To Subdue the Anger of Bees.
I have tested every means recommended for subduing the anger of bees, and have found tobacco smoke the thing, when rightly applied.
Have a tin-worker make you a tin tube, one inch in diameter, six inches long, and fit stoppers of soft wood closely in each end, two and three inches long respectively, with a hole through each, one-fourth inch in diameter. Fit one end of the longer stopper to hold in the mouth. Before placing the shorter piece in the tube, cover the inside end with wire cloth, bent a little convex, to prevent the ashes and tobacco filling the quarter-inch orifice. Taper the outer end of the short piece nearly to a point. Remove the mouth-piece, and fill the tube nearly full of tobacco (cigars are best, for they burn freely.) Dip with live embers, replace the mouth-piece and blow the smoke from the pointed end.
With this instrument smoke may be forced among the bees in any part of the hive or boxes. In all operations likely to arouse the anger of the bees, as taking off and putting on boxes, lifting out comb frames, putting on and taking off feeder, removing the honey board, examining the rearing boxes in queen raising, etc., smoke the hive well. In-short, use smoke freely when about to perform any operation upon the bees. Before touching the hive give the bees two or three smart puffs at each entrance of the hive; then commence your operations immediately. If the honey board is over the brood section, and your operations are to be performed in that part of the hive, raise the board just enough to puff in the smoke, but not enough for the bees to come out. Give them the smoke here freely for about one minute, before you remove the board. They will show their submission by a loud humming throughout the hive. When they set up this humming noise is the time to proceed with your work. Remove the honey board entirely, keeping the smoker at hand ready for use, and giving them a puff of smoke occasionally to keep them under submission.
It is best for the inexperienced bee raiser to protect the hands and face in all operations, at least until he feels perfect confidence in his ability to avoid irritating the bees sufficiently to cause them to sting. To protect the hands, wear thick woolen mittens, with very long wrists, so they will come up over the dress or coat sleeve, thus protecting the hands and wrists completely from stings. To protect the face and neck, get coarse black lace, one-half yard wide and a yard and a quarter in length. Take three-fourths of this piece for the front breadth, and the balance for the back breadth. Seam together at the selvedges, and gather the upper edge on an elastic cord so as to fit closely, and draw around the crown of the hat When putting on the hat ready for use, leave the longer part in front, to button beneath the coat or vest of a gentleman or the sack of a lady. At the back the lace tucks beneath the collar. Thus protected, we are perfectly safe from stings, and can see as well, and perform all operations nearly as well, as when uncovered.
The best antidote for stings is the application of water in which salt has been dissolved—a heaping teaspoonful of salt to a teacupful of water. Bathe the affected part freely, and in severe cases take a swallow of the salt and water into the stomach. Avoid rubbing or irritating the stung part. Be sure to extract the sting immediately, as the longer it remains the more serious will be the consequences.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEE MOTH.
IN some localities the bee moth is said to be very destructive, yet I regard the depredations of this insect as much less to be feared than some bee-keepers suppose. The bee moth is the agency provided by nature for returning back to the earth the contents of any hive when left by the bees, in the same manner that the flesh fly is the means provided for returning to the earth the carcase of any animal.
I do not believe that a strong, healthy stock of bees was ever attacked and destroyed by the bee moth. The stock must from some cause become reduced in numbers, so there are not bees enough to cover all the comb, before the moth will make an attack. But when the comb is unprotected, the moth follows the instinct of its nature, and deposits her eggs in it. The bees from some cause keep decreasing, and the moth continues depositing her eggs in the vacated comb, until the entire comb of the hive is a complete mass of vile worms, the progeny of the bee moth.
About this time the bee keeper notices for the first time, (for, if he is keeping bees on the old plan, he lets them take their own course, believing if he meddles with them, they will "run out,") that something is wrong with that hive. So he examines them, and finds the combs a mass of webs, with hundreds of moth millers among the combs, and the combs themselves filled with vile worms. "Ah!" he says, "the bee moth has destroyed that swarm of bees;" when in fact the bee moth had no more to do with bringing about the loss than the maggots, found in the carcase of a nice lamb destroyed by dogs, had to do with destroying the life of the animal. "Oh," says some wise bee keeper, "I know better than that, for I have seen the bee moth flying about my hives and trying to get in." Very well; I have seen the flesh fly circling about live animals, but think you there was any danger from them, as long as the animal was in health? Not a bit. Neither is there any danger from the bee moth, if you keep your stocks of bees strong and healthy. But if you have weak or diseased stock, or have honey in boxes in warm weather unprotected by the bees, look out for the bee moth.
Fumigate with sulphur all combs taken from hives in warm weather; immediately after which, seal up closely in well-made hives or boxes, to prevent access by the moth miller. All combs taken out late in the fall, and kept through the winter in a place where they will be liable to freeze, may be sealed up so the moth cannot gain access to them, and the contents will keep safely through the next summer. Freezing destroys the vitality of the moth eggs. Fumigating with sulphur, as directed in "Care of Box Honey in Warm Weather," will destroy the moth worms, and prevent damage to the combs, if they receive attention within a few days after the eggs are hatched; but if the worms are suffered to remain for any considerable length of time, the combs will be badly damaged, if not entirely ruined. In protecting honey or empty comb from the bee moth in warm weather, every bee keeper should recollect that eternal vigilance is the price of success! With the Controllable Hive and new system of bee management, the true condition of stocks is known at all times. The stocks are very populous in July and August, which is the time the bee moth is most numerous about the hives. I never had a stock damaged by the bee moth since I adopted my present system of bee management.
CHAPTER IX.
ROBBING.
LOSS of stocks by robbing shows carelessness, or a lack of knowledge as to the proper care of bees. Not one strong, healthy stock of bees in a thousand will be robbed, if proper precaution is taken. During a copious yield of honey there is very little danger of robbing. When there is a slack in the yield, the bees will search about for plunder, and if a weak stock is found, they will be very likely to attack it.
