LIBRARY OF THE FARMER PRACTITIONER
GEORGES DE LAYENS
BREEDING
BEES
BY
MODERN PROCESSES
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SEVENTEEN LESSONS
PARIS
CENTRAL AGRICULTURE AND GARDENING BOOKSTORE
RITE OF SCHOOLS, 62, NEAR THE CLUNY MUSEUM
— Auguste GOIN, editor —
BREEDING
BEES
GEORGES DE LAYENS
BREEDING
BEES
BY
MODERN PROCESSES
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SEVENTEEN LESSONS
Third Edition
PARIS
CENTRAL AGRICULTURE AND GARDENING BOOKSTORE
RUE DES ECOLES, 62 (formerly 82), NEAR THE CLUNY MUSEUM
— Auguste GOIN, editor —
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Most bee owners have neither the time nor the desire to study the habits of bees. What they want above all is to be able, by the shortest possible route, to obtain a remunerative product from their hives.
In this new edition, which we have completely revised, we have sought to make the cultivation of bees, using the hive with mobile combs, accessible to as many people as possible.
The methods that we describe are as simple as they are easy to execute, and our goal has been to lead the student, so to speak, by the hand, in the successive operations of the year.
In general, beekeeping treatises contain too many procedures, which, in our opinion, has the serious disadvantage of throwing the novice into an often inextricable labyrinth.
We have done our best to avoid this pitfall.
Modern cultivation methods are, strictly speaking, applicable to all hive systems, but their application is incomparably easier using movable comb hives.
The biggest mistake that a novice can make is to want to perfect the hives before having seriously studied beekeeping. It is not the hive that gives the honey, it is the reasoned application of good methods, the hive is only the tool.
Not being an inventor of new hives, we simply chose, among the best models, the one which seemed to us the easiest to manage and the most in harmony with the natural instincts of the bees.
This hive has, moreover, proven itself in the hands of many beekeepers.
In order to support the methods we propose with facts, it seemed useful to us to donate the product of our apiary for several years; beekeeping authors too often forget to base their theories on this fact.
GEORGES DE LAYENS,
In Louye (Eure), by Dreux.
FIRST LESSON
GENERAL
MOBILIST AND FIXIST SCHOOLS. — HIVE PRODUCT
Mobilist and fixist schools. — Since you wish, I have decided to give you some lessons on beekeeping. And first, you ask me how long it takes to become a good beekeeper? Remember the number of years it took you to manage your fruit trees well, and I will not be far from the truth in telling you that approximately the same time is necessary to know how to manage your apiary well. But, you will say, bees work alone, it hardly seems useful to me to take care of them; Wouldn't it be better to let nature act? Think again: when you know the habits of this useful and laborious insect, you will then understand that it is possible, through well-understood care, to help them, and even to direct them in their work, so as to make them produce more than they did up to now.
In your last letter, you already asked me this question: what is the best hive? How many times have I been asked the same request? Here is what I have always answered: The most advanced hive in the hands of someone who does not know how to manage his bees is less good than the common country hive; but this same hive in the hands of the one who knows how to govern his bees allows a more considerable harvest, because it is possible with this hive to manage the bees by the methods which produce the most.
Beekeepers are currently divided into two schools: the fixists and the mobilisers. The first are so called because they still use the old hive whose combs are fixed and immovable; We often meet among them men who are as capable as they are intelligent and who make their hive produce a certain quantity of honey. We are convinced that if these beekeepers, instead of systematically rejecting everything new,. only wanted to seriously and conscientiously try new methods and new hives, they would be the first, later, to thank those whose sole aim is to educate them to help them earn more.
The second school is that of the mobilists, so named because they use the hive with mobile combs. In these kinds of hives, the bees are forced to build their combs in wooden frames; and the construction of the hive allows all the frames to be dismantled at will. It is with the help of this hive, invented many years ago, but very perfected today, that mobility beekeepers can use the most advanced and, consequently, the most productive cultivation processes.
In all regions, the number of mobilizers increases every year.
In France, a large number of beekeeping societies were formed, which contributed greatly to spreading new crops in our countryside. It is in the interest of all beekeepers to be part of these societies in order to keep up to date with the progress being made.
- Produces hives. — In order to give an idea of the product of the hives, here is the yield of an apiary located in a region with poor honey production. The apiary is made up of thirty colonies on average.
The product was: in 1877, 200 thousand. honey ; in 1878, 250 thousand. ; in 1879, zero; in 1880, 400 kilos; in 1881, 225 thousand. ; in 1882, 250 thousand. ; in 1883, 321 thousand. ; in 1884, 575 kilos, and in 1885, 350 kilos.
My colonies have never been fed, neither in the spring nor in the fall, even in the year 1879, when three quarters of the colonies died of starvation in France. I was able to obtain this result thanks to the new cultivation methods that I am going to describe to you. The year 1880 having been as favorable for the production of honey as the year 1879 had been, the colonies which remained following this disastrous year produced 4.00 thousand. of honey, plus 50 kilo. reserve, in addition to winter provisions.
You might think that by calculating the average income of an apiary based on the average harvest over a few years it would be possible to get a clear idea of the income that could be expected. It is easy to prove that this is not so. The true yield will be quite variable, with good and bad years not succeeding one another regularly as one might believe.
Almost every year there are very favorable days for harvesting honey, and the art of the beekeeper consists of having, throughout the season, very strong hives, in order to always be ready to take advantage of the days when honey abounds.
In order to clearly understand the variation in harvests over a long series of years, we used the table by Jacques de Gélieu, indicating the average product of his apiary over fifty years. We have drawn a series of parallel lines, fig. 1, whose length corresponds to the average product of a year. By connecting all the ends of these lines with another, we obtain a layout which represents the irregularity of the crops. We see that, even for fifty years, good and bad years do not occur at more or less regular intervals. (Average harvests varied between 0 and 14 kilos. 500 gr.)
Fig. 1.
SECOND LESSON
QUEEN OR MOTHER. — WORKERS. — MALES
To properly cultivate bees and make them produce a lot of honey, it is essential, above all, to explain, at least briefly, what a family of bees is, how they work and reproduce.
In a bee colony, there are two kinds of flies: males and females. When the swarms emerge, watch a strong colony working, around noon and in good weather. You will notice among the bees that continually come and go, flies that are much larger than the others. These bees are males, fig. 2; They make a loud buzzing sound when flying, which has led them to be nicknamed bumblebees. You can take them without fear, because they have no sting. They are more or less numerous, depending on the colonies. These bees eat a lot, do not work and are only useful for fertilizing mothers. We will explain to you later how, in perfected cultivation, we managed to eliminate the majority of these useless mouths, in order to increase the harvest.
These are the females, nicknamed workers,/?^. 3, who take care of all the work in the hive: making wax cakes or combs, harvesting honey, pollen ¹, propolis ², water, raising the young, etc.
¹ Pollen is that well-known dust, which is found on the stamens of flowers, and which bees attach to their hind legs in a sort of spoon, in order to transport it more easily to their hive. This substance, mixed with water and honey, is mainly used to feed the young.
² Resinous substance that bees use to block the cracks in hives.
Among the females, you will notice one that is longer, larger, lighter in color than the others, and whose only job is to continually lay eggs: she is the only mother of the colony. She is often called the queen, fig. 4.
But, you will ask me, what difference is there between the mother and the workers, since the workers are also females? Nothing is simpler to explain:
Fig. 2. — Male.
Fig. 3. — Worker.
Fig. 4. — Mother.
Each bee comes from an egg laid by the mother. After a few days, a small worm comes out; if this worm, which later transforms into a bee, is raised in a small cell, with ordinary food, it will become a worker female; if on the contrary, this same worm is raised in one; very large cell, with special very strengthening food, it will develop into a female mother or queen. So you see that worker bees just need to modify the cell and food of a worker worm to make it a mother.
Thus, worker females are not developed enough to lay eggs and be fertilized, while mother or queen females, on the contrary, can be fertilized and lay eggs. 'In summary, you have in your hives, at the time of swarming, three kinds of flies: a mother, a considerable quantity of workers (60 to 100,000 in very large colonies) and males in much smaller numbers ( only a few thousand).
A word, before closing, on the lifespan of the three kinds of bees.
The mothers live from two to four years, and when, for whatever reason, their fertility diminishes, the bees very often replace them with others, without the colony producing a swarm.
Workers live much shorter lives. In summer, they wear out quickly on the job and become old in less than six weeks. In winter, the resting season, they live about five months. As for the males, the bees only keep them in the hives during the time of swarming, because it is only at this time that they are useful for fertilizing the mothers.
THIRD LESSON
BEE BUILDINGS. — MOTHER'S LAYING. — BROOD
Bee buildings. — A very simple way to understand how bees are built is to get an old dead hive. Inside you will see combs or wax cakes attached to the top of the hive and, sometimes, to the sides. These rays, more or less regular, leave a passage of about one centimeter between them. It is in these kinds of alleys that the bees carry out their work.
The thickness of the rays varies a little depending on their destinations. At the top or sides of the hive, they are thicker than in the middle; It is mainly in this part of the hive that the bees deposit their harvest and their winter provisions. In the middle, and towards the bottom, the place intended for raising the young, you will notice more regularity in the construction of the cells. The rays are also more or less dark depending on their age; those that have just been built are white, then they turn yellow and gradually become darker and darker.
Detach a comb or two from the center of this hive, you will easily recognize that they are composed of two kinds of cells. Most of these cells or alveoli, as they are often called, are small, but in some places you will find some that are a little larger. The small ones are intended to serve as a cradle for the workers; the largest, cradle for males. Finally, if you look carefully, you will find in places, and especially on the edges of the rays, a few cells much larger than the others, and whose shape is quite reminiscent, when they are whole, of the acorn of the oak. These cells are several centimeters long, they are most often attached to the rays on their edges, and as if suspended outside these rays; these are the cells or alveoli serving as a cradle for mothers. (To designate these cells, they are often called maternal alveoli.)
