless the bee-keeper supplies brood or a queen, the
colony will perish. The bees rarely tolerate more than one laying
queen in the hive at a time. Perhaps it were more correct to say
that the queen rarely permits another queen to remain long, for man
can put in several queens and have each one laying for a time, but
sooner or later all but one disappear.
IMPORTANCE OF GOOD QUEENS.
The success of the colony depends upon the queen, so it behooves
the bee-keeper to see that each colony has a young and vigorous one.
INTRODUCING QUEENS.
Introducing a new queen is a matter of much anxiety to the be-
ginner. The first essential is to remove the old queen, or if she is
missing, to be sure that no capped cell or young queen is present.
Two methods of introduction are in common use, the “cage method”’
and the “direct’’ or “distress.” By the first, the queen is confined
in a small cage usually with a few attendants, and the exit of the
cage is plugged with a sort of candy made of powdered sugar and
honey kneaded together. The cage is placed on top of the frames
or between the combs and allowed to remain until the candy has been
eaten out and the queen freed. Cages in which queens are sent by
——
mail are so designed as to be used for introducing. _ ag
DISTRESS METHOD. |
The “distress method”’ consists of putting the bees in a condition
of ‘“‘distress”’ and while they are in that condition, letting the queen
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 29
run in among them. The procedure is this: See that the hive is
smoke tight. If the cover does not fit snugly, remove it, lay two
or three thickness of cloth or bagging over the top of the hive and
replace the cover. If there are cracks at the corners of the hive,
plug them with rags. Then nearly close the entrance of the hive
with any convenient thing as grass, weeds or cloth, etc. Have the
smoker going well, puff it until it sends out a cloud of thick white
smoke, blow three or four puffs well inside of the entrance and com-
pletely close it. If the space below the frames is less than an inch
it is often well to blow three or four puffs under the cover (under the
bagging, if one has put that on), and then blow in at the entrance.
In a few moments the bees will begin to “roar.” At once let the
queen run in at the entrance and reclose it, or open the end of the
cage opposite to the food and lay the cage on top of the frames
and shut all tight. The queen is immediately one of the mass of
distressed bees each turning to the other for “help”? and when
the disturbance subsides she is quite as much at homeasthey are. In
ten minutes after the queen is run in, about an inch of the entrance
is opened, and the bees allowed to ventilate and quiet down. At
the bee-keeper’s convenience, after the bees are quiet, the rest of the
entrance can be opened.
Some persons have failed with this method when the colony oc-
cupied two or more hive bodies, or when several supers were ou
owing to the difficulty of fillmg the hive with smoke. When a
colony is as populous as that or as busy as that it is a very poor time
to swap queens. Conditions, however, may be such that it becomes
necessary to put in a queen at such a time, if so, lift off upper story
or supers lay a sheet of newspaper on top of the lower brood cham-
ber, replace the upper story or supers and at once proceed to introduce
the queen into the lower chamber. The bees will remove the paper
in short order.
A colony infested with laying workers will accept a queen run in
this way when they will not in any other, but unless they have been
given a frame of unsealed brood shortly before or soon after the
30 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
queen is introduced, they not infrequently destroy her in a few days
or a week, or fail to properly feed the young. As a rule a colony
ccntaining laying workers is of too little value to try to save and
should be united with some normal colony.
It is not necessary to destroy queen cells when introducing by the
distress method, but if a virgin queen (young unmated queen) is in
the hive she will probably destroy the new one, or if conditions and
season favor a swarm may issue.
CLIPPING QUEENS.
For the convenience of the bee-keeper at swarming time, all queens
should have their wings clipped. As the queens use their wings in
helping themselves into and out of cells when laying, it is not wise
to cut both pairs of wings. It will be found sufficient and best to
snip only the tips from the wings of one side. The queen may be
able to fly a very little, but not enough to enable her to go far or to
rise to some inaccessible limb with the swarm.
HANDLING BEES.
Bees are more easily handled in the forenoon than later. At such
time most of the field bees are out and the young bees in the hive
are not as troublesome as the older or field bees. Very young bees,
however, do sometimes have a faculty for running wildly over the
combs, particularly when the older bees are present only in small
numbers. This action often bothers a novice when he is trying to
find a queen.