It is the duty of every intelligent bee-keeper to know the exact condition of his stocks at all times, and if from any cause he has a weak stock, be sure to ascertain the cause of their weakness, and if they are healthy stocks, contract the entrances, in accordance with the number of bees to pass. But if they are found to be diseased, remove them. The bee, like the human race, is much better able to defend itself against the attacks of an enemy when there is but one avenue of approach, than if there are several.
No refuse honey should be placed in the open air, accessible to all the bees alike, as this would be very likely to create a desire for plunder, and incite robbing.
Never, when a stock is being robbed, change it from one stand to another a few rods distant, to prevent robbing; for this is a very great injury to the stock, as all the bees that have marked the location (at the season when robbing will most likely occur,) will return to the old stand, and be lost. The best remedy, or rather preventative against robbing, is to contract the entrances to the hive. After bees have once commenced robbing, and have been successful in capturing and plundering one stock, they will, as soon as they have secured the honey from that one, attack some other with great impetuosity. Success in plundering renders them very courageous; but if you have contracted the entrances as directed, they will be very likely to meet their match, and learn a good lesson. A little punishment is necessary to teach them their proper place.
I knew one of these old wise-heads—such a one as spoken of in the chapter on "Swarming and Hiving"—to use his familiar logic: "What he didn't know about bees wasn't worth knowing. He didn't want any book larnin' to know how to keep bees; he had allers kept 'em, and his father before him." Well, this Mr. Wiseman found, or thought he had found, that his neighbor's bees were robbing his stocks. "Zounds!" says he, "I'll fix 'em!" So he goes early in the morning, before the bees are flying, and confines his stock, which he thought was being robbed, by nailing a piece of board closely over each entrance to the hive, so no bees could pass in or out. About sunrise; or a little later, the robber bees begin to collect on the front of his hive, seeking to gain access. He waits until a quart or more have collected, and then he takes two or three quarts of boiling water, and dashes it upon them. This he continues through that day, and the next, at intervals, as often as there are any bees collected on the front of his hive. During this time he has killed more than a half bushel of bees. The third day he opens his hive, but to his great surprise, no bees appear, and on examination he finds the bees all dead. They had suffocated. Want of air, and the boiling water upon the hive, had destroyed them. And to crown all, and make his loss still more severe, he found it was his own bees that were engaged in plundering his stock, and his neighbor's bees had nothing to do with it. The vast number of bees slaughtered with the hot water, so reduced in numbers several of his stocks, that they never recovered, but fell prey to the moth miller that season. And that was the way he "fixed 'em." There are so many whims and false notions about bees, that great care should be exercised in adopting plans recommended by inexperienced bee keepers, or that class who claim to know everything about bees, yet by their practice show that they know very little.
There is one other plan, aside from contracting the entrance, which will prove successful, but which is a little more trouble to apply. If you find a stock is being robbed, look them over, and be sure that they have a fertile, healthy queen. If the queen is found to be all right, but with few bees, take from this hive two comb frames filled with comb, with no eggs or brood, and go to a populous stock, and exchange these two combs for two others filled with brood. Select such as have most of the brood sealed over, as you want that which will hatch the quickest. Put these two combs in the hive that is being robbed, fasten up the stock by putting wire cloth over the entrances, giving them air yet preventing the passage of bees.[7]
[7] It is well to confine the bees when a large number of robbers are inside—a larger number if possible than the swarm itself, for, being confined a few days, they will make that hive their home, and aid in defending its stores against other robbers with as much energy as the bees of the original swarm.
When you put in the two frames with brood, if you find but little honey in the hive—not enough to last the bees a month or more—put in one frame containing honey. Put on the feeder and carry the hive to a dark and quiet room, and fill the feeder with pure, soft water. Let the bees remain in this room four days; then about one hour before sunset, set them on the old stand, giving them their liberty, with the entrances to the hive contracted—the lower entrance closed entirely, and the upper one half closed. Intelligent bee keepers will readily understand why this plan should prove a success:—First, the bees that hatch from the brood comb given the weak stock, will be a great encouragement to the few bees in the hive; and in a very few days they will aid in defending the hive against the attacks of robbers. Again—removing the hive from the stand seems to disorganize the robbers, for after they have visited the stand for several days, and find no plunder, they will give up the search in that direction.
Before taking the trouble to remove a hive as here directed, care should be taken to be certain that the bees are being robbed. You can be sure whether it is your own bees or others that are robbing, by sprinkling them with flour as they come from the hive which you suspect is being robbed, and watching your other hives, to see if those you have marked enter them, being very careful that you are not deceived by the dust from some species of blossoms, which adheres to the body of the bee, and might be mistaken for the flour.
Bees when plundering a stock will often keep at their work until dark, some of them being unable to find their hive by reason of the darkness. Honest workers are not found abroad at that time, and, by the way, this is a very good test of robbing. In concluding this chapter, I advise again: Know the condition of your stocks at all times. If any have too few bees, contract the entrances in accordance with that number of bees to pass. Preventative is much better than cure in this case.
CHAPTER X.
PROFITS OF BEE KEEPING.
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, and even at the present time, by the ordinary methods of bee keeping, if a profit of five dollars from one hive of bees in one season was gained it was considered "good luck." You know there is no system in the ordinary methods of bee keeping. It is either "good luck" or "bad luck;"—all "luck" and "chance," anyway.
In one year they get five dollars profit from a stock of bees; the next honey season they get nothing, and the bees all die in the winter; or perhaps they will survive that winter, and the next season swarm, and fly away to the woods; or perhaps refuse to swarm, and remain idly clustered on the front of the hive throughout the entire honey season, and die from want of food before the winter is half gone.
Bee keeping by the ordinary methods is a very precarious and uncertain occupation. The profits are small at best, and losses large and frequent.
With my Controllable Hive and common sense system of bee management (as described in this work,) founded on correct and scientific principles, bee keeping is reduced to a science. There is no "luck," no "guess-work," no "chance" about it. There can be no loss in bee keeping without a cause; there can be no gain without a full and correct understanding of the natural habits and requirements of bees. A correct knowledge of the subject insures success.
I will now present a few statements, exhibiting the practical results which follow the use of my Controllable Hive and new system of bee management, and showing the great contrast in profits and general success in the care of bees.
