BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
A. My reason for using the "T" super is that I think I can produce section honey of fine quality with less labor and expense than with any other kind I have tried, and I have tried many kinds. I think very few who have tried the "T" super probably have given it up. Some who have condemned it have never used it properly. I know of no super that allows the same number of sections in more compact form. When four supers are on a hive --in a good season it is a common thing to have four to six supers on a hive--the distance from the top of the lower section to the bottom of the upper section is not more than 9% inches. It does not seem possible to invent any super that will allow the sections to be in less space, for no room is taken up with bars under or over the sections. In most other supers there is a bottom-bar under the sections, and in some a top-bar as well. In the latter case, even if top and bottom-bars be only one-quarter inch thick, the distance between upper and lower sections, instead of being 9%, will be 11 inches. But a bottom-bar one-quarter inch thick is likely to sag, and even one-half inch may sag through warping. The "T" super has the advantage that the "T" tins are entirely rigid, with no sagging whatever. I might go on and tell how easy it is to fill the super with sections, and how easy to clean the sections. All these things, when properly done, set the "T" super at the head, in my judgment, as the best super for producing comb honey. Along with this is the fact that it costs less.
Q. Will the "T" supers fit the standard hives? If not, I could not use them.
A. A "T" super will fit any hive that is flat on top, which is pretty much the same as saying it will fit on any hive. My supers are rather short to fit my hives. I count that an advantage. Sometimes I want the super to be shoved just a trifie forward to allow a quarter-inch space for ventilation at the back end. When I don't want that ventilation I tack on the super at the back end a strip as long as the width of the hive, or the super, and about seven-eighths by onc-half. That makes the super long enough so it covers entirely the opening at the top of the hive. The super heing made just as wide as the hive, of course it will be wider for a 10-frame hive than for an 8-frame hive.
Q. Do you use springs with the "T" super? If so, how many, what kind, and how?
A. I use a single spring in each super, crowded in between the follower and the side of the super. It is the common super-spring sold by supply dealers, in shape something like the elliptic of a buggy.
Q. I think you spoke of driving the bent staples in level with the wood. If I understand it rightly, the T-tins are supported just the thickness of the staples above the bottom of the super. Am I right?
A. The idea is to get the bottoms of the sections as nearly as possible on a level with the bottom of the super, but in actual practice that will vary, for in bending over and driving down the staple it will be sometimes embedded in the wood.
Q. Are the thin strips of wood better than an extra set of tins at top of the sections? I was under the impression that the tins were better.
A. The wood strips leave propolisis only at the corners of the sections, while "T" tins on top would invite lines of propolisis at some distance from the corners. The wood is probably easier to put in place, and it holds the sections square, while a "T" tin on top would allow a little variation. Yet these differences do not amount to so very much.
Super, Turned Over--Q. Why wouldn't it be a good plan to have the super so that you could turn it over? Wouldn't we get better filled sections?
A. Supers have been made to use in that way, but have never come into general use; perhaps because the advantage did not pay for the extra trouble.
Supercedure--Q. Is there any way to tell a supersedure queen-cell from a swarming cell, during the swarming season?
A. There is no difference between a supersedure-cell and a swarming-cell, either in appearance or any other way. It may happcn that the bees start to supersede a queen without swarming, and then conditions for swarming turn so favorable that they swarming. Again, bees may prepare to swarm, when conditions for swarming turn so unfavorable that they give up swarming. In that case they may simply destroy the cells and allow the old queen to continue, or they may supersede the old queen. If, during the swarming time, you find queen-cells, you may be almost sure it means swarming. If cells are found somewhat out of the time when most colonies are swarming, you can only make a guess in the case. If the number of cells is small--not more than three or four--and especially if the queen is old, it is likely to mean superseding. For swarming, a larger number of cells will generally be found.
Q. Will a good colony supersede its worn-out queen, or is it not best to introduce a new queen at least every three years?
