The Columbus journal., 1896-06-24

WIN. Ballantine III Interstate Poultry.
man: Bee men after winter afe 1 good
deal like an army after . battle. They
can only learn the dead and missing
when they call the roll. This IL the way
to ascertain the extent Of their losses.
Bee men are to carefully examine every
hive and ascertain IL the queens are all
right. This is easily learned by open
ing the hives and looking for brood
and eggs. II these are found, although
the queen herself is not seen. she is all
right. To beginners 1t is somewhat
dificult for them to see the tiny eggs
at the bottom of each cell. The egg is
q small white cylinder, less than the
sixteenth Of an inch long when first
laid. standing on its end at the bottom
Of the cell. In few days 1t will appear
as q small worm coiled in the cell. sur
rounded with liquid bee food. 1t will
continue to grow until 1t nearly fills the
cell. when 1t is sealed over and left to
spin its cocoon and develop into per-
feet bee. Now the bee man, on open
ing the hive, will find, II his bees are
right, brood in all stages. from the egg
recently laid to the sealed grub. II.
however, he does not discover any
brood in NO stage Of maturing and the
old bees few in number, he may at once
decide that the mother bee has disap-
peared and his hive is destitute of a
queen. The remedy in such a case is
to 60 to strong colony and take out a
frame Of brood having some recently
laid eggs and place it in the center Of
the hive having no queen. The bees
will Immediately go to work rearing a
queen and will also 60 TO Matching out
the brood that will be Of great advant-
age in keeping up the strength OF the
colony. BY adding additional frames
Of brood from time to time such col
ony can be kept strong and may 90
we'll In the honey season. The above
course ought to be pursued even II
queen is ordered from the south. 1t
will keep up the strength of a colony
until the queen is received. Before at
tempting to introduce a queen thus or
dereL, the hive must be examined and
sll Lrood frames searched for queen
cells. These are protuberanccs like
peanuts on the edges and sides OF the
combs. All Of these must be cut out
and the bees then will. most likely.
welcome the strange queen. which they
would by no means do IL their own
rearing were in course Of development.
The method of introducing is much
simplified by the modern queen cages.
All that is to be done after the colony
is queeriess is simply to take out the
small cork, next the sugar paste and
put the cage down wire side next the
bees on top of the frames over the
cluster, cover up and the work is done
The bees will eat through the sugar
paste and liberate the queen. Should
a cold spell set in during May be care
full not to let your bees starve. Rear
ing brood requires large quantities Of
food. This will oftimes disappear as II
by magic and the bees that you thought
were safe will turn out starved to death.
This makes a man feel little and like
kicking himself. if he could, for such
sheer neglect. Much depends upon the
quantity of the fruit bloom and the
kind of weather the bees have to visit
it, for giving them a good start. Such
conditions are also favorable for the
fertilization of the fruit and will amply
repay every farmer to keep a few colo
nies. Before the time for swarming
the apiarist ought to have his hives.
swarming box, supers sections, founda-
tion comb and all his supplies ordered
before the rush of business sets in. This
is to take time by the forelock. to save
money and to save swarms and excite
ment.