BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Transferring.--When the bees are purchased in such hives, it is usually the best plan to leave them in the old hive until they swarm. The new swarm should be hired in a new ten-frame hive and set where the old one stood. The old hive should be set close to one side of the new swarm, on the old stand. After abouta week set the old hive on the other side of the new one. The object of this is to get all the young bees as fast as they emerge to go into the new live with the swarm. After three weeks from the time that the swarm issued all young bees will have emerged and they can then be shaken in front of the new hive with the swarm and the old hive broken up. The old combs can be melted into wax.
Another way is to set the new hive on top of the old hive at once and not wait for the bees to swarm. The top of the old hive and bottom of the new one should, of course, be removed so that the new hive will serve as a super. Usually the queen will soon go above and begin to lay so that the old hive can be removed from underneath as soon as all the brood has emerged. Sufficient super room should be placed above the new hive to permit the bees to continue to work without crowding the new hive, or they may be slow to begin
Getting started with bees housekeeping above and simply use the new hive to store their honey.
Formerly it was a common practice to transfer bees by cutting out the combs from the old hive and tying them into the frames. The bees would fasten the combs to the frames and remove the strings. Such combs, however, are never very satisfactory and the plan is not to be recommended generally. There are times when bees are to be removed from the side of a building or hollow tree or other position where they are not readily accessible, when this method is necessary. In most cases it will be advisable to substitute new combs or full sheets of foundation, and to melt up the transferred combs after the bees are established in the new hive.
Time to Start.--In the Northern States the best time to begin beekeeping is in spring. When fruit trees are blooming is a good time. The bees can then find plenty of stores from the beginning, and if the season be favorable they should store a crop of honey for their owner the first summer.
The fruit trees bloom several weeks before the main honey flow, so that there is time for a small colony to build up and become populous before the blooming of the white clover, which is the main source of nectar east of the Missouri River.
Moving Bees.--If bees are bought which are already on combs there are several things to be considered. If they are moved but a short distance, many of the bees will go back to the old location. If the distance is two or three miles or more there will be little to fear on that score. For shorter distances some means must be taken to insure that they will make note of their new location before going to the fields. It is a common practice to put the colony in a dark cellar for a few days before setting them on their new stand, and then to jar the live
with safety. In addition, the entrance should be closed, and if the hive can be raised a few inches off the bottom to leave a space under the frames it is very desirable. Nearly every beekeeper of experience can point to some disastrous result of moving bees without sufficient ventilation. In cold weather or when there is little brood in the hive, the difficulties are much less.
Starting Berekeeping Commercially.--To the man who expects to make beekeeping a business some of the advice above given will hardly apply. **H**e will wish to start on a larger scale and increase as rapidly as is consistent with safety in order to get returns as soon as possible. While many men have taken up beekeeping without previous training and have succeeded, it is a better plan to spend a season in the employ of a successful apiarist and to become familiar with the general practice of beekeeping. **H**e can then buy a reasonable number of colonies and undertake their care with little risk. While the author is personally acquainted with one man who began by buying eight hundred colonies, even though he knew almost nothing about bees, and has been successful, there is a great deal of risk in such a venture. An epidemic of disease, a poor season when robbing was bad or any one of several adverse conditions would result very disastrously. While the general advice to begin with not more than two or three colonies may not always apply, it is much safer to begin with such a number as one can lose without seriously crippling one's resources. An apiary of fifty colonies properly handled can be increased to three or four times that number in a season, and give the owner some valuable experience. The person who has not had some previous experience may very well be cautioned against plunging too heavily on the start. Even though there were no other danger, one who has no particular system in mind would easily be led into buying a lot of equipment which will be unsuited to the location in which he lives, or the system of honey production which he may later decide to follow.
Choosing a Location.--To the man who expects to make honey production a business the choice of a location is a most important matter. The honey plants within reach and the markets available for his crop are both prime essentials for success. If the locality is already well stocked with bees he cannot hope for a profitable venture unless he buy out some man already on the ground, and thus take over the bees that are already located.
If there are long periods of time when no honey is gathered. it will draw too heavily on the stores to make a profitable season probable. A desirable location is one where there is something from which the bees can at least get a living during most of the growing season, so that the honey stored during the main honey flow will be mostly surplus. If there are two good honey flows so much the better. There are many localities where the bees get sufficient stores for early brood rearing from fruit bloom and dandelion blossoms, followed by a good flow from white and sweet clover and also another later flow from heartsease. Spanish needle or some other plant.