An excellent practice followed by many bee-keepers is to look
through every hive each spring, removing poor combs, scraping out
all accumulation of propolis, substituting sound, well nailed bodies,
floors, covers, etc., for any which may need repairs or paint. The
procedure is to remove a colony from its stand and put in its place
a clean floor and body and one by one lift the frames from the hive
with the bees, scrape off the propolis and then put them into the
clean hive. Keep the combs in the same order they occupied in the
old hive. If any poor and unoccupied combs are removed add the
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 31
new combs or frame of foundation at the outside of those with the
bees. If the colony is short of stores or the queen is poor, it will be
discovered during such an overhauling and be corrected. The fore-
going method makes the subsequent werk of the year much easier
and pleasanter and keeps everything in good shape. Select a warm
still day for this work and be careful not to drop the queen from the
combs. Do the scraping over the old hive. When through, brush
the few bees still clinging to it into the new hive, and if the old one
is sound and does not need painting, scrape it out, clean the floor and
use them for the next colony. If the queens are not clipped it is an
excellent time to do it when doing this spring overhauling.
USING THE SMOKER.
Oftentimes no smoke is necessary in handling bees, but it is a gcod
rule never to open a hive without having a good supply of smoke
available. Some bee-keepers always begin with a puff of smoke at
the entrance, others seldom use it there, and results seem to favor
the latter. After starting the cover loose, a slight puff of smoke is
blown under it, and then it is removed. If the bees show signs of
“boiling up” over the tops of the frames, more smcke is blown over
them from time to time. Not much smoke is needed, in fact, the
bee-keeper should study to see hew little can be used.
To get the bees under control at the start and keep them so is the
secret of rapid and successful bee handling.
REMOVING FRAMES.
To remove a frame from the hive push back and remove the
‘division board” (sometimes called a follower or dummy), (Fig. 22),
TE
ie
\
Fic. 22.—Division Board or Follower.
32 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
making room to spread the frames so as to give space to take out the
desired one. If a little room is not thus secured, the bees are rolled
over and over with the bees on the adjacent combs, and much irri-
tated, making work difficult and disagreeable for the bee-keeper.
“Ten frame” hives will not take ten frames and allow for such sliding
back, so for easiest work nine frames and a division board (follower)
are used.
Handle combs with quiet easy movement. Avoid quick, nervous
motions or striking at bees. If stung, scrape out the sting with
knife or finger nail, and blow a little smoke on the spot to hide the
odor, as bees are excited by the odor of the bee poison and often
follow up the first sting with others when it is not so treated. The
veteran, however, gets more or less immune to bee stings, and unless
they come thick and fast, pays but little attention to them.
If the bees get much excited and begin to dart at one’s veil, burrow
into the clothing and generally show signs of ‘‘anger,” the hive
should be closed as quickly as possible and operations deferred until
some other day.
In handling combs always keep them edge up. Do not turn them
over “flat ways,” or you may find them breaking from the frames if
unwired.
STINGS.
Bee stings are rarely serious unless received in great numbers.
The pain is not long continued, and the swelling which usually follews
rarely remains for more than a couple of days. A little honey
smeared over the injured spot will afford as much relief as anything.
If you fail to appreciate your appearance after a sting or two on the
face, try to console yourself with the thought of the amusement it
gives those who look at you. Cultivate a sense of humor, it is a life
preserver. Unfortunately some bee-keepers do not seem to know
the meaning of the word. It is for us to laugh.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 33
CAUTION.
Avoid handling bees on cold or wet days or on very windy days.
Do not go prying into the brood nest of big colonies when they are
busy piling up a surplus. Interference at such times is needless and
detrimental, besides, a populous colony, for instance, one that is
filling the bedy and several supers, is a difficult thing for anyone
but a skilled bee-master to pull to pieces, and he rarely does it if it
can be avoided.
STRONG COLONIES.
Keep your colonies strong. This is old advice, but good. Unless
they are strong they will not give the best results. Vigorous queens
will do more towards giving strong colonies than any possible fussing
of the bee-keeper. For Rhode Island it has been found that best
results follow when the colonies are re-queened in August with
queens which were reared in late July or early August. Also the
colonies are not so populous then as earlier and finding the old
queen is easier. ‘
UNITING BEES.
When honey is being gathered freely the bees of different colonies
may be put together without any precaution, but at other times it
may be necessary to get them into quite an uproar with smoke before
uniting them. The uniting may be done by setting one hive body
directly on ancther, letting the bees mingle at will; or the combs
with bees on them may all be put into one body; or the bees may be
shaken from the combs onto a cloth or wide board placed before a
hive and allowed to crawl in. Queenless bees unite more readily
than those having a queen. If one of the queens is not removed
by the bee-keeper the bees attend to the matter, at least one queen
or the other is soon despatched.
MOVING COLONIES.
