BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Any county in the Commonwealth will support bees, even sandy Cape Cod reporting profitable returns. Beekeeping in the heart of a city can hardly be expected to yield as handsomely as in the country, but even in the city it is possible for a colony to maintain itself. Apiaries of some considerable size are found on roofs of business blocks in most of the large cities in the country. Preferably, however, for the greatest results, the apiarist should know his flora, the plants which yield nectar, their abundance and their periods of bloom. Then an apiary can be intelligently located. A garden plot or an aere of clover or buekwheat does not necessarily mean big returns in honey. Bees forage on a radius of at least two miles.
Locating the Apiary.
In commercial honey production, the selection of the apiary site receives deliberate consideration. Shelter from prevailing winds, a relatively level spot, upland and not swamp, remoteness from stock or pedestrians, aside from the general consideration of the honey-producing flora or bee forage, are important. The matter of shade versus no shade in the apiary has attracted considerable attention, but without proving the advantage of one over the other. As u whole, bees thrive best in the open, but the hives should then be protected by shade boards or ventilated covers, in order to overcome the melting down of the combs or sulking or " hanging out " of the colony in excessive heat. It is usually thought that in the open bees fly earlier and perhaps gather more nectar than when colonies are under trees. Too dense shade, which results in dampness, is to be avoided.
Usually an effort is made to turn the entrances of hives from driving winds, and apiaries frequently face the rising sun or the south, and seldom the north or northwest. Stone walls, sheds, hedges, forests and orchards make good windbreaks. The old custom of building sheds open on one side, under which to keep the colonies, has been largely abandoned. Such sheds hinder the easy and proper manipulation of the hives. Arranged in groups or rows, slightly elevated from the tur, in order to overcome dampness and the intrusion of pests, the colonies may more easily be attended to than if shelved. Grass and weeds should not be allowed to obstruct the entrances.
Materials for Maintenance.
Manufacturers present a large variety of hives and other equipment from which the beekeeper may choose his type of hive and the aceessories. Not. everything advertised is necessary for a small apiary. It is advised that hives and fixtures he purchased, rather than made at home, at least for a start and a pattern, in order to secure aecuracy of measurements and interchangeableness of parts. Nothing is more annoying than to have misfits. For a similar reason the advisability of selecting and continuing one type of hive, say the ten-frame Langstroh, cannot be too strongly emphasized. The prospective keeper of bees should secure a collection of supply catalogues, study them, gain acquaintance with their technicalities, and then, selecting the type of hive most to his liking, purchase an equipment. Few parts and simple construction are features to be sought. The disadvantage of the old-fashioned box hive being so apparent to any one contemplating beekeeping to-day, it is scarcely necessary to say that only equipment with removable frames and combs should be considered.
Aside from the body of the hive, in which the frames are hung and the brood raised, hence called the brood chamber, there is a bottom board, with entrance for the bees, super or upper body in which surplus honey is stored and removed, and a cover. The bottom board is recommended to be of 7% ineh stock, in order to secure rigidity, reversible, and should have a full width entrance. Those which are reversible, giving both a shallow and a deep entrance, are convenient. Most of the super types on the market to-day will serve. The purehaser must determine, however, what the nature of his honey product is to be, then select his super, remembering to look for simplicity of construction. For a cover, the writer has been particularly pleased with metal roofed covers, consisting of a thin, inner board and a telescoping, metal-roofed outer cover. This is ventilated, water proof, ridged and durable. There is no danger of overheating the bees when it is used. There is also little danger of this cover blowing off.
In order to prevent the queen from going above to lay in the supers, or compartments where the surplus honey is stored, a thin board, with perforations which permit the passage of worker bees but prevent that of the queen, is desirable. This is termed a queen-excluding board. The modern wire construction is admirable. A similar board in which is fitted a metal device, the Porter bee escape. when placed beneath the super, will allow the bees to pass from this surplus compartment but not to return. Thus the honey can be removed with little labor. It is spoken of as a bee-escape board.