An abundance of pollen early in spring is an important consideration. for without it the bees are slow in breeding up populous colonies, such as are essential for storing big crops (see Chapter VI).
In some favorable markets honey brings twice the price that it does in others. If one is so situated that he can build up a profitable retail trade and thus realize the maximum price for his product, it will add materially to his income.
In general it will not pay a man to leave his home community and move to a distant state to engage in beekeeping, unless there is some reason for going other than to find bee pasturage, for there are few bonanza bee locations. However, it often happens that a distance of but a few miles in one's own county will make a great difference in the possible honey production. The character of the crops grown, nearness to streams and similar things make more difference than long distances in miles. A neighborhood where alsike clover is grown for seed, or where there are large areas of white clover pasture, should be much better than neighborhoods where most of the land is cultivated in such crops as corn and wheat. The vicinity of fruit growers, or truck gardeners should be desired, other things being equal.
Placing the Apiary.--An apiary should never be placed in an exposed position if it can be avoided. A sheltered position is very desirable, especially during the cold spring months. A natural windbreak is much more serviceable in breaking the winds than a tight board fence or a building.
Partial shade is to be preferred to open sunshine, at least for the comfort of the bekeeper. While many apiaries placed in the blazing sun seem to give as good results as those in shade, the shaded situation, if not too dense, is to be preferred. Bees will not do as well in a situation where there is too much shade. Hives left in the open sun should be shaded with boards.
Keeping D crawl in without having to take wing again. A half hour's watch beside the hive during the height of the honey flow will soon demonstrate the importance of easy access to the hive for the home-coming workers. Hives set up on stakes or blocks are very difficult of access to bees that fall to the ground before reaching the alighting board. In most well-regulated apiriries the hives are placed on cement hive stands, or on boards so that the bees can walk right into the hive from the ground in front. If they are two or three inches higher than the ground around, a board is leaned against the front of the alighting board to bridge the gap.
Providing Water.--It is important that water be easy of access, as the bees use large quantities of it, especially in spring when brood rearing is at its height. A tub or half barrel of water, covered with chipped cork or shavings which will enable the bees to reach the water without drowning will serve the purpose very well. Such a watering place should be placed early in spring before the bees form the habit of visiting water troughs or pumps, and thus annoying the neighbors. It is a simple matter to provide water in some open dish with suitable provision to save the bees from drowning, but it is important, unless there be a pond or stream within easy reach of the apiary.
## Chapter 71 When bees must be fed
Although under normal conditions bees not only gather their own food, but store a surplus for their owner, there are times when it becomes necessary to supply them with food. Every year hundreds of colonies die for lack of sufficient stores because their owner is careless or ignorant of their needs. It is very poor policy to permit the bees to starve, and it is easy to supply their needs in this direction.
Swarms which issue late will often be unable to gather sufficient honey to carry them through the winter. They can either be fed or united with stronger swarms which have a plentiful supply, as seems best. A large swarm will winter on less honey than a small one, and be worth much more in spring. The reason of this is very apparent. The source of the heat of thecolony is the honey consumed and it will require a larger consumption of food to maintain the temperature of a small cluster than a large one, just as less fuel is required to warm a room full of people, than one in which there are only two or three persons.
If the colony be a large one, it will pay to feed them a considerable amount of stores in order to get them through the winter, but a weak colony is usually worth more to strengthen medium or stronger ones than alone.
In removing the honey it often happens that an insufficient quantity is left for the bees. Before the bees are put away for winter, they should be carefully examined to make sure that a plentiful supply of stores is still in the hive. An equivalent of five or six full combs will usually be needed, and sometimes more. It is much safer to leave more than they will need than to take chances on an insufficient supply.
The author usually plans to leave at least forty pounds of honey for wintering. If the following spring is mild and favorable, it will not all be used, but if the weather in March and April is cold and backward they will often need to be given an additional supply to keep up brood rearing until the honey flow begins (see Winter Preparation).
The usual advice to allow twenty-five pounds does not make a sufficient allowance for an unfavorable spring following the winter, and it is easier and safer to give a plentiful supply in the fall to insure safety until after fruit bloom.
In seasons of scarcity the bekeeper should always examine his colonies to make sure that they have sufficient stores. If the weather is cold and wet in early spring so that the bees have little opportunity to fly, there is danger that all stores will be consumed in brood rearing and the colony will perish, as already stated. This is a common occurrence among bees whose owners give them little attention.