In the season of 1870, one of my hives of native bees yielded two hundred and fifty-three pounds of surplus honey, in glass boxes, from the 20th of May to the 1st of July. In 1875 one hive yielded three hundred and eighty pounds of surplus honey in glass boxes during the season. This was the largest yield I ever had, and shows what is possible by liberal feeding with a thrifty stock of bees, giving them every facility, with a view of securing the largest possible amount of surplus box honey. In this case, I selected, in early spring, the very best stock I could find, and pushed it as hard as possible throughout the entire spring, summer and early fall. My success exceeded even my most sanguine expectations. As it may serve to aid others in producing large yields of honey, I will describe minutely the method pursued to secure this large and extraordinary yield.
Very early in the spring I selected the most populous stock in my possession. It was ruled by a young and exceedingly prolific Hybrid queen, a mixture of Italian and Native blood. I commenced early in the spring to feed this stock lightly but regularly, every day at evening. I fed about one-half pound of feed per day, until a few days before the flowers were in bloom profusely! This was done to encourage breeding. Very early in the spring they were fed com and rye meal, as directed in this work.
For a few days before the flowers were blooming profusely, I fed liberally—in fact, gave them all I could possibly induce them to take up; the object being to get the store comb in the body of the hive, not occupied with brood, completely filled with honey. The glass boxes, twenty-six in number (with the Feeder,) each holding about four and one-half pounds of honey, were arranged in connection with the hive (sides and top,) several weeks prior to the appearance of the flowers, that the bees might become accustomed to them, and the more readily enter them, and commence work. When I ceased feeding (which was on the appearance of the flowers yielding a good supply of honey,) the boxes were filled with bees, and comb-building had commenced. The hive was at this time filled to overflowing with bees, and the combs had brood in all stages of growth, from the egg to the perfect bee. I had taken the precaution to cut out nearly all the drone comb, and fit in its place worker comb, so I had but very few drones to consume the honey. I had also arranged so as to have no increase by swarming, but to have all the bees employed storing surplus honey in the boxes throughout the season.
As fast as the boxes were filled, they were removed, and empty ones substituted in their place. I never saw bees work with such determined industry, early and late, and in all kinds of weather. When honey failed at the end of the season, there was a set of boxes on the hive partially filled. I immediately gave the bees feed until these too were finished. I found, on weighing the product of this hive in the fall, that they had given me a fraction over three hundred and eighty pounds of surplus honey in boxes. This honey I sold at thirty-five cents a pound, a little over one hundred and thirty-three dollars, for surplus honey sold from this one stock. Reader, go thou and do likewise.
I had one stock of bees which occupied the same stand, winter and summer, for six years, and during that time they swarmed but once, and from it I sold every year over fifty dollars' worth of surplus honey in glass boxes. A neighbor several times offered me fifty dollars for this stock, early in the spring before the bees commenced their labors.
In 1874 I purchased a swarm of bees in an old box hive. They had not paid their owner a dollar in profit for years. Some seasons they would swarm and fly away to the woods; in other seasons they would remain clustered on the front of the hive through the entire season, refusing to swarm, or enter the two small boxes covered with a cap on top of the hive. I transferred the bees from this hive to the Controllable Hive, and they gave me a profit of over forty dollars the first year.
I sold my honey in 1874 for from thirty-three to thirty-five dollars per hundred gross weight—that is, no tare deducted for weight of the box. The boxes weigh each about one pound, empty, and when well filled with honey about four and one-half pounds, gross.
The present season (1880.) one stock in a Controllable Hive, in the month of June, without being fed or having extra care, yielded seventy-two pounds of surplus honey in glass boxes. Another, treated in the same manner, yielded over eighty pounds surplus, in the same time. Another new swarm, since the first week in June, filled the brood frames with honey, and produced thirty-eight pounds of surplus in glass boxes, (filling eight boxes as full as they could be crowded,) and gave me a large swarm the last week in June.
When box honey brings from thirty-three to thirty-five cents a pound, gross weight, my usual yearly average is a little over fifty dollars clean profit from the sale of box honey, from each stock of bees I keep. I intend to keep about twelve stocks each season. I sometimes have a much greater number; yet it is my purpose to keep only this number each season, for the production of surplus honey, swarms, etc. My average yield of surplus box honey is about two hundred pounds (perhaps a trifle less) from each hive of bees that I keep, during each season, when swarming is prevented and each stock liberally fed.
I will here give the testimony of a few of the many, who have adopted the plan of bee management recommended in this work. I should give the name and post-office address of each, were it not for the fact that they would receive so many letters of inquiry, as to make it very disagreeable to them. I have the original and complete letters in my possession, and such letters I am prepared to show at any time. My object in presenting this testimony here, is to show that the system of bee management recommended herein is not only successful with me, but with all intelligent bee keepers, as well.
A gentleman from Vermont writes me, under date of September 15, 1879, as follows: "I take this opportunity of informing you of the experience I have had with the bee hive received from you. About the 10th of May I transferred a swarm of bees from a box hive to the Controllable Hive. I transferred all the brood combs, and about eight or ten pounds of honey. I fed them until flowers were plenty, which encouraged them to build rapidly. About the 25th of May I put in surplus boxes on the sides, which they soon entered, and went to work. The middle of June I put boxes on top, as the bees showed symptoms of swarming. By the 10th of July the side boxes were nearly all filled, and the bees were at work in the top boxes. July 15th I took off sixteen of the twenty side boxes, well filled and capped, and placed empty ones in their places. August 5th, I took six of the ten boxes off the top, well filled. Then the dry weather set in, and the bees came to a stand-still (thinking the honey season over,) but the basswood revived it for a short time, enabling them to fill up the boxes pretty full. I obtained in all from this swarm twenty-eight boxes, weighing one hundred and ten pounds. I shall have ten hives made this winter for use the coming spring."
A gentleman writes from New York, under date of April 2d, 1879: "I have received your hive, which meets my ideas of what a bee hive should be. It contains all that is required in a bee hive, or in other words it is just the thing I have been wanting. I have been using the Quinby hive, so called, but I am now going to keep bees in earnest on your plan. I have the fullest confidence of success with your hive and plan of management. Your plan for wintering is a good one, on scientific principles, and the arrangement for feeding, and surplus honey, can't be beat."