A. Opinions are divided. It is possible that locality may have something to do in the case, as it has in so many other cases. In this locality it is as well to leave the matter to the bees, generally, although it pays any time to supplant a poor queen with a good one, even if the poor one is only a month old.
Q. In Doolittle's "Queen-Rearing," page 111, he says: "To supersede a queen, hatch a young queen in an upper story over a zinc excluder, and after she is hatched remove the excluder, and your old queen is superseded." Will the plan work invariably?
A. No; and I do not think Mr. Doolittle claims invariable success. Remember that in the natural course of events every queen is superseded by the bees, and that such a superseding usually occurs somewhere in the neighborhood of the close of the harvest. Now, when any colony has a queen that it is about to supersede, if you will get in a little ahead by having over the excluder a virgin before one has been reared below, you may be practically certain of success. If you do the same thing earlier in the season, especially where a vigorous queen is doing duty below, you may expect failure.
Q. Yesterday (Feb. 17) was the warmest day we have had here this winter, 60 degrees in the shade for the greatest part of the day. I took my bees (ten colonies) out of the cellar for a flight, and found on looking them over that one colony had a patch of drone-broad about 3 inches in diameter, partly capped over on both sides of one comb. I found some worker-broad in the rest of the hives, but this one had none. I found the queen, but she looked more like a virgin than a fertile queen. Do bees supersede their queen in winter?A. In the proper sense of the word I doubt that a queen is ever superseded in winter. If a queen is lost, they may try to replace her almost any time. Your queen is a drone-layer, and so worthless.
Q. What causes supersedure when everything apparently looks in good condition. September 2 I had a swarm go out, and upon examination of the hive I found that they had superseded their queen (which was of this year's stock), and there were also four other virgins in the hive. I knew it was too late for a profitable swarm, so I pinched the heads off of all but one queen, destroyed all remaining cells, and then put the swarm back in the same hive. Was this right? Everything is going along smoothly at this date (Sept. 5.), and the new queen is laying.
A. You ask what causes supersedure when everything apparently looks all right. That "apparently" is probably the answer. A queen may be in some way at fault, whether a few days or a few years old, and you may see nothing wrong, but some way the bees know about it. It is not entirely clear, however, from what you say, whether this was not a case of regular swarming, rather than supersedure. In any case, you did well to do as you did.
Q. How is it that bees neglect to supersede their old queen when there are drones to mate with the young queen, as this has happened to me several times late in the fall?
A. If I understand correctly, you have had queens die in late fall or early spring when there were no drones, and your question is why they didn't supersede them earlier, when plenty of drones were on hand? I don't know. It is possible that some accident may befall a queen, and of course the bees could not foresce this. It would seem that bees recognize the trouble when a queen begins to fail, and supersede her; and it is possible to conceive a case in which there was no sign of failure while drones were still present, but an unusually rapid failure after they were gone. The fortunate thing is that such cases are rare; nearly always a queen is superseded with abundance of drones present.
**Swapping Combs.-Q.** Would what is called "swapping combs," i. e., taking a frame of comb or foundation from the surplus-box, and exchanging it for a frame of brood, tend to get the bees to work in the super and also tend to prevent swarming:
A. It would tend to start the bees to work in the super, but would not do much to prevent swarming.
**Swarm-Box.-Q.** How can I use a swarm-box as mentioned in "First Lessons in Beekeeping?"A swarm-box being lighter than a hive, instead of carrying the hive to where a swarm is, the box may be taken there, and when the swarm is in the box it can be carried to the hive, laid upon its side with the open part of the box toward the entrance of the hive, so the bees can run from the box into the hive. If they are too slow about it they can be dumped on the ground in front of the hive by jarring the box on the ground.
Q. What are the best noticeable signs just before swarming?
A. The most reliable sign that bees meditate swarming is the finding of a number of queen-cells in the hive.. You may, however, judge a little from outside appearances, if you find a colony ceasing work and loafing when other colonies keep on at work; and when bees return from the field laden with pollev and join the outside cluster without going inside to unload.