Almost every season there will be times during the summer when no honey is coming to the hives, and if this condition prevails for any length of time the owner should guard against starvation. The author has known of many colonies starving in June, just at what should have been the time of a good honey flow. A long continued spell of rainy weather during which the bees could not fly was the cause. If such weather follows the time when the honey is taken from the hives at any time, some attention is necessary to guard against disaster from lack of food.
Occasionally there will be a year when little honey is stored all season through. At such times there is great loss, for too many bee-keepers depend upon the bees looking out for themselves, and never make any provision for feeding them. It would be no more foolish to pernitt cattle or hogs to die of starvation because the forage crops are not sufficient, than to allow the bees to do so. They will harvest enough honey in a few weeks of good honey flow to tide then over a very long period of adverse condition.
For Queen Rearing and Building up Nuclei--At any time during the summer when the honey flow stops and the bees stop bringing honey to the live, the queen will check her egg laying. The queen breeder who wishes to raise queens at such seasons, or the beekeeper who has a lot of nuclei (small colonies made by division), will often find it necessary to feed the bees, even though there is plenty of honey in the hive. Broad-rearing must continue in these small colonies if they are to become sufficiently populous to winter as strong colonies. A little sugar syrup every day, in imitation of the natural amount of honey coming to the hive, will greatly assist in keeping the queen at her regular duties.
How to Feed.--The best possible feed for bees is the natural food, which is honey. The bekeeper will do well to reserve one full comb for every colony of bees that he has for feeding in case of emergency. This does not include the feed to be given at the close of the honey flow for the purpose of wintering, but there should be a liberal reserve after the bees are ready for winter, to insure an abundance of honey for spring brood-rearing. Some seasons it will not be needed, but it is very convenient to have at such times as feeding is necessary.
One great advantage in using natural stores is the ease with which it can be given. When a colony is found that needs stores, all that is necessary is to remove an empty comb and give a filled one in its place.
Feeding Sugar Strup.--If sealed honey is not available, sugar syrup is the next best thing. The author would never advise feeding extracted honey, since it is more convenient to feed sugar.
The novice will very often feed his bees with corn syrup, molasses, or other sweet, with the mistaken idea that the bees can make use of any sweet substance. Such experiments often result in the death of the bees. If honey is not at hand, granulated sugar is the only thing that should be used. It is not safe to buy honey for feeding, because of the danger of getting honey from diseased colonies and thus bringing disease into the apiary.
A thick syrup should always be used for winter feed. Usually two parts sugar to one of water are used. By dissolving the sugar in boiling water and stirring freely the sugar will dissolve fully. Many use equal parts of sugar and water because it is easier to prepare the syrup than when a thicker one is made. When feeding for winter, it is well to save the bees as much as possible, especially if it be late in the season. In spring when feeding for brooding or to carry the bees over a temporary combs will be needed. These filled combs of syrup are placed in the hive in the same way that combs of honey or empty combs are given.
Another method which utilizes equipment that every bekeeper has at hand, is to take an empty super and place on top of the hive. In this empty super is placed a tin pan of syrup and over the syrup a thin cotton cloth is spread. The bees can walk over the cloth and suck the liquid through it with little danger of drowing. The super is placed on the hive in the same manner as supers are for the storing of honey and the cover placed over all. Being directly over the cluster there is a minimum danger of starting robbing, as often happens when feed is placed near the entrance.
There are numerous different kinds of feeders on the market and the reader who wishes something different can find them listed in the catalogue of any dealer in supplies.
any after they reach maturity, since they are consumers and not producers. It will be readily seen that a colony which is producing twenty per cent. or more of drones will seldom yield a satisfactory profit to the owner. At the Iowa Beekepers' Convention, C. E. Dustman had an interesting paper on drones. He estimated that a square foot of drone comb in the live would produce more than two thousand drones, while the same space and food might have been made to produce more than three thousand workers to add to the hive's productive force.
The writer has often found it hard to convince the novice of the value of full sheets of foundation. The first cost looks large and too often the bees are permitted to build their own combs with but a narrow strip of starter to prevent building crosswise. The two illustrations (Figs. 10 and 11) which we show in this connection tell more than pages of description. The impressions on the foundation being the Figure 11: A cool broad comb as a result of a full sheet of foundation.
