BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Hives are made to contain usually eight or ten frames; the latter size is by far the more common and may be considered the standard. The Jumbo and the large Dadant hive are also used, especially for extracted honey production. A sheet of comb foundation reach ing from the top to within an inch of the bottom bar should be used in each frame; this foundation is of pure beeswax, rolled into a thin sheet, on each side of which is impressed the foundations or bases of worker cells. Large sheets of foundation in the frames are economical in several ways: first, the bees are saved the necessary consumption of honey and the time necessary to secrete wax and build this much comb; second, their use also encourages the bees to build straight combs which can be more easily lifted out and, if desirable, transferred from hive to hive; finally they encourage the bees to build more nearly perfect worker celled comb with less drone brood comb.
The raising of drones in large numbers is expensive in honey and tends to cause swarming. Frames and foundation should be reinforced with fine wire strung tightly from side to side; this is embedded into the wax foundation, thus serving to strengthen the combs. It is especially important where combs are extracted, and, since it also tends to prevent sagging and stretching of foundation near the top bar, results in more nearly perfect worker brood comb.
Another separate part of the modern hive is the "super," which during a honey flow is placed above the brood body, and which serves to hold the extracting frames, or the small square or oblong section boxes for comb honey. Wax foundation starters, or full sheets of thin foundation, are used both in the super frames and in the sections.
The hive stand and the alighting board, while detached from the hive, are really important parts of the same. A hive must not rest on the ground, else the bottom will be damp and tend to rot, nor is it best to raise the hive far from the ground, since, besides the inconvenience of working with the colony in such a position, here in the north the
Figure 2:Visiting the home of the bees.
reflected heat from the soil surface in spring and fall is no doubt helpful in brood rearing. A stand of wood, stones or bricks raising the hive four to six inches above the ground surface is believed to be best. The stand should provide a slight slope toward the hive entrance to keep out water. An alighting board sloping from the ground to the entrance of the hive is also useful in saving the bees time and helping them gain ready entrance to the hive when they return heavily laden with nectar or pollen. All of these hive parts are shown in Figure 2.
## Additional Equipment
In addition to the hive and its parts, the following accessories should be provided to enable proper and convenient manipulation of the bees:
1. Smoker. In constant use when working with the bees.
2 Bee-veil. Always desirable and nearly always necessary.
3. Gloves. For beginners especially necessary; as experience is gained they are frequently discarded.
4. Hive-tool. In constant use. A screw driver or strong putty knife will serve the purpose fairly well.
5. Bee-Escape-Board Fitted with Porter Bee-Escape. Especially useful in removing supers of comb honey.
6. Queen-Excluding-Boards. Either the wire or the perforated zinc type. Essential where the queen is to be confined to one body as in producing extracted honey.
7. Wire, for wiring frames.
8. Wire Embedder.
9. Wax foundation. The heavy or medium weight for brood frames and the thin super foundation in case section honey is to be produced.
10. As many additional hives as are needed or as are advisable for making increase of colonies.
11. A Section Foundation Fastener. There are several good makes. An excellent one is made by A. A. Byard of West Chesterfield, N. H.
12. In case comb honey is being produced, at least four or five supers for each strong colony should be on hand at the beginning of the spring honey flow; for extracted honey two extra bodies of nine frames each should be provided for each strong colony.
13. An extractor, a bee brush, an uncapping knife, a settling tank and bottles or other receptacles must also be provided where extracted honey is to be produced.
## Life History of the Bees and Organization of the Hive
Let us examine a strong healthy hive of bees some bright morning in June when both nectar and pollen are being brought in, and select for this examination, if possible, a hive of pure bred Italians; for while during a good honey flow all bees are more or less docile, it is a decided pleasure to work with Italians, since they will mainly continue their various duties, and the queen even her egg laying, seemingly little concerned as to our presence and inquisitiveness.
First, we observe that there is a continual stream leaving the entrance and another stream arriving; some of these latter are heavily laden with pollen bearing a little mass on each hind leg; and while the others do not show it, they too are working carrying in nectar, from which by the evaporation of most of the water they produce their honey.
Second, we notice a few bees just in front of the hive entrance. They are facing the entrance and are standing almost on their heads, with abdomen pointing upwards and with wings in rapid motion. These are the forced-draught operators, fanning a current of air inwards and upwards over the combs, partly for ventilation, but chiefly to evaporate the large amount of water from the nectar recently carried in.
Still other bees are acting as entrance guards. They aim to satisfy themselves, apparently by sense of smell, that every bee entering the hive is a member of their own colony. They are ever ready to start the fight of defence against robber bees from other colonies, which are sure to be lurking around in times of nectar shortage, especially if they suspect the hive of weakness. These sentires also aim to keep out bee-moths and other insects, and to drive off animals and man unless he observes certain rules of the game known to beekeepers.
