How to keep bees

HOW TO KEEP BEES

ARTHUR C, MILLER

State of Khode 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,

y+

Abstract from Report of State Board of Agriculture for 1910.

PROVIDENCE:
E. L, FREEMAN COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
1911.

apiary near Knightsville, R. 1.—After Providence Journal.

A woman’s

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.
? “i

A. E. STENE.

BOW “TO: RP BAS:
ArtTHUR 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
aplaries.

Tn 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.

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

Ox

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 erop 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. fe

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 aptary and if
already located, make a careful 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
sast. 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 les about 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 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 supphes 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 ealled 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 172 by 94 inches outside measure,

Kia. 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 and inconvenience. 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 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.

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 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 freely and yet prevent the ingress of mice.

HOW TO KEEP BEES. Wil

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.

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).

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

ic. 6b.—Hive with Shallow Extracting Super.

HOW TO KEEP BEES. Vey

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
sxach 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 a swarm issues. So far
as drones are concerned, it is far better to avoid thei 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 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 queen 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.

Ht For extracted honey an extractor is

necessary, andif much work of the kind

i

<a

i | is to be done, one of the “reversible”

ee [be
sl mi

oy Nl . p aid
“3 type will be found best. (Figure 11).
Fig. 11.—Extractor.

HIVE TOOLS.

For prying open hives, separating frames, ete., 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. Fig, 12; Worker Cells.

In sections use the “lght 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 isa 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 a hat. Similar veils are made
of wire cloth with a “skirt” of cotton cloth attached to the lower
ed

e to tuck under the coat or to tie down. (Figure 13).

oO
°

HOW TO KEEP BEES. EZ

Oftentimes the experienced beekeeper works
without any veil, but one is always kept at
hand in case the bees become iritated 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

Fic. 13.—Bee Veil.

the beginner.

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, ete., 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’ supplies 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 is 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 see 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. — It

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 larvee 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
workers or queen and they have no sting. (See
Figurs 16).

Kia. 16.—Drone.

BEE BEHAVIOR.

The fundamental law of honey-bee life is co-operation. Though
cach 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 9S° Ff. 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 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 beekeeper 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.

HOW TO KEEP BEES. PA

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 ikea
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

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hive or cavity they again cluster and most of them remain very
quiet. Slowly the wax seales 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

22 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 hes 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 larvee” 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 larvee 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 proceed to raise one or several more by enlarging some
of the cells containing worker (female) larvie, 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 beekeeper supphes 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

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 been 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 suecess in this method really lies
in getting .the bees of 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 ora 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 beekeeper 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 queen.

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 until it 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 beekeepers 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. pAg

-

a sught 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

Fig. 18.—Division Board or Follower.

will not take ten frames and allow for such sliding back, so for
sasiest 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
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,

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, 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.

In handling combs always keep them “edge up.” Do not turn
them over “flat ways” or you may find them breaking from the
frames.

Kxeep 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 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

i)
“I

HOW TO KEEP BEES.

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
leaving 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 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 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

Guy wil = : : — cm

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
honey orsyrup. 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 1s 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

“super” on top of that. If the beekeeper is away much or

and the
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, &e. If not convenient to be on hand, then
give them earher.

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.

“sections” it is desirable to remove them

In producing honey in
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 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.

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 remains in the hive
the richer and better it becomes. All one has to look out for is to get
the crop of heht-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 Hable to cause trouble.

UNCAPPING.

Uncapping 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 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

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 set 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

ae 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
asif they were somany beans. I<eep empty hives which are awaiting
swarms In some cool place or shaded. Bees do not readily enter hot

hives.

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 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 well 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. 30

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 larvee. 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 prefereably done near nightfall.

Four 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.

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 so used is Hable 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 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 ‘‘ vellow’’ or “ golden” type.
3 £ A

HOW TO KEEP BEES. 35)

INCREASE.

If increase is not desired, the brood and remaining bees left by :
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, each
may be too small to thrive, and the whole colony be lost.

Another excellent way to increase, but a little more laborious 1s 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: IPf 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
rary 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. ot

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 shghtly 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 each 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 vears has shown that colonies with
entrances wide open (7. 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 fall 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 enemies here. Skunks sometimes disturb them
when the hives sit close to the ground. Ants not infrequently annoy
them and oceasionally 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 larvee 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 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.

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