Fig. 5. — Cells, alveoli.
A. Capped mother cell. — B. Empty mother cell. — C. Worker cells containing brood. — D. Empty worker cells. — E Empty male cells. — F. Male cells containing brood.
If you don't find any, because they are few in number, heavily smoke a colony that has just swarmed, turn it upside down and you will almost always see these cells.
Laying of the mother. — We will now study the various works carried out by a natural swarm emerging from a hive. This swarm carries with it all the elements necessary for its perfect establishment.
It has: a mother, a considerable number of workers of all ages, and a small number of males.
A swarm that emerges from a hive in very hot weather will sometimes settle permanently under some shelter, and thus work in the open air. Its natural shape is that of an inverted cone, closed on all sides by the bees, except at its end, through which the bees do not exit or re-enter.
If a few days after the installation of the swarm we cut the cone of bees in two, following a plane perpendicular to the rays started, fig. 6 would roughly represent the state of the work.
In the middle of the cone there is a first ray attached by a vertex to the branch. To the right and left of this first ray, two other rays are suspended, shorter than the first. Around the three rays, we see an agglomeration of bees forming an envelope, the thickness of which hardly exceeds 3 to 4 hundred. This inactive mass leaves the active part of the bees working inside it free to move. The envelope rather resembles a solid crust formed of C-addicted bees linked to each other and tightly packed together.
Fig. 6.
The usefulness of this crust is to develop and maintain a heat of approximately 35 degrees in the center of the cone, the temperature necessary for the manufacture of wax and the rearing of the brood. This crust plays a very big role in the work of bees; it increases or decreases in thickness, depending on the outside temperature, and separates above approximately 35 degrees. If the cone is struck by a current of cold air, we immediately see the crust increase in thickness at this point.
As soon as the central ray reaches a length of 10 to 12 centimeters, the mother begins to deposit her eggs in the cells at the end of the central ray, the center of the crust. At this time, the cells still have only a little depth.
Fig. 7. — Swarm whose work is advanced.
The mother lays her eggs, following regular spirals, around the first egg, the original center of the brood, as can be seen in fig. 7, so as to form a globular shaped mass. The tinted part represents the place occupied by the brood in each comb. Extreme activity is at this time displayed by the workers, because they must simultaneously take care of the education of the brood, build new combs, and finally harvest the honey and pollen.
When the first ray reaches about 30 cent. in length, it is hardly prolonged during the year, but the bees build others, to the right and left of the first ones.
The honey collected is stored in all the cells around the brood, so as to form, above it, a dome of honey which extends to the top of the combs. Pollen is also placed in cells.
The mother continues laying eggs for twenty-one days, the time necessary for the brood to undergo its various transformations. At this time, the cells where the mother had started laying eggs successively becoming free, the mother returns to her starting point, and begins laying eggs again, in the same order as the first time.
Brood. — The queen lays male eggs or worker eggs at will; but a curious peculiarity is that it can lay eggs whether or not it is fertilized. Only, if for any reason she was unable to be fertilized, as a result, for example, of prolonged bad weather (fertilization of the mother taking place in the air outside the hive), she will not be able to lay eggs. only males, and consequently the colony will soon be lost, if the beekeeper does not come to its aid by giving it a fertilized mother, or by uniting this colony with another well-organized one.
Another most interesting fact, used every time in practice, is the following. Workers have the ability to give birth to mothers if there are worker eggs in the colony.
Suppose, for example, that during the summer you take away its mother from a colony. What will the bees do? They will soon recognize that they are motherless, transform a small cell containing a worker worm into a large mother cell, feed this worm with the special porridge intended to form mothers, and by this means replace the lost mother. (The bees thus raise mothers in greater or lesser numbers depending on the strength of the colony.)
Bees often use this process to replace an old mother in summer, and the beekeeper, as we will see later, uses this ability to obtain mothers. Mothers trained in this way are called artificial mothers.
Now let's take a quick look at raising little ones. Whether the eggs laid by the mother are destined to become workers, mothers or males, they always pass successively, to become bees, through the same transformations. We will briefly review them.
Once the egg is laid by the mother in the bottom of a cell, three days later, a worm emerges which the workers feed with a mixture of pollen, honey and water. This worm grows rapidly, and after about eight days it fills the cell. At this time, the worker bees close this cell using a lid or rounded wax cover. They don't have to worry about it anymore. This worm then spins a shell, and it is in this shell that it transforms into a bee. When this bee has reached its full development, it leaves the cell by piercing the lid. This young bee is not yet strong enough to be able to go outside, but it will not, however, be useless in the hive; it will take care of raising the young for a fortnight, and at the end of this time she will go to harvest. The general name brood has been given to the different transformations that we have just reviewed. So, for example, we often say in practice: Take from a colony a comb containing capped brood. This expression means: Take a radius in which there is a large quantity of closed cells with a rounded lid containing small ones.
The brood does not take the same time to undergo its various transformations depending on whether it is destined to become mother, worker or male.
For mothers, it takes sixteen days; for workers, twenty-one days, and for males twenty-four days. This number of days may vary depending on the outside temperature.
From the time the egg was laid until the bees close the cell, approximately: for mothers, eight days; for workers, eight days, and for males, eight and a half days.
FOURTH LESSON
ABRIDGED HISTORY OF A BEE COLONY. — ARTIFICIAL SWOOD
At the end of winter, and when the heat begins to make the first flowers bloom, some of the workers go out to look for honey, pollen, and water; others clean the hive. The mother begins her spring egg-laying, and the population, reduced during the winter, gradually increases.
A few weeks before the swarming time which corresponds to the season when honey begins to abound in the flowers, egg laying increases considerably. Around this time, the mother also lays males and some eggs in the mothers' cells.
As the eggs continue to increase, the hive soon becomes too small to contain the population. The males have been born, and the young mothers will soon emerge from their cells; finally, we said that the time of the great harvest has arrived. The hive then containing all the elements necessary for its conservation, the bees will found a new colony elsewhere.
On a fine day, they come out in large numbers, accompanied by the old mother. It is this mass of bees that we call a primary natural swarm. This swarm will, in general, hang on a branch, and that is where it is collected in an empty hive.
The mother hive is very depopulated by the departure of the swarm, but it still contains young bees and a large quantity of brood.
If the weather remains good and the flowers continue to give honey, the first mother to leave her cell may be dragged out of the hive by a new group of bees, around eight days after the departure of the first swarm. This will be the secondary swarm with an unfertilized mother. This swarm, already much smaller than the first, will perhaps be followed by several others that are increasingly weak; often then, the mother hive will be lost, because it will not have time to replenish its population during the rest of the season, and, consequently, to accumulate enough honey for the winter season.
Now suppose that for some cause the mother hive does not give a secondary swarm, which is always preferable. All young mothers will be killed by the first hatch or by bees. A few days later, the mother leaves to be impregnated by the males, and returns fertilized for the rest of her life; it only emerges from its hive with the primary swarm of the following year.
Towards the end of the harvest, the males that have become useless will be chased out of the hives and put to death.
When autumn arrives, the bees will crowd more and more into the top of their homes. As the cold becomes more and more bitter, they will gradually consume their winter supplies until the following spring. At this time, the successive works that we have just briefly reviewed will begin again in the same order.
We have just seen what a natural swarm is; An artificial swarm is one that the beekeeper himself takes from a colony. We will see later the advantages gained from artificial swarming.
FIFTH LESSON
CONSERVATION OF SHELVES. — SUPPRESSION OF MALE CELLS. — ADVANTAGES OF FORTES. POPULATIONS.
Conservation of rays. — With the hive with fixed combs, we have to break the combs to collect the honey; with frame hives, on the contrary, we can extract the honey from the combs without breaking them.' To do this, simply place these spokes in a very simple machine called a mello-extractor (see below, fig. 22). Using a crank, the frames are quickly rotated, the honey comes out of the combs without damaging them. This ingenious machine, which I will tell you more about in due course, was invented in Austria a long time ago. Its use is becoming more and more widespread, and any serious beekeeper cannot do without it.
But, you will say, why is it necessary to keep the combs, the bees will build new ones; they will work better in new constructions; finally, I will sell the old wax? This objection no longer has the slightest value today; the most precise experiments have demonstrated that it is not necessary to frequently renew the bees' buildings.
A fact on which all beekeepers agree is the following: when a colony is given empty combs at harvest time, that colony will produce three or four times more honey than if it were forced to build rays at the same time as she harvests.
Finally, using the mello-extractor, we always obtain top quality honey, even if the combs are twenty years old.
Removal of male cells. — All beekeepers have long recognized that it is preferable to reduce the number of males as much as possible, because they eat a lot and do not work.
When a hive only has worker combs, the mother quite often lays males in the small cells, but in much fewer numbers than if the hive contained male combs.
In colonies that have a large number of males, it has been calculated that they can spend 3 or 4 kilos of honey during the season. This is a significant loss that the beekeeper can partly avoid by gradually replacing the male combs with worker combs.
With ordinary hives, replacing combs is difficult; with frame hives, on the contrary, this operation is very simple.
Advantage of large populations. — Suppose, for example, that you had eleven colonies of bees at the time of the great honey harvest. Ten of them have, for example, 1 kilogram of bees (10,000 bees weigh approximately 1 kilo), the eleventh contains 4 kilos. Well this last colony alone will collect much more honey than the other ten together. It will often even happen that the first ten will not even harvest their winter supply, while the eleventh will give a harvest. This fact, known to the rest of all beekeepers, is easy to explain. In a small colony, the number of workers who go to the harvest is very small, because the majority of them are kept or housed, either to maintain the heat necessary for the brood to hatch, or for the care to be given. to the little ones. In a very large colony, on the contrary, the number of workers available for the harvest is proportionally much greater; hence, this big difference in product.
