BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Now let us look into the culture and the progeny or race of this swarm of bees as we have traced it and pointed out some of its needs to prolong its existence; and mark too, that it was located in the brood-nest and could not be supplied unless we had access to it; or, in other words, could take the combs out one by one and examine them. So it is very necessary that the swarm be lived in a modern hive, and that the comb be movable, or their culture will be at an end, and the loss of them may be expected at any time. Now that the swarm is in a modern hive with combs built and the brood-nest established, it should never be lost as long as a good queen is occupying it with plenty of stores around it; and, as previously explained, this can easily be done by inserting combs of eggs and brood and queens into it at these critical times of the colony; and to keep it in the best possible condition it must be constantly examined during the bees' working season. In examining this brood-nest from time to time it should never be allowed to be filled up with honey. Bees will often do this for lack of room somewhere else to store their honey and crowd the queen out with it or narrow it down to a very small space. Don't let this happen; and should it happen, remove the honey at once and keep it large and in a thriving condition--that is, full of eggs and young bees in all stages of development during spring, summer, and fall. Nothing but a prolific queen of any race of bees should be allowed in a colony of bees; so the race of this swarm of bees should be taken into consideration as soon as it is hived; and if it is not of some leading honey-gathering variety a queen should be ordered for it at once, for it does not pay to cultivate bees if they haven't good qualities; and the results will never be satisfactory in cents and dollars from the culture of a rundown or inferior race of bees; and this should be kept in mind along as we give them culture and fresh blood added to the sipary from time to time.
## Modern Apiaries, but modern methods not applied.
There are many small apiaries scattered all over the South where modern hives have been adopted but modern methods of apiary work have not been applied. The bees in these hives are in various conditions, and the comb built in various ways in them. Some bought the hives for the purpose of giving their bees culture, but never got around to it. Others bought them because they were sustaining heavy losses by using the old-style box hives, thinking that the hives were the cause of the loss. And some bought a few hives just to try them. The fact is, we have a part or all of our bees in patented hives. and we don't know their condition any more than if they were in old box hives; and from a bee-keeping standpoint they are no better off except a few dollars tied up. No decision as to bee-keeping or the patent hives can be reached.
Dear reader, the adoption of modern hives is one step in the right direction if they are properly put together when the bees are hired in them; but if this step is all, invest the money you expect to buy more patented hives with in some other direction and hive your bees in boxes. But a better thing to do would be to get in touch with your bees. Know how to lay your hand on them and what to depend on.
## 5 The Interested But Non-Pursuant.
It is astonishing to know how many there are interested in bee-keeping, but who are not pursuing it to any extent for reasons they can not always assign. There are but very few who are interested in bee culture; and yet there are but few who are so situated in life that they could not keep and care for as much as one colony somewhere about their premises, and several times a season they could get a taste of new honey at 'home; and during that time they could acquire no little knowledge of the nature and habits of bees, so that, when they were differently situated in life they could establish and operate successfully an apiary large enough to supply the table at home at least. This would assure a pure article and the children and other members of the family could be easily taught bee culture, and learn it, combining theory and practice. There are many people grown and growing up in the world who have no correct ideas of giving bees culture. This lack of general information could be overcome to a great extent if we had a lot more small bee-keepers. Besides bee education, more honey would be consumed and take the place of some of our inferior sweets, and more vigor and health would be added to the human family.
There is no excuse for the great-shortage in honey-saving; and, dear interested reader, deepen your interest in the little honey-bee by keeping a colony or a small apiary, and reach out your hands for at least a small portion of the heaven-sent food, for nature needs it and is calling for it, and it is going to waste.
## The Beginner and the Beginning in Bee Culture.
Who is the beginner in bee culture? There are many people interested in bees and are buying bee-literature, and reading and studying bee culture in view of some time establishing and operating an apiary when they get better located in life. There are many who are keeping bees in old-style box hives, but who are interested in their bees, and are entertaining the thought of establishing a modern apiary. There are some who already have their bees in modern hives; but there is a mountain of doubts rolled up between them and their apiary, and they are in a quandary whether to continue to cultivate them or not. Then there are many who are deeply interested in their bees, but somehow never get around to give them attention. And there are also some who are enthusiastic over their little industrious objects, and have modern apiaries established, and are endeavoring to cultivate their bees.
Evidently I have classified 'the beginner in bee culture somewhere, and we will next consider the beginning. Of course, we must have foundation stock or a starting of bees--see "Buying Bees," in order that we may properly apply what we read, and see the actual results so we may practice as we learn. The greatest essential in learning a new line of business is applying the methods of work already outlined, and not by experimenting. In other words, apply what some one else has learned, and follow instructions as close as possible, and not go down to the bottom and begin by experimenting, and suffer the great loss that is usually sustained by experimenting, and during the time sustain a whole lot of unpleasant and unsatisfactory experiences.