A gentleman writes from New Hampshire, under date of April 26th, 1879: "I have tested your hive, and my bees have done first-rate. I believe the hive is just what it is represented. One strong reason why I think so much of your hive is, there were not a dozen bees died in the hive last winter, while three of my first swarms in other hives all died—some of them with fifty pounds of honey in the hive. I have lost some winters as many as fifteen or twenty swarms. I have now tested your hive to my satisfaction, and I do not believe bees will die in it, if your instructions for wintering are carried out. I think your hive is what every bee keeper should have to make a success of bee keeping."
A gentleman writes from Missouri, under date of May 1st, 1879: "Your bee hive I like very much. I put in the swarm last season. They did much better than any swarm I had in the American hive. I took away more surplus honey than from any of the others. I can recommend the Controllable Hive to all bee keepers. This spring I have put up fourteen more Controllable Hives, and shall use no other hive in future."
A lady bought a swarm of Italian bees of me in 1874, and from that one stock she increased to over twenty the third season, besides obtaining over one hundred pounds of nice surplus honey from the swarm I sent her in the first season.
Here I desire to be clearly understood. I do not wish to hold out inducements which will never be realized, for the purpose of causing any one to commence bee keeping with unreasonable expectations of profit. There is labor and care required to bring success in any enterprise; and usually the greater the care and labor bestowed on any business, the greater the reward in profits. Bees give ample return for each little care and attention bestowed upon them; and if neglected and permitted to go uncared for, there is corresponding loss. I believe that bee keeping on correct and scientific principles should be encouraged, until bees enough are kept to collect the honey now allowed to go to waste, and which, if collected, would add millions of dollars to the wealth of the country.
The statements of large yields of honey here presented, show what it is possible to do; yet no reasonable person would commence bee keeping with the expectation of realizing, on each of a dozen or more stocks kept, the large yields above specified. Some stocks will pay a much greater profit than others. And it is only under the most favorable circumstances, with our very best stocks, that we secure the results here named, such as three hundred and eighty pounds of box honey from one stock in a season This serves to illustrate what may be derived (but not what we may reasonably expect) from each stock, where a dozen or more stocks are kept. Two hundred pounds from each stock on the average is about right. And this last is only secured with good care and attention, perseverance and labor, judiciously applied to the work.
The question is often asked: "How many stocks of bees can be kept in one place on your plan?" This depends on the number of honey-yielding plants and flowers. Some localities furnish a much greater number than others. In some localities, fifty stocks would do well, and pay yearly a handsome profit; in others, it would not be profitable to keep half as many. I am in a place said to be very unfavorable to bee keeping. I find twelve stocks about the right number for me to maintain. Bees will go seven miles or more to collect honey, but the shorter the distance, the more honey will be collected, in a season; consequently the greater profit will follow.
It can only be learned by practical test how many stocks of bees may be profitably kept in any locality. Commence with a few, and increase the number moderately, until you find you have as many as you wish to keep, or as many as the locality will support, with good profit, when managed judiciously.
CHAPTER XI.
CHANGING OLD QUEENS FOR YOUNG ONES.
ON my plan of bee management, if a stock does not change its queen for three years in succession, the fourth season the old queen should be taken away, if she shows the least sign of failing, and a young, laying queen substituted in her place It often happens, if the queen in a stock dies or becomes seriously injured, that the bees will, of their own accord, rear another to take her place. But if her failure has been gradual, the bees may not have the means to do so, when she at last fails entirely, for the reason that she may cease laying, for several days or weeks previous to her death, in which case it would be impossible for the bees, without assistance, to rear another queen to take her place. They must have an egg not over five days old, from which to rear a queen. The great necessity of close observation, in order to keep each stock always supplied with a healthy, prolific queen, cannot be impressed too strongly on the mind of every bee keeper. Be sure not to neglect this very important point in successful and profitable bee keeping.
But very few seem to know the average duration of life of the honey bee. The average term of life of the worker is only a few months—not more than from two to four—a great many do not live out half that time. So it will be seen that it is only by keeping healthy and prolific queens in each stock, that we can have populous stocks, such as will pay a good profit.
In my experiments I have in several instances taken from a vigorous and very populous stock their queen, and at the same time deprived them of the means of rearing another. This was done in the honey season. In such cases the bees kept on with their labor, though with visible reluctance and an appearance of discouragement, the number of bees decreasing very rapidly, and in from two to three months nearly all had disappeared, not more than two or three hundred remaining, where there had been from thirty thousand to fifty thousand all in a prosperous condition.
Other instances have come under my observation, clearly showing that the life of the worker honey bee is only of few months duration. One case in fact will show: I removed the native queen from a very strong stock of native or black bees, in the honey season, and introduced an Italian queen, in order to change the stock from native to Italian. The reader will readily understand that every egg deposited by the Italian queen, after her introduction, will produce the Italian variety, the workers of which are entirely distinct in color from the natives. In a few days after the introduction of the Italian queen I found the natives were disappearing, and soon after the Italians began to appear. The change was very rapid. In about two months not a native or black bee could be found about the hive—all were Italians. The natives had gradually decreased, until all had disappeared, showing conclusively that they had died in the same ratio that they would have passed away from a stock naturally. During the winter season, as the bee is in a dormant state for the greater part of the time, they are given a longer lease of life.
When it is discovered that a stock has a barren queen or has lost its queen, or from any cause she has ceased to be prolific (and in consequence the bees are dwindling away,) take means immediately to substitute a prolific and healthy queen in her place, and at the same time re-enforce the stock, by taking one or more frames filled with hatching brood from a populous stock, and exchanging for those destitute of brood. In this manner the bees will be increased so as to insure safety for a few days, after which the stock, having been furnished with a prolific, healthy queen, will regain their former prosperity and vigor.
The queen being the mother of the entire swarm, and consequently all increase being dependent on her, every intelligent bee keeper will readily understand that in order to succeed, he must be sure that each stock has a prolific queen.
