Bee Keeping for Profit. A New System of Bee Management (1880) / First Edition.

by Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton

Cake of Honey in Boxes in Warm Weather.

Considerable care is necessary for the preservation of honey in boxes removed from the hives in warm weather. As soon as the bees are all out of the boxes, seal up all openings to the boxes, and set them away (in the same position they occupied in the hive, so the honey will not leak from the cells) in a dry, dark, cool room. We must now guard against the moth.

As in warm weather the instincts of the fly is directed to the dead carcase, so is the moth directed to honey-comb left without bees in the summer season, and by a similar process is each destroyed. When the bees have been off about ten days, or perhaps a little less if the weather is very warm, examine closely for the first appearance of the moth worms on the surface of the combs in the boxes. Their presence may be known by small, thread-like webs or cocoons on the surface of the comb, growing larger as the moth worm enlarges in growth. If no remedy is applied, these worms will completely destroy the beauty of the honey in the boxes in a very few days. Watch the boxes closely, and on the first appearance of the least sign of worms in the boxes, fumigate with burning sulphur, thus: open the passages in the boxes; have ready a tight, clean box; saturate some very dry pine shavings with melted sulphur. After placing your boxes of honey in the box, set a saucer or plate in the box at the bottom, away from the honey boxes, so they will not take fire. Do not use too many shavings; if you do, it will injure the honey comb in the boxes, by giving it a green color, and imparting to it a disagreeable taste; a half-dozen shavings each four inches long is enough. Place them in the dish and ignite them, and cover closely, so no fumes can escape; let them remain for a few minutes, (not more than five, less is often sufficient; it depends something on the amount of sulphur adhering to the shavings, as well as the size of box, number of boxes to be fumigated, etc.) With a little practice you will manage correctly and successfully. As soon as the boxes are fumigated, seal up every opening carefully, and set away as before directed, in a dry, dark, cool room. Watch the boxes for a few days, to be sure the worms are all killed. If you find they are not, give them another dose of the sulphur. After the worms are all killed, and every opening to the box sealed up, wrap each box separately in paper, and they will be safe through the summer.

How the eggs of the moth get into the boxes, has always puzzled bee-keepers. It is hardly possible for the moth miller to pass through a hive crowded with bees, to deposit her eggs in the crowded boxes. How they get there must be guess-work—that they are there, is well known to many bee keepers. I feel very confident that the eggs are deposited there after the boxes are taken from the hive, and while we are getting the bees out of the boxes.

CHAPTER VI.
SWARMING AND HIVING.

UNDER the old systems of bee keeping, swarming was very imperfectly understood. And even at the present time it is amusing to see how many old bee-keepers manage their bees. This is a class of old fogies, who denounce all improvements and progress in bee keeping, and who, year after year, move in the same tracks in the management of their bees, asserting that they know all about bees that is worth knowing. It is, to say the least, amusing, to see how this class of bee-keepers manage when their bees swarm.

In the middle of some very warm day in June or July, the alarm "bees swarming," is sounded. Immediately the whole household is turned out, some beating tin pans, some sounding horns, some shaking cow bells—anything and everything with which to make a terrible din is caught up in the excitement, and every member of the household works with the sole aim of making as much noise as possible. This is done to make the bees cluster! If this is not done, they will leave for the woods! I should think the poor bees would leave any way, to get rid of the noise and the foolish whims of their owner. But no, they dislike to leave the place of their nativity, so in ten minutes or less from the time they leave the hive, they settle in a cluster on some object, generally within a half-dozen rods of the hive. And they would have done so in this case if no noise had been made. The noise did not affect them in the least.

Now the bees are to be hived, and we will see how it is done in the old way.

The bees in this case have clustered on a limb of a valuable pear tree. "Very sorry they have pitched there," says the man of perfect knowledge in bee keeping; "I dislike to injure that tree, but there is no help for it."

But first a hive must be prepared. It is not quite ready. (This is bad management.) It must be washed out thoroughly on the inside with salt and water, and rubbed over with some sweet scented herbs. A bottom board must be got ready etc., etc. At last the hive is ready. Now this wise bee keeper places a table near where the swarm clustered, sets his hive on the table, raises one edge four or six inches, takes his saw—Oh, it is a pity to cut that nice limb full of fruit from the pear tree; but it must be done, thinks this man of perfection in bee management.

He grasps the limb firmly near the cluster of bees. They are very cross, and uneasy. They have been clustered an hour or more, while he has been getting his hive ready. He saws off the limbs on which the bees are hanging, and places it carefully, with the bees adhering, on the table, by the side of the hive, covers all very nicely with a clean sheet, and leaves them alone to enter the hive. At about sunset he will place the hive with the bees in it on the stand it is to occupy.

