TO GET DRONES AND PRESERVE THEM THE ENTIRE SEASON
Much has been said in the various bee-papers as to how drones can best be obtained and preserved the entire queen-rearing season. Here is how it is done in the Bay State Apiary. When I have settled upon the colony that it is most desirable to rear drones from, a full sheet of drone comb is placed in the centre of the brood-nest. There being no drone comb of any amount in the hive, the queen at once puts an egg in each cell. This comb is allowed to remain in the colony till most of the drone brood is capped, then it is removed and placed in a queenless colony, or one that is caring for queen-cells, or has a lot of virgin queens in the nursery. Another frame of drone comb is at once placed in the same hive. The bees, finding they have no drones or drone-brood, at once commence to rear another lot. This goes on all through the season. I have found that one colony of bees will supply all the drones needed for the entire queen-rearing season, or for many thousands of queens.
Please understand that when forage is cut off, the colony must be fed in order to stimulate drone brood-rearing.
If the reader knows of any better way to get drones for queen-rearing or for doing any of the things on the foregoing pages, by all means adopt and practice them. I have given you methods that have been successful many years.
WHEN, WHAT AND HOW TO FEED NUCLEI
I think I can save all who use my system of nuclei very much trouble by giving instructions how to care for such colonies, and to make the method a success, and prevent robbing in the apiary. Under no circumstances ever feed anything but plain sugar syrup to the small colonies. If you use honey your entire nucleus apiary will be ruined within a few hours, providing there are any full colonies of bees near them. Sugar syrup is all that is needed to keep the nuclei up to the highest standard of prosperity.
There are three reasons why such small colonies should be fed as above stated. 1. To keep them in food. 2. To prevent the bees from deserting the hives and 3, to stimulate the bees and cause the queens to fly and mate promptly. Now the last reason is very important. Unless these little families of bees are fed as often as each five days, the bees will desert the hive (swarm out), even though they have plenty of stores and brood. Of course they will not “swarm out” unless there is a queen to go with them.
Make the syrup as follows: Put 13 lbs. of granulated sugar in a 10 quart bucket and add enough water to fill the receptacle. This is about right—not too thin nor too heavy. See that all the sugar is dissolved before using.
The feeder illustrated in fig. [15] is cone-shaped, made of tin and is atmospheric in principle. When filled it is inverted; the opening covered by a piece of thin cloth, the collar (a) put on to keep the cloth in place, and when thus prepared the food will not leak out. An aperture, an inch in diameter, is made in the cover of the hive about an inch from the front edge; and as the apex of the feeder is but seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, is held firmly in place, and no amount of heavy wind will dislodge it.