Q. Last spring I bought a colony of bees and was very anxious to have them swarm. The first swarm issued July 13. July 20 the mother colony swarmed- again. This swarm ceovered six frames. On July 24 the third swarm issued from the parent colony. A week later I opened the parent colony and found that the bees had done nothing in the super. The body of the hive was full of honey, and I found three queen-cells. Two of these I destroyed. The cap of the third seemed loose, and soon the queen crawled out, at least I thought she was the queen, though she looked like any other bee. Do you suppose I have left the colony queenless?
Swarm No. I has made lots of honey, while the other two swarms and the parent colony have made nothing. Had I better unite these, and how, or would it be better to give them frames of honey from the other hive? Should I get new queens for the two latter swarms and for the original colony? Should I go over the combs every ten days and cut out queen-cells?
A. There is nothing unusual in the program your bees have followed. The mother colony having sent out three swarms, has not bees enough left to do anything in the super, and all the bees are crowded into the brood-chamber. Neither are the second and third swarms strong enough to do much, the first swarm being the only one strong enough to do super work. When a colony prepares for swarming, it starts quite a number of queen-cells, and you found what were left after the last swarm issued. It is not likely that your cutting out those last cells made any difference about swarming, for it is a rare thing for the fourth swarm to issue. You may or may not have made the colony quencless by cutting out the cells. You say the bee that came out of the
week after being introduced, and she had been laying only about a week. If I had kept the colony quencless until swarming had been given up, and then introduced the young queen, it would have been all right.
Q. There is usually a fairly good fall flow here of aster, goldenrod and buckwheat, and I would like to know if caging the queen in June or July to prevent swarming would be practiced at a loss in regard to fall honey. Would not the removal of the queen for ten days during June result in the loss of about 20,000 bess, figuring 2,000 eggs a day, that would be ready for a fall flow August 15?
A. You are probably overestimating the number of eggs laid daily. If we allow three-fourths of the frame to be occupied with broad, a queen laying 2,000 eggs daily would keep eight frames occupied. I don't think many queens do that when the season is so far along. Whatever is the right figure, it will be just so much loss in your honey crop. But the loss would likely be greater still if swarming were allowed.
Q. How would you prevent swarming? I have 15 colonies and they do nothing but swarm. I give them supers with starters, and they will go up and fill two or three sections and then swarm. One of my colonies swarmed four times in a week and a half. What would you do to stop them from swarming?
A. It is not an easy thing to prevent a first or prime swarm. Perhaps what will suit you as well as any way is to allow the first swarm to issue, and then prevent afterswarms in the following way: Set the swarm on the stand of the mother colony, putting the old hive close up beside it, both hives facing in the same direction. A week later move the old hive to some new place six feet or more away. That's all; the bees will do the rest, and you are not likely to have any further swarming from a colony thus treated.
Q. When bees swarm you say hive the swarm, place it in the place of the old hive close by, and a week later move the old hive away to its future place. If you follow this plan, will the old colony store any surplus? If not, will the swarm make up for it?
A. Unless the season is very good there will be little or nothing stored by the mother colony, but the swarm will store more than both would have stored if the swarm had been put on a new stand and the mother colony left on the old stand.
Q. Is the following method all right to prevent increase: Let the swarm issue, kill the queen and send the swarm back; wait seven days, then cut out all queen-cells but once. I tried this method with one colony, and it was quite successful. Will it always be successful?
A. The plan is good and will usually be successful; but sometimes you may miss a cell, and sometimes the only cell you leave may be bad.
Q. If a young queen is given to a colony in the spring, will swarming be retarded, and if so, to what extent? That is, how much more crowding will they stand, or the reverse?