If I have a beginner student in bee culture who starts off to experimenting I lose hope of him, and nine times out of ten he will fail. But if I have one who is studious, and who follows instructions, I have great hope of him, and mine times out of ten he is sure to succeed.
If any one takes up a new line of business he is sure to make some mistakes and to have some unpleasant experiences and unsatisfactory results. So it is with bee-keeping, even when we have followed directions or instructions as closely as we can.
My experimenting with bees has cost me enough to establish an apiary, the returns of which would be between 200 and 500 gallons of honey a year; and, besides, I came near, two or three times during the struggle, giving up the idea of being an extensive bee-keeper.
Dear beginner, study some book of information or give yourself a blank to some progressive bee-keeper, and follow instructions closely, and let some other bee-keeper do the experimenting, and you benefit thereby. Buy or keep but few bees at first, and invest no more capital in them than necessary, and soon you will attain a success with your bees that will put to shame the old-style box-hive bee-keeper who has kept bees all his days. Elsewhere in this book you will fine the needed instructions to guide you on to success from the right starting-point.
But how should the beginner buy his bees? The cheapest, safest, and best way is to buy full colonies from some progressive bee-keeper who may have them to sell, for then you would be almost sure to get a good stock of bees.
Another good way is to buy a few heavy old-style gums from some old-style bee-keeper near you, and put the new swarms from them in modern hives; and, as soon as possible, buy some young prolific queens for the new swarms, and kill the old queens and introduce the new ones to the colonies. Soon the old box hives will die out, and you will have a modern apiary, and good stock.
Many beginners have bought two-frame nuclei for foundation stock, and built them up to full colonies. This is a good way for beginners to buy bees if they will give them the proper attention; for they will gain much valuable information while building the small swarms up to full colonies. Before the nuclei are ordered, a hive for each one should be set up in readiness, and full sheets of foundation put in the frames (starters will not do for this purpose, for the small swarms of bees must have as much help as possible) ; and as soon as the nuclei arrive remove them from the case they were shipped in, and set them in the hives next to one side and set the division-board next to them. A beginner should never order less than two-frame nuclei, which would consist of two frames of completed comb filled with brood in all stages of development, and honey, and contain a young prolific queen and enough bees to cover the two frames of comb well. After they have been in the hive for a day or so, separate the two combs and insert a frame filled with foundation in between them, and push them up together with the division-board behind them, and put the feed to them (see "Feeding Bees"). The bees dislike this space between the combs; and the foundation being a great inducement to start them to comb-building, and plenty of feed for them to eat to secrete the wax, they will at once begin to draw out the cells on this sheet of foundation, and in a few days it will be a beautiful white comb filled with the feed, young bees, and eggs, for the queen will begin to lay in it as soon as the bees get the cells built out far enough for her to deposit eggs in them, and as soon as this comb is about completed, separate two more combs and insert another frame containing a full sheet of foundation between them and continue feeding. As soon as this comb is about completed, insert another frame of foundation, and so on until the bees have completed for themselves a set of combs.
Now, it is the feed that is enabling them to accomplish this great task, and it should be kept up until all the comb in the hive is completed; and by this time the bees will be built up to a booming colony, and be in the best possible condition for the approaching honey-flow. If there is a honey-flow on, the bees are not likely to remove the feed, because they are getting better feed from the field, and they will build the comb as if they were fed. But it is best to order the bees and build them up to a strong colony before the honey-flow so as to secure a crop of honey, if possible. If the weather is cold when the nuclei arrive, or during the time they are building up, they should be protected from the cold as much as possible by contracting the entrances so that only two or three bees can pass at a time; also a sack folded up and placed over the tops of the frames, and folded down over the division-boards, as the sides will greatly protect them from the cold; and as they require a high temperature to secrete wax and build comb this will help them to keep it up. During this time the beginner should learn much about his new line of business.
## 7 Transferring Bees.
This is an important subject in bee-keeping in the South. It is one about which many questions have been asked and answered. Many good populous colonies have been destroyed by the -operation, and at this point many have turned back to old-style ways of keeping bees, and here many have become disgusted and abandoned bee-keeping entirely. It is a job that almost all bee-keepers dread. Some will not undertake it at all for fear of a failure. Others do not want to come into such close contact with the bees. It is a subject upon which I have meditated much, and first and last have had extensive experience, having transferred some of my bees three times from different hives. Besides, I have transferred many apiaries for others. I have put into force every plan I have ever heard or read of, and the one I find best, simplest, and easiest I wilh give.