Do not change the location of the hives in the apiary after the bees
have begun to fly in the spring, unless one of these two methods is
34 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
followed: Either moving by about a foot or two each day; or con-
fining the bees to the hive and placing them in a cool cellar for three
or four days and then liberating them at night and placing some
obstruction, such as a bunch of grass or a bush, before the entrance.
This assists in making them “take their location”? when starting out
the next day. When confined to the hives they should have wire
cloth over the top of the hive and over the entrance. If the weather
is hot, a sponge or roll of cloth saturated with water should be laid
on the wire.
ROBBING.
When working among the bees take pains not to spill any honey
about or leave comb containing honey where the bees can get at it.
Sweets so exposed may start robbing and this is particularly likely
to occur if little or no food is to be found in the fields. Robbing once
well under way is an unpleasant, even a serious matter. The easiest
way the writer has found to stop it has been to put an abundance
of thin syrup or diluted honey a few rods from the apiary and get the
bees started on it by walking among the hives with a comb of honey
until it was well covered with bees and then gently carrying it to the
food and leaving it. If enough food is put there to keep the bees
busy until dark (say two pounds for each colony), and the empty
receptacles left there for the bees to smell over the next day, the evil
is generally stopped without further trouble. But this is not a safe
practice if bee diseases exist in the vicinty. Reducing the size of the
entrance to an inch and smearing the hive front and floor near it
with one of the creosote compounds will usually stop trouble unless
it has been going too long.
In extreme cases close the hive with wire cloth put it in a cool
cellar, supply it with food of thin sugar syrup and let it remain there
for four or five days and when taken out put it in a new location.
Like many other evils it is more readily prevented than cured.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 35
FEEDING.
The bee master rarely has to feed his bees, but sometimes drouth
or storm make it necessary to supply the bees with food to keep them
alive or for their winter stores. The feeding is preferably done inside
the hive. An empty body is placed on top of the brood chamber,
and a number of fruit jars filled with syrup and their tops covered
with fine cheese cloth are inverted on the frames and the hive cover
put on. The bees will take the food through the cloth. Be sure the
cloths are tied on securely. A syrup, half sugar and half water,
stirred together until the sugar is dissolved is right. If the feeding
is done in the fall when the weather is cool, have the syrup warm, say
about 100° to 120°. Also use a thicker syrup, two parts of sugar to
one of water, either by measure or weight. Feeding is preferably
done near nightfall. For ‘winter stores’ a colony needs about
thirty pounds of honey or syrup. As the bees consume more or less
of the syrup while moving it, it is usually necessary to feed about ten
pounds more. Feeding for winter should be finished before the
middle of October preferably before the last of September.
Normally strong colonies re-queened in August will, with an
abundance of stores, come out strong in the spring, and no “tinker-
ing” in the way of stimulative feeding in the spring will help them.
Various feeders are sold by the supply houses, the most convenient
being the division bcard feeder. (Fig. 23.) The fruit jar will be
found to meet most needs, however.
Fic. 23.—Division Board Feeder.
36 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
THE HONEY CROP.
With strong colonies the securing of the honey crop is a relatively
simple proposition. It may be tersely stated as putting on the
supers and letting the bees alone. Put on the queen-excluding
honey board and the super on top of that. If the bee-keeper is away
much, or cannot see the bees for a week or more at a time, put on
at the start all the super room thought necessary. Do not be afraid
to give “too much.” If the colony is properly strong it will use the
space as it needs it. If it is convenient, give the supers when the
first flowers open of the kind from which the surplus is gathered, as
at the time of apple bloom, etc. If not convenient to be on hand
then, give them earlier. Rather more satisfactory results are secured
with extracting supers where eight frames are used in a ten-frame,
super spacing them equidistant. The resulting combs are plump
and easier to uncap.
Do not give supers to colonies which have not bees enough to fully
cover the combs of the brood nest. Better unite two such colonies,
making cne strong one, and give that the supers.
In producing honey in sections it is desirable to remove them as
soon as the bees have capped the combs in order to retain the white-
ness of the cappings. As part of the combs are often finished some-
time ahead of the rest, it is often deemed wise to remove the supers,
take out the finished sections, refill the supers with partly filled sec-
tiens and return them tc the bees. The bee escape board is excellent
for removing comb honey as the bees leave the comhs quietly without
cutting the cappings. Put on the escape boards near night and
remove the honey in the morning. Usually only one super is removed
from a hive at a time. If two or more are to be taken from one hive
or if the weather is hot and close, it is often wise to slip nails or chips
under the hive cover, just enough to let the air circulate, but not
enough to let bees pass. Better still have the escape board ventilated.
