BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
But swarming of very prolific varieties of bees can be greatly reduced by treating them as you would the brown German bees to control their swarming by removing the drone comb, by ventilating, and giving them the greatest inducement possible to enter the sections or supers. Bees usually start queen-cells before, they swarm; and by going over the apiaries every four or six days, tearing out the queen-cells swarming may be delayed until they canstart cells again; and by constantly doing this they will often give up the notion of swarming and take to the field to gather honey. But in going through the hives the supers should be removed gently, and no more smoke used than possible, and the covers not removed at all, so as not to disturb the bees in them any more than possible. Sometimes bees will swarm without starting queen-cells, leaving this for the remaining bees to do; so we have greatly reduced swarming, but not controlled:it; and if it is not reduced enough, clip about a third of one of the queen's wings off, so she can not fly out with the swarm, and it will return; but the queen may be lost unless it is very convenient for her to crawl back up into the hive; then if she does, after the swarm comes out two or three times it will return and may ball her to death because she did not go out with it.
Now, this nearly controls swarming; but sometimes they will wait a few days until a young queen hatches in the hive. and then comes out with her, for her wings must not be clipped until she has taken her wedding-trip, during which she is mated.
Clipping queens' wings to control swarming is a bad practice unless all other means possible to control it fail, for often a swarm will remain clustered out for some time before it returns, and other swarms may issue and join them, and all return to one hive and give no little trouble; or a strolling queen about the apiary may join them, and all take to parts unknown, and thereby a great loss is sustained by the bee-keeper.
THE PRODUCTION OF COMB OR SECTION HONEY.
The production of comb honey in sections is the most common way of securing honey here in the South in modern hives. This is the most tedious way of saving honey. It involves more work and thought on the part of the bee-keeper, and also the bees, for it requires no little work and inducement to get the bees to storing honey in the sections, and then it is tedious work for them to manufacture the little delicate blocks of honey.
In order to get the best results, colonies must be as strong as possible, or brought up to the honey-flow; then the queen should be occupying all the comb in the brood-apartment, or the comb full of young bees in all stages of development. There being no room below, the bees will carry the surplus honey above and store it in the sections. The supers (top stories) should be prepared as well as possible so as to help the bees. Each section should be filled with surplus foundation, and well attached to it, for this is a help to them, and a great inducement; while the little narrow starter attached to the top of the section is not much of either. I know that the narrow starter is most commonly used, but it is poor economy in bee-keeping. Two supers should thus be prepared for each colony during the winter; then in the spring, when poplar-trees or your first honey-plants begin to bloom, put on one super; but if it is a very warm spring, and bees begin to lie out on the outside for lack of room put on one super about two weeks previous to the blooming of the first honey-plants, for they should not be allowed to get in the habit of lying around on the outside. When the honey-plant is in its height of blooming, raise the cover on the strongest colonies and see what progress has been made; and take that, the force of the colony, the weather conditions, and_honey-plants under consideration; and if these seem favorable, give them another super on top; if not, examine them again in three or four days, and add a super if things look favorable. If, during this time, the weather is very warm and the temperature in the hives seems to be very high, raise them up and put a piece of section under each corner. Watch the progress of the bees closely; and if they need more sections give them more; but don't disturb them any more than you can help, for it hinders them in their work. If time permits, remove the supers which have all the sections well filled and capped over. At the close of the flow, when the bees begin to cap the unfinished sections, remove all supers as soon as possible so as not to give the bees time to cap them, and they will be in the best condition for them to finish during the next flow; but if they are capped over they are spoiled for their purpose unless they are uncapped.
All sections should be removed from the supers, and scraped until they look as nearly like new ones as you can get them; then the marketable ones should be packed in standard shipping cases (for if they should get mashed up on the railroad you could get damages; otherwise you could not), and put on the market, and the unfinished ones should be packed away for the next flow. If the flow which is to follow is usually heavy, use the unfinished section as baits in the supers of,sections, dividing them equally. If the flow is usually light, just let the bees finish them, giving them to the strongest colonies.
At the end of the last flow all supers should be removed and treated as you did those at the previous flow; then should you have unfinished sections, extract the honey from them or leave them in supers and set them out and let the bees remove the honey; but should they begin to tear down the comb, stack them up and leave an opening so only a few bees can pass at a time, and save the sections thus cleared of honey for baits next spring, to be used in the supers given to the bees.