In early spring, when the poplars begin to bloom, or the first honey-plants begin to bloom and yield honey in your locality (I mention poplar trees as they are the most common honey-plant in the South), then is the best time to transfer bees, because some honey is coming in and they are not so easily discouraged. Remember a great change has taken place when they are transferred. Things don't look natural in their new hive, as they did in the old one, either on the inside or outside. There has been a great change in the household affairs, and their instinct does not make provision for such an unexpected and unnatural change. But if there is honey coming in they will likely go right to work with renewed energy if they have been transferred. So the time to transfer has much to do with it.
Another good time to transfer is in the summer when cotton begins to bloom.
The method of work is as follows: One day before transferring, rob the bees closely so as to have but very little if any honey to contend with; but don't rob any more colonies than you think you can transfer the following day. By next morning they will have all the'scattered or broken honey cleaned up, and the bees will be in the best possible condition to transfer.
The whole operation for each colony is very short, simple, and easy, and not much unpleasant work is involved. If there is any honey left in scattered comb around the apiary, let the bees eat it out as you go, and they will give no trouble by robbing. Of course, contract the entrances of the weak colonies after they are transferred. I have transferred 147 colonies in one apiary thus, with good results. I have given the method to other bee-keepers and farmer bee-keepers, and they claim it a'success, and have adopted it.
## Modern Bee-Hives.
Modern or patent hives, as they are better known, are the only hives bees can be kept in successfully, for they are induced to build their comb straight in movable frames in them, thus giving the bee-keeper access to all comb, which can be easily removed, and the needs of the bees detected and supplied. The old-style box hives have been sufficiently tried in all sections of the South, and they are a part of the cause of bee-keeping being where it is here now; and prejudice against the modern bee-hives has also been a part of the cause. The needs of the bees are always located somewhere in their comb, and the old-style hives debar the bee-keeper from supplying them.
People have been eager to reach after modern improvements along their lines of business; but modern hives have not been bought for their apiaries, and bee-keeping has not had what was due it in the way of improvements. Modern hives are the foundation upon which bee culture is built; and how can it stand or make progress without adopting them? Our forefathers in bee culture invented them and handed them down to us at a reasonable price; and all along improvements have been added until it seems perfection has been reached, and that they are as convenient for the bees as they are for the apiarist.
## The Construction of Modern Hives.
There are several styles of'modern hives in use, but I will give only three, which are most commonly in use for comb, chunk, and extracted honey here in the South.
Modern hives are complicated,-constructed or made up of many pieces, which can not be avoided; and if they are not properly put together, their good qualities are spoiled. Many of them have been thus put together here, and the result is there are many dissatisfied purchasers, because the hives are not what they expected them to be in construction, and they failed to get them properly put together. As stated elsewhere, the hives are the foundation of bee culture, and it is very important that we start it right from the hive, and for the benefit of those who know nothing of their construction I will try in the simplest manner possible to help you over this obstacle by the use of engravings showing each part, how it is cut out, where it should go, and how it appears after it has been properly placed and nailed, and set in the hive.
Carefully open the packages of hives and lay similar pieces together around on the floor or bench, and proceed as follows: 'Take up this book; turn to this page, and look over and over the cuts or pictures showing the different pieces, how they are cut out and where they go, then look over your piles of similar pieces and see if they are not similar to the pictures of those in the book. Continue thus until you have located every piece and learned where it goes in the hive, Now with the hive clearly laid out in your mind, don't start to. nailing until you have read and reread "The Construction of Modern Hives," so that you may nail them right and they will stay thus.
First, nail the bottoms together. The hive manufacturers usually send out two styles of bottoms with the standard hives, and you will have one of the styles.
Next put the hive-body together, nailing it well; then nail the tin rabets in it, using four nails from the top and four through the sides. Also nail the little molded cleats on just above the hand-holds in the ends, and set it on a bottom and then start to nailing the brood-frames together by first nailing end-bars to the top-bar with two nails at each end. It will be seen that these end-bars have a V edge, and in nailing them to the top-bar be sure you turn the V edges opposite, or one on the right side of the top-bar and one on the left, and nail all the end-bars to the top-bars just as you. did this one. The object of this V edge is to keep the bees from gluing the edges so tight together, and thus be a hindrance in handling them; and if you do not put the end-bars on all top-bars, and the V edge extending in the same direction, some square edges will come together and thus spoil the good feature. Next nail the bottom-bars on with four nails. Now drive the little staples, which you will find with nails, into the end-bars just under the extending ends of the top-bars, using the little gauge which you will also find somewhere among the hive parts. There will be found a bundle of wedges, and also a bundle of long, narrow strips of foundation, and on the bottom side of the top-bars will be seen two grooves. Place a strip of foundation in the tenter one, and press a wedge in the other one; then drive it down below the surface of the wood or it may work out. Set the frame in the hives as they are thus completed. Then put together the division-boards, nailing them well, and set them in the open spaces between the last frame set in and the side of the hive, and put a wedge in behind it.