SIXTH LESSON
BEEEKEEPERS’ TOOLS. — HIVE. — FEEDERS. — TOASTED FRAME IN CASE OF LOOTTING. — BOX FOR DEPOSITING THE FRAMES. — ORDINARY SMOKER. — MECHANICAL SMOKER. — HAT, VEIL, GLOVES, CLOTHING. — WINTER GRIDS. — GRILLED CORRIDOR INTENDED TO SUPPRESS THE SECONDARY SWOOD. — GOOSE FEATHERS FOR BRUSHING BEES. — CENTRIFUGAL FORCE EXTRACTOR. — KNIFE FOR UNCOVERING HONEY CELLS.
Hive. — Here is a brief description of the hive we use; but, whatever the one adopted by you, it is essential, to fully understand, that you have a model before your eyes.
Fig. 8. — Overview of a frame hive from which the roof and one side have been removed to reveal the interior.
These hives offer notable differences between them: sometimes, they consist of a single long box (horizontal hive), containing fifteen or twenty frames in a single row; sometimes they are made up of several superimposed boxes (vertical hives), each containing a smaller number of frames. Of these two types of hives, which one should be preferred? The horizontal hive seems superior to the others for the following reasons:
The horizontal shape (hive with a single row of frames) allows the beekeeper to manage his bees more easily and more quickly, because he does not have, as in hives made up of several superimposed bodies, to move these bodies in certain areas. operations.
In horizontal hives, the group of bees is never divided, which on the contrary necessarily happens when several hive bodies are superimposed. However, as in the natural state bees are always in a single group, we must prefer the form of hive which least upsets their natural instincts.
One final important issue to consider in hives, and one that too few beekeepers pay attention to, is their size. The most precise experiments of recent years have demonstrated that a capacity of approximately 40 liters is necessary for the queen to develop all her fecundity; This space is often called a brood chamber. It is, moreover, easy to understand that we can only obtain strong colonies, the only ones which produce a lot of honey, on one condition: that the queen has all the necessary space to lay eggs. This capacity of approximately 40 liters is therefore necessarily invariable whatever the region, but it must be increased by the space necessary for the bees to deposit the harvest.
Honey that has just been harvested contains a lot of water. This honey can only be permanently stored in closed cells after having lost the majority of its water through evaporation, because only then does it have the desired density to be able to be preserved.
In order to quickly evaporate excess water, bees only deposit a very small quantity in each cell; very often, cells only contain a third or a quarter of their capacity. This honey, stored mainly in the lower part of the combs, then has a very large evaporation surface, which allows the bees, thanks to the strong heat they develop, to quickly eliminate excess water. Every morning, if the outside temperature is not too cold, part of the honey temporarily deposited in the lower cells is, during the night, raised to the top of the hive, in order to leave the necessary space free. for today's harvest.
To obtain the maximum harvest, it is therefore absolutely necessary for the bees to have at their disposal a quantity of cells much greater than that necessary to temporarily store several days' harvest, very rich in honey.
In 56 liter hives (fourteen frames), I have often seen, on the evening of a heavy harvest, and when many frames have brood, all the available cells contain more or less honey; these reasons made me adopt even larger hives capable of containing twenty frames¹.
¹ In poor countries, we can make do with hives of sixteen to eighteen frames.
This capacity of 80 liters will undoubtedly seem exaggerated to those who are used to 20 or 30 liter hives; however, it is only large hives that produce large populations and large harvests.
In Rivesaltes, the most honey-rich canton in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the hives, in the commune of Vingrau, which produces the most honey, produce an average of 6 kilos of honey. The hives are approximately 75 hundred. height of 30 cent. of width.
In Olette, a canton with less honey than the first, the hives bring in 12 kilos of honey. They have an average of 1 meter in height by 50 hundred. of width.
We therefore see that a very large hive gives much more profit than a small one.
Why then, you will ask me, do beekeepers not agree to adopt only a few good types, everyone would gain? Nothing is easier to explain. Among famous beekeepers there are many who invented hives, and naturally they advocated their system to the exclusion of all others. It is up to those who do not belong to any school to compare the different systems and to adopt the one which offers the greatest number of advantages.
Before giving you a description of the hive that I adopted, which will be the subject of my next lesson, allow me to tell you that I am not an inventor of hives; there are already too many of them; I simply adopted a model that has proven itself for years.
SEVENTH LESSON
HIVES IN GENERAL
Almost all frame hives can merge into two groups. The first, reduced to their simplest expression, consist of a box with a door on the side; it is through this door that the frames are removed one after the other. In these kinds of hives, you easily understand that if one wishes to seize any framework, one is obliged to remove from the hive all those who are before him. The latter consist of a box whose movable roof allows all the frames to be exposed at once. We can therefore grab one or more frames, visit the hive, etc., without it being necessary to remove the frames from the box. This way of operating offers many advantages in practice.
The first type of hive is mainly used in Germany, while the second, a more recent invention, is the one that is generally used today. In France, the hive that I adopted, fig. 8, consists of a wooden box, without bottom or lid. This box rests on a platform R. It is covered by a movable roof. The front and back of the hive are made up of pieces simply nailed together. These pieces are covered with a layer of straw, held in place by slats N, N, on the front, and L, L, L, on the back.
Behind the hive, we have created an opening closed by a window M, allowing the state of the colony to be observed at any time, without disturbing the bees. Shutter H, open in the figure, prevents light from entering the hive.
But we can easily do without this glass opening which greatly complicates the construction of the hive.
Inside, there are wooden frames whose upper crosspieces rest on the top of the boards F, E. These frames are smaller than the inside of the hive, in order to leave a passage around them for the bees . They are held equidistant from each other by parts 0, 0; at the top, a line of black dots indicates the place they should occupy.
Between each upper crossbar of the frames there is an opening which must be closed. For this, we use iron Vs or wooden slats, placed in the intervals of the frames, or boards placed on top. Finally, a notch P serves as an entrance for the bees. The tin box S represents a feeder, the description of which will be given later.
In order to be able to increase or decrease the size of the hive at will, we use boards that can be placed in place of a frame. These boards are called partition boards. We can put, for example, a certain number of frames in the middle of the hive, between two partition boards, fig. 11; in this case, the bees' exit door is in the middle. You can also use only a board; and the frames will then be placed at one end of the hive, either on the right or on the left; it will then be necessary to have two exit doors for the bees, one at each end of the hive, depending on whether the frames are placed at one end, the other always remaining closed. I adopted the latter system as simpler.
Fig. 9. — Elevation of a hive seen from behind (scale of 1/10)
Fig. 10. — Elevation of a hive seen from the front (scale of 1/10)
Fig. 11. — Beehive seen in plan (scale of 1/10)
Instead of using V, you can cover the frames with a canvas dipped in melted wax. Many beekeepers have adopted this procedure.
As for the partition boards mentioned above, experience has demonstrated their complete uselessness; they are even very harmful in winter, because, instead of concentrating heat, they concentrate humidity in the hive. They are advantageously replaced by one or more rays.
Feeders. — The feeder below, fig. 12, seemed to us the one whose handling is the simplest; it can be built by any tinsmith.
Fig. 12. — Feeder seen in front elevation (1/5 scale)
Make tin boxes of the shape shown in fig. 12 and 13. The lower part is square and closed by a thin zinc plate, pierced with holes 1mm in diameter. On the side, there is a socket 0, used to introduce the liquid, and which is closed with a cap. The lower, square part of the feeder is placed in a grilled square, fig. 14 and 15. At the exterior corners of this square, four corners are welded, serving as support for a tin-plated mesh, on which the feeder rests.
Fig. 13. — Feeder seen from below (1/5 scale)
Fig. 14. — Grilled square, into which the feeder enters, seen in plan (scale of 1/5)
The fence is placed in the square, at such a height that the feeder can only enter the square by 100101, the height at which the fence is located, fig. 16. It is through this mesh that the bees come to take the syrup into the small holes of the feeder. This fence, of which we see a piece of natural size fig. 16, does not have meshes large enough to allow bees to pass through. Fig. 17 represents the spacing of the feeder holes, of natural size.
Fig. 15. — Grilled square seen in elevation (scale of 1). The dotted line indicates the space occupied by the grid.
Fig. 16. — Piece of grid used to indicate the spacing of the meshes (execution size).
Fig. 17. — Part pierced with holes, used to indicate the size and spacing of the holes of the feeder (execution size).
Grilled frame in case of looting. — Have a sort of frame built with only three sides. The long side will be 500mm long, the other two 200mm; the height of the frame will be 50mm. Nail a thin metal canvas, or a No. 42 perforated zinc sheet, to this frame. This frame rests on the plate and against the front of the hive. The bees will then be able to go out onto the plateau in this kind of courtyard, without going outside.
Box to place the frames. — We have represented, fig. 18, one of these boxes. Just take a look at fig. 18 to explain how it should be constructed. Its lid has a large grilled hole to provide air inside.
Fig. 18. — Box for storing frames, elevation view and vertical section (scale of 1/10)
This box will be more or less wide, depending on the number of frames it must contain. It only needs to hold seven or eight.
This crate is also excellent for transporting swarms.
Ordinary smoker. — The smoker which is generally used, and which can be obtained from all manufacturers of beekeeping instruments, is the American smoker; you just need to have the instrument in front of you to understand its use.
Mechanical smoker. — In order to carry out operations more quickly, we have searched for a long time for a way to smoke the bees which allows us to have our hands free. For this purpose, we built a mechanical smoker. fig. 19, which emits smoke more or less strongly as the operator wishes, for about half an hour, without it being necessary to wind the movement.
Fig. 19. — Mechanical smoker seen from perspective.