At the time designated (about sunset) he goes out to his hive on the table. It has been a very hot afternoon, and the hive was where it received the full force of the sun's rays. He carefully raises the sheet. There is the limb on which the bees clustered, but where are the bees, they are not on the limb? Why, in the hive, of course. That is where he expected to find them. He peeps carefully under the hive to see how they are getting along, but astonishment is depicted on his countenance when he discovers that his hive is empty. His bees have left for other parts beyond his knowledge. He tries to think of some reason why the bees have gone, and seeks to lay the blame upon the hive. "Oh!" he says "I guess they did not like the hive, but I guess I shall have better luck next time."

To a progressive bee keeper, one who has correct and practical knowledge of the natural habits of bees, it is very plain why they left. They were actually driven away by mismanagement. The heat of the sun pouring down upon them, was enough of itself to drive them off. Then placing the limb, with the cluster adhering to it, on the table near the hive, showed lack of knowledge of the natural habits of bees. The hive might as well have been in the house, as placed where it was. Then the hour or more taken to get the hive ready, gave the bees time to send out their scouts, to look up a location of their own, and when these scouts returned, they left with them for a new home. T contend every swarm does this, viz: They swarm out of the old parent stock, led by the old queen. They cluster on some object, as a tree, brush or vine, near the old home. Then they immediately send out a few bees or scouts to look up a new home. These scouts may be gone a longer or shorter time. When they return, if they find the bees clustered where they were when they left, they soon lead them off to the new quarters, but if before the scouts are sent out, or before they return, the swarm is hived and placed on the stand it is to occupy, then the swarm will not leave, for the scouts know not where to find them, or if they should find them, the bees would seldom leave a good clean hive, for a home in the woods. These scouts may often be seen playing about the place where a swarm has clustered, for several days after the swarm has been hived.

Had this bee keeper placed his hire on the table, as soon as the bees were clustered, and raised the front edge one inch, instead of four or six inches, and then, instead of cutting off the limbs, if he had taken a basket or pan, placed it beneath the cluster of bees, and by a sudden jar of the limb dislodged them from it into the basket or pan, then emptied them down in front of the hive, and sprinkled lightly with a little water, at the same time disturbing them gently with a quill or light brush so they would not collect around and block up the entrance, except a very few that may be flying in the air (and these will return to the old hive,) in this way getting them all into the hive, and immediately carrying it to the stand it was to occupy, covering it with a board to shade it from the hot rays of the sun, or placing it in the shade of a tree, he would have saved his bees, the damage to his pear tree, and much perplexity.

By the old methods of managing bees, there were no means of knowing when to expect swarms; consequently the bees were sometimes watched all summer, in expectation of swarms any pleasant day, as outside indications were fa vol able for them; yet they would often adhere to the old hive throughout the entire summer.

With the controllable hive and new system of bee management, as shown in this work, swarming is brought completely under the control of the bee keeper. It is well for him to understand correctly what are the requisites and preparations for natural swarming by the bees, when left to themselves in a natural state. They are as follows: The bees must be obtaining honey freely, either from flowers, or from feed supplied them. The combs must be filled with brood in all stages of growth, from the egg just deposited in the cell, to the perfect bee just emerging. (And from this, bee keepers will note what conditions are required at the time swarms are forced, as recommended in my plan.) When this condition of affairs is reached, the bees construct queen cells, (that is, if they deride to swarm; they will do as they like about it, if left entirely to themselves,) from which in about sixteen days the queens will hatch, unless the bees should change their intentions, and decide not to swarm, and destroy all the queen cells. Remember, they are having it all their own way. When these cells are sealed over and finished is the time (if everything is favorable), when the first swarm leaves, led off by the old queen. Some of the most reliable works on bees have taught that the queen cells must be half finished before the queen will deposit the egg that is to produce the queen; but this, I find by close observation, is a mistake; for if you take the queen away from a stock, with no queen cells in any stage of formation in the hive, the bees will rear a queen from a worker egg, deposited in an ordinary worker cell. And who shall say they do not do this when the queen is present? I am satisfied they do.

Thus we see in natural swarming, with the bees left to themselves, the old queen leaves with the first swarm, at about the time the queen cells are sealed over and finished, which is about eight days before the young queens hatch.

When the young queens hatch, after-swarms (as second and third issues, or all after the first,) will issue. Second swarms may be expected in about eight days after the first. This time will sometimes vary, as the hatching of the queen somewhat depends on the weather, the number of bees left in the old stock, etc.; a low temperature retards the hatching, while a high temperature forwards it.