(See page 17.)
In removing combs for extracting, the escape board may be used
and is especially helpful to beginners. If it is not used, the combs
HOW TO KEEP BEES 37
are taken from the super or upper story one at a time, and the bees
shaken or brushed from them, either into the hive or in front of it,
and the combs taken indoors. A bunch of asparagus tops or coarse
grass makes an excellent brush. When it gets sticky throw it away
and get afresh one. If bee disease is in the apiary burn or bury the
sticky grass or better still use a bee escape.
EXTRACTING.
At best, extracting is a sticky and laborious job. It comes when
the weather is hot and often when other work is pressing. It may,
however, be deferred until some more convenient season, if one has
plenty of surplus combs. Also the longer honey remains in the hive
the richer and better it becomes. All one has to look out for is to
get the crop of light colored honey off before the dark honey begins
to be gathered, and herein the value of knowledge of the honey
yields (pasturage) of the locality becomes apparent,
Fiq. 24.—Extracting House at Hammond Hill, R I., 1916. Screened openings on each side give
ample ventilation.
After the combs are safely indoors they may be left in some warm
and dry recom shut up from bees and ants until it is convenient to
extract, or the honey may be extracted at once and the emptied
combs returned tc the bees. Give such combs at or as near night fall
38 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
as possible. Ccmbs fresh from the extractor create great excitement
among the bees, and if giver in the day time are liable to cause
trouble.
UNCAPPING.
Uncapping the combs is done with a keen stiff-bladed knife, an
uncapping knife, or a butcher’s knife with a twelve-inch blade is
excellent. A pan or tub is used to catch the cappings The frame
rests on a strip of wood placed across the tub and while the frame is
held by one hand, the other slices off the capping with a downward
sawing stroke. Deep cutting does no harm as the bees quickly
repair the combs.
If the honey is very thick or not very warm it may throw out very
slowly. If so, throw it partly from one side, then all from the other,
and then finish the first side. This procedure avoids crushing the
combs into the wire baskets of the extractor.
For a limited amount of honey an extractor is not necessary. If
the combs are newly built and are filled above a queen-excluding
honey board, they will be free from young bees and contain little or
no pollen, hence may be cut from the frames, crushed in a bag of
strainer cloth and hung in some warm place to drain. This treat-
ment may be given the cappings to obtain the honey mixed with
them. After the honey has drained out, the comb is emptied into
any convenient receptacle—except one of black iron or rusty tin—
and melted and strained.
/
SWARMS AND THEIR TREATMENT.
With all man’s care and precautions bees seem prone to swarm
just when it is least desired, which is when they are most busily at
work gathering honey, and this seems particularly so when they are
storing in sections. Shade, large entrances, an airy location, plenty
of room for queen as well as for storage, all tend to deter swarming,
but some always seem bound to swarm. About half the colonies in
an apiary usually swarm under the systems mostly in vogue.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 39
When the bees do swarm, if the queen was clipped she will be
found on the grass cr ground not far from the hive. She should be
picked up and caged with a few of her workers. The hive should be
set to the rear and another containing only frames with narrow
starters of foundation put in its place. If tightly wired frames and
full sheets of foundation painted with wax are available (page 21),
these are preferable, but full sheets unwired will fall under the weight
of aswarm. By this time the bees, not having a queen with them,
will be coming back. Lay the caged queen at the entrance while
transferring the honey board and supers, with all the contained bees
from the old to the new hive. Next shake all the bees from about
half of the combs of the brood chamber of the eld hive in front of the
new one. In doing this have a wide board, hive cover or box placed
level with the hive entrance to shake the bees on. When the bees are
marching in well liberate the queen at the hive entrance and see
that she goes-in, using a puff of smoke if need be. Usually the bees
will settle down to work again, and having no combs for storage
below, will put all the honey above. Generally this is an excellent
plan, but sometimes it does not work, the bees trying to swarm again.
If this occurs, re-cage the queen, and place the cage in the hive for a
few days. If the bee-keeper is not on hand to see the swarm, the
bees, on missing the queen, will return to the hive. A few may find
the queen in the grass and gather about her and thus indicate her
whereabouts to the bee-keeper. If she is not given back to the bees,
or if the bee-keeper is away and the queen perishes, the bees, after a
day more or less of uneasiness, settle down to work again. If they
have plenty of ventilation and storage room they rarely swarm with
the young queen which succeeds the first swarming.