CHAPTER XII.
REARING AND INTRODUCING QUEENS.
IN commencing to rear queens, you will first want some small rearing boxes, or miniature hives, about four and one-half inches wide, by eight inches long, and five inches deep, inside measurement. Use inch board for the hives. Make for each hive three movable comb frames,[8] suspended the same as in the brood section of the Controllable Hive. Make the under side of the top bar, flat, instead of triangular, as in the large comb frames. Take a piece of old comb, and cut to fill each one of these small frames. Take from a pint to a quart of bees from a populous stock (in the height of the breeding season this will do no harm) without the queen-. Confine these bees in a light box, in the top of which there is an inch hole, closed, to confine them to the box, for if not confined they would return to the old stock, as the queen is not with them. Having secured your bees in the box, go to a stock, and lift out a comb containing eggs, just deposited. They may be known by their appearance. They are but a tiny speck at the bottom of the cell, about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, slightly curved, and perfectly white in color. They remain in this form from two to three days, at the end of which time they change to the form of a grub or maggot. After this change it is a risk to depend on them for queen raising, so be sure to secure for your purpose eggs. Cut from the brood comb a piece about two inches long and one-half inch wide, using a very sharp, thin knife, so not to mutilate the comb. Cut out a piece from the center comb of the miniature hive, and fit in its place the piece containing the eggs. The middle of a warm day is the best time to do this work. It is best to have one of the comb frames of the miniature hive filled with honey, to furnish food for the bees for a few days.
[8] This frame is shown in the engraving representing the different kinds of cells, in [Chapter I].
As soon as you have fitted the piece containing the eggs in its place in the miniature hive, put on a close-fitting cover. Do not nail it, as you will want to look at it every few days. Close the entrances to the miniature hive, so no bees can escape. Now open the hole in the top of the box in which the bees are confined, and set the miniature hive containing the eggs over it quickly, allowing no bees to escape. The bees will then pass from the box up into the miniature hive, cluster on the comb containing the eggs, and immediately commence the rearing of queens from the eggs thus furnished them. Keep the bees confined to the miniature hive for about thirty-six hours. Give them their liberty at first about one hour before sunset. If you do not confine them for the time stated, they will return to the hive from which you took them, but if so confined, they will forget their old home, and adhere to the miniature hive, the same as an ordinary swarm hived in the usual way. They will rear queens from the eggs given them by constructing queen cells, so arranged as to take in one of the eggs in the piece of comb furnished them, often constructing three or more cells. In about six days, open the miniature hive, and you will find these cells nearly or quite finished. Occasionally a case occurs where they do not rear queens when thus furnished with the means, but such cases are rare. If you find each one made separate, you can, if you choose, with a sharp, thin knife cut out all the cells but one, and give them to other rearing boxes not supplied with eggs, or which have failed to rear queens from the eggs furnished them. If you leave all the cells in the miniature hive as constructed, the first queen that hatches will destroy all the others. She will visit each cell, gnaw an opening in the side, curve her abdomen and insert her sting into the opening, and sting the rival queen to death while yet in her cradle. The worker bees will then enlarge the opening, and drag out the lifeless body. The victorious queen now reigns over the little colony, the same as in a large and natural swarm.
In from three to five days after hatching, if the weather is fine, the young queen will leave the miniature hive, and take a flight in the open air, to meet the drone for the purpose of fecundation. If successful, she will commence to lay in about two days. She may then be introduced to a full stock at any time desired. Recollect, it will be useless to rear queens where there are no drones.
When stocks are liberally fed early in the season, drones will appear correspondingly early. And if from a stock well supplied with drones, you remove the queen, the workers will not destroy the drones in that hive until they have obtained another fertile laying queen. With this idea in view, viz:—early and liberal feeding to produce drones early, and depriving a populous stock (well supplied with drones) of its queen the last of the season, we can have drones sufficient for our purpose from early spring until late in the fall.
I have in several instances, for the purpose of securing drones very early in the spring, deprived a populous stock, containing a large number of drones, of its queen, very late in the fall, and wintered them queenless. In this manner the drones were permitted by the bees to remain and winter with the swarm. Early in the spring they were re-enforced with hatching brood from populous stocks, but were permitted to rear no queens, in order that the drones might be preserved. As soon as drones appeared in the other stocks, this stock was furnished with a laying queen, and it was as prosperous as the best.
By this plan drones may be kept through the winter, if their services are required very early in the spring, before we can raise them from the best stocks by judicious feeding, which very rarely can be done.
The bees for rearing queens are usually obtained from populous hives, such as will hardly miss a pint or a quart from their numbers, great care being exercised not to remove the queen. The best time to get the bees is in the middle of the day. Go to a stock and first find the queen. Set the comb she is on, to one side. Put your light box (prepared as before described with a hole in the top) on a sheet near by, with one edge raised an inch. Take one or more combs from the hive (being careful not to get the one with the queen,) and shake the bees from them, down beside the box, which they will readily enter. When you have bees enough in the box, close it so none can escape. You now have the bees ready to put in the miniature hive, as before directed.
I think I have given such instruction as will enable any one, after a little practice, to rear queens successfully.[9] I will follow it with such information as will insure success in introducing queens into full stocks of bees.
[9] By taking brood for rearing queens only from such stocks as exhibit the greatest industry, mildness of disposition, vigor in withstanding the cold, etc., I find lam able to greatly improve the desirable qualities of my bees from year to year. This systematic course of treatment has produced swarms possessing very valuable characteristics. It is surprising to note the difference in profits and ease of management, between bees that have always been left to take their own course, and such as have had their most desirable traits cultivated and improved to the greatest possible extent for a term of years. The difference is almost as marked as between the savage in his native wilds, and the most intelligent and highly educated member of society.