Figure 10: A good brood comb as a result of a full sheet of foundation.
exact size and shape of the bases of worker cells, the bees will build mostly worker cells where foundation is used. Drone cells being larger require less wax in their construction and less labor as well. This being the case wherever worker cells are not needed for immediate use to meet the needs of the queen, drone cells will be built, for they serve equally as well for storing honey. Fig. 10 shows an ideal comb, attached on all four sides to the frame and composed entirely of worker cells most of which contain sealed brood. Fig. 11 shows a comb which is composed mostly of drone cells as a result of using a narrow starter instead of a full sheet of foundation. The high arched cappings show that many of these cells contain sealed drone brood. The cost in honey to rear a single brood of drones in such a comb would pay for a full sheet of foundation. This comb can be used as an extracting comb, but is a nuisance, since if it chances to get into the broad nest the queen will make use of it to rear a brood of drones. Usually it will pay better to melt up such a comb at once and replace it with a full sheet (Fig. 12) rather than risk getting it used in this manner.
Irregular combs, also, are often built where narrow strips are used. Not only are the combs likely to be composed mostly of drone cells, but they are likely to be uneven, which makes them undesirable. Uneven combs cannot readily be exchanged, and much time is also lost in uncapping or manipulating them.
The bees will always build some drone cells
Figure 12: Full sheet of foundation in wired frame, ready for the bees.
in the best regulated lives, and a small number are not objectionable. The presence of some drones is necessary to insure the mating of young quecns, but there is little danger that there will be a shortage for this purpose under normal conditions. Where full sheets of foundation are used, small clusters of drone cells are often built in the corners or at the ends.
If combs are damaged in any way, the tendency is always to repair them with cells of the larger size. Mice are fond of gnawing the combs and where the hive entrances are left wide open in winter, they are likely to enter and cause much damage. If the mice do not disturb the bees to the point where the colony will perish before spring, there will still be much damage to the combs. The portions that are rebuilt the following season will usually be composed of drone cells.
The writer is not only convinced that it pays to use full sheets of foundation in the brood chamber, but fully believes that without them honey production is seldom profitable. That he practices what he preaches is evidenced by the fact that as this is written he is just finishing the preparation of more than twelve hundred frames of full sheets for use in one small apiary to replace discarded combs, and to provide reserve extracting combs. Without a large working force, big crops can never be harvested. The rearing of several thousand worthless drones to consume the honey, take the attention of the workers and get in the way generally, does not tend in this direction.
Foundation in Sections.--Some kind of starter is absolutely essential to getting the bees started to work in the comb-honey supers. It is very common practice to use a three-cornered piece of thin foundation no more than two inches across and sometimes much smaller. It is difficult for the bees to work to advantage on such small starters. Full sheets which lack not more than a quarter of an inch of reaching the bottom or sides are much more economical, for they furnish the bees with a sufficient amount of wax to start working nicely and room enough to permit a nice little cluster to work at one time.
Thin or extra thin foundation should always be used in the sections. It costs more per poun
Figure 14: The thin sheets of wax are impressed with the cell bases of proper size to induce the bees to build worker combs.
Figure 13: Different methods of using foundation in sections. The section at the left with full sheet and bottom starter is the best method.
## Chapter 13 Breeding better bees
Goon stock is as important to the beekeeper as to the stockman. It is, however, a much simpler matter to improve the strain of bees in an apiary than to make a similar change in a herd of cattle or even a flock of chickens. The life of the honeybee is short and the placing of a pure queen at the head of the colony will have the effect of replacing the whole working force of a hive with pure stock within a few weeks, or months, at most. If the colony is requeened in spring or summer the former stock will be replaced in a very short time. If the change is made in late autumn many of the late maturing bees from the former queen will remain in the hive until the following spring. During the honey flow the bees work at a furious pace and the whole colony is in a fever of excitement. Asa result the individual soon wears her life away in adding to the store of the community.
The Queen Is Productive.--Since all the eggs from which this large working force is produced are laid by one queen, she must be enormously productive. All the beekeeper's plans are laid with the end in view of bringing each colony to the beginning of the honey harvest with the greatest possible number of bees in the hive. One extra strong colony will store more honey during a heavy flow than two or three medium colonies, and often more than a dozen weak ones. It is estimated that queens in populous colonies lay from two to three thousand or more eggs daily during the height of the season. In spite of this large production the colony often does not apparently increase in strength after the honey flow is really on, so rapidly do the workers wear themselves out in the harvest field.
It is then of the utmost importance for the beekeeper to breed from the most prolific queens. While this is of first importance, since it largely determines the size of the crop, there are other important characteristics which must not be overlooked.