If the queen is not clipped and the swarm clusters where it can be
reached, it is usually easiest to shake it into a basket or box, cover
it with a cloth, carry it to the stand it came from, and when the new
’ hive is ready, pour out the bees in front of and against the hive just
as if they were somany beans. Keep empty hives which are awaiting
swarms in some cool place or shaded. Bees do not readily enter hot
hives,
40 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
If it is not known what hive a swarm issued from then hive it where
it is found, and as soon as the bees are in or at night, remove it to the
place where it is to stand permanently. Do not defer the moving
for two or three days or so many bees will have marked the first
location, that there will be a serious loss on moving them.
It is not necessary to put the hive up on a platform or step ladder
near to where they clustered, until-the swarm is allin. Put the hive
on the ground, shake the swarm into a basket, and carry the bees to
the hive. The mass of bees will set up a roar and emit an odor which
will attract all the bees in the air and the few which go back to the
tree will soon join those in the hive.
FORCED SWARMING.
When a colony seems to be preparing to swarm, indicated by great
population, starting of queen cells, bees hanging in masses on front
of hive or about the entrance, it is the practice of some bée-keepers
to shake the bees from the combs, giving the bees a new hive on the
old stand as in natural swarming, transferring to it the supers with
the contained bees and giving the old brood chamber with its combs
to some other colony to care for. Some vary this method by leaving
about half the combs unshaken and placing the old hive at one side
of thenew. Ina week it is changed to the other side of the new hive,
and a week later back again; this is to throw the force of young
field bees into the ‘‘swarm.”
Another variation is to give the brood from which the
“swarm”?
was shaken, to some weak colony or one without supers, a week or so
later de-queen it, and the next day shake most of the bees into or
before the swarm. In forced swarming it is well to make the “swarm”’
enter the new hive through a queen-excluding honey board tem-
porarily placed under the hive body or through an ‘‘entrance guard”’
of excluder metal or through a drone trap. This shuts out all the
drones. The queen is put inside the hive. It is wise to leave the
guard or ‘‘excluder board’? in place for a few days, for ‘‘forced
swarms’? sometimes get uneasy and ‘“‘swarm out.” As soon as they
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 41
have settled down to work again the guard should be removed. The
drones are kept out so as to avoid one disturbing element (as they
are such when confined), and also to keep them from choking the
entrance in their efforts to get out while the guard is on.
Forced swarming is profitably followed when treating colonies
afflicted with any of the ccntagious diseases, except that the ccmbs
taken away are not later shaken before the “swarm” for if they were,
re-infection would be certain.
INCREASE.
If increase is not desired, the brood and remaining bees left by a
swarm are united with some other colony after removing its queen or
after destroying the queen cells in the hive the swarm left. If in-
increase is desired, the old hive, now much reduced in numbers and
witkout a queen, is placed on a new stand and looked at in about a
fortnight to three weeks to see if the young queen is laying. With a
good young queen it will soon become strong.
ARTIFICIAL INCREASE.
Colonies of bees may be divided into two or more parts, the old
queen left with the part on the old stand and a new queen given to
the other part. The hives are filled out with combs or frames con-
taining full sheets of foundation and the bees allowed to build up.
This form of increase is excellent, but needs to be done with caution.
It is best done during a good honey flow, but done then it puts an end
to hope of surplus from the cclonies treated.
Another excellent way to increase, but a little more laborious, is
to take a frame of brood with adhering bees from each of five or six
colonies, put them together in one hive, fill out the empty space
with combs or frames of foundation, and introduce a queen. If
seven or eight frames of brood are taken this method may be used as
late as the middle of September, but as a rule it is not wise to divide
colonies after the middle of July. An expert may safely do it later
but the beginner had better not try it. Indiscriminate division is
42 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
unwise, and if a colony is divided into many parts, each may be too
small to thrive, and the whole colony be lost.
REARING QUEENS.
Every bee-keeper should raise his cwn queens and not depend
upon the commercial queen breeders for anything but a new queen
for breeding purposes.
Fig. 27.—A Corner of a Rhode Island Queen Rearing Apiary.
The easiest way to secure a few young queens is to divide the combs
of a colony that has swarmed into lots of twos or threes, seeing that
each lot has one or more queen cells. Place these combs, with ad-
hering bees in empty hives, reduce the entrance so but one or two
bees can pass, and place the hives away from the large colonies, if
convenient. In due time the young queens will hatch and mate
and may then be used as desired.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 43
Another simple way is to take a ccmb, preferably not a very old
one, put it in the middle of the colony from the queen of which it is
desired to raise new queens and five days later remove it. It will be
found to be filled with eggs and very small larve. With a knife
slice off a couple of inches or more from the lower part of the comb.