Here let me caution bee keepers never to attempt to introduce a queen into a full stock of bees, until she has begun to lay. A young queen, not fecundated, will be destroyed in nine cases out of ten, in spite of every precaution. Before introducing a queen, the old queen in the stock, if any exists, must be taken away. Make your search for her in the middle of the day, as at that time most of the workers are away. Use but very little smoke, and that only at the entrance, as the bees should remain spread over the combs as evenly as possible. If you use much smoke they will rush to the bottom and the corners of the hive, and it is very likely the queen might seek a hiding-place with the others, where you could not find her. If not disturbed, the queen will be found in the comb among the bees. When ready to proceed, having smoked them lightly at the entrances (a puff at each entrance is sufficient,) lift out the comb carefully, avoiding any jar, and look them over for the queen. It is said the Italian queens are more readily found than the natives, but I could never see any difference. Hold the frame up in front of your face, so as to have a good view, and look each comb over carefully till you find the queen. When found, remove her. Always return the combs so they will occupy the same position as before.
As soon as the queen is removed, and the bees are aware of their loss, they will usually commence to rear another queen from the worker eggs to take her place. To make a sure thing of it, they often start to produce a half-dozen or more.
In six days after removing the queen, smoke the bees well, to get the combs as clear of them as possible. Do this in the middle of the day. When you have driven the most of the bees from the comb to the bottom and into the corners of the hives, lift out the combs, and look sharply for queen cells, (success depends on thorough work here.) With a sharp knife cut out and destroy every such cell that is finished or commenced. Don't leave any part of a queen cell in the hive, for the bees will not accept a strange queen if they have the means of raising one of their own. Having destroyed every queen cell, finished or unfinished, return the combs to the hive; but before putting the honey board over the brood section, cut a hole in it a little smaller than the top of a tumbler. Cover this hole with a light piece of board, simply laid on, (not nailed, for you will need to remove it without jar.) Then put the honey board in its place over the brood section.
Let the hive remain until near sunset, for the bees to get quiet, and to learn that they are without a queen and without the means of rearing another. Just before sunset, take the queen you propose to introduce, and with her a score or more of workers, and put them in a tumbler with a piece of wire cloth over the top to keep them in. (To get her from the miniature hive, where she was reared, to the tumbler, take it to a close room, before a window, so if she takes wing she may alight there.) Go to the hive into which she is to be introduced, and remove the cap, avoiding any jar that may irritate the bees. Take off the board over the hole in the honey board, and turn the tumbler containing the queen bottom up over it, keeping the wire cloth between the queen in the tumbler and the bees in the hive. Replace the cap to the hive, and let the queen and her attendant bees remain in the tumbler, in communication with the bees in the hive through the wire cloth, until the next day, near sunset. Then take a teaspoonful of honey, go to the hive, and remove the cap, this time with the greatest possible care, as the slightest jar will endanger success. Raise the tumbler carefully from off the queen, and with the honey smear her completely over, then turn the wire cloth over carefully, and let the queen and her attendant bees down through the hole in the honey board, among the bees of the hive. Replace the cap as quietly as possible, and the work is done. In about one week examine the combs of this hive for eggs, and if they are found, you can consider your work crowned with success. If no eggs are discovered, you must go over the ground again. But be sure there are no eggs in the combs before you repeat the work.
This plan of introducing queens is the most successful of any I have ever tested. It rarely fails. When a laying queen is removed from one of the miniature hives, the bees will usually rear queens from the eggs left when the queen is removed.
CHAPTER XIII.
SOURCES OF HONEY.
THE sources from which bees collect honey are various and almost innumerable. Almost every flower, tree, plant, shrub and vine, in field, forest, pasture and garden yield honey to some extent. White clover, is, perhaps, the greatest source of honey in the New England and Middle States, it being found to a greater or less extent in almost every field and pasture. South and west there is, in many localities, a profusion of wild flowers, producing considerable quantities of honey. In some sections buckwheat affords a rich harvest. Basswood yields a very nice quality of honey, and in sections where it abounds, great quantities are collected from it. Fruit blossoms—apple, pear, peach, and all the different varieties of plums, cherries, etc., are very important sources of honey.
Pollen is the first material gathered by the bees in early spring. Several varieties of alder, willow, red maple, etc., produce pollen in great abundance. Raspberry, blackberry, catnip, dandelion, etc., all contribute largely of honey in their season. Corn, and most kinds of grain, furnish pollen in abundance late in the season. Mustard and sweet clover are great favorites with the busy bee, yielding the most beautiful honey, clear as crystal and white as snow. The sugar maple produces honey of excellent quality, and where forests of this tree abound, large quantities of honey are stored, while it is in blossom in early spring.[10] Locust, whitewood, mignonette, golden rod, sumach, etc., all produce honey. When we take into consideration the fact that the bee will go seven miles or more to collect his sweets, it is easy to understand that a certain number of swarms will succeed in almost any locality, even without feeding. To make this still more clear, we have only to take into account the vast number of honey yielding flowers, trees, plants, shrubs, etc., within a circle of fourteen miles in diameter, the hives occupying the center, and the bees flying to collect honey seven miles in every direction from the hive. Those who have not tested the matter, will be likely to dispute the statement, that a bee will go seven miles to gather honey. But on this point I am able to offer ample proof, to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, the fact that the Italian bee will go that distance. The proof I offer is this: The first Italian bees brought into the New England States, I had the honor of receiving. The Italian bees being entirely distinct from the native or black bees in color and size, I determined to avail myself of the opportunity offered to satisfy myself on the long-disputed question—"How far a bee will go to collect honey." I therefore made close and repeated examinations, at different times during the honey season, and it was no uncommon occurrence, to find the Italian workers seven miles from their hives. As there were no Italian bees except mine within hundreds of miles, I considered this positive proof that that variety will travel seven miles from its hive in its search for honey-producing flowers. As the native or black bee is, to some extent, found in all parts of the country, it is impossible to prove conclusively the distance they will go from the hive; yet my observations give very strong evidence that they journey five miles or more after honey.
[10] Climate and soil are so variable, it is impossible to give the sources of honey so as to apply minutely to every locality. I shall strive to designate the principal sources. The bee keeper will very soon learn from experience and observation, what are the principal sources of honey in that particular locality. Many different flowers, trees and shrubs are found in one section yielding honey profusely which do not exist in another.