The bees which we have so far noted are the workers, of which there are often 50,000 to even 100,000 or more in the case of exceptionally strong colonies. These workers are in reality females, but not completely developed sexually. They never mate, but under certain conditions where a hive is without a queen one or more of them sometimes develops egg laying, but lays only unfertilized drone-producing eggs. In addition to June, 1921)
Beekeeping for new Hampshire
the various duties named above, these worker bees secrete wax, build comb, keep the hive cleaned up, and incidentally generate the heat necessary for brood rearing and for wintering.
The drones, or male bees, are found in and about the hive during late spring and summer. They vary in number from a few dozen to several hundred. They are larger than the workers, with heavier bodies and without stings. Their sole purpose is to mate with the young queens. Only one drone mates with and fertilizes a given queen, and this only once in her life during flight in the air, about a week after emerging from the cell. From then to mating a queen may lay for two or three seasons a total of two to three million eggs. The drone dies immediately after mating. The other several hundred drones are raised at the expense of the colony during the summer.
In the fall they are all driven from the hive by the workers, to starve and die. Their numbers should be kept down by using full sheets of worker foundation and by using frames which contain a large percentage of drone cells only in extracting supers above a queen exchuder.
We now continue our investigations on the inside of the hive. Giving the bees first a few puffs of smoke at the hive entrance we pry off the cover gently and remove and examine each frame in turn. The one or two outer frames on each side will probably contain honey only. The frames in the center of the hive, where the temperature is highest and evenest, will constitute the brood "nest," and the cells of these will be seen to contain eggs, young bees (larvae) and sealed brood. On one of these brood frames will be found the queen. She is larger than the worker bees, with longer abdomen, and is of slimmer form than the drones and with shorter wings. If she is an Italian queen, as a rule she will be more easily found than if a black queen, and she will not be much disturbed. While we are watching her, she will most likely continue her egg laying, curving her abdomen into an empty cell every few seconds and depositing therein on the bottom a small cylindrical peary-white egg. Often in the height of the honey flow a queen will lay as many as 2000 to 3000 of these eggs each twenty-four hours. Most of these will be laid in the worker cells, but eggs will also be laid in the drone cells wherever patches of these have been built. In case the swarming impulse is on, we will also find several long peanut-shaped queen cells pendant from the sides or bottoms of the combs. The same kind of fertilized eggs is laid in these as in the worker cells; the difference in development is mainly and perhaps wholly due to the specialized food, so-called "royal jelly," fed the growing queen or queen larva.
All eggs require about three days to hatch, but the larval feeding period varies for each of the three kinds of bees. The pupating or transforming period also varies slightly.
Figure 3: The honey bee: \(a_{i}\) Egg; \(b\), young larva; \(c\), old larva; \(d\), pupa. Three times natural size.
## N H. College Extension Service
The entire period elapsing from the day the egg is laid until the full grown bee cuts its way through the cell cap and emerges is in the case of drones about 24 days, in the case of workers about 21 days, and of queens only 15 to 16 days. Usually about a week passes before the queen is ready to mate, or the young workers are ready to go to the field for nectar and pollen; these latter are believed to employ themselves during their first few days mainly in the work of feeding young bees and in building wax.
## Making a Start with Bees
The beginner in beekeeping will find it much to his advantage in addition to his reading and studies to visit some progressive beekeeper and receive from him a practical demonstration on the manner of opening hives and handling bees, and to practice this work with him if the opportunity affords.
Without experience a start had better not be elaborate. In general it will be advisable to start with two or three colonies and to gradually enlarge as success attends one's efforts. There are several ways of making a start in beekeeping.
(a) Buying colonies. The best and surest method of starting beekeeping is to buy healthy Italian colonies in the spring of the year in good condition and in modern hives. If these colonies are strong and are to be moved any distance in warm weather, a wire-cloth screen should be nailed over the top for ventilation. Following this at night, after all bees are in, the entrance should be closed with wire cloth, and the bottom securely stapled to the hive body. The hive covers should be removed during the moving of colonies, or while they are standing closed, to provide a circulation of air up through the entrance screen and out through the wire cloth covering the top of the hive body.
(b) Hiving swarms. Another way in which many beekeepers have secured their start is by finding and hiving clustered swarms. The method of hiving a swarm is simple. It is best, of course, to hive the swarm directly into a modern movable frame have with combs or sheets of foundation. If such is not at hand, then it is good practice to have them temporarily in an ordinary box and transfer them later to a movable frame hive. The swarm is hived by cutting off the branch with the cluster of bees, holding this over the box, or movable frame hive, and vigorously shaking off the bees into the same. One need have little fear of stings when hiving a newly emerged swarm, since just before swarming bees so fill themselves up with honey that they have little disposition to sting for several hours. As an insurance, however, and to lend added confidence, it is always well to wear a black mosquito netting or wire veil. A swarm starts to build comb and rear brood as soon as hived, and it is desirable in ease any amount of brood is started that this be saved and transferred from the box to the frames of the movable hive.