This is to give the bees a better opportunity to build cells and also
they will be built in a more convenient place for the bee-keeper.
Place this comb with its adhering bees, but without the queen, in
an empty hive and on each side of it place a comb containing honey
and pollen. Also give water or thin sugar syrup in a division board
or other feeder. Now shake into this hive all the bees from two
frames taken from the center of the same or cf another good colony,
being sure not to get the queen. Close the hive entrance with wire
cloth and put the hive in the cellar or some moderately cool place for
twenty-four hours, and then set it out cf doors, remove the wire and
reduce the entrance so that only one or two bees can pass at a time.
The liberation is preferably done near nightfall.
Three days after the first: cell is sealed, form small colonies (nuclei)
of a frame or two of brood and bees, confine them as the cell building
colony was treated, liberate them the next evening and give each
little colony a sealed cell. To do this easily, cut the cell from the
comb together with a piece of the comb, say an inch square, and
slightly separating two combs of the small colony (nucleus) place
the cell part way down between them and push the combs together
enough to hold it.
Handle queen cells very gently. Keep them right side up, do not
expose them to the direct rays of the sun and if the day is cool
prevent their being chilled.
Two factors are important in raising queens, larval food and
warmth. The first is secured by having an abundance of young bees
(nurses), and the second by the abundance of bees, reduced entrance,
and if needs be, as during a cold storm, covering the hive with tarred
paper or some similar method. .
The best queens are generally raised in warm weather and during
a good honey flow. If they are to be raised when little honey is to
44 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
be found in the fields, feeding will be necessary. It must be constant
until the cells are sealed. Use cnly sugar syrup for such feeding.
Honey so used is liable to induce robbing.
RACES OF BEES.
If the bees one has are good workers and handle fairly well, it is
wise to go slow in changing them. Most bees in Rhode Island are
Blacks or Italians, or a mixture of the two. Some of the less common
races have been introduced, but have scon become merged with the
others. The Italian bee is probably the best all-round bee we have
The different strains vary in color or work in slight degree. If it is
desired to change one’s stock, buy a few queens, getting one or two
each from different breeders. Try them out for a year and then
breed from the best. The ‘“‘leather-colored”’ Italians are to be pre-
ferred to the “yellow” or “golden”’ type.
PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING.
These should begin in August with the re-queening of the colcnies.
If there is a dearth of nectar and the prospects of an immediate flow
are slight, it is good policy to stimulate the production of brood.
Probably the very best way to do this both for economy of labor and
material and for the excellence of the results is to hang in each brood
chamber one cf the “division board” feeders filled with soft sugar.
Do not add any water toit. This system was devised by Mr. Samuel
Simmins, an eminent British bee-keeper, and is one of the best things
he ever gave to the public. The bees feed on the sugar just fast
enough to keep the queen laying well. They do not store any of the
liquified sugar in the combs.
Mr. Simmins used “raw” sugar, but several of the soft, moist,
cream colored varieties found in most groceries do as well. Try
samples until one is found which the bees use.
By the time the first frost cuts short the flowers, the colonies will
be found to have a large population of young and vigorous bees. If
the “fall flowers” did not yield enough to fill the combs well with
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 45
honey the bees must be fed at once. Syrup of granulated sugar and
water is the prcper thing to use. Do not use ‘‘brown” sugar. Make
the syrup half sugar and half water, or if you have delayed too long,
until the days as well as nights are cocl, make it two-thirds sugar and
one-third water, and feed it hct. Feed enough so that the bees have
not less than thirty pounds ef stores. A Langstroth comb when
filled contains about six pounds of honey, and in estimating supplies
remember that brood combs contain much pollen and if hive and
contents are weighed and from the gross weight the weight of a dry
hive and set of combs are deducted, remember that old leathery or
pollen-filled combs weigh very much more than new ones and that
the bees weigh frem three to six pounds or even more in a very strong
colony. Better give more than you think they need, and then some
more. Err on the safe side.
Bees de not use much food in winter (sometimes as low as two
pounds), but when they get right down tc brood rearing in the
spring, stores vanish like snow in the summer’s sun. When all
colonies are supplied with food, lay across the tops of the frames two
or three pieces of lath and cover the hive top with a piece of burlap
or similar cloth. Put on an empty super or body and fill in with dry
leaves or sawdust and put on the cever. The protection on top of
the frames is even mcre important than that about the hive.
