Volume 3 — EXPERIMENTAL BEE FARM NOTES.

On account of the many duties devolving upon us in establishing our bee farm we have not as yet been able to carry out any of the experiments that we mean to test for the benefit of our readers.

While for the purpose of experimenting we shall devote some colonies to the production of honey, both comb and extracted, yet this season’s operations will be confined almost exclusively to queen-rearing.

We start with about one hundred colonies of the different races of bees. The season thus far (in this locality) has been unusually backward and trying, giving us but little warm, pleasant weather and but few days when the bees could gather honey freely.

Last winter most of our colonies were wintered in the beehouse and were removed to the summer stands, about the 28th of March, in fine condition and there seemed to be but little difference between their condition and that of those wintered on the summer stands. The first work of the season commenced when the bees were removed from the beehouse. The hives were cleared (as much as possible without removing the combs) of dead bees; the honey boards with which the hives were covered during winter were removed and replaced with mats on the top of which chaff cushions were placed.

We kept our colonies well packed that they might be snug and warm even during the sudden changes in temperature and we make it a rule never to remove such packing until warm weather has “come to stay.”

As soon as the bees could be handled safely the colonies were examined and all combs outside the cluster were removed. This is an excellent practice, as by reducing the capacity of the brood chamber to the size of the cluster we enable the bees to maintain sufficient heat to carry on brood-rearing much more rapidly than when they are surrounded by a cold vacant space.

At the time of setting out the bees, the entrances to the hives were all contracted to about one inch and it is wonderful to see what a help this is to the bees in keeping the hive warm.

In a few days after being removed from the bee-house the bees were busily engaged in carrying in the artificial pollen (wheat flour) which we provided for them placing it near by in the apiary.

Brood-rearing soon commenced and in about four weeks the colonies began to show marked signs of increase.

Soon we found it necessary to add empty combs wherein the queens might deposit eggs. While in the hands of the expert this is a safe and sure method of building up the colonies rapidly, yet it must be conducted with caution else during a warm spell the queens may utilize more combs than the bees can cluster and thus neglect the brood in the outside combs which in such case must perish. Never spread brood faster than it can be covered and well protected by the bees even during the cool nights. During the last few days in April the weather was favorable for honey gathering and a few pounds were stored by each colony from the soft maple bloom.

Our colonies have been so well protected that they were not troubled with spring dwindling and soon they became so strong in numbers as to be in fine condition for queen-rearing.

It is poor policy both for the breeder and for the honey producer to attempt to rear queens with any but the most populous colonies if they want first-class queens.

At this date we have between 300 and 400 queen cells in all stages of construction and quite a large number of queens ready for fertilization.

Our queen-rearing is conducted by the methods given in the Beekeepers’ Handy Book; and, indeed, after having practised all the various methods, we would as soon think of going back to the old box-hive system of keeping bees as to practise the old unsatisfactory and uncertain methods of rearing queen bees.

It is a pleasure to examine the nice evenly built and conveniently spaced rows of cells found in the queen-rearing colonies now under Mr. Alley’s supervision. It is indeed a most interesting sight and one that we would be pleased to share with our beekeeping friends to whom we extend a most cordial invitation to visit us. We shall endeavor to impart to all our visitors all the information possible regarding queen-rearing and the general management of the apiary as conducted at our “bee farm.” At present we have four races of bees from which we are propagating queens, prominent among which are the orange-yellow Italians. We confidently assert that we never saw or possessed a more beautiful or hardy strain of pure Italian bees.

We shall run four separate apiaries situated about three miles apart in order to keep each race strictly pure.

We have set out one hundred “prickly comfrey” plants, purchased of Mr. Arthur Todd of Philadelphia, Pa., and shall refer to them again later in the season. We have also sown one and a half acres of Bokhara clover for the bees and it will pay our readers to utilize every waste spot (at least) with either or both of the above. Increase in pasturage means increase in surplus honey. It is now time to prepare for the coming honey harvest and indeed in many sections of the country the surplus boxes have been placed in the hives, or the honey extractor resorted to. When the colonies that are to be run for section honey become populous and begin to build white comb along the edges of the top bars, and perhaps between the combs, it is well to place one set of sections on the hives but they should have only the amount of surplus room that they can utilize and other sections should be added as they are needed.

A piece of comb foundation one-half the size of the section, cut in the shape of a triangle and attached point downward, will be a wonderful help to the bees and prove a paying investment to the apiarist.

If some colonies seem strong but do not utilize the sections readily, just exchange their empty sections with partially filled sets (bees and all) from other colonies. This is a plan practised more than twenty-five years ago by Mr. Alley and Mr. John J. Gould, formerly of Wenham. Mr. G. was at one time one of the largest beekeepers in this State.

Mr. Pond, however, credits a beekeeper in Maine with being the originator of this most excellent plan for inducing the bees to enter the sections.

There is one disadvantage in connection with this practice that Mr. Pond and others fail to give.

It often happens that when a colony at work in the sections is disturbed, the queens will run up into the latter and in the removal may be lost. To prevent this make as little disturbance in the transferring as possible and smoke down, into the hive, all the bees that cluster on the tops of the frames.

The bees removed with the sections will not quarrel with their new neighbors.

There are many items that would prove interesting to our readers but we have already devoted more space than we intended to this department and must await another opportunity.