When the distance a bee will go for honey is so well established, and having found from repeated tests that the flowers, when yielding honey, may be visited many times each day by the bee, and yield at each visit a bountiful supply, we can form some idea of the vast amount of honey now permitted to go to waste, which might be collected by bees and stored in nice boxes, and thus add wealth and enjoyment to the human family.
The bee keeper sometimes finds his bees idle, when the flowers are in bloom in profusion, the sun shining brightly, and, to the superficial observer, everything indicating honey in abundance. And yet the bees are dormant, and scarcely a one flying about the hives, notwithstanding the hives and boxes are full of them. The truth of the matter is, there is no honey in the flowers, although they are in full bloom. The air is dry and clear. Suddenly there is a change, the atmosphere becomes moist and charged with electricity, with occasionally light showers. Immediately all is activity about the hives. The greatest show of industry is manifested; scores of workers, and in some cases a hundred, coming into each hive every minute, loaded with honey, many of them so heavily weighted that they fall to the ground before they reach the hive, where they rest a moment, and then try again, usually succeeding in entering with their load. I have seen a change, as here described, brought about in a half-hour's time in the middle of the day, viz: The bees pass from an idle, almost entirely dormant state, to the greatest activity and industry. And all because a change in the atmosphere had caused the flowers to secrete honey. The question arises. How did the bees know at that particular hour there was a change, and that the flowers, which a few minutes before were destitute of honey, were now bountifully supplied? I answer, the bee was aware of the change almost the moment it took place. The bee is very sensitive to all atmospheric changes. A case in point will show this: The bees are collecting honey abroad in the fields. The day is warm and balmy. Suddenly there is the appearance of a shower, and distant thunder is heard. Immediately the bees came rushing in from the fields, in clouds. They cover the entire front of their hives, in their eagerness to gain a shelter from the approaching rain. Again, if the morning is cloudy and dark, with every appearance of rain, and you find the bees leaving their hives for the fields, you may be quite certain that rain is not near, and may expect soon to see the sun break forth and the clouds disperse. If, on the other hand there is an appearance of rain, and the bees are quiet in their hives, it is quite sure to rain in a very short time. How wonderful are the workings of nature. How great the sagacity of the little, busy bee. Who dares say that this wonderful little insect does not possess the power of reasons? But I am digressing from the subject.
Bees, in their journeys to collect honey, seldom visit more than one species of flower, plant or shrub, at one excursion; and this is a wise provision of nature, for were it otherwise, and any and all species visited promiscuously, the vegetable world would be thrown into chaos, by the fertilizing dust of one species being imparted to another, through the medium of the bee.
Pollen as fast as collected is deposited in little basket-like cavities on the inside of the bee's posterior legs. It is packed in little pellets, varying in size from that of a pin's head to a small pea. In color it is usually yellow, but sometimes green or red. Hundreds of bees may be seen entering the hives with pollen at almost any time in the honey season, particularly in the morning before the dew is off the grass. It is easier for the bees to collect it at this time, as the moisture causes it the more readily to adhere to the cavities of the legs. Honey when collected is deposited in the stomach of the bee, in which it is borne to the hive, and there deposited in cells in the comb. The bee has the power of raising this honey from its stomach, in the same manner that all ruminating animals raise the cud.
Some have contended that bees cause an injury to all kinds of fruit, such as apples, peaches, plums, etc., by taking away the substance and sweetness, in the form of honey, which otherwise would be absorbed, and eaten with the fruit. This is a great mistake. The provisions of nature are wise in this respect as in all others. There is the strongest evidence to prove that honey, once secreted in the cups of the tiny blossoms, never returns to the flower or fruit, but evaporates and passes into the air. Who, in passing an apple or peach orchard in full bloom, has not noticed the delicious fragrance; which is undoubtedly honey which has evaporated from the myriads of blossoms. It is very plain to the close observer that nature has placed in the cups of flowers this honey, expressly as food for the honey bee, and that it is in harmony with all her great and wonderful works.
CHAPTER XIV.
LOCATION OF HIVES.
IN locating your hives, place them on the south side of buildings, or a close board fence facing south, south-east or south-west. If possible, locate in the shade of some trees, where they Will be shaded from the sun from nine o'clock in the forenoon until one in the afternoon, or a little later. If no trees afford shade, arrange a roof over each hive, which shall shade the entire hive, and especially the front, in the summer season. But in spring and fall it is better to let the bees have the full benefit of the sun's rays, shining directly upon the hive. Construct a separate stand for each hive, as follows: Cut boards about three feet long, and joists three by six inches square (two pieces of the latter two feet long;) nail the ends of the boards to these pieces, so as to form a stand, when placed on the ground, three feet long, two feet wide and six inches high. This gives a free circulation of air beneath the stand. Set your hive on this stand, the rear of the hive even with the rear of the stand, which leaves the stand projecting a foot or more in front, making an admirable place for the bees to alight before entering the hive. Set your stands three feet apart, and make them perfectly level before placing your hive upon them.
Place an alighting board in front of each hive. Get a board about eighteen inches wide and two feet long. Nail on some cleats at each end, to prevent warping. Rest one edge of this board on the ground, the other edge on the end of the platform in front of the hive. By this arrangement many bees will be saved in early spring which would otherwise be lost. By the old plan of setting the hives two or three feet high, with no alighting board, and a free draught of wind beneath, the loss of bees was very great, especially in the early spring months, on chilly afternoons following a very warm forenoon. The bees, returning loaded with pollen, are unable to reach a hive placed so high, and are blown to the earth by the hundreds, and becoming chilled, die. The death of a few bees is a great loss in early spring, for they are required in keeping up the animal heat in the hive to forward breeding.
The location of bees as here recommended will be found greatly superior to any other, for other reasons than those mentioned, and which are too numerous to herein specify.
Every one who commences bee keeping should ever remember, that bees always mark the location of their hives. The young bee the first time it leaves the hive invariably does this. The same is true with all swarms, in the first flight in early spring, after being dormant in the hive through the winter months.