#### Selecting the Type of Hive.
The majority of beekeepers, especially large commercial producers, use the Langstroth live, invented in 1851. This may contain eight or more frames, the present preference being for the ten-frame capacity. Furthermore, it is desirable to secure the new, 16%-inch dimension hive body, permitting the use of ten frames and a division board, which follows after and confines the frames.
#### The Use of Foundation.
Experience shows that too few beekeepers, in this State at least, appreciate the advantage of using foundation, which is merely a basis for the construction of true and perfect combs. Foundation is composed of pure beeswax; _it is not artificial comb_. It is merely a sheet of wax in which the shape and dimensions of worker cells are impressed. Foundation, when given to the bees, is drawn out by them and elaborated into combs uniformly of worker cells. In naturally built comb there is a well-defined tendency in bees to construct a high percentage of drone cells. An excess of drones in the hives is to be guarded against. A further and important advantage is, that each comb constructed on full foundation in frames, may be removed without damage to itself or the adjoining ones. Remember, too, that according to various estimates, from 10 to 20 pounds of honey are consumed by bees in producing 1 pound of comb.
Of course, it is essential to use but a half-inch strip of foundation in the tops of the frames when treating for disease, but the combs constructed may be removed later and full sheets of foundation substituted.
Beekeepers are urged to use full foundation whenever possible; it will prove economy in the long run.
#### Other Equipment.
In so old a State as Massachusetts it hardly seems possible that any one should attempt to maintain bees without a smoker. It is an indispensable instrument, without which, at times, most bees cannot be handled. Buy a strong, modern smoker, of good capacity and standard pattern. They cost less than a dollar and will serve for years.
The beginner in beekeeping should not brave the attacks of his bees by failing to use a veil. Cloth veils, made of cotton tulle, or the wire-constructed Muth pattern, if properly worn, are bee proof and comfortable. The supply merchants also furnish inexpensive gloves, which not only protect the hands but give a beginner added confidence.
In order to pry apart fixtures and scrape away refuse propolisis,a hive tool should be constantly at hand. This can be purchased at a small cost. An inflexible putty knife is excellent.
Other almost indispensable apparatus can be listed and studied from catalogues. For fastening foundation to the wires in the frames, see wire embedders. For securing foundation in the surplus honey boxes or sections, study foundation fasteners, some of the recent, inexpensive types proving admirable. A few queen eages, for introducing, are serviceable, but may be constructed at home. A German bee brush, some perforated zinc, feeders, Alley drone traps, honey boards and Porter bee escapes will be useful.
Getting the Bees.
Getting the bees is easy, but there are several necessary precautions.
Commence on a small scale for the first year and increase in proportion to experience. Increase, swarms will come fast enough; sometimes it is a serious problem to know how to prevent building up too large an apiary. Usually beginners find it desirable to have not more than three to five colonies. With a beginning in May, which is a suitable time of the year, frequently the apiary will have doubled by fall, giving in addition a surplus of honey.
The primary precaution, at present, in buying bees is that they be healthy or free from brood disease, a subject referred to under " Hygiene of the Apiary." The question immediately arises, " How am I to tell that the bees are not diseased?" It may be possible upon inquiry to purchase colonies which have been inspected and pronounced healthy. Sometimes an experienced beekeeper can be prooured to pass judgment. Furthermore, in ease of doubt, if a sample of the brood be sent to the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C., or to the writer, an examination will gladly be made.
A relatively safe way to secure bees is to take a elean and equipped hive to a beekeeper, instructing him to introduce a large, early swarm. This is an inexpensive means of securing a good, vigorous colony.
Colonies may sometimes be caught in the woods by setting out empty hives. Various baits are used. A hive previously oeeupied by bees is attractive to swarms, but this method of securing colonies as now practiced is objectionable, and should be discontinued. Inasmuch as empty combs and sometimes honey are used as bait, there arises great danger of spreading infection through robbing. Beekeepers are, therefore, warned against a possibly unlawful aet.
