How to Do Things

Bees     |     Putting Outdoors

When Bees are Put Outdoors

March the Beginning of the Bee Calendar

     Beekeepers who wintered their bees out-of-doors in hives properly protected, will have little to do with them in March, unless they live in the Southern States.  Those who wintered their colonies in special repositories or cellars, however, will find the month of March to be an exceedingly busy one; for, generally speaking, March is the time to put the bees out-of-doors.  Some progressive beekeepers, in places where the temperature during the winter gets below zero, wait until the pussy-willows are in bloom before setting colonies out.

Wrapping the Hives

     In taking the colonies out of their winter quarters it is best to give them some added protection in the form of telescope cases, after first wrapping the hives with old newspapers.  Where cases are not at hand, the hives can be wrapped with old papers and the whole then wrapped with waterproof paper, tied in place, leaving the hive entrance open for air, etc.

Spring Dwindling

     Reports from many beekeepers tell me that spring dwindling is one of their greatest handicaps, that the colonies become so weak that they are not strong enough to secure much surplus from the early flows, that it takes practically all spring and summer for the bees to recover from spring dwindling, and that they become strong only in time for the late flow from buckwheat, goldenrod and aster.

     I have in mind one beekeeper in New York State with colonies running into the hundreds, whose whole surplus is practically from buckwheat.  He has told me on several occasions that the reason he secures so little from the clover and basswood is because of spring dwindling, which so reduces the number of bees in each colony that it takes the colonies all summer to build up.  The added protection given the colonies when placed outdoors will in a large measure overcome the spring dwindling.

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How to Do Things

The Spring Start     |     Bees

Starting the Bees in the Spring

     April is ordinarily a busy time among the bees, as experience proves; they gather much pollen and often considerable nectar.

     Naturally where the colonies have ample stores with the added nectar, brood rearing is going on at an astonishing rate, and much brood is maturing.

     If the colonies have not sufficient stores on hand, it is a good thing to remedy matters at once; and, personally, I haven't much faith in the idea of stimulative feeding for brood rearing--that is, giving the colony a small amount of syrup every day.  I believe the better plan is to give them what they need at one feeding, say from ten to twenty pounds of syrup.

Feed if Necessary

     This feed is made by mixing equal parts of hot water and granulated sugar and stirring it until the sugar is completely dissolved.

     Care should be exercised in feeding, to prevent robbing by other bees, and not to chill the sensitive brood.

     If colonies are rearing much brood and there comes a sudden shortage of food for same, then there is great danger of the entire colony of bees and brood perishing from starvation.

     This need not be feared if the colony went into winter quarters with ample stores; but if the colony is not amply supplied at this time, then the condition must be remedied at once to avoid disaster.

     The most desirable way to feed is in some overhead feeder, with all the feed given at one feeding, seeing that the hive is warmly packed, especially the upper story hive body in which the feeder is placed, and all packed with cloths or other material that will conserve the heat of the colony.

Transfer Brood from Strong Colonies

     Weak colonies should be strengthened by giving them frames of sealed brood and bees from the strong colonies, care being exercised that the queen from the strong hive shall not be upon the frame of brood given the weak one, or else there will be a queen lost to the strong colony and brood rearing will be seriously retarded in that hive.

     The combs taken from the strong colony must be replaced with a like number of combs from the weak one.  I would not advise taking more than two or three combs of brood and bees from any strong colony.

Watch for Bee-Moth

     The larvae of the bee-moth will begin to make its appearance, and should be destroyed, as one moth destroyed now will prevent the appearance of thousands in the fall.  While there isn't much danger to a strong colony from the bee-moth, yet it is decidedly annoying to have perfectly good combs destroyed later on.  That is, combs stored in the honey house.  Swatting the bee-moth now will largely prevent its appearance in the fall.

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How to Do Things

Bees     |     Swarming

     Some colonies will possibly be found to be queenless, and this is a condition which should be remedied as soon as possible by securing queens from the Southern queen rearers.  If this is not possible, then two or three frames of young larvae, not more than two or three days old, should be given the queenless colonies, that they may rear a queen at the earliest possible time.

Rear Your Own Queens

     It is a mighty good thing to rear one's own queens, and requeen every colony later with a young queen of the season's raising, as these young queens will be splendid and prolific layers, and colonies headed by young queens are not so likely to cast swarms as those headed by older ones.

     Queen rearing is neither a difficult nor an intricate thing, and where the bee-keeper has a good strain of bees it is a decided advantage in many respects always to rear his own queens.

     From many parts of the country come complaints of foul brood being introduced into apiaries as the result of securing queens from apiaries that are more or less affected; but where the beekeeper raises his own queens from perfectly healthy colonies, he has nothing to fear from outside contamination, so far as introducing queens is concerned.

     If the supers are not ready for surplus honey in April, it is high time they were all assembled, as May is the time for the colonies to work in the supers.