## 11 The Production of Chunk Honey.
In operating an apiary for chunk honey the bees should be built up to the highest possible honey-gathering condition just as we would expect to have them in producing comb honey in sections, then supers containing shallow frames of the same dimensions as those used in the brood-department, only about-half as deep, and their top-bar thin. These shallow frames should be filled well with light brood or thin surplus foundation, and attached well to the top-bar with melted wax. Two or three of these shallow supers (according to the surplus-honey flow in your location) should be thus prepared for each colony, and one given the bees a few days in advance of the honey-flow with a queen-excluding honey-board between it and the brood-nest, or the queen might enter the supers and deposit eggs in some of the combs as they are being built, and establish a portion of her brood-nest there, and thus spoil the appearance of the comb.
As soon as work is under full headway in the first super, give them another super on top; then by the time the bees get to storing it in well, the bottom super should be full and the honey capped over, which can then be removed; and, if the flow justifies, give them another super and remove the second super of honey. At the close of the flow leave the remaining unfinished honey on the hives until it is capped over well; then remove all and cut it out of the frames and put it up in glass jars or cans in as large pieces as possible; then pour in enough strained or extracted honey to cover all the comb, filling up the jars and cans. Pack the jars up well in straw, sawdust, or shavings, and put it on the market. Chunk honey put up in jars and cans, nicely labeled, makes an attractive package, and should bring a good piece on any market. I have been able to sell more of this honey to the retail trade than either comb or extracted honey.
All frames should be cleaned up, and those from which honey had been removed should be refilled with foundation and put back in supers in readiness for the next flow; then operate as for the previous flow. At the end of the season take off all supers and remove the honey; then during the winter get them in shape to give the bees next spring.
This is an easy, simple, and cheap way to produce honey, and at the same time it brings a good price; and those intending to begin bee-keeping should give it consideration.
## 11 The Production of Extracted Honey.
An apiary operated for extracted honey should be equipped with two full-story hives, each story containing frames of the same dimensions so they can be changed from one story to another, if necessary; and both sets of frames should be well wired, and a full sheet of foundation in each frame. If the apiary was previously operated for chunk or comb section honey, and the frames unwired, put the extracting top story on top of it; and if it be necessary ever to have to use the unwired frames in the bottom story, the comb, being old and tough, will stand the strain of the extractor; but hive all new swarms in one of the prepared stories; and as soon as the bees have nearly completed this set of combs, give them the other story. By not adding this top story as soon as hived you have contracted space and thus helpedthem in the work; and, besides, they now have the brood-nest established in the bottom story; and if the honey-flow is still on they will soon enter the top one and build a set of combs there and store their surplus honey up there so it can be easily removed.
In order to get the best results during the honey-flow, the bees must be prepared for it as for section and chunk honey, having as large a field force as possible at the beginning of the honey-flow, and at once they will commence storing their surplus honey in the top story. If time permits, as soon as the comb is well filled, and the honey about capped, start the extractor; if not, defer the extracting until the close of the honey-flow; but see that the bees have plenty of room by changing full frames of honey from the colonies that have advanced for empty comb from those that are behind or store them in the honey-house and give the bees frames of foundation, or add another story on top. If honey is extracted during the flow, the empty frames can be immediately returned to the hives; but if extracting is done at the end of the flow, or during a honey-dearth, the combs should be returned to the bees late in the evening unless the apiary is very small; then it would not matter when they were returned, and it could better be done along as the honey was extracted from them.
It is customary to return the combs to the bees when the honey has been extracted from them, and left in the care of the bees during summer and winter.
It is often necessary to remove an extracting-story on account of the condition of the colony, and set it on top of some strong one, and set it back as soon as constant attention is not required.
Extracted honey should be put in tanks or open-top barrels, and allowed to remain thus for a day or two, and thus give all impurities a chance to rise to the surface and be removed; then it should be drawn out from the bottom into two-pound cans, quart, half-gallon, gallon, and five-gallon cans, kegs, or barrels, and put on the market.
The production of extracted honey is the least difficult and the most profitable and satisfactory way to produce honey here in the South. It costs more to equip an apiary for extracted honey than it does for either section or chunk honey; but when once equipped this expense is over.
## 11 Apiarian Appliances.
Aside from the invention of the movable frame or modern hives there have been useful and necessary implements invented from time to time to be be used in modern bee-keeping to make it a more profitable, interesting, and comfortable pursuit; and every apiary should be equipped with some of them, as they are so necessary and cheap; but what we need in the way of implements depends on what we are operating our bees for--chunk, comb, or ex
tracted; but a good bee-veil and bee-smoker are as necessary in any kind of bee-keeping as a hammer and saw are in carpentry.