In purchasing a hive of bees it will be most advantageous to secure them in the movable-frame type of hive, which the prospective buyer should previously have selected as his standard. A beginner is advised not to purchase colonies in boxes, kegs or old-fashioned box hives, which requires practice in order to transfer the colony to a frame hive. This, while it affords excellent experience, is a handicap and is usually expensive.
Summing up the suggestions for a beginning :--
Purchase disease-free and strong colonies, preferably good Italians, and in the modern type of frame hive which has been decided upon. A favorable time of the year to commence is in the spring. If it can be arranged, allow an experienced beekeeper to attend to transportation, a problem which sometimes perplexes the veteran.
Italianize.
The various races, types, strains or varieties of bees, such as Carnian, Banat, Caucasian, Cyprian, the African races, and some of the Italian strains have been much and often over-exploited. An eminent German authority has aptly said that the Americans are so anxious to try new races, they import so many strains, that they have no truly efficient, strictly American honey bee, which may be said to be characteristic of or adapted to any one locality of the United States.
In Massachusetts this is perhaps especially true, because of the many who keep bees from general, natural history or avocational interest. The serious beekeeper, however, in the Commonwealth, as elsewhere, prefers the Italian or " hybrid " (German (black) and Italian cross). Even among the Italian stock, which is widely admitted the best race, all purposes considered, there are varieties which are less desirable than others. " Hybrids " should be abandoned for pure Italians.
As a whole, Italians which are less susceptible to European foul brood are good honey producers, prolific, gentle, easily handled, not excessive swarmers, hardy and the bee for the professional. Massachusetts beekeepers are urged to Italianize, if for no other reason than the tendency of Italian strains to resist European foul brood. Generally, the so-called " leather-colored " Italian is preferred to what has been termed " golden " or the " light-yellow colored " types. If you find a good strain keep it and rear new stock from it.
With the slight labor of a few minutes spent in introducing a queen, colonies which are vicious, hybrid or unproductive, may be completely restocked and transformed in the course of a few weeks, since the life of a working bee is approximately forty days. Thus an undesirable race may be changed for prolific, gentle Italians.
_Requening._
The success of a honey crop depends upon young and vigorous bees, and their presence is now considered a most important factor in the elimination of swarming. The commercial apiarist would requeen at least once in two years; many requeen annually. By requeening in August, the wintering ability of the colony is increased, the tendency to swarm the following spring is reduced, and productiveness and efficiency in the summer are secured.
_Purchasing Queens._
Queens may be purchased from early spring (in the south) to late fall. Usually Massachusetts beekeepers can secure stock raised in the State, there,being at least four commercial queen rearers. Queens so secured are mated, and, consequently, introduce new blood into the apiary. They are transported by mail in a small wooden cage which also serves as an introducing eage. Directions accompany each queen. Their trade classification is as follows: "Untested;" a mated queen but unproved, her progeny not having been matured. "Tested;" the purity of the mating of this queen has been proved by her progeny. "Select tested;" these queens are usually older, and have proved themselves prolific, truly mated, etc. " Breeding queen;" such queens are carefully selected for superiority and characters worthy of being propagated. The cost of queens increases proportionally to this classification.
Increase.
Naturally, increase and dissemination of the species are accomplished by means of swarming, yet it is no longer considered an index of prosperity. In this thrilling event, the wildest and most exciting situation in all beekeeping, the parent stock, 20,000 strong, issues from the hive to form a new colony, leaving the brood and emerging bees, with queen cells and honey, behind, to continue the old one. The act of flying forth, the issuing of the bees with their parent queen, is called swarming. Eventually they find a new location and establish their new home. Thus one stock produces two, these two may give two more, and so the apiary grows.