Buying nuclei, buying bees by the pound, or transferring from box hives all call for considerable judgment and dexterity in manipulation. As a rule, therefore, these methods are better suited to persons with some experience than they are to the novice. Hence, if the beginner has no expert assistance, he will do well to start with swarms or full colonies and use one or more of the following methods perhaps later on as a means of increasing the number of colonies in his apiary.
(c) Buying nuclei colonies in the south. Good colonies are frequently built up by midsummer from two or three frame nuclei with queen bees and unhatched young (brood) secured in early spring. Frequently a small surplus of honey is produced from the resulting colonies the first year. The writer has observed numbers of these nuclei which have come through by express from Mississippi to beekeepers of Hampton County, Massachusetts. In a large percentage of cases they have arrived in perfect condition and built up into strong colonies.
(d) Buying bees by the pound. Another method now used successfully is to buy bees by the pound. It is claimed they usually ship better when they have a queen with them. She may be enclosed in a small cage within the larger package of bees, or if she has been previously introduced to these bees she may safely be shipped loose with them. When the queen is shipped with the package bees, she may be released at once with these bees, but in other cases the usual methods of queen introduction should be used.
(e) Transferring colonies from box hives. As stated before, it is very unwise to keep colonies in old-fashioned box hives. The beekeeper may therefore desire to transfer some of his own bees to movable frame hives from box hives, or he may have the opportunity to buy good strong colonies in box hives and transfer these. Transferring is accomplished by smoking the bees thoroughly in the box hive, then making a small opening in the top of the same, boring two or three good-sized auger holes in the bottom of the new hive and setting the latter over the former so that the opening in the old andthe auger holes in the new coincide and form a continuous passage for bees. The entrance to the new hive is then closed and the bees are driven up into it by blowing smoke in at the old entrance and drumming for ten minutes or so with a block of wood or light mallet on the sides of the old hive. If possible a frame of brood should be provided in the new hive. This may be obtained from a colony already on hand, or it may be made up of pieces of comb with brood taken from the old box hive and patched together in a frame by the using of string, wire or small wooden cleats.
Whichever way the start be made it is well to go slowly in making increase. Do not try to divide weak colonies, and as a rule it will be found inadvisable to divide colonies in New England later than August first. The golden rule in beekeeping is to keep colonies strong at all times.
## The Apiary Site
The site or particular location for the apiary should be selected with care, as it will have much to do with the degree of success possible in the particular venture. In healthy colonies provided with plenty of stores the amount of early brood rearing depends mainly on the temperature which the bees can easily maintain within the hive. Successful wintering also depends on this same factor. It is, therefore, important to select well-sheltered apiary locations. A natural or artificial windbreak of evergreen trees or shrubbery on the north and west sides, if possible, should be provided. If such is not at hand, a slatted or lathe windbreak fence about six feet high may be constructed. It will pay for itself in the stronger colonies and larger honey yields resulting from such protection.
Dense shade is a great disadvantage to bees in New England, since it tends to keep the hives too cool for the maximum rearing of brood in the spring and fall. Taking everything into consideration, the best position is afforded by open sunlight with no shade. On very hot days shade may be provided by temporary shade boards.
## Opening Hives and Handling Bees
If one is a beginner with bees, I suggest that he should take proper insurance against being badly stung during the first days of ownership. A few bee stings are not serious, still they are temporarily painful, to say the least. But, worse than all this, to be badly stung at the start is almost sure to cause one to be nervous and hurried in the operations about the hives, to fall down in one's plan and to make incomplete and faulty observations.
The following suggestions will help avoid this painful experience:
1. Use only Italian bees. Not only are they gentlest, but they are the most satisfactory kind of bees in many ways. If one has black bees, dequeen each colony in late July or August after the main honey flow and introduce an Italian queen.
2. Wear veil and gloves. One may soon discard the gloves as experience and confidence are gained, but the veil will always be in order.
3. Have smoker lighted and going well. Dry burlap or punky dry wood are both good material to burn in the smoker.
Before starting work on a colony, blow a few puffs of smoke in at the entrance and wait a minute or two for the bees to feel the effect of it and quiet down. Then pry off the cover gently and blow a little smoke over the tops of the frames. Do not hold the smoker close to the bees, as the smoke is hot and may injure them. Avoid using more smoke than is absolutely necessary.