Now the brood apartment is finished, and we are ready to begin on supers or top stories. We will first construct a super for comb honey as on hive No. 1. Carefully put together the bodies of the super and it will be seen that the ends of the super have rabbits in them similar to those in the ends of the bottom story. This is the top of the super. Turn it over and nail the section-holder supports on which are narrow strips of tin. Nail these on well, letting them project over on the inside of the super not less than \(\chi^{\prime}_{2}\) inch. These are to hold all the fixtures in the supers. Next put the section-holders together, using four nails to each one, and be sure that the ends are nailed on the bottom slats not less than 17 inches between them, or the sections will not fit in. them. Now set these in the supers, putting a separator between each two. The separators will be very thin pieces of soft wood about 4% inches wide, slotted on one edge, and this slotted edge turns down. Sometimes the factories send out hives with slat separators which are made of four thin narrow slats supported at ends by a piece of tin, and it will be seen that these end supporters project more on one edge than the other. This longer projecting edge goes down. Next put the followers in behind the last section-holder, which is a board about % inch thick and as long as the hive is wide, and about 4% inches wide.
- The supers are now ready for the sections, which are thin slotted pieces of wood with three V-shape grooves cut across them about the same distance apart. Wet the sections, at the grooves by pouring water through them, holding ten or fifteen at a time edgewise over a pair of water, or dampen them at the grooves with a sponge or piece of cloth dipped in water; but be sure not to wet the sections all over or they will warp and twist.
Now with the section-former, squeeze or press (see machines for this work under "Apiarian Implements"); put the sections together, or this can be done by folding them carefully together, and knocking the lock corners together with a mallet or hammer; but the machines are better for this work.
Now with the foundation-fastener (see machines for this work under ("Apiarian Implements"); put the starters or full sheets of foundation in the sections, and be sure that they are fastened to them well or they may drop down and the bees disregard them or build a crooked comb in the section. Set the sections thus filled carefully into the section-holder, and key them up by putting a wedge or spring behind the follower. Now put the tops together, nailing them well, and the hive and super for comb honey is then completed and ready for the bees.
The next hive for consideration is No. 2 for chunk honey. The bottom story, or brood-apartment, is constructed as hive No. r for comb honey; but the super contains shallow frames which hang in the wood rabbets (no tin ones to be used), and the top-bars of which are thin, with a small shallow groove in them, which are to be turned down. Nail the frames up as you would the brood-frames in the bottom story. You will find smaller staples, to be driven in the ends to space the frames, than those used in the brood-frames; and when these have been driven in the proper depth (using the same gauge on the brood-frames), the frames will be ready for starters or full sheets of foundation; now take a light board the size of the frame on the outside, and tack on this a thin board the same size as the frame is on the inside, and just as thick as the top-bar is wide from the groove out. When the frame is placed over this board it will serve as a gauge to hold the foundation in place in the groove while it is being attached. A small vessel of melted beeswax should next be prepared and kept warm over a lamp. Now lay a frame on the prepared board, and place the foundation in the groove and lift all up carefully and hold in the left hand; then dip out the melted wax in a spoon, or a Van Deusen wax-tube is much better (see under "Apiarian Implements") with the right hand, and pour a little into the groove at the top, holding the frame so it will be on the decline, so that the melted wax will run fast down the groove and thus attach the foundation at the top-bars. As the frames are filled, set them in the supers and put the followers in behind the last frames put in, and then wedge them close together. Nail the tops together as previously described, and the hives for chunk are completed.
Hive No. 3, for extracted honey, is constructed the same as the bottom stories or brood-apartments in hives No. 1 and No. 2, for comb and chunk honey, except that the frames are filled differently. Set up the hives complete.as previously explained, but do not put the foundation in the frames. It will be seen that the end-bars have four small holes drilled through them, which are to receive the wire. Now fasten a frame down on a convenient place on the bench so it can be easily and quickly fastened and unfastened. Also about six or eight inches from one end of 'the frame fasten the spool of wire by driving a large nail through the hole in the spool into the bench enough to hold it while the wire is being removed.