See that all covers are water tight, that the hives are level, or tilt
slightly toward the entrance, fix the covers so they cannct blow off
and then let the bees strictly alone until late spring. If mice are
numerous it is a goed plan tc put across each hive entrance a piece
of wire cleth with meshes large enough for bees to pass, but too small
to admit mice.
A somewhat more convenient plan is shown in Fig. 25, where a
wooden rim has burlap tacked on bettom and top and is filled with
ground cork. An extra piece of burlap is laid ever the frames before
this cushion is put on, so the bees will not cut through into the cushion
and let the cork fall out.
46 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
If single ply tarred paper or any other waterproof black paper is
laid over each hive, folded down around the sides as one weuld do
up a bundle and secured by strips of lath tacked along the lower
edge, excellent protection is afforded both from moisture and from
wind. Never close the entrance. It may be reduced in size, even
down to a square inch, but perhaps an entrance six inches long by
three-eighths inch high suits a wider range of winter conditions than
most any other size.
Attend carefully to this fall work. No amcount of fussing and
feeding in the spring will make amends for neglect in the fall.
CELLAR WINTERING.
It is quite unnecessary to put bees in the cellar in this climate, in
fact they are much better off out of doors. Some persons put them
under sheds, packing all about with leaves or similar material. This
is unwise as the hives get damp and the bees do not get the benefit
of the sun and air. Leave them where they stood all summer, and
erect some sort of a wind break if in an exposed place.
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 47
ENEMIES.
Bees have few real enemies here. Skunks sometimes disturb
them when the hives sit close to the ground. Ants not infrequently
annoy them and occasionally become a real nuisance. They are
readily destroyed by pouring gasoline into their nests, or the legs of the
hive stands may be placed in tin can covers and a little crude oil or
kerosene poured into each. Birds rarely disturb them. The king bird
or bee martin catches a few, but as these birds do sc much good in de-
vouring various noxious insects, we can well afford to give them a bee
now and then, besides it is said they eat drones rather than workers.
To a person engaged in commercial queen rearing a pair of king
birds may beceme a decided pest, for they seem prone to catch the
young queens. If shot at a few times with blank charges they
rarely fail tc change their hunting ground.
“Wax moths” are often accused of killing out the bees. The bees
whose hive becomes infested with the larve of these moths will be
found to be depleted in numbers through loss of the queen, disease,
or some unfavorable circumstance. The strong colonies will quickly
dislodge any they can reach. Weak colonies, however, seem dis-
couraged and give up the struggle against them until ere long the
combs are reduced to a mags of webs and dirt. When discovered in
this condition, scraping the hive clean and burning all the refuse is
all that can be done. The chief preventive to their inroads is to
keep the colonies strong, by having a vigorous queen in each one.
Italian bees keep out the wax moth much better than the Blacks.
Combs not in use should be stored in some dry room and inspected
occasionally. If the “wax worms” appear, the combs should be
fumigated with burning sulphur and returned to the room.
MARKETING HONEY.
There are a few rules which should never be forgotten and should
always be followed if one wishes to succeed in the honey business:
First: Never sell or give away any unripe or ill-flavored honey.
48 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Second: Always have the packages clean and free from stickiness.
If in bottles, jars or cans, be sure they do not leak.
Third: If producing considerable quantities of honey and selling
to stores or shipping it away have each case of comb honey all of one
kind, and all sections as near as possible equally filled and capped.
Sell first to your neighbcrs, next to the stores in your nearest town,
and by the time ycur crops are too large for them to handle you will
have learned where and how to sell large quantities. If you start
supplying a store, try and reserve enough honey of the kind you
start with to carry that customer through to the next season. Noth-
ing so upsets the honey trade as a change in flavor of honey. Many
bee-keepers are now practicing “blending” or mixing their various
sorts of extracted honey so as to have it all of one general flavor.
This is excellent practice, but requires experience for its greatest
success. Strong flavored or very dark honeys must be scrupulously
left out of such blends.
The best that can be done with comb honey is to see that in each
case all of the sections are of the same crop and endeavor to supply
only one kind to one customer for the season.
When customers comment on the differences in flavor it is necessary
to explain that the flavors of honey from different sorts of flowers
vary as do their odors.
Extracted honey will granulate or crystallize in time, hence it is
not wise to bottle at one time more than the customer is likely to
dispose of before it begins to granulate.