4. If possible, avoid opening hives in cold, wet weather. Bees are usually more gentle during the warmer part of the day and when the sun is shining directly on the hives. There are several reasons for this: first, large numbers of the workers are away in the fields; second, those at home are busy within the hive; third, the bee glue, or propolis, with which they seal together all hive parts, is soft and will permit the hive to be opened and the frames lifted out without the cracking and jarring incident to breaking the hardened bee glue in cold weather. All jarring of the hive tends to excite the bees and promote viciousness.
It should also be borne in mind that almost any colony will be more or less vicious when there is a dearth of nectar during the flying season. Colonies which have lost their queen usually show more fighting spirit than at any other times, and extreme viciousness in a colony usually gentle should lead one to suspect that they may be without a queen. The regular hive tool, a chisel or a screw driver should be used in opening hives and starting frames. One should learn to use the customary method of handling frames,since it is easier and will prevent the breakage of combs. The method is as follows: Remove cover and with the hive tool pry loose each end of a given frame; grasp these ends and slowly lift the frame straight up out of the hive and examine the side of the comb in front of you; then slowly drop the left hand until the top bar is perpendicular, and with the top bar on the axis turn the frame to the left till the other side is in full view; examine this, reverse the movements and set the frame to one side or replace it in the hive.
Carry on all operations about the hive with slow deliberate motions. Maeterlinck, the noted Belgian naturalist, quantly and well wrote of "using large slow gestures" so that his bees might regard him as a sort of natural catastrophe which it was useless to try to combat.
## 6 Comb Honey or Extracted Honey
During the war period and immediately following the same, honey was in great demand to replace the sugar shortage. The wholesale price of the better grades of extracted honey was around fifty cents a pound. Large profits per colony were made by many beeopers who understood the business and had their bees in good condition. The writer knows of many colonies which turned in honey to the value of sixty to seventy-five dollars in a single season.
But honey is now back again to pre-war prices, and the advisability of changing the methods of handling colonies and of producing the honey crop must be considered by every beekeeper. Shall he continue to produce the extracted article, or shall he change over to the production of comb section honey?
First, it must be remembered that extracted honey is usually easier to secure. Colomies can be kept stronger in bees; they are likely to be more free from disease, and swarming is almost automatically eliminated by the ability to give the queen abundant space for brood rearing. Second, bees apparently prefer to store honey in large sheets or frames, rather than in the small sections. Experience shows that as a rule 25 per cent to 50 per cent greater weight of extracted honey may be expected of the same colony than of comb section honey.
There is no doubt, too, that extracted honey is coming to be more generally used each year, due to the fact that it is better advertised and more attractively marketed. Part of its increase in popularity is also due to the fact that all material labeled "honey" must be guaranteed under the national pure food and drug act as the natural product of the bees' industry.
The centrifugal honey extractor does its work well and quickly, and extracting is not the disagreeable job it is often supposed to be. Extracted honey to be bottled should at first be allowed to settle for a few days in a deep tank, then drawn off from the bottom, heated carefully to 155\({}^{\circ}\) F., and bottled while hot to prevent granulation. The bottles should be wide-mouthed, of neat design, of medium size, the half-pound and one-pound sizes usually being preferred, and should be neatly labeled. They should also be perfectly clean and free from traces of honey on the outside.
But while extracted honey is a standard article of food, the beautifully capped sections of white clover or wild raspberry honey are thought of as a fine confection, a natural delicacy, finding always a welcome place on the best tables. Honey in this form is selling today for two to three times the price of an equal weight of the extracted article. No expensive extracting or bottling equipment is necessary; and the sections, except for the removing of bee glue or propolis, are ready for sale the moment they are taken from the hive. It is true that more skill and attention is required to produce comb honey; but there are undoubtedly many, especially of the smaller beekeepers, who during the last two or three years have developed skill in handling bees for extracted honey and who would benefit under present conditions in changing over mainly to the production of comb section honey. We have used the word "mainly" advisedly, for experience shows that it pays to give sections only to really strong colonies. Colonies that are not literally "boiling over" with bees when the white clover or wild raspberry honey flow starts had better be run for extracted honey with two bodies during the entire season, or first be given a super of shallow frames, and later under this, one of sections after the bees have started work well in the former.
## 7 Swarming
Swarming in New England mainly occurs in May and June. Swarms usually emerge on a warm day between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon. Swarming, under certain conditions, is a natural instinct, but the up-to-date beekeeper by modifying or changing these conditions plans to prevent the development of the instinct, the "swarming fever" as it is called, and to secure the desired increase in other, safer ways.
The colony among bees is the unit, and swarming is nature's method, not only of increasing the number of colonies, but also of perpetuating the original colony. The latter is made possible by the habit of the old queen of leaving with the outgoing swarm and surrendering the all-important work of egg laying in the old home to the young daughter.