At evening of about the eighth or tenth day after the first swarm, by putting your ear close to the hive you will hear, very plainly, every few minutes, several clear and distinct "peeping" sounds, very sharp at times, then hoarse and dull. This sound proceeds from the young queen just hatched. When it is heard, look out for a swarm the next day; though it sometimes happens that one or two days will intervene before they will issue. But as long as the sound continues, be on the lookout for swarms. This "peeping" can always be heard before a second swarm issues, if we will take the trouble to listen. The time between second and third swarms is invariably from one to four days. It is useless to look for after-swarms from a stock after twenty days from the first. They are generally all out within sixteen days from the issue of the first swarm. I have given in another place, under the head of "Swarming Controlled," instructions how to manage swarming under my new system. Some additional information I will give in this connection.

Just before swarms are expected, if there are no trees near your hives, or if there are large trees from which it would be difficult to take a swarm of bees were they to cluster on the branches, procure several evergreen trees, such as spruce or fir, three or four feet high. Leave the limbs on, excepting about a foot at the bottom. Sharpen the trunks, so they can be set in the ground and lifted out with ease. With a bar make large holes, about a foot deep, in front of your hives, some distant about six feet, others from twelve to thirty feet. Set a half-dozen or more of these trees in these holes, putting in by the side of them a small stone or piece of wood, to hold firmly in place and prevent swaying by the wind. When your swarms issue, they will be very likely to cluster on some of these trees, when they can be conveniently gathered in the Controllable Hive.

In hiving, if the bees have clustered on some one of the trees set for them, place the Controllable Hive on the stand it is to occupy, allowing the stand to project two feet in front of the hive. Draw back the bottom board under the brood section ten or fifteen inches, to give the bees a good chance to enter the hive. Shade the hive well. Now go to the tree on which your swarm is clustered. Remove the stone or piece of wood that holds it in place; lift the tree, carefully avoiding any jar, carry it to the hive, and hold the cluster down to the stand and close up to the hive, as near the entrance as possible. Then give the tree a sudden jar, sufficient to dislodge the cluster of bees. They will fall directly at the entrance of the hive, and immediately commence to enter. Sprinkle lightly with water, and gently disturb those that stop about the entrance, with a quill or brush, till all are made to enter the hive. Then slide the bottom board forward to its place and the work is done.

Should the bees cluster on some large tree or other out of the way place, the manner of hiving must be varied. Set your hive near by with a wide board in front to keep the bees out of the grass and dirt. Arrange the hive as before directed. If the bees are clustered on a small limb, high above your reach, secure a basket to a pole, and raise it directly beneath the cluster. Dislodge the bees from their position, when they will fall directly into the basket, which you should take down quickly and shake the bees from it down to the entrance to the hive, and proceed as before. Keep the limb on which they were clustered in motion for a few minutes, to prevent their return. Should they cluster on the body of a tree, or a large limb, where they cannot be shaken off, set your hive near by, as before directed, and with a handled dipper dip them off and turn them down in front of the hive near the entrance. Dip very carefully, so as not to crush any of the bees. They will not attempt to sting if you treat them well, and prove to them that you are their friend. After you have dipped off a portion of the bees, and got them moving into the hive, if the queen is with them, they will all leave the cluster and join their companions who are entering their new home. But if the queen remains with the cluster, as soon as those entering the hive discover that she is not with them, they will leave the hive and rejoin the cluster. So it is well to keep dipping as long as you can get any of the bees, or till you are certain the bees are leaving the cluster and entering the hive of their own accord.

It sometimes happens in natural swarming, that when a swarm issues, led by the old queen, which has occupied the hive for a year or more, that she finds herself unable to fly, and drops down in front of the hive. In this case, if left to themselves, the bees, after flying about for perhaps five or ten minutes, will return to the hive from whence they came, and remain until the young queens hatch, issuing again, about the time a second swarm would have come out, or perhaps a little earlier.

If you are on hand you can prevent the swarm returning, but you must be lively. If you find the bees are flying longer than usual without clustering, and appear scattered and disorganized in their movements, look in front of the hive from which they issued, for the queen. You will probably find her within two or three feet of the hive. Put her in a tumbler, and cover closely, to prevent her escape. As soon as you find the bees have commenced to return to the old hive, set it back out of the way, and throw a sheet or some other covering over it.[6] Then set your Controllable Hive in its place, with the bottom board drawn back as directed in hiving a new swarm. Set the tumbler containing the queen over the brood section, so the confined queen can pass down into the hive, but leaving no chance for her to escape by any other way. The bees will then enter the hive readily. And as soon as all are in, which will be in a few minutes, remove the hive to a new stand and shade as directed before. Set the old stock back in its former place.

[6] If other hives are near, on each side, it will be well to throw the covering over them also, to prevent the swarm entering any other than the designed hive, as they might possibly do, if the hives were only a few feet distant.

The foregoing circumstance often happens when bees are managed on the old swarming plan, and queens that are unable to fly are usually very old. On my plan of management such cases are of rare occurrence.