Hat, veil, gloves, clothes. — Around a wide-brimmed hat, we attach a black veil; white obstructs the view. This veil is attached around the collar of the garment with an elastic band. People who are not yet accustomed to handling bees can wear woolen gloves; but you quickly get used to a few injections, and gloves become useless; I never use it. A linen blouse is excellent: it must be closed, especially around the wrists.
Winter grids. — Strips of perforated zinc no. 37 are cut in the shape shown in fig. 20, and approximately 250mm long. The notches of this grid are large enough not to hinder the passage of bees, and do not allow any rodent to enter the hive.
Fig. 20. — Perforated zinc for winter grille (natural size).
Grilled corridor intended to suppress the secondary swarm. — Cut out a piece of perforated sheet metal, fig. 21 (No. 35, whose holes only allow workers to pass), 30 cents. in length over 15 cent. wide. Nail a slat approximately 10mm thick and 20mm high on each side. Finally, nail a zinc plate of the same size as the perforated sheet metal to the slats.
Fig. 21. — Perforated zinc allowing workers to pass only (execution size).
One end of this corridor will be closed, the other will remain open. This corridor will be placed on the platform of the hive, its opening applied against the entrance of the bees; they will therefore not be able to exit outside without crossing the corridor and the perforated sheet metal.
Goose feathers to brush the bees. — When a comb is loaded with bees and we want to chase them away, we use goose feathers soaked in water. We place the frame loaded with bees on the tray, in front of the door, supporting it with one hand, while with the other we brush the bees with short sharp strokes, so as to detach them from the comb by pushing them in front the pen without leaving any behind. The bees fall onto the tray and enter the hive by flapping their wings.
Centrifugal force extractor used to extract honey from combs without breaking them. — This machine being currently known to almost all beekeepers, we will not give here a detailed description of its construction, which would involve us in rather lengthy mechanical considerations and completely outside our subject.
The principle of these machines, fig. 22, is still the same. In the middle of a wooden or tin drum intended to receive the honey, is placed an axis or vertical shaft, to which is a sort of reel surrounded by metal canvas. Inside, and against the canvas, are placed the combs from which the wax covers have been removed with a sharp knife. The reel then receives, by some means, a rapid rotation movement around its axis, and the honey, emerging from the cells by centrifugal force, is projected against the walls of the drum. When the sound of the honey thrown against the drum is no longer heard, the operation is complete. We then turn the rays over, and we operate in the same way on the opposite side.
Fig. 22. — Mello-extractor.
When the honeycombs have not contained brood, they are very fragile; we must then take the following precautions: after having uncapped the cells, we will place the rays in the extractor (it is necessary to place the rays of the same weight opposite each other, so as not to shake the machine during rotation ) ; after having extracted part of the honey they contain, we will turn them, we will completely extract the honey, then we will turn them again, in order to extract the rest of the honey.
The honey is then poured into a large pot, where it is left to purify for forty-eight hours, so that the wax particles rise to the surface. Finally, it is drawn into stoneware vases; These seem to me to be the best.
Care must be taken to only extract honey from a comb when three quarters of the honey contained in this comb is capped.
Knife for uncapping honey cells. — This knife, fig. 23, consists of a thin, well-tapered blade, 30mra wide by 250mm long, slightly curved. When using it, it is a good idea to warm the blade a little, dipping it from time to time in hot water.
Fig. 23. — Knife for uncapping honey cells.
EIGHTH LESSON
COUNTRIES FAVORABLE FOR BEEE CULTURE. — ESTABLISHMENT OF AN Apiary. — WATER NECESSARY FOR BEES. — SPACING OF COLONIES; THEIR MOVEMENT.
Regions favorable to beekeeping. — Since you wish to take care, not as an amateur, but as a producer, of the cultivation of bees, it is essential, before establishing an apiary, to visit. account of the melliferous wealth of the region. If, for example, you lived in certain regions of the South, where vines are almost exclusively cultivated, I would say to you: Give up beekeeping, because you will be obliged to give your bees more food than they will give you. honey. The same would apply to northern countries where beets are grown on a large scale.
To obtain high harvests in our countries, large areas of honey-producing plants are required, such as sainfoin, rapeseed, minette, buckwheat, heather, etc. The proximity of woods, large forests and natural meadows is very favorable to the multiplication of colonies. The small daily harvests of honey and pollen, which the bees never fail to find in these regions, greatly activate the laying of the queen in spring, and therefore naturally provide strong populations for the time of the big harvests.
Mountain countries are also very favorable to beekeeping, due to the considerable number of wild honey plants found at all altitudes.
In any case, you will do well to consult an experienced beekeeper in the country, as the value of honey plants is often misunderstood.
The same species can give a lot of honey in certain areas, and very little in others. Buckwheat, although a very honey-producing plant, is in this case.
Establishment of an apiary. — The place where the hives are gathered is called an apiary. The name apiary is also given to the small building where the colonies are gathered. I urge you to simply leave your hives in the open air; a building is, in my opinion, more harmful than useful, the colonies are always too close to each other.
There has been a lot of discussion about the best orientation to give to the hives; in the north, the sun is very favorable to them; in the south, it is harmful to them. The main thing is that the hives are well sheltered from the prevailing winds in the country, so that the bees returning from the fields can easily return to their homes without being swept away by the wind.
Water needed by bees. — Water is as essential to bees as honey and pollen. Without water, you already know, bees would not be able to raise brood. In order to save the bees from traveling far away which, on the cold days of spring, causes a large number of them to perish, it is a good practice to establish a water reservoir near the hives, in a well-sheltered place. . We float corks on the water so that the bees don't drown.
This tank will also be very useful for you to see the status of the honey harvest.
During a heavy honey flow, for example, you will see few or no bees in the tank; on the contrary, in weather with little or no honey, the reservoir will be covered with it.
This difference is easily explained: honey, when it has just been harvested, contains more or less water, the bees therefore find in the honey the water they need.
It naturally follows from the above that the more bees there are in the tank, the less abundant the harvest will be.
Colony spacing; their movement. —Your colonies, you told me, are placed on a single bench and almost touching each other; it is a great fault which exists almost everywhere in the countryside. The result is that on their return from the fields the bees often choose the wrong hive, hence battles: the plundering of weak hives is also more to be feared; If a queen returning from being mated enters the wrong hive, she is infallibly killed, and the colony may be lost. Finally, the work to be carried out in the apiary is much easier when the colonies are spaced at a suitable distance. The farther they are from each other, the better. Try, if you can, to place them 2 meters from each other. The more irregularly the hives are arranged, the better. There will be fewer orphans because mothers returning from fertilization will less easily mistake the wrong hive on their return. But this movement can only be done during winter, when the bees are at rest. Bees have a lot of memory, and if, at the time of work, you transport a colony away from the place it occupied, it will lose a large part of its population, which will return to its former place. The bees may go and ask for hospitality from neighboring hives, but most often they will be received as enemies and killed one after the other.
If you were forced to move colonies away from each other during the working season, you would only have to move the hives very little at a time, about 30 centimeters per day.
NINTH LESSON
FIREWORKS SUN. - REMINDER. — VENTILATORS. — GUARDING THE HIVES; LOOTTING. — METHOD TO STOP LOOTTING.
Fireworks sun. — Almost every day during the working season, and sometimes during the winter, when the temperature allows the bees to go out, you see them making a general exit, often called fireworks. Most of the bees come out one after the other, fly circles around the hive, and then return successively. It is during this outing that the young bees learn to fly and recognize their hive. In hot weather, we also see males coming out of the hives at this time.
Reminder. — During this general outing, you will notice a certain number of bees placed on the plateau, at the entrance, with their abdomens in the air, and which beat their wings quickly, in order to call the others back. This reminder also occurs when you have just put a swarm in a hive. In general, when in any operation the bees have been disturbed, the bees are recalled among themselves. The reminder is never a sign of anger, but a simple sign of rallying.
Ventilators. — During days of heavy work, we see, mainly in the evening or early in the morning, at the entrance to the hives, a more or less large number of bees beating their wings quickly, but they no longer have, as in in the case of abseiling, the abdomen in the air, it is curved downwards.
We have already said that honey which has just been harvested contains a lot of water; It is therefore necessary for this water to evaporate so that the honey can be preserved. In order to carry out this evaporation, they raise the temperature of the hive, and, to expel the excess humidity, the bees establish a current of air, by ventilating at the entrance. This ventilation is all the more active as the harvest has been more abundant, and the number of ventilators is greater as the colony is stronger.
Guarding hives; looting. — There is always, at the entrance to the hives, a greater or lesser number of bees, depending on the strength of the colonies, whose mission is to recognize whether the bees returning from the scavenging are really from the house. It is likely that each colony has its own particular smell which allows the bees to recognize each other. If a stranger comes to enter, the bees immediately chase her away. However, when the stranger presents herself as a supplicant, she can be received if she brings a supply of honey.
When the flowers produce very little honey in the spring, and especially in the fall, when they no longer give any, we often see bees prowling around the hives. They seek to enter the colonies through some crack or door. If a bee manages to sneak into a colony, it gorges itself on honey, returns to its hive, then soon returns accompanied by other bees. The attacked colony strengthens, it is true, the guard of the hive; but if the attackers are very numerous, a fight begins: if the colony is weak or orphaned, it is lost; if it is strong, the battle becomes fierce; often the foreigners have the upper hand, the honey is plundered, and a large number of bees die in the struggle.
It is therefore very important to avoid pillaging, which, moreover, only happens through the fault of the person who manages the hives. Three or four times we have had the beginnings of plundering in our apiary, and it has always been caused by negligence on our part; but always we were able to stop it from its beginning.