_Artificial or Controlled Increase._
The old way of seewing more colonies was based precisely upon this natural behavior,-- swarming. The beekeeper trusted to luck that his bees would swarm and not fly away. But experience has shown it uncertain. Usually the parent colony yielded little or no honey the year that it swarmed. Later, beekeepers commenced to divide their colonies, brood and bees, into two or more parts or nuclei, supplying each division with a queen or allowing the bees to rear and mate one. Gradually these small colonies or nuclei strengthen until fall, when they should become full size. But this means usually affords merely increase. Moreover, these nuclei require considerable attention, nursing and feeding, which means little economy.
The modern methods of increase are based on an effort to keep strong both the old and the new colony, without the sacrifice of the honey harvest.
#### 2.2.2 Shaking for Increase.
This has virtue not only in increase but also in overcoming the swarming nuisance. The principle has many modifications and is commonly explained under heading of "'shook' " swarming. Here, again, the natural impulse of the bees to swarm is taken advantage of. A hive is prepared as for living a swarm, that is, an empty hive is equipped with frames containing either full sheets of foundation or foundation starters. This is set on the stand in place of the colony to be shaken. The readiness of the colony is determined by its preparations to swarm. A frame of sealed brood, from the old colony or elsewhere, is set in the center of the new hive. The queen is then placed on this frame. A majority of the bees are next shaken from their old combs which, when completed, will have stocked the new one on the old stand. The old hive, combs and the remaining bees (enough should be left to care for the brood) is set on a new stand. The newly formed colony will recover and build up rapidly, being almost immediately ready for supers, which should be placed over a queen-excluding zinc. This is done to prevent the queen from laying in the section boxes. The colony from which the bees have been shaken may be allowed to rear their new queen, or, more preferably, a cell, virgin queen or mated queen may be provided them, at the beekeeper's discretion. A laying queen, of course, builds up the colony more rapidly.
The experienced beekeeper can readily see how this procedure can be used to advantage in treating for brood diseases of bees. Of course, it is necessary to modify the method, using only half-inch starters of foundation (strips one-half inch in width), and omitting to put the sheet of brood into the new hive. Without brood in the new hive, a queen guard, perforated zinc, or Alley trap should be put over the entrance, in order to prevent the colony from absorbing. The exchange of supers should also be avoided.
Another method, which is quite as satisfactory, is to establish a new colony by the removal of frames of hatehing brood with adhering bees from several colonies. These, in a hive to which a queen is introduced, rapidly establish a thrifty colony without materially reducing the parent stocks. The force of bees can also be increased by substituting this newly formed colony on the stand of another strong colony and thus catching the returning field bees. The loss to the populous colony which was removed is slight. After moving the new colony in this way several times, remarkable increase in strength can be obtained. Sueh procedure, or the transferring of combs from hive to hive, in any case should be rigidly avoided in any apiary where the presence of brood disease is suspected.
The reader is also referred to the method, recommended by thelate E. W. Alexander, which is gaining much favor. This is virtually a modification of the "'shook " swarming method, but without the shaking.1
Footnote 1: "A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture," Root, 1910, pp. 284, 285. " " Gleanings in Bee Culture," 1906, p. 423, or in " "Alexander's Writings," published by the A. I. Root Company.
Spring Management.
The honey harvest depends upon correct management of yonr colonies in the spring. Spring conditions depend upon suecess in wintering, and it is said wintering depends upon preparation the previous season. But with the first flight of the bees, when trees are beginning to swell their buds, the beekeeper's season commeneces.
Each colony should be thoroughly overhauled, provided, of course, that spring has really come. Opening colonies when bees are not flying should be avoided. A great deal of labor for the bees can be saved by scraping from the bottom boards the winter's accumulation of debris. At this season the beekeeper should scrape the top bars of the frames, remove surplus bee glue (propolis), that the parts may handle more freely during the rest of the summer. Also look for your queens, which sometimes fail to survive the hardships of winter. The presence of brood or eggs should be a guide. If there seems to be a failure of the queen, or if she is lost, a new one should be provided immediately, or else the rapidity with which the colony may dwindle will be surprising.