We will first describe the honey-extractors and the advantage of their use in the apiary. By the use of the extractor the apiarist can, to a great extent, control the swarming of his bees by extracting the honey from the comb and setting it back in the hive for the bees to refill and thereby save over one-third more honey each year. If it is desired to operate an apiary for extracted honey it would depend on the size of it as to what size of extractor to buy for it. It if is not to consist of more than 2s or 30 colonies the No. 5, or Novice extractor would be large enough. If the apiary were to consist of 40, 50, or 75 colonies, No. 15, or the rapid honey-extractor would be best, because more honey could be extracted in the same length of time. If several out-apiaries were operated for extracted honey, a still larger size of extractor would be necessary--No. 25 or improved extractor--in order to extract the honey rapidly should the bees be crowded or need empty combs.
If the apiary is small, and there is not much honey to extract, erect at a convenient place in the honey-house a small platform about 2x3 feet, and high enough from the floor so that a bucket will go under the honey-gate of the extractor in which the honey is to be drawn. Anchor the extractor on this platform so that the honey-gate will be on one side and the anchors run out toward the ends or three-foot way. Now anchor it down to the platform well so it will not rock about when frames of honey of uneven weight are being extracted. If the apiary is large, and much honey is expected to be extracted, arrange the platform as conveniently to the door or small gate through which the honey is passed as possible, and at the same time have it as convenient to the uncappers as possible, so that the handling of honey will not be any more laborious than possible.
Uncapping-vessels of some kind should be fixed up to'receive the cappings'as they are cut from the comb, and also the honey which may be removed with them. If it is not desired to buy a tank made for the purpose a cheap one can be made out of a tub, barrel, or box having a wire-gauze strainer somewhere sufficiently attached to it to catch the cappings and let them drain and also have a bottom to catch the honey; and whatever is bought or constructed to catch cappings should be large enough so at least two can work at it at a time.
comb-buckets.
Nothing is more convenient than comb-buckets in which the frames of honey can be set as they are removed from the hives; and when filled the lids can be fastened down and the honey in them will be unmolested by robbers, and easily carried into the honey-house.
honey-knives.
Honey-knives are indispensable for uncapping honey, for no other knives can be used successfully for that purpose. The honey-extractor throws the honey out of the comb by revolving, and it is very necessary that all the
cells of honey be uncapped or the extractor will not remove it; and it is by no means a quick and easy job to uncap heavy tender combs of honey without damaging them.
Honey-boards.
Honey-boards are used to confine queens to certain parts of hives, and will allow the worker bees to pass through it to any part of the hive. In the production of extracted honey, queens will sometimes enter the extracting-apartment of the hive and establish her brood-nest for a short time at least, because she has not room in her apartment to deposit her eggs. The young bees that are not capped over in the cells will be thrown out with the extractor into the honey if it is not run very slowly; therefore they are a hindrance in extracting. If honey-boards are used between the brood-apartment and extracting -apartment the queens can not enter them-and their hindrance is overcome. I do consider this hindrance much to me, and do not use them now, although I have used them, and there are many bee-keepers who do not. But they are indispensable in the production of a nice article of chunk honey, and should by all means be used.
SPUR WIRE-imbedders.
Where full sheets of foundation are used in the brood-apartment and the extracting-supers or top stories, the frames should be wired and the wire imbedded well into the foundation with this implement.
WAR-TURE FOUNDATION-fasteners.
In fastening foundation in shallow frames, or frames which do not have the advantage of fastening it to the top-bar by means of wedges, and also to fastening full sheets of it in sections, this tool is nearly indispensable.
FOUNDATION-fastener.
These machines are indispensable in the production of comb honey, and it is very necessary that the foundation be well fastened at the proper place to the sections, which they will do. Aside from the best improved implements for this work there is a simple cheap one called the Parker foundation-fastener which is used by bee-keepers who keep only a few colonies of bees. To do the best work with this implement it should not be used in cold weather while the foundation is brittle unless it is placed in the sunshine for a few minutes or heated up before it is used. Then to operate, put a section in place on the bottom part, and then push the lever over on it so that the end of it will admit of the foundation being pushed between it and the section, under about 14 inch; then raise the lever up and it will pinch the foundation to the section and thus fasten it. Keep the wax removed from the lever and it will do satisfactory work. The other foundation-fasteners are easy to operate.
SECTION PRES AND FORNER.