     Unite such colonies as may be very weak, and in the uniting save the surplus queens, especially if they are young and vigorous, as they can be used for making increase in May.

Swarming Time Among the Bees

     In the northern section of the country, June is more prolific in swarms than May, but the experienced beekeepers look with positive aversion upon natural swarms, with the possibility of their emergence and loss in the absence of the beekeeper from the yard.

     For this reason the expert beeman in no sense depends upon natural swarming for increase of colonies, but at this time resorts to artificial increase made at his and not the bees' convenience.

Artificial Swarms

     The method is both simple and easy:  From strong colonies take two or three frames of hatching brood with adhering bees, but without the queen, and in addition a frame heavy with honey, and place all in an empty hive, filling out the hive with combs or frames of foundation and with a queen in a cake inserted between two of the frames of hatching brood.

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How to Do Things

Midsummer Care     |     Bees

     Close the entrance with a strip of wood, and remove the hive to its permanent location and leave it severely alone for four or five days until the bees become accustomed to their new quarters and have released the queen.

     Then pull back the strip at the hive entrance and give the bees an opening of about an inch, increasing it as the bees become more numerous; and before the time comes for winter quarters the nucleus will build up into a booming colony if there is a reasonable flow of nectar in the fields.

     In the hands of an expert, even one frame of hatching brood can be made into a strong colony; but for the novice two or four are better.

What to Do With Natural Swarms

     Should natural swarms emerge, then after they are hived in a new hive all the section supers with bees should be removed from the nearest parent colony and placed upon the hive containing the swarm, as the swarm is made up largely of the working force of the colony, and to leave the sections on the old hive is a loss of time and honey.

     Every weak colony should be strengthened by frames of hatching brood from the strong ones.  Thus equalize things in the apiary.

Select Your Breeding Stock

     By using the eggs, or rather the larvae from some queen whose offspring possess good qualities--such as gentleness, good wintering and energetic honey-gathering--the quality of the bees of the apiary may be enhanced.

     A beekeeper should be just as anxious to build up a good strain as a stock man or poultryman; and a little care will spell success.

     All queens are not equally desirable.  Here and there we may find a queen whose bees are a pleasure to work with, and it is from these queens that we should use the larvae to propagate and make new queens.

     A concrete stand for each hive is a thing to be desired, as it not only lifts the hive above the mud, weeds and natural enemies (such as toads and snakes), but makes it much easier for the field bees to leave and return to their homes.

     All hives should be painted with a good quality of white paint, as this not only preserves the hives but reflects rather than absorbs the heat of the sun.

The Busy Bee in Midsummer

     The swarming season is practically over, though some swarms will emerge during July.

     The bees are on the home-stretch now, gathering much nectar from the clovers; and about the middle of July is the proper time to harvest the crop and keep it separate from the later fall flow of darker and not so richly flavored honey.

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Bees     |     Nectar Supply

     In the matter of giving the bees additional storage room and harvesting the clover honey, one can not go entirely by the calendar, but must be governed by the conditions afield and the condition of the colony, as each colony will require individual treatment.

Watch the Nectar Supply

     If the clovers show a tendency to stop secreting nectar, and here and there patches of it are beginning to die, then we should give no further supply of empty section supers, but rather permit the bees to concentrate all their energies upon what sections they have, as it is folly to end the season with a large number of unfinished sections on hand.

     If the season has been late, then the wise thing to do is to let the supers remain on even beyond the twentieth of the month, and be governed by the conditions prevailing afield.

Uncapping the Combs for Extracting

     In harvesting the honey from the extracting combs, a good sharp honey uncapping knife is a necessity; and two are better than one, as one can remain in a pan of hot water on the stove while the other is in use, and the knives changed with every two or three combs uncapped.  Hot water not only cleans the knives of honey and wax, but by keeping the knife hot makes it cut more readily.

     In any case the knives should be very sharp.

     Holding the kife at just the right angle, it is a very easy matter when it is heated to slice off the caps of the combs in the extracting frames, and make them ready for extracting.

     The honey and the wax that adhere to the kife can be scraped off into a can, and the honey separated from the wax by heating the honey until the wax melts and rises to the surface; when the mass is cooled the wax can be taken off without trouble.

Storage

     In harvesting the comb-honey greater care must be exercised, and under no condition should the section combs be stored in a cold or damp place.

     The cellar is the worst place imaginable for it, and an ice-box is certain to make it sweat and run over the combs and spoil its appearance.

     The warm attic is an excellent place, but be carful to have it stored so that no robber bees can gain access to it.

     By all means use a bee escape board in taking off the supers containing the sections.

Late Summer With the Bees

     It is a serious mistake to believe that little if any honey can be gathered after the early clovers are exhausted, for in many sections of the country where buckwheat is not grown the fall flow from the asters and goldenrod even exceeds that from the earlier bloom.

