The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-17
Now l. Get surpIus Honey.

L WISH W utScEiDo my mebuOu Oh
managing bees for surplus honey. The
first thing is to select the colonies
| which are desired to breed from, and
then build them up strong by fitting
the brood-chamber with frames well
filed with Matching or sealed brood
from other colonies, and when the
weather is not favorable for gathering
food, feed them little cvery even
ing, SO as to keep the queen at her
work. Then l examine every colony,
and If any do not equal my expecta-
tions, ascertain the cause, and If the
fault is in the queen, she is killed just
as soon as can succeed in getting nat
ural queen cells; for prefer the natural
to the artificial queen cells whenever
they can be had, and especially early
in the season. o/
Now, just rs fast as I get young lay
ing queens l build the bees up, until
the time the honey harvest commences,
either by placing empty combs as fast
as needed in the center of the brood
nest for the queen to fill, or by giving
brood from other colonies to strengthen
up; and as soon as the brood-ehamber
is well filled with brood. providing the
honey harvest is on hand, put on the
supers; otherwise / sometimes take
frame of brood to strengthen o weaker
colony. | never think of putting on
the supers until the brood chamber is
completely filled with brood.
Every young queen hat begins to lay
in March produces, by the shove plan,
an excellent colony for storing surplus,
as there is scarcely any disposition to
swarm. Ii the colony is as it should
be, many OF those young queens will
require two supers, as one will not give
sufficient room for the amount of bees
she will rear. All the old queens that
are saved in the apiary must be built
up strong, by spreading the combs
judiciously, and inserting an empty
comb in the center OF the brood nest for
the queen to fill with eggs; for remem-
Der that almost double the amount of
eggs can be secured by so doing, than
if they are left to manage their own af-
fairs.
In good season every colony can be
brought up to the standard, and the
swarming all done by the middle of
April. | prefer the natural swarms,
if they come early, and when artificial
swarrns are made. give the division
natural and nearly mature queen cell.
If want any increase allow all col
Onics that swarm early to swarm two
or three times, because every young
queen that can get breeding early in
March can be brought up to the STAN
dard in time for honey-gathering.
If l do not want increase, l get as
many young queens in the place of old
ones as possibly can. In a poor
season every colony can not be built
up in time for surplus. because take
brood from some colonies to build up
others for surplus. Those which take
brood from 1 only calculate to make
into profitable colonies for wintering.
Now understand that if honey is
we must have bees, and any
colony that is strong in bees will store
honey, even if there are not over a five
lays honey flow in the season.
want all the supers taken off by
February |, 80 as to confine the animal |
heat in the brood nest: and supers
'hould be put en- only as fast rs the
bees are in condition to occupy them. |
Now, providing the weather is favora-
Die, we can put in one of two frames of
oundation at time in each hive and |
nave the queens fill them with eggs. A
rame of foundation filled with eggs by
. good italian queen is a sight worth
cooking at; and l have always had the
pest satisfaction in having them filled
n the breeding season early before the
commences.
You will probably say that the above
,lan makes work; but for what are we
leeping bees if not for profit? We must
work for it. The man who keeps bees
md does not work with them and yet
Expects profit will always be disap-
pointed. In all my lifelong experience
n Bookkeeping, l have always found
hat bees arc self-supporting in the
poorest seasons if properly managed;
nd have had experience in bee-keep-
ng in Canada, Vermont, Wisconsin,
Northern Iowa, and now three years in
california. In some seasons and local.
ties have had to stimulate my bees by
eeding them in the summer but have
ever had to feed them in the fall or
1inter. always save the poor honey
fhich is unfit for market and feed it to
he bees.-Dr. Z. Gallup, IN Los Ange-
IS Meas.
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