The honey stores, as the colony expands brood rearing, vanish almost mysteriously. Consequently it is imperative that provisions be constantly available. Remember, too, that very little nectar can be gathered in the field, since perhaps maple and skunk cabbage are the only flowers yet open. It is frequently desirable and neeessary to feed. (See " Feeding.")
To know what to do with small or weak- colonies is often a problem. They had better be united, a queenless one with a queen-wright, some advise. To nurse along a weak colony means care, which is not always repaid by a surplus of honey.
E. W. Alexander has given a method of 'building up weak colonies in the spring. Those who have tried it do not all report it a success, but the writer's experience is favorable. Beekeepers should undertake it with caution, but nevertheless surprising results have been obtained.
Aeerding to Alexander, the apiary should be divided into an equal number of strong and weak colonies. Again, mark each of the weak colonies which has brood. Placing queen-excluding zinc over the strong colonies without disturbance, and, preferably, without smoke, set the weak colonies having brood over strong ones. It will be neeessary to give a frame of brood to each of the weak colonies having none. These may then be set upon strong colonies, in each ease using a perforated zinc between the upper and lower hive, as before.
Alexander's caution is: "In every ease where the method is reported a failure it has been from one of two causes, -- either lack of brood in the weak colony, in order to hold the queen and her few bees in the upper hive, or smoking the strong colony so that, as soon as the weak one was set on top, the bees rush from below and sting every one above. Therefore, avoid using smoke or doing anything to excite the strong colony." The whole should be done so that neither colony realizes that it has been disturbed. In about thirty days each hive will be crowded with bees and maturing brood. Then, when you wish to separate them, set the strongest colony on the new stand.
A further spring duty is to clean up the apiary. As is explained under " Hygiene of the Apiary," on the first day that bees fly examine each hive and determine whether it contains a living colony. _Immediately_, close bee-tight any hive in which the colony has died; furthermore, remove the hives and contents to a bee-tight building. This is not only a wholesome practice to prevent robbing, but it is vital in order to cheek the spread of diseases. For a similar reason beekeepers are warned against _exposing any comb, honey or section_ so that the " bees may clean it np," as is so thoughtlessly done.
Contraction of the entrance is a matter of judgment. As a general rule, never give more entrance than can be guarded by the bees within; this is especially applicable in spring and fall. Entrance contraction as is erroneously and frequently thought, is not of so mueh importance in controlling ventilation as in reducing or preventing robbing.
Weak colonies benefit in the early spring by being outwardly protected. Outside cases of wood or paper coverings, used as winter protection, are of much service in early spring, when a high temperature must be maintained for brood rearing..
Usually, bees can exist without being fed extra stores. There are advantages, however, in judicious feeding. This may be accomplished in different ways and for different purposes. At present, as a general rule, it is not safe to feed honey, there being too grave danger of transmitting brood disease by it. On the whole, sugar is not only safer and more preferable but cheaper. When necessary, honey may be _diluted_ with an equal amount of water, _boiled one hour in a covered vessel_ and fed.
#### Spring Feeding.
Usually, enough stores can be provided in the fall to last until a honey flow comes in the spring. Moreover, feeding is always stimulative to egg production and brood rearing. Consequently, when it is done in the spring a thin syrup made from the best granulated sugar, one part of sugar to two or even three parts of water, may be used. Small amounts, a bound or two daily, are usually sufficient.
#### Fall Feeding.
In the fall, the purpose being merely to supply winter stores, feeding is done as rapidly as possible. In considering the wintering problem, emphasis is placed on the necessity of ample and naturally stored supplies; therefore, feeding should be completed early in October. At this season there is no desire to stimulate, and a thick, saturated solution of granulated sugar is used.
#### How to Feed.