In order to stand handling, and to fit well in the supers, sections should be well put together and be square. These implements are for this purpose; and, besides, by using them there will not be so many sections broken up.
## 118 Bee-Entrance guards and phone-traps.
These implements are to be used over the entrances of hives when the apiarist is away from his bees during swarming-time. The queens can not go out through them should the bees swarm, and the swarm will return; and they are good to confine inferior drones to their hives while the queens are being mated.
## 119 wax-extractors.
Saving wax is no small item in bee-keeping, and every particle of comb should be saved and rendered into wax. The most convenient wax-extractor is the solar, which should be set in the middle of the apiary where all the scrapings from the interior of the hives and the pieces of comb can be easily dropped into it, when the heat of the sun will melt them up. One of these extractors will render up all the comb in a small apiary. Where the apiary is large, and much comb is to be rendered into wax, the solar cannot do all the work. Then a wax-press is necessary to render up the bulk of the comb. These presses are simple, and easy to operate, and do away with the sticky and mussy work we had in the old-style way of making bees wax; and, besides, all the wax is saved.
## 118 Bee-Escapes.
In the production of comb honey it is no small job to clear the supers of honey or bees, for it requires time to smoke them down out of the supers; and the whole hive is molested; and to shake the bees out is laborious. When the supers of honey are ready to be removed, set them on top of those that are not ready to be removed, and slip the board with the bee-escape under it, and one by one the bees will march out of it.
## 119 Bee-sworkers.
There is no implement in the apiary more handy than the bee-smoker; and every one who has only one colony of bees should by all means have one. I have seen people blow smoke among bees with their breath, to conquer them, from a bundle of burning rags, until they would exhaust themselves and be sick from being strangled on the smoke, and it has been attributed to the honey they ate.
## 119 Bee-Veils.
Bee-veils are next to smokers in usefulness, and no one should keep bees without them or go among the bees to do any work without one on, for they will save many painful stings, and, to a great extent, remove the fear of bees. A few of them should be kept on hand to put on our interested bee-keeping friends when they come to see us handle bees.
## 119 Bee-closures.
Bee-gloves are a great protection to the hands while handling bees. Timid bee-keepers very often receive painful stings about the hands, and especially, about the wrist around the bottom of the sleeves, where it seemsbees love so much to deposit their strings. This can all be avoided by wearing a pair of gloves while handling bees.
## 118 Bee-brushes
In the production of extracted or chunk honey, bee-brushes are very necessary to sweep the bees off the comb, and very often it is better to brush bees from an object than to smoke or jar them from it.
### Swarm-catchers
When bees are allowed to swarm naturally, very often they will settle high up on the trunks of trees or away out on limbs and it is no small task to remove them from such inconvenient places to hive them; and many times they are not removed at all, but allowed to go to the woods.
Many large vigorous swarms have been lost in this way which could have been easily, quickly, and safely removed from their settling-place and saved. No apiary where bees are allowed to swarm naturally should be without one; and even where they are settled low or conveniently, nothing is better to remove them with.
## 118 Bee-Tents
No one but those who have used a bee-tent knows how useful they are about the apiary. Should a comb melt down in a hive, robbers take to one, or an accident happens, nothing could be done better than to set a tent over them. Very often it is handy to set over honey or to feed about the apiary; and it is often used to set over a colony to do certain work.
### Queven-cell Protectors
In every apiary where queen-rearing is practiced or requeening done, queen-cell protectors are indispensable. They are to protect the queen-cells after they have been removed from the comb, and distributed over the apiary until the young queens emerge from them. By the use of these, any bee-keeper can keep his stock of bees from running down after good blood has been introduced into his apiary. Or. by the use of them he can introduce good blood into all colonies from one good breeding queen.
## 118 Bee-Yeiders
In every apiary some colony needs feeding at certain times; and if not done with great care robbing will set in, and the result will be that some colonies will be eaten out by robbing bees, and be lost. By the use of these feeders any colony in the apiary can be fed syrup until the bees have stored as much as they need, without starting robbing. A few feeders (according to the size of the apiary) should be included in each order for bee-supplies.
I have now given a list of the leading implements used in modern bee-keeping, and their usage; and every well-regulated apiary should be supplied with them, for they go to make up modern bee-keeping, and are great labor-saving devices. The prices of many of them are insignificant, and that is true of all of them as compared with their usefulness in bee-keeping. The majority of them are indispensable in modern apiculture, and apiarian implements should be considered before placing orders for bee-supplies; and some of them (depending on what you are operating your bees for) should be included in orders.
##### Honey.