Natural swarms usually issue between nine o'clock in the forenoon, and one o'clock in the afternoon. Occasionally one will issue earlier in the forenoon or later in the afternoon; but as a general rule they make their appearance between the hours specified.

Very early swarms hived in Controllable Hives should have access to the boxes on one side only. In about ten days after being hived, and as soon as the bees are well at work in these, give them access to the other side. Swarms that are hived late in the season, will not require boxes, until the next season, as it is necessary to have the brood section filled, or nearly filled, before the bees have access to the boxes.

It is important that we have the combs in the brood section built straight in the frames, so as to be easily lifted out separately. To aid in securing this object, when a swarm is first hived in a controllable hive, raise the rear of the hive four inches, by putting under it a piece of joist, having the hive perfectly level from side to side. This gives the frames a pitch forward, and will greatly aid in securing straight combs. Let the hive remain in this position for a week or ten days, then set it down level. If you have it to spare, one frame filled with comb placed in the brood section near the center will insure straight combs in the balance. If no precaution is taken in this direction, the bees will sometimes build the comb crosswise of the brood section, notwithstanding the triangular comb guides in the frames of each controllable hive. As straight combs in the brood section are very important, we should employ every available means to aid in securing them.

It is well to keep on hand a few plain boxes, each with four movable frames, like those in the controllable hive. If at any time a swarm comes out at the very last of the honey season, hive them in one of these boxes. They will probably enlarge or quite fill the four frames with comb, and perhaps store a little honey. Then, in the fall, put these four frames, with the bees and comb, in a controllable hive, and add two frames, well filled with honey, from a stock that can spare it. In this way you will build up a good stock for winter, whereas if you had hived them in a full sized controllable hive so late in the season, they would probably have put a little comb in each of the six frames, but not enough to winter, rendering it necessary for you to feed with the liquid feed in the fall. It is better to have four frames nearly or quite filled with comb, than to have six frames with a very little comb in each.

It sometimes happens that a swarm of bees, which has worked well in boxes through the entire honey season, will swarm out about the time the yield of honey ceases. If managed on the old plan, such swarms are worthless, but by hiving them in a box with four movable frames, as directed, they make valuable stocks. All such swarms may be returned to the old stock, as directed in another chapter, yet we sometimes wish to increase the number of our stocks to the utmost, and it is convenient to know how to make valuable stock of these late issues. Then they can either be returned or hived, whichever the bee keeper thinks is most for his or her interest.

CHAPTER VII.
ANGER OF BEES.

THE anger of bees, when once thoroughly aroused, is much to be dreaded, as the results which follow are often of a very serious nature. In my own case, I can handle bees with perfect impunity. They rarely make any attempt to sting, no matter what liberties I take with them. I always intend to be very careful, and handle them gently, making them understand that I do not mean to harm them. In my first efforts in handling bees they were very apt to sting me, for the reason that I did not understand their nature; consequently they mistook my intentions, and often forced me to seek shelter from their attacks. Now I seldom use any protection when working among them. Often, in transferring the bees and comb from the old box hive to the Controllable Hive, I roll up my sleeves, and with no protection whatever, for the hands or face, cut out the comb from the old hive, with the bees adhering to it, and arrange and fasten it in the new hive, without the bees making any attempt to sting me.

I would not recommend any one to do this, until they are so well acquainted with, and accustomed to handling, the bees, as to understand perfectly their every characteristic, and be quite certain that they will not make an attack. It is better to protect the hands and face from their attacks, as you will thus feel greater confidence in yourself, and can perform all operations without fear of stings. It is well to understand what will arouse the anger of bees, and cause them to sting. If we breathe upon them, when they are in or about the hive or boxes, they deem it an insult, and will dash at and sting us at once. Any sudden jar of the hive is instantly resented. All quick, spiteful motions about the hive, such as running, jumping, etc., is noticed, and quite sure to be followed by a sting. The finger pointed at them with a quick, spiteful motion when they are standing as sentinels about the entrance of the hive, often provokes stings. If they come buzzing around, threatening to sting, perhaps striking your hat almost like a bullet, and should you return the compliment by striking at them with your hand, they will be quite sure to sting you. The better way is, if unprotected, to hold down your head so as to protect your face, and move away from the hive as quietly as possible. When the bees find you are retreating, they will not follow you far. Always remember that if one bee stings you, others are very sure to immediately follow, unless you retreat. I believe that bees have a language by which they make known to each other their wants and wishes; and I feel certain they know those who have the care of them, and become accustomed to the motions and appearance of those who are seen by them daily.

The members of my family are seldom stung by the bees, notwithstanding I sometimes have fifty hives or more where we pass within twenty feet of them many times a day, while the bees are flying in thousands about each hive. In the middle of the day, in the honey season, the air for many rods about the hives is full of bees. I find my bees are much more likely to attack strangers who come to see them, than members of the family.