In melting granulated honey heat it slowly and as soon as it
softens stir it from time to time that it may heat uniformly. Be
careful not to over-heat it or the flavor will be injured or spoiled, and
the honey darkened. About 130° F. is as high as it is safe to heat it.
DISEASES.
There are three contagicus diseases of bees now recognized, all of
which attack the brood or bees in the larval stage, and are known
respectively as American Foul Brood, European Foul Brood (the
HOW TO KEEP BEES. 49
latter being sometimes called Black Brood), and Sac or Pickled
Brood. The term “foul” as applied to brood disease was given on
account of the odor emanating from the dead brood. The larve
die in the cells and turn brown or black. The colony becomes
depleted in numbers and unless treatment is prompt and thorough
the disease will spread through and destroy the whole apiary. There
has recently appeared a trouble among adult bees called ‘paralysis,’
in which the bees are unable to fly. Little is yet known about it.
In case of trouble or suspected disease, bee-keepers are requested
to write to the Entomological Department, State Board of Agricul-
ture, State House, Providence, R. I., and the Apiary Inspector will
render such aid as may be necessary.
THE BEE-KEEPER’S BOOKSHELF.
ALEXANDER, E. W. Writings on practical bee culture. Root, Medina, Ohio,
1910, 50c. A description of the author’s practical methods in managing
seven to eight hundred colonies in one yard, in eastern New York.
Comstocr, A. B. How to keep bees. Doubleday, Garden City, L. 1., 1905,
$1.00. A well illustrated handbook for the use of beginners, complete to
the date of writing.
Epwarpes, T. The lore of the honey-bee. Dutton, N. Y., 1911, 50c. Bee-
keeping and the literature and legends of the honey bee are traced briefly
from the time of Virgil’s Georgics to the present day. The wonders of the
bee world are described with delicacy and charm.
Lanestrots, L. I. On the hive and the honey-bee. Dadant, 1909, $1.50. A
classic in bee culture, clearly written and comprehensive.
Miter, C. C. Fifty years among the bees. Root, Medina, Ohio, 1911, $1.00.
Written from long personal experience in practical bee-keeping; illustrated
from photographs. Dr. Miller is a comb-honey producing specialist.
Miter, C.C. A thousand answers to bee-keeping questions. American Bee
Journal, Hamilton, Ill., 1917, $1.75. (Compiled by Maurice G. Dadant.)
Written in response to bee-keepers’ queries, it covers a vast range of unusual
subjects in interesting and illuminating terms. JHustrated.
50 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
Pewiert, F. C. Productive bee-keeping. Lippincott, Phila., 1916, $1.50. A
description of modern methods of the production and marketing of honey.
Puruurps, E. F. Bee-keeping. Macmillan, N. Y., 1915, $2.00. A comprehensive
discussion of the life, habits, and manipulations of the honey-bee and of the
production of honey.
Root, A. I. & E.R. ABC and XYZ of bee culture. Root, Medina, Ohio, 1917,
$2.50. A splendid cyclopedia of everything pertaining to the care of the
honey-bee, with many pictures. Enlarged and brought up to date by
_ frequent revision.
TownsEnD, E. D. The Townsend bee book. Root, Medina, Ohio, 1910, 50c.
The author tells how he began to keep bees and gives full and practical
advice to others.
Wricut, W. D. The honey-bee. Albany, 1913. (N. Y. Department of Agri-
culture Bulletin 49. Address, Commissioner of Agriculture, Albany, N. Y.)
A fully illustrated pamphlet treating of bee-keeping on a commercial scale.
Farmers’ Bulletins, Experiment Station Publications, etc.
Desirable publications are issued by the Federal and State governments.
Write to your Congressman at Washington, D. C., your own State Board of
Agriculture, and Agricultural Experiment Station for publications on your
particular problems. Good bulletins on Diseases of Bees, Care of Extracted
Honey, Queen Bees, ete., have been published by the Bureau of Entomology,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. The Massachusetts State
Board of Agriculture has published bulletins on Brood Diseases, Essentials of
Bee-keeping, and other phases of the subject.
The following bee journals, all of which are monthly, may be compared by
securing, gratis, sample copies:
American Bee Journal, Hamilton, Ill., $1.
The Domestic Bee-keeper, North Star, Mich., $1. (Official organ of the
National Bee-keepers’ Association.) Paper and membership, $1.
Canadian Horticulturist and Bee-keeper, Peterboro, Ontario, $1.
Gleanings in Bee Culture, A. J. Root Co., Medina, Ohio, $1.
Western Honey Bee, Los Angeles, Cal., $1.
keeping in Rhode Island.
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