A. If a queen that has been laying only a few days be given at the beginning of the swarming season, and if the colony has not yet made preparations for swarming, there is very little chance of swarming that season. The same is true to a greater or less extent if the young queen be given earlier. I am not sure about the retarding, but the chances for swarming are greatly lessened by the giving of a young queen. When you ask me to tell just how much crowding they will stand, you're crowding me in too tight a corner. Fact is, I don't know. I think something depends upon the queen, and perhaps still more on the bees. With some bees, a vigorous young queen could probably not be forced to swarm by any amount of crowding, provided the queen were not given too early, and from that it will shade all the way down to where allowing only room for 25 pounds of honey might induce swarming.
Q. What per cent of swarming do you have, in spite of all your preventatives?
A. I count the prevention of swarming an unsolved problem. At a rough guess I should say that there may be from 5 to 10 per cent of the colonies actually swarm. But if they do swarm, nc swarm is ever hived as a separate affair, but obliged to remain in its old colony, for one of the important points in securing good yields is to keep from dividing the forces.
Q. I want to tell you of a colony I have which swarmed on May 30, June 30 and July 30. Each time it was treated by the put-up plan. I want to ask what to do with this queen? She has swarmed out three times so far, and has made twice as much surplus in sections as any other colony I have. She is a nice, large queen, very prolific; but I don't like this thing of swarming. Would you breed from such a queen? I like her because she has such nice workers, busy all, the time, and, as I stated, made me more surplus by far than any other colony.
A. Generally, after a colony has been treated by the "put-up" plan, there will be no more swarming for the season, but you can nver be certain of it. Yet it is a rare thing that a colony swarms a third time, as in your case. Yet I should not be much afraid to breed from such a queen if the colony greatly exceeds other colonies in storing. (See "Put-up Plan.")
Q. To prevent swarming, I will shove the pile of supers back so as to make an opening of one-half inch for ventilation along the front. Will this prevent swarming and affect the storing of honey?
A. ventilating in that way is a help against swarming, although, of course, it will not prevent it. I have practiced it much, and never knew any harm to come from it in the way of chilling bees. The only harm is that sections next to the opening are delayed in being finished, but not always. Instead of being shoved back, I shove the lower section-super forward. I have used the plan with extracting-sopers, and "stuttered" them; that is, I shoved the lower super forward, the next back, the next forward, and so on.
Q. If the queen is given plenty of room, will swarming be prevented, even though the hive be crowded with bees?
A. It would certainly decrease the tendency to swarm, just as increasing the queen's room for eggs always does; whether it could be relied on in all cases as an entire preventative is hard to say without trying. I should rather expect it would, so long as fresh room for the queen is constantly given, and even when the flow comes and the lower hive is given above as an extracting-super, there ought to be little inclination to swarming, as in the case of the Demaree plan.
Q. I kept my bees from swarming two years ago by placing the brood over the queen with an excluder between. When buckwheat came on, I had my hives chock-full of bees. I also had several swarms in September, and that's rather late for Northern New York. I'd like to know how to stop them at that time.
A. Yes, that's the plan given by G. W. Demaree, a Kentuckian who was prominent in the ranks some years ago. The plan is good and the pity of it is that it will work only for extracted, not comb. The brood-combs being put above become extracting-combs. To prevent swarming in September (which is not usual, I think, but may come where there is a fall flow), it might work to try the same plan over again; extract the frames in an upper story, put them in the lower story with the queen, the brood above, excluder between. If this is done just as buckwheat begins, it seems it ought to work as well as earlier.
Q. I would like to ask some questions about the Demaree plan. You say just before swarming, put all the brood but one frame in a second story over an excluder, leaving the queen below with one frame of brood and empty combs or frames filled with foundation.
Do you cut out all queen-cells at this time if there are any?
Is it necessary to examine each colony in about ten days to remove queen-cells afterwards?