In marking the location, the bee comes from the hive, and at the entrance rises on the wing. Turning its head toward the hive, it recedes in circles, backward, at first describing a circle so small as to be scarcely perceptible, but enlarging as the distance from the hive is increased. They thus take into view all objects surrounding the hive, so that they are able to return to their own hives without difficulty. After one or two excursions begun in this manner, the bee leaves the hive in a direct line for the fields, without taking any further precaution whatever, and returns by its knowledge of the objects in the vicinity of the hives, without difficulty.
Notwithstanding there might be a hundred hives standing in a line, with only a few inches space between each, and all of the same color and appearance, if left to itself no bee would enter the hive of its neighbor, although there might be hundreds of thousands of the busy workers, from all the hives, dying promiscuously about in the air. Each bee knows its own hive perfectly, and if from any accident it enters its neighbor's house, immediate death is usually the result; or possibly it may escape, after being roughly handled, and made to understand that it is trespassing on forbidden ground.
Some bee keepers, with little knowledge of their occupation, often remove a hive of bees several rods, in the working season. The result is, all the bees that had marked the location (and all the old bees had done this) are lost. They would continue to leave the hive in a direct line, after its removal, not taking the precaution to mark the location, as they were unaware of the change, and when they were ready to return, they would return to the former place.
Bees may be safely moved a dozen miles or more, at any time, as this takes them beyond their knowledge of country; but in such cases set the hives six feet apart at least. If this precaution is not taken and the hives are set close together, the bees will rush from the hives on being let out, not knowing the location has been changed, and when they return, many will enter the wrong hive, and be slaughtered without mercy.
Therefore, let stocks be placed, early in the spring, before they have marked the situation of the stands they are to occupy for the summer, and not change them after the bees have commenced their labors—at least change them no less distance than twelve miles.
CHAPTER XV.
WINTERING BEES.
THE subject of wintering bees is of the greatest importance, and one which is generally very imperfectly understood, if we may judge from the large number of swarms lost every winter and spring. There are many methods recommended as "the best" for wintering bees. One will tell you to keep them cold; another to keep them warm. One will say, put them in the cellar; another, bury them in the ground; another put them in the attic. Is it any wonder that the beginner becomes confused and disgusted at so much conflicting advice? That bees have been wintered safely by any and all of these old plans I shall not dispute. But I am certain that neither plan will, alone, prove successful in the majority of cases.
By all the methods heretofore recommended, a large number of bees die from each stock, during the winter; so reducing them in numbers that it takes nearly the entire summer for them to regain in numbers what they have lost; while a very large number of stocks are lost entirely.
It will be readily understood that the greater the number of bees in a hive in early spring, the more warmth will be generated; consequently the more rapidly will the brood mature and the bees increase in numbers. It is of the greatest importance to have strong stocks in early spring This is one of the strong points of the new system of management, taught in this book.
In nearly all the hives now in use, there is no proper ventilation, consequently the honey in such hives becomes sour, the comb mouldy, and the bees diseased. It is impossible, in our variable climate, to winter bees successfully, for any number of years, with any degree of certainty, in the great majority of the ordinary hives.
Some, who have met with heavy losses in winter, have taken the ground that the loss was caused by a poor quality of honey, stored by the bees in a wet season, or a large yield late in the fall. But this is a great mistake. Bees will not collect and store honey not suited to their use as food; they make no mistakes on this point.
I might discuss in detail all the different methods of wintering bees, and show the great losses attending each, with causes, etc., but by so doing I should consume more space than I can give in this work. I shall therefore confine my remarks to ordinary conditions of bees in winter, and the requisites to insure uniform success in wintering.
In the winter bees cluster as closely together as circumstances admit, and the severity of the cold demands. The more severe the cold, the closer they cluster together, in order the better to keep up the animal heat necessary to maintain life.
By all the old methods, the cluster of bees is divided by the sheets of comb, which is a great hindrance to successful wintering. In such cases the bees cannot cluster compactly together, but are spread out between the different sheets of comb. In the Controllable Hive, and on the plan of wintering here recommended, the bees in very cold weather cluster in the space between the wire cloth of the ventilator and the top of the frames of the brood section. They are here able to keep up the required amount of animal heat, as they can cluster compactly, without anything to separate them.
By the ordinary plan, in sudden turns of very cold weather, the bees between the outer combs are often frozen to death. "Oh!" says some one, "that's all humbug; you can't freeze a bee." Certainly you can. To satisfy yourself of this, after a very cold turn of weather, look under your box hives, if you have them, or any patent hive having a loose bottom board to admit of an examination, and see if you do not find hundreds of bees which have fallen dead from the outside combs. I have examined hundreds of stocks, and found them as here described. If you don't believe a bee will freeze, take out a dozen from a hive, in a severely cold spell of weather in mid-winter, confine them in a box, and set them out doors, letting them remain only one night. See if they are not dead beyond resuscitation, the next morning. This notion that bees will not freeze is a great mistake, and has led to some very foolish experiments in wintering them.
A swarm of bees of average size, put in proper condition for winter, will not freeze; but from this it does not follow that a bee is proof against the greatest possible degree of cold. When bees are prepared for winter, as herein directed, they will, as before stated, cluster compactly together. And as the cold increases the cluster will contract, in accordance with the increasing of the cold, and consequently no loss of bees occur.
Another great cause of loss in winter is in proper ventilation, or no ventilation at all. Every swarm of bees throws off a considerable amount of moisture from their bodies. In very cold weather, if the hive is not properly ventilated, this moisture collects on the combs at the sides and top of the hives, in the form of frost and ice. In moderate weather this frost and ice melts, and runs down into the hive, completing saturating the bees, and then, if a sudden change to extremely cold weather takes place, all are destroyed by freezing; or if they chance to survive the winter, the moisture causes the combs to mould, the honey becomes sour, and thin like water, rendering it unsuitable food for the bee, and bringing on diseases—dysentery, bee cholera, foul brood, etc., and in a short time the bees are all destroyed. Thousands of good swarms are lost every winter by improper management, and from being kept in hives not suitable for wintering. I give directions for wintering on my plan, in Controllable Hives, and I feel confident, if directions are carefully followed, that many stocks will be saved annually, which otherwise would have perished.