When you visit the hives at a time when the flowers have no honey or very little honey, especially in the fall, you must take the following precautions:
1° In spring, before the big harvest, it would be wise not to open the hives until shortly before the bees return. After the big harvest, the hives should only be visited when all the bees have returned;
2° The combs that are removed from the hives must always be placed in closed boxes;
3° Honey must never be left within the reach of bees;
4° We must narrow, as much as possible, the entrances to all the hives before a long autumn operation;
5° During the spring and after the big harvest, the entries must always be proportionate to the population of each hive;
6° After each operation, and when the bees have returned, it will be prudent to go around your apiary in order to examine whether some colonies are showing great activity, while the others are at rest. If this is so, we will examine these hives carefully, in order to see if a pillage does not begin, and if nothing is discovered; we will repeat our visit the next morning before the bees leave, because if one hive robs another, it will show great activity the next morning, when the others are still at rest. In the event that it is recognized that there is looting, we must stop it immediately.
We must point out that, when we have acquired through practice the habit of quickly visiting the hives, we may not follow as rigorously the recommendations that we have just read.
Method to stop looting. — 1° We open the door completely to give plenty of air to the hive, then we place a grilled frame on the platform and against the entrance (see the Tools chapter);
2° After ensuring that a bee cannot leave or re-enter, we cover the hive with some sort of cloth, in order to keep it in the dark;
3° We do the same operation to the hive which plunders;
4° The next day, we will only remove the grids when all the hives are in full activity, and, after having cleaned the platform of the hive plundered of dead bees, we narrow its entrance so as to give passage to only one bee.
The flight hole will be opened further when order is restored.
The preceding precautions are usually enough to stop looting from the start.
TENTH LESSON
MANAGEMENT OF THE Apiary. — 1st YEAR
VISIT THE HIVES IN SPRING. — STRONG COLONY. — WEAK COLONY. — ORPHAN OR BUMBED COLONY. — METHOD FOR VISITTING A FRAME HIVE.
Visit the hives in spring. — The time when you can make the first visit may vary greatly, depending on the country; in the north and high mountain regions you often won't be able to visit them until April, while in the far south the bees are already active in February. In any case, I urge you to wait for a relatively mild temperature, and a day of beautiful sunshine without wind, and for the bees to have started working for about a week.
Let us first, if you wish, take a tour of the apiary. You notice that the colonies do not all have the same activity. You remember that last night we gave a sharp knock on the board of each of these hives, and that the bees responded more or less to your call. Notice that the most active colonies are the ones that responded the loudest.
But we must not be satisfied with this superficial glance; it is necessary to visit the colonies inside, mark each hive with a serial number, and take notes in your notebook¹.
¹ We note in the notebook: the quantity of honey left in each hive, and the number of combs containing brood
Strong colony. — Here is a large straw hive, the bees of which are very active; let's project a little smoke through the flight hole, then, after having taken the hive off its tray, let's follow it on a wedge. Let's smoke again, until the bees make a loud buzz. We start with moderate smoke, and then increase by degrees. If too much smoke is suddenly introduced, the bees are so affected that they fall onto the tray.
In this state, which we call a rustling state, the bees no longer think about stinging, they beat their wings quickly, in order to keep away the smoke which bothers them.
During a long operation, a little smoke is thrown from time to time, in order to maintain the rustling state.
It is necessary to perform all operations calmly and without sudden movements. If a bee comes to sting you, which you can see by the rapid way in which it flies around you and the sharper sound it makes while flying, you should never try to chase it away; which would excite him more, and attract others. Very often, bees come and land on your hands; unless you hurt them, they won't sting you.
If, during an operation, the bees rush out between the combs and try to sting you, you must immediately throw out a lot of smoke in order to force them back inside and scare them.
If one is stung, it is useful to remove the stinger and apply a drop of carbolic acid to the wound; but when you have been stung a certain number of times, which cannot fail to happen to you, the venom no longer causes the wound to swell.
Place the hive upside down, project smoke between the combs to force the bees to the bottom. By moving the combs away from the center, you will probably see a large number of small cells (worker combs) closed by a more or less rounded lid, this is the brood. At the beginning of spring, the brood being placed deep in the hive, it is not always easy to see it. But when you visit the frame hives, this observation will no longer present the slightest difficulty.
Since your colony has brood, it means it has a queen. We will soon transfer it to a frame hive.
Weak colony. — This colony, much less numerous in flies than the previous one, nevertheless shows activity; a small stream of bees comes and goes regularly; finally, the bees form a small, tight group inside around the brood. This hive, very light, perhaps only contains 1 kilo or 1 kilo 500 grams of honey, while the previous one could still have 7 to 8 kilos. After transferring this colony, like the previous one, we will feed it.
Orphan or buzzing colony. — Here is a colony whose appearance is very different from that of the two previous ones. Some bees go to work, here is one that comes in loaded with pollen, but soon you see it come out of the hive and walk around on the apron with its load; the sign most likely indicates that the colony is disorganized.
Inside, the bees, instead of being grouped on the brood, are scattered on the combs. By driving the bees back with smoke, you don't see any brood. In order, however, to check more precisely, cut deeply a piece of the comb from the center, and if at the bottom of the worker cells you find neither eggs nor worms, the colony is without a mother. This worthless colony will have to be united with another well-organized one.
We call bumblebee colonies those where only bumblebee brood is found, either in the large cells or in the small ones. The bumblebee brood contained in the worker cells is easily recognized by the fact that these cells have much more rounded lids than usual. These disorganized colonies are only good for being united with others, an operation which we will deal with shortly.
Methods for visiting a frame hive. — When you have frame hives, here is how you should go about visiting these hives. After removing the first V or board that covers the top of the frames, blow smoke for a few minutes between the two frames. As soon as you hear a loud buzzing sound, you can remove this first ray, which will make it easier to visit the others by tilting them on top of each other; but care must be taken during this operation to project smoke from time to time between the frames, in order to keep the bees in check.
As a general rule, when bees are very active, it is a sign that there is honey in the flowers; in this case, little smoke is required to control the bees. But if the bees are not working, a lot of smoke is necessary to tame them.
Fig. 24 represents part of the hive seen from the side of the frames; C, C, C, C indicate frames, and partition boards are shown at p, P, which may be advantageously replaced by frames.
Position yourself on the side of the hive, in front of a partition board or P frame for example.
After having detached the first V, pull this frame P towards you, taking it by its middle; put it back a notch closer to you, and, after closing it, see if it is between the two black points M, N, which serve as a guide.
Fig. 24. — Frames seen from the side.
Fig. 25. — Frames seen from the side.
We see - in fig. 24 this frame P in its new position.
Then detach V n° 2, then frame n° 1; after having visited it, you place it in the notch where frame P was located. Put a V again between frame no. 1 and frame P. Continue visiting all the frames in the same way.
Here is another method that is best used to add or remove one or more frames to a colony. We tilt the frame P towards you without moving it, fig. 25; we do the same for each frame, adding the Vs as in the first method; and we continue in this way until we have encountered the frame that we wish to remove. After removing it, we advance the other frames and the P frame by one notch.
To add a frame to a hive, we operate as above, with this only difference, that at the same time as we tilt the frames, we move them by a notch, until we have arrived at the place where you want to add a new one. Care must be taken when removing the frames not to rub them against each other, which irritates the bees.
ELEVENTH LESSON
SPRING COLONY MEETINGS
In spring, we saw that it was preferable not to group weak colonies with others, if they have a mother and bees well grouped on compact brood. These colonies, which were sometimes very powerful the previous summer, could have lost many bees during the winter. Other times, they renewed their mother late in the season, and this long pause in egg-laying greatly reduced the population. We cannot therefore, in spring, conclude that a colony is weak, that it has an infertile mother. But orphan or buzzing colonies have no value, because most often they have few bees, all of which are more or less old. We must therefore unite these colonies with others as soon as possible, because they are in danger of being pillaged.
If you cannot carry out the meetings immediately, narrow the entrances to these colonies a lot so that they are better preserved.
Wait for the meetings until a slightly warm day, when the bees are very active. Transport a common hive to be assembled, away from the apiary, in a place in the sun. Place a few boards on the ground. After having smoked the colony, turn it over and wait until the bees have moved up to the edge of the combs. Then turn the hive over, and with a sharp blow with the hive on the board, make the bees fall on it. Repeat this process until there are no more bees left in the hive. The bees will return to their old place and, no longer finding their home or the platform of their hive, will seek hospitality from neighboring colonies. They will be well received if the honey gives in the flowers.
When you have frame hives, and you have meetings to do, either in the spring or in the fall, here is how you will go about it: Fill a feeder with sugar syrup; go to the hive to which you wish to unite another, observing however that it is necessary to unite the nearest colonies together as much as possible. Remove the first V, blow a little smoke between the frames, then, after pouring a small quantity of syrup on the bees, replace the V. Do the same between each frame. Finally blow some smoke through the door, and close it.
Then transport to the other hive with the frame box. Remove all the frames from the colony, and, before putting them in the box, shake on each side of the combs covered with bees a little syrup which, when overturning the feeder, will fall as rain. Close the box, and let the bees gorge themselves on the syrup. In the meantime, we can start another meeting.
Then open the first hive; Place the frames of the box that have brood next to those of the hive that already has brood. Place the others in a row, then close the hive. Smoke for two or three minutes; finally, narrow the door for the passage of a single bee.
I would point out to you that it is useful, after each meeting, to look through the window to see how the bees behave; if we see some of them fighting, it is because we have not followed the previous instructions exactly, because, by this method, we must never miss a meeting. In any case, by heavily smoking the colony, we would stop the beginning of a fight. The next day, we will have to shrink the hives if they have too many frames for the quantity of bees they contain.
The previous method is excellent when, for whatever reason, we must bring together more or less strong colonies, which have brood or queens.
We can also use this process to hold meetings whatever the weather.
TWELFTH LESSON
DIRECTION OF THE RAYS. — MELTING WAX. — REPLACEMENT OF THE MALE RAYS WITH THOSE OF WORKERS. — ARTIFICIAL RAYS. — ENEMIES OF BEES; CONSERVATION OF SHELVES. — DISEASES OF BEES.
Direction of rays. — It is absolutely essential to force the bees to build straight inside the frames; otherwise, they would often build from one frame to another, and, when you opened a hive, it would be impossible to detach the frames from the others, without breaking the combs, causing the honey to flow, etc.
Fig. 26. — Debris of worker combs inside a frame.
We must therefore give the bees a first direction, by first gluing pieces of comb to the top of the frames and on the sides using strong glue, fig. 26.
The bees will weld all these pieces together, fill the gaps, and we will thus obtain perfectly straight rays. In one day you can easily fill a hundred frames.
Only worker combs should be stuck in the frames, in order to encourage the bees to build only from these combs. But they are not always willing to build on these rays, as you will see later.
We will melt good strong glue (Givet glue) in water, in a bain-marie. The quantity of water must be sufficient so that the glue, once melted,. has the consistency of oil.
It sometimes happens, when large pieces are used, that they become detached from the frames; This is more often due to the fact that they were poorly glued. To overcome this inconvenience, simply glue one or two pieces to the top, then to the sides. two other rays, which thus support the first.
The combs should never be glued together: the bees would be obliged, in order to weld them back together, to remove the glued parts.
It is often recommended to glue the spokes to the frames using melted wax. I used this process, but I recognized that strong glue was much preferable, because of its great strength.
These frames, furnished with combs, advance the work considerably, and, if the season is honey-rich, the bees will return you more in honey than the price of the wax.
Moreover, this first expense will not be repeated often; it has been recognized that the same combs can be used for a very long time, not only for storing honey, but also for raising brood; you can therefore use very old spokes; but when you buy some, look to see if these combs are dotted with closed cells, which would indicate that the brood has died in these cells. In this case, do not use them, because these combs may contain the germ of a terrible disease called foulbrood or brood rot, which I will tell you about later.
When bees build, they hang from each other in the form of clusters, and necessarily follow the vertical direction; It is therefore essential that the hive be placed upright.
When you already have constructed spokes, you just need to place a frame between two others to be certain of the correct direction of the new spoke.
Wax melting. — The manufacture of wax is, for the beekeeper, of very secondary interest, since we seek as much as possible to prevent the bees from building new combs. I will therefore not tell you about this difficult manufacturing process, which requires expensive equipment.
When you have a large enough amount of wax debris, you will fill a slatted crate with it which will rest on a purifying tub. By repeatedly pouring boiling water over the grounds, the wax will rush into the tub.
When the grounds are used up, we start the operation again with a new load. When the water in the tub has cooled, you will remove the wax cake. You'll do well to trade that premium wax for some embossed spokes.
Replacement of male combs with worker combs. — Each year, after the harvest, we have a greater or lesser number of combs which we reserve for the following year. Among these rays, there are some made entirely of male cells, others have only part of them.
These parts of the rays with large cells are removed and replaced with pieces of the same size with small cells. We thus gradually manage to eliminate the male combs, but for this it is necessary to obtain, in the spring, the waxes from the common hives that died during the winter.
Bees are unfortunately not always willing to build worker combs; but we have observed in practice certain facts which allow the beekeeper to determine in advance the moment when they will preferably build worker combs.
1° A swarm always begins by building a large number of worker cells, before building male combs;
2° A weak colony which lacks rays with small cells, often builds them;
3° A colony which has a mother of the year generally only builds worker cells;
4° At times of low harvest, bees decide more easily to build worker combs than during the big harvest. In this last season, strong colonies only build male combs if they already have a sufficient number of worker cells.
Artificial rays. — We now find everywhere - in commerce sheets of wax having on each side the imprint of worker cells. When you fix a leaf in the middle of a frame, and give it to the bees, they build the comb into worker cells, and this very quickly if there is honey in the flowers; in addition, we have the advantage of having very straight spokes. Figure 27 shows one of these sheets in a frame.
Fig. 27. — Artificial rays.
Placing sheets in frames. — The sheets must be a little narrower than the interior size of the frame; otherwise, due to the internal heat of the hive, they would curl. For a frame with an internal size of 31 x 37, we will order sheets of 30x36. The sheet, once placed in the frame, must therefore only touch the edges at the upper part; on the sides and at the bottom there will be a gap between the sheet and the frame.
We start by nailing at A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, fig. 28, small staples found among all manufacturers of beekeeping instruments, and which are nailed just in the middle of the width of the frame; all these staples are connected together by very fine iron wires.
Fig. 28.
Then, we place a sheet of wax on a board having the size of the inside of the frame, i.e. 31 x 37, and 13 ram thick; we place the frame on the sheet, and using a wheel called a Woiblet spur, we embed the iron wires in the wax.
When you do not have a special wheel, you can easily embed the threads in the sheet either using drops of melted wax, or by pressing the thread into the wax from place to place using a any instrument.
Enemies of bees: conservation of combs. — In our countries, bees only have to fear two serious enemies: field mice in winter, and the wax moth in summer.
Field mice seek to enter hives during the winter: if they succeed, they make nests and cause great damage to the colonies. Using the perforated sheet metal grids, the drawing of which I gave you (see Tools) previously, field mice cannot enter the colonies.
The wax moth is a serious enemy of bees; This little butterfly, gray in color, seeks to enter the hives at night, in order to lay its eggs there. The worms which come from these eggs feed on wax, and one can easily imagine the damage they must cause in the hives.
The only way to protect colonies from this dangerous enemy is to give weak hives only as many combs as the bees can cover; as for the strong ones, they do not fear the attacks of the wax moth.
To preserve the rays, here is the process that seems preferable to adopt:
In a well-closed room, shelves are set up on which the shelves are placed like books in a library. An interval of approximately 1 centimeter must be left between the rays. So that the spokes do not fall on top of each other, they are supported on points.
In this room, sulfur is burned in a dish two or three times each year.
It will be wise to visit the combs from time to time, especially those which are old or which contain pollen.
Bee diseases. — Bees suffer from dysentery when, contrary to their habits, they release their excrement into the hive. This disease is not dangerous and usually heals itself. Lack of ventilation, combined with too long confinement during the winter, sometimes causes dysentery.
Foulbrood, or brood rot, is a dangerous disease whose causes are very poorly understood. If, during the first visit in spring, you notice that the capped brood, instead of being compact and in a single block, on each comb, is scattered and dotted with open cells, if in addition the cell covers, instead of being bulging, are depressed and often have a small hole in them, it is likely that this colony has foulbrood. Doubt is no longer possible if, when you open the cells, you find dead brood, in the form of slimy material, with the smell of rotten meat.
It is rare for these colonies to heal themselves, and if the disease breaks out in the late season, it is best to destroy the colonies.
During the winter of 1881 to 1882, I noticed that a large number of colonies in common hives had died of foulbrood, and several of my colonies were affected by this disease.
I first tried, without success, to cure several by disinfecting the rays using salicylic acid. These colonies were destroyed.
Salicylic acid has, however, given good results by using it by the following process, which is very simple and within the reach of all growers: 50 grams of salicylic acid are dissolved in 400 grams of alcohol. This solution keeps indefinitely for use, and can be prepared by a pharmacist.
If, in the spring, a colony shows some signs of foulbrood (in the fall it would have been better to destroy the colony, because, at this late time of the year, it would no longer have time to rebuild its population), we move all the bees into a new hive, containing frames more or less furnished with very clean combs.
1 kilo of sugar is then dissolved hot in a liter of water, and 10 grams of salicylic acid solution in alcohol is added. Every evening, for a few weeks, the colony is given half a liter of syrup.
The combs of the diseased colony are then passed through the extractor to remove the honey, honey which should never be given as food to bees; the rays are melted, and the frames passed into boiling water.
The hive is cleaned with a mixture of water containing one tenth of sulfuric acid; finally, sulfur is burned in the hive.
THIRTEENTH LESSON
METHODS FOR POPULATION OF FRAME HIVES
There are different processes; the simplest thing is, obviously, to wait for the natural swarms to leave the colonies, and to populate the hives with them.
When a swarm leaves, it will usually attach itself to a branch. Take a common hive, hold it in one hand, the hive upside down under the swarm; with the other hand shake the branch vigorously; the swarm falls into the hive. The hive is then inverted onto a tray placed on the ground, and a wedge is placed under the hive.
The bees, after falling on the tray, leave the hive en masse to soon re-enter it by sounding the recall. If the bees stay in the hive, the queen is there too, and the operation is successful. The branch where the swarm was hanging must be smoked for some time, in order to force the remaining bees to leave the branch permanently.
If the swarm is placed in such a situation that it is possible to place the hive on it, it will be enough to make the swarm climb into the hive using moderate smoke.
Leave the swarm, until nightfall, in the place where you collected it, put it in the shade, if possible, and, if it was very hot, cover the hive with a wet canvas. The coolness keeps the bees in their new home.
Towards evening, spread a sheet on the ground, take the hive containing the swarm, and with a sharp blow make the swarm fall onto the sheet. Place the frame hive on the swarm; when it is mounted in the hive, put it in its final place. In order not to crush the bees, when you place the hive on the swarm, be sure to place two sticks on the ground on which the hive will rest. Finally, see if the mother was not among the few bees that can remain in the common hive; if we see it, we return it to the swarm.
We are in the habit of always giving a feed of sugar syrup to a swarm which has just been placed in a hive, and we have noticed that this small expense immediately gives it great activity. If the weather is bad, it is very useful to feed until good weather returns.
Don't forget to level the hive; otherwise, the bees would not build straight into the frames, which would cause you a lot of trouble later.
We can also populate frame hives using artificial swarms made on ordinary hives. Here is a method worth recommending: Suppose you have two very strong colonies, A and B; A fortnight before the big harvest, drive out, using the tapping method which we will talk about later, all the bees from hive A into a common hive. When the swarm is made, we place the hive on a black sheet to see if the mother is with the swarm; we know that the mother drops her eggs, which are easy to find on the sheet. Moreover, if after a quarter of an hour the swarm is quiet, it is because the mother is with it.
After passing the swarm into a frame hive, as we saw for the natural swarm, we place the frame hive in the place occupied by mother A. Mother A in turn takes the place of the strong colony B, and the latter is carried a few meters further.
Mother A receives a large part of the bees from hive B, builds queen cells, and prepares to give rise to a secondary swarm fourteen or fifteen days later. But this swarm won't come out until you hear the new queens sing. In order to prevent the exit of the secondary swarm, chase the bees from the mother hive on the thirteenth or fourteenth day; after putting this new swarm in a frame hive as before, this hive is put in place of mother A. Finally, the latter is transported to the laboratory to be demolished.
The worker combs and those containing honey will be placed in frames, by the method that we will indicate later, and in the evening these frames will be returned to the secondary swarm. We will point out to you that the demolished hive still contains, at this time, a little capped brood which will immediately be incubated by the bees. Hive B, simply moved, will soon resume its activity, will throw out its brood of males, and, a month later, will find itself as strong as before; it is likely that it will not produce a natural swarm. This will be a great hive to keep.
This method is already much preferable to the previous one, because you have formed, with the help of two strong colonies, two very populous swarms, which have before them the greater part of the good season to build and stock up on food. winter. You finally have a very good colony left to keep.
In any case, you can also transfer the entire contents of a hive, bees, brood and comb, directly into a frame hive. I have transferred a large number of colonies in this way, the operation has always been successful, and I have never had to regret it afterwards.
This operation must be carried out as early as possible in the season; we will, however, wait for a period when the temperature has become relatively mild, from 15 to 18 degrees of heat, because, in cold weather, it would be difficult for you to chase, by tapping, the bees from the hive to be transferred into a empty hive.
On the other hand, if it was too hot, the rays would be more difficult to handle. The best season is the end of March or the beginning of April, because at this time there is still little brood and . of bees in colonies.
First equip yourself with the following objects: a saw, a sharp knife, pliers, string and small wooden wedges similar to the one shown in fig. 29. These corners have three points intended to fix the corner on the frame.
Fig. 29. — Wooden corner.
On a fine day, and when the bees are actively working, smoke the hive to be transferred, and, after putting an empty hive in its place, transport it to a room.
Turn this hive upside down, place it, for example, on an overturned stool, so that it does not wobble; top it with an empty hive, then surround the two hives at their junction with a cloth that you tie with a string.
Using two small wooden sticks or your hands, strike the hive with short, hasty blows, starting at the bottom and working your way up gradually. The bees will gradually move into the upper hive. This operation takes 10 to 30 minutes. When a loud buzzing sound is heard at the top of the empty hive, it means that the bees have climbed there; the operation is successful if the queen is with the bees. The hive containing the bees will be placed on the ground in the shade, and if, a short time later, the bees remain quiet, it is because the queen is with them; otherwise, you will see the bees gradually leave and return to the apiary.
You will do better, in this case, to postpone the colony to be transferred to the apiary, and to start the operation again when the bees have returned home.
The hive to be transferred, once empty of bees, will be transported to a well-closed room. We will start by circularly sawing the upper part of the hive, so as to remove a cap of 10 to 15 cents. height. This cap will generally only contain honey.
Then, using two saw cuts from top to bottom, we will divide the hive into two equal parts in the direction of the combs. We took care, beforehand, to remove, using pliers, the sticks which cross the hive.
The shelves will then be easily detached one after the other, placed on a table, cut into pieces the size of the frames, tied with string and supported by the corners as shown in fig. 30.
If the combs are small, two will be placed in the same frame, the brood side by side. We will always take care to cut the edge of the combs which touch each other, in order to force the bees to weld them back together. Finally, all male rays will be deleted.
The frames will then be placed at one end of the hive, in the following order:
A comb containing honey, the combs containing brood, and the others in succession; then, finally, a sheet of partition.
Fig. 30. — Rays attached to a frame.
After having closed the hive on top, we will spread a sheet on the ground, and with a sharp blow we will make the bees fall on the sheet. On the group of bees, we will place the frame hive.
It is a good idea, before letting the bees fall on the sheet, to place two sticks on which the frame hive will rest, so as not to crush the bees.
When all the bees have assembled, the hive will be transported to the place previously occupied by the transferred colony, and care will be taken to narrow the flight hole for the passage of only one or two bees, in order to avoid any attempted looting. The next day, we will be able to open more.
The bees will start by welding the combs together, and will gradually eat away the strings. The colonies transferred, and to which we take care to add combs or embossed leaves in due time, rarely swarm.
FOURTEENTH LESSON
HONEY SPENT IN MARCH, APRIL AND MAY. — FOOD DUE TO LACK OF PROVISIONS. — SPECULATIVE FEEDING. — ARTIFICIAL POLLEN.
Honey spent in March, April and May. — Your apiary currently consists of three types of colonies:
1° Of those which, the previous year, gave rise to swarms;
2° Of those which have not produced any;
3° Swarms from last year.
The first are those which should particularly attract your attention, because they have young queens; they are the ones who probably spent the most during the winter, and will probably repopulate the most quickly. Among the thirds, there may be secondary swarms, and if you were lucky enough to keep them until spring, which is rare, we will try to save them, because they also have young queens.
If you have colonies in common hives, and they are light, weld them from time to time to the upper part, using an iron wire, to ensure if they still have any remaining. Honey.
It will also be necessary to feed these poor colonies, as we will see later.
Your transferred colonies will most likely not result in natural swarms, because the bees have many combs to build or complete; nor would it be prudent to take artificial swarms from them; for this year, we will just ask them for a little honey, if the season is suitable.
During the winter months, when the mother's egg laying is almost suspended, the honey spent is mainly used to maintain sufficient heat in the colonies. During this period, consumption was approximately 500 to 800 grams per month.
But, from the time when the bees begin to work and bring in pollen, the expenditure on honey increases more and more every day; it even becomes very considerable in April and May, and winter supplies run out quickly, especially if honey yields little in the countryside.
Let us calculate the approximate cost of a good colony established in a large hive, assuming that the bees find honey in the countryside, in March, April and May.
Expense in March... 1 k. 500
— in April.... 2 k. 500
— in May .... 3 k. 500 TOTAL.....7k. 500
The previous calculation is entirely approximate; the expenditure on honey varies greatly, depending on the strength of the colony, the fertility of the mother, the temperature, the quantity of honey collected in the countryside; we cannot give fixed rules in this regard. We must therefore from time to time take a look at the state of the provisions of a strong and a weak colony; we will thus deduce the state of the entire apiary. In our countries, it is quite rare that bees do not find in the countryside, after May 15, enough to meet their daily needs.
Nourishment due to lack of provisions. — Colonies which, in spring, are not sufficiently supplied must naturally be fed.
For ordinary hives, here is the simplest way to stock them: After having smoked the colony, trim the combs by a few centimeters, so that a plate can be placed under the hives by touching them. Melt sugar in lukewarm water (half sugar, half water); after cooling, pour the syrup into the plate, on which you place a little straw or cork slices, to prevent the bees from drowning while taking the syrup.
At nightfall, when the bees have returned home, lightly smoke the colony; then, place the plate under the hive; take care to remove it the next morning, before the bees leave, in order to avoid pillage, which is always to be feared for feeding hives.
For hives that have an exit at the top, simply fill any vase with syrup, cover it with a light cloth tied with string, and place the inverted vase on the upper opening of the hive.
Glass vases are very convenient because you can see through them; the vase must be removed before the syrup is completely absorbed, otherwise the bees would pierce the web.
Care must be taken to cover the vase, in order to avoid raiding bees. This last mode of feeding has the advantage of being able to be continued during the day. However, it will always be a good idea to narrow the entrances to feeding hives, so that the bees are more easily kept, especially if you feed with honey which, by its smell, attracts foreign bees much more than sugar syrup.
In cold weather, it is more advantageous to feed from above, because the bees, crowded together at the top of their dwelling, have difficulty descending.
The stronger a hive is, the easier and faster it will take food. However, the colonies, however strong they may be, can only take the syrup at a certain temperature.
I have noticed that below 3 or 4 degrees of heat, large hives have difficulty taking food. Around 8 or 9 degrees, strong hives feed easily; above 16 or 18 degrees, the weaker hives take food.
Hives with mobile combs can be fed from above like ordinary hives; it will be enough to place a feeder on the frames, closing any opening to avoid drafts; but it is preferable to use special feeders (see Tools).
After the transfer of the common hives, there are always pieces of honey in the comb; we can place them in the evening in the hives, after having uncapped the cells, and adding only a small quantity of comb at a time; During the night, the bees will have completely cleaned the combs, which will later be used as indicators in the frames.
To strong colonies lacking provisions, it will be necessary to give the following quantities of syrup:
In March, 0.500 gr. every ten days;
In April, 0.800 gr. every ten days;
In May, 1 kilo. every ten days until the time of the big harvest.
Weak colonies may only be given less than half of the previous quantities.
In general, medium colonies lag behind strong ones by three to four weeks, and weak ones often lag behind medium ones much more considerably. But it is quite difficult to specify, each colony having its maximum strength at a certain time of the year. If the spring temperature is particularly mild, we will see weak colonies, with good mothers, develop quite quickly.
Speculative feeding. — In regions devoid of woods, waste land and natural meadows, bees find very little honey and pollen in spring; spawning, without ever being completely suspended, is however delayed, this naturally results in less powerful populations at the time of the big harvest.
Egg-laying can be activated in these regions by uncapping a square decimeter of capped honey with a knife, approximately every 10 to 15 days. This operation begins approximately six weeks before the likely time of the big harvest. In any case, speculative feeding offers so many dangers and inconveniences that I have completely given up on it, as have a large number of beekeepers.
Artificial pollen. — When the flowers do not yet provide pollen, we excite the bees to work by offering them rye, pea, bean flour, etc. They grab these flours which perfectly replace pollen.
To present the flour to the bees, it is placed in shallow boxes. These boxes are placed in the sun and sheltered from the wind. To attract the bees, place a comb in the box on which a few drops of honey have been poured.
When bees find pollen on flowers, they no longer go to flour.
On the bottom of the box, we will nail slats (those used to make frames for example) next to each other, separating them by an interval of one centimeter. It is in these kinds of grooves that we put the flour. These grooves are very useful in preventing bees from drowning in flour.
FIFTEENTH LESSON
PRINCIPLES AND RULES CONCERNING THE ENLARGEMENT OF HIVES IN SPRING. — METHOD FOR OBTAINING HONEY IN RAYS AND SECTIONS. — CONSTRUCTION OF BOXES. — MANNER OF PLACING THE BOXES ON THE HIVES. — HARVESTING BOXES.
Principles and rules concerning the enlargement of hives. — Since the mother's egg laying extends more quickly in the spring in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction, we can add to each hive, during the first visit, a large number of combs or embossed leaves: as for weak hives , we will put less, unless we add more later when they become stronger in bees.
As a general rule, embossed leaves will be built more quickly the closer they are to the combs containing brood; but the bees will only work on these leaves if the temperature is high enough, and the honey is given in the flowers.
Method for obtaining honey by having it. — When the beekeeper finds himself in a position to easily sell honey in combs, it will be advantageous to use small boxes, which are placed on the hive at the time when the enlargement of the colonies becomes necessary for the harvest; if by chance the mother crosses the frames to continue her laying in a box, there is no great inconvenience, because she cannot extend it very far, due to the obstacles she encounters in passing from one box to another. box in the other. These small boxes are therefore far from offering the same disadvantages as a second hive body placed on the first.
Construction of boxes. — The construction of these little boxes is very simple; fig. 31 shows a box placed on the frames.
Have the following pieces built:
One piece A, 180mm long, 76mm wide and 10mm thick; two pieces B, 180mm long, 90mm wide and 5mm thick; a piece C, 80mm long, 70mm wide and 10mm thick.
Fig. 31.
On the sides of part A, forming the top, nail the sides B; then close one end with part C; at the other end place a V window, 30mm long by 74mm wide. This window is fixed by four small points as seen in the figure. This bottomless box will then have externally 60mm high, 80mm wide and 16mm long, plus the thickness of the glass.
Way of placing boxes on hives. — When you want to use these boxes, you stick two very clean pieces of comb on their ceiling (the male ones can be used) in order to encourage the bees to climb into them. To place these boxes, we remove two Vs from the middle, and, after having driven the bees back into the interior with smoke, we place two boxes on these frames, the ends of which without windows touch each other. We continue to place others to the right and left of the first ones, in proportion to the strength of the colony (boxes should only be placed on strong hives). Finally, using a few rags, we block the small opening that remains between the glass and the sides of the hive, in order to prevent the bees from passing through. From time to time, we lift the roof to see the state of the work.
Harvesting the boxes. — To collect boxes, we take them off two by two; a little smoke is blown to force the bees back into the hive, and the Vs are replaced. The boxes, with the bees they contain, are then transported to a room, placed on a table, and lifted by small wedges to allow the bees to escape. The bees soon realize their isolation and fly into the window that is opened from time to time.
If a box happened to contain a mother, the bees would not come out. We must then look for the mother and return her to the hive. If there is any difficulty in getting hold of the mother, using smoke or a feather, the box is demolished.
In order to recognize which hive a mother belongs to, we place the boxes in groups. On each of them is written the number of the hive from which they come.
All that will remain is to close the bottom of each box using a small board.
Honey in sections.- We call sections very small frames in which honey is built in combs. The small wooden frames of various sizes, which can be found everywhere on the market, are all fitted together in a large frame 50 millimeters thick instead of 25 millimeters. In order to obtain very regular radii in the small frames, wooden or metal separators are nailed to each side of the frame • these separators have openings from place to place through which the workers can enter the frames. To place a frame containing sections in the hive, as it is thicker than the others, it is necessary to remove two hooks from the bottom of the hive in the place it should occupy.
Before placing the sections in the large frame, a very thin sheet of embossed wax must be placed in each section, which is fixed with melted wax.
You can also put only a small strip of wax or indicator in each section. This small strip is approximately 1 centimeter wide and glued to the top of each section using wax.
We also find on the market shelves called section magazines, which contain a certain number of them and which are placed on the frames. In general, the closer the sections are to the brood, the quicker the bees will work on them. Thus, for section frames, we place them near the brood; and for sectional stores, we put them on the frames which have brood.
Be that as it may, it is useful to point out that sectioned honey is a luxury item which is rather difficult to transport and place, and that bees working in small frames bring back less honey than if they work in large executives.
SIXTEENTH LESSON
HOW WE KNOW THAT BEES HARVEST HONEY. — SIGNS WHICH WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT A COLONY WILL NOT Swarm. — SIGNS THAT INDICATE THE END OF THE HARVEST. — HARVESTING HONEY. — HONEY THAT MUST BE LEFT FOR WINTERING. — AUTUMN FEEDING. — AUTUMN MEETINGS: — WINTERIZING THE COLONIES.
How we recognize that bees collect honey. — Whenever, in the evening or in the morning, you see ventilated bees flapping their wings at the door of the hives, you can be sure that they have collected honey. The greater the number of fans, the greater the harvest. The number of fans is always proportional to the strength of the colonies and the harvest.
I told you previously about the usefulness of a water tank. If the bees work actively, without going to the reservoir, the harvest is abundant. Take a board about 1 meter long and 50 centimeters wide. Place one end at the end of the tray, while the other rests against the ground.
Note particularly the days when the bees leave early in the morning, return very late and are as active in the evening as in the morning.
Then examine the bees returning from the fields. Instead of going straight in, many of them fall heavily onto the inclined board, and often very far from the board; they are out of breath, breathe quickly and wait some time before flying home.
When you see these signs, you will be sure that the harvest is very strong. (There are days when the weight of very strong colonies increases by 5 to 6 kilos.) Another very simple and convenient way to know the state of the harvest is to always have a hive on the tray of a seesaw. ^
Signs that recognize that a colony will not swarm. — During the swarm season, despite the enlargement of hives before this time, some colonies in certain years may give rise to swarms. If it is not possible to recognize the colonies which must swarm, we can at least distinguish by certain external signs those which will not swarm well before the time of the destruction of the males, a definitive indicator of the end of the swarming.
During the swarming period, it is a good idea, every morning, to go around the apiary before the bees leave, in order to examine the materials rejected by the bees during the night on the trays. When work resumes, the bees clean the trays; it would therefore be too late to observe.
When you find dead males or a few male larvae on the plateau, it is very likely that this colony will not swarm. If you see queen cell covers in the form of small white caps on the inside, yellow-orange on the outside, and measuring about 3 or 4 millimeters in size, you can be almost certain that this colony will not swarm. not.
Signs that indicate the end of the harvest. — By prolonged drought, honey diminishes little by little in the flowers; bee activity is less; hives no longer increase in weight; even in good weather, few bees come out of the hives. We see bees prowling around the colonies, looking for some crack through which they can penetrate; they are looters. Males are chased and chased from hives. These different signs definitely indicate the end of the harvest.
Honey harvest. — When the great harvest approaches its end, and the bees begin to pursue a few males, we must, without further delay, harvest. We cannot hurry too much, because when there is no more honey in the countryside, the bees are less easy to handle; If, however, we were obliged to harvest only very late in the season, it would be prudent to harvest, each day, only a few hives after all the bees have returned, and to smoke them quite heavily.
The honeycombs will be passed through the extractor
as much as possible when they leave the hives, so that the still warm honey escapes more easily from the cells. However, in order to operate in one go, it is possible. wait for extraction until all colonies are harvested.
The extraction is then a little longer if the. temperature is low: This last method is the one we adopted.
One evening, after the bees return, we will return the empty combs to them so that they can clean them. Care will be taken to narrow the entrances, so that raiders attracted by the smell of these rays cannot enter the hives.
A few days later, the rays will be removed and. placed in reserve for the following year.
Honey that must be left for wintering. — The biggest mistake a beekeeper can make is not to leave his bees with a sufficient quantity of food in the fall. The number of colonies that die each year from lack of supply is extremely considerable.
Leaving the bees with only the necessary quantity is still a mistake; thus we will certainly find alive in the spring the colonies which would have been left in October 6 to 7 kilos of honey. But, unless there is an exceptionally favorable spring for the production of honey in the flowers, we will be obliged to help these colonies, and this is a great expense of time and money, especially when we use large hives. Currently we leave, as much as possible, around 15 kilos. With a little practice, you can easily see the honey contained in the combs, by their weight or by the surface area occupied by the capped honey. A full comb <honey weighs approximately 4 kilos; but we must not forget that a new comb contains more honey than an old one.
To simplify the work and not disturb the bees too much, it is unnecessary for each colony to have 15 kilos. Some have less, others more; For the moment it is enough for them to have sufficient food to last until spring. At this time, we will take from those who have the most to give to those who have the least.
Autumn food. - In very bad years, the strongest colonies will perhaps not be able to give up to the average ones the extra food they need to get through the winter. In these fortunately rare seasons, we will have to feed the colonies.
This operation must be carried out without delay; syrup given late and especially in cold weather is absorbed more slowly. It could even happen that it was only partially capped, which could cause dysentery, a disease from which bees sometimes die.
The best food is sugar syrup or good honey; that of inferior quality must not be used; Moreover, 500 grams of white sugar has as much nutritional value as a kilo of lesser honey