A. Yes, to your first question.
As to the second, generally it ought not to be. The idea is that the bees are in the same condition as if they had swarmed natually, of course, it sometimes happens that when a natural swarm is: lived it throws off a swarm the same season, but that is exceptional. Some have reported that they never have a colony swarm that has been treated by the Demaree plan, while it fails with others.
Q. I have four colonies in a house apiary I want to prevent from swarming. Would it do to add a hive-body with wired foundation below, as soon as the queen needs the room, then about three weeks before clover, or about May 20, put the queen below, then an excluder, then a super of shallow extracting-frames, and over all the old hive-body, with brood, and about June 10 remove the old hive-body from the top and put comb-honey super between the extracting-super and the excluder? Provided I give ample room, would that be likely to prevent swarming?
A. Unless your bees are unusually "forward looking" they may be behind time on the program you are laying out for them. You say add a hive below "as soon as the queen needs the room," and evidently expect her to need it so early that she will have the brood-nest extended into the lower story by May 20. Maybe she will. At any rate it will do no particular harm to have the empty story below. Suppose there is nothing doing below, and May 20 you put the queen on the foundation under the excluder. In too many cases the queen will swarm out, unless you put something in the way of bait below. At any rate, I've had them swarm out. Suppose, however, that the brood-nest is started below, or if not, that you give a frame of brood. The bees will go to work:all right (you must look out for cells in the old brood above); they will fill up the lower story, and then swarm. Not always, but I should expect it to happen a good many times. They will not be so certain to swarm as if you had let them alone, nor will they swarm so soon. But you have operated so early that you may expect more swarming than you want. The later in the season you give the queen that empty story below, the more certain you will be to have no swarming. Put it off just as long as you can without having the bees actually swarm. If you wait until cells are started, and then operate, destroying the cells, you may feel pretty easy about swarming. Some report it a perfect preventive. You propose to put a comb-honey super under an extracting-super. That will be all right if the extracting-combs are nice and white. If black from brood-rearing your sections may be blackened.
Q: Will you please explain Mr. Allen's system for swarm prevention that he gave to the readers of the Bee Journal several years ago? If it really has any merit, will you kindly reproduce it in the Journal?
A. If you will turn to page 94 of the American Bee Journal for 1910, you will find the plan given by A. C. Allen, as follows:
"When the honey-flow is well started, I go to each strong colony, regardless of whether the bees desire to swarm or not, and remove it from its stand, putting in its place a hive filled with empty combs, less one of the center ones. Next, a comb containing a patch of unsealed brood about as large as the hand, is selected from the colony and placed in the vacant place in the nvw hive; a queen-excluder is put on this lower story, and above this a super of empty combs, this one having an escape hole for drones; and on top of all, an empty super. A cloth is then nicely placed in front of this new hive, on which the bees and queen are shaken from the combs of the parent hive, and the third story is filled with the combs of sealed brood and brood too old to produce quecens, and allowed to remain there and hatch, returning to the working force."
This is really the Demaree plan, which was given to the public many years ago, by G. W. Demaree, a prominent Kentucky beeeper at that time. Mr. Allen has varied it by putting a frame with some brood in the lower story, whereas I think Mr. Demaree had only empty combs, or combs with starters in the lower story. Mr. Allen's variation is of value, for I think there were cases reported in which the bees swarmed out with no brood in the lower story. Mr. Demaree put all the brood in the second story, while Mr. Allen puts it in the third. I don't know which is better.
Mr. Allen says "the third story is filled with the combs of sealed brood and brood too old to produce quecens." I hardly understand that, for he says nothing about putting brood elsewhere,and generally most of the combs would have at least some very young brood.
The plan is a good one for extracted honey, but not available for comb.
Q. The other day a book came to me from a friend in Missouri. It was Dr. Jones' book on how to prevent swarming. What do you think of the plan?
A. I think that shaving off the heads of all sealed brood will be likely to prevent swarming; but I don't suppose many would want to use such a plan.