How to Do Things

Extracting Honey     |     Bees

     While the honey from the late bloom is lacking in the light color and delicate aroma so characteristic of the clovers, yet there is a steady demand for it, and with the increased cost of living its price in many instances equals that paid for the clovers a few years ago.

     Naturally there will be a short period of scarcity between the clover flow and the late fall one, and the bees will be inclined to rob, and careful attention should be given the apiary to prevent this.

Watch Out for Robbers

     It may be wise to contract the entrances of the hives for a short period to prevent robbing, and in the case of weak colonies this is absolutely necessary, for as a rule strong colonies are amply able to repel robbers, while the weaker colonies are the ones which suffer.

     In sections of the country where buckwheat is abundant and constitutes the main flow, the beekeeper will be kept busy, and swarming may be resumed on a large scale.

Buckwheat Honey

     While the buckwheat honey has a somewhat rank flavor, very distasteful to some people, still there are others who prefer it to all others, as it has a characteristic bee flavor, and makes a nice combination with buckwheat cakes and country sausage in the winter.

     Perhaps the largest producer of buckwheat honey in the country is Frank Alexander, of Delanson, N.Y., and on one occasion his apiary produced as much as 70,000 pounds of extracted buckwheat honey.

Extracting and Artificial Ripening

     Mr. Alexander's methods of harvesting these bumper crops vary from the extablished rules.  He extracts from the super combs  before the cells are capped over and while the nectar is very  watery, and allows it to ripen in huge vats, into which the nectar runs right from the extractor.

     The apiary has about 800 colonies right in one yard, the largest individual apiary in the country, and only possible because Mr. Alexander is located right in the heart of the buckwheat region of New York State.

     On one occasion I sampled some of this artificially ripened buckwheat honey, and found it equal to that left in the hive and ripened and capped by the bees.

Strengthen the Weak

     All queenless colonies should be given queens at once; and, if week, strengthened by frames of hatching brood from strong colonies able to spare them.

     It is a wise thing to examine every colony, know its exact condition, and remedy anything which needs attention before the season is too far advanced.

     Keep the weeds down.  Look out for the bee-moth.  Watch out for robber bees.

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How to Do Things

Bees     |     Winter Quarters

Preparing Bees for Winter

Merits of Outdoor and Indoor Wintering

     For many years I have been an ardent advocate of wintering bees out-of-doors, right on their summer stands, for at best it is a troublesome business to have to cart the hives into a cellar each fall, and cart them out again each spring.

     Where bees can be kept successfully during the honey season, they can likewise be wintered outdoors successfully if proper protection be given each hive.

     When wintered outdoors the bees have a decided advantage over those wintered indoors, in that they may take occasional cleansing flights on warm days, and by thus voiding their feces and emptying their bowels, are not so prone to dysentery as bees compelled to retain their feces until they are set outdoors in the spring.

Outdoor Wintering Best

     One of the most successful beekeepers of Canada, who for many years stored his bees in an up-to-date and expensive concrete repository, has recently become an advocate of outdoor wintering, and in hives properly protected, has been as successful under the new method as under the old, and feels that it has been a decided saving of work.

     Another advantage lies in the fact that it simplifies the matter of taking care of the outyards, and does not compel the carting of bees from the yards many miles to the home cellar.

     In the Northern States it would be suicidal to leave the bees out-of-doors in single-walled hives.  Where they are to be left outdoors for the winter they should be in double-walled chaff hives with the hive entrance considerably contracted.

Protect from Cold and Slush

     Each hive should be elevated upon either a wood or concrete stand, to keep it above the snow and slush which will accumulate on the ground; and while it is true that an entire apiary covered with snow and out of sight will in no sense suffer, but on the contrary be more comfortable for the extra blanket of snow, yet when the snow melts it is liable to run into the entrance of the hive to the discomfort of the bees.  A hive stand will prevent this.

Wintering Indoors

     If, however, it is your purpose to carry the bees into a cellar for the winter, about the middle of November is a good time, being governed, of course, by the weather conditions.

     There are no hard-and-fast rules, but a good principle to adopt is to wait until there has been a warm

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How to Do Things

Winter Quarters     |     Bees

spell of a couple of days after a cold spell, and after the bees have taken advantage of the two or three warm days to cleanse themselves; then it is a good time to carry them in.

     The cellar should be a dark one, not damp, but such as would be suitable for keeping vegetables during the winter.

     If there are windows in the cellar they should be covered with pieces of tar paper, until the place is absolutely dark even in the daytime.

     The temperature should not be permitted to go above 60 degrees at any time, and this can be controlled by leaving the cellar windows or door open for several hours at night if a warm spell should come on after the bees have been stored.

     Don't open the doors before it is dark outside, and be sure to close them before dawn.  Having them open a couple of hours, say from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M., will usually be sufficient.

     The hives with bees in them may be tiered in rows in the cellar without removing either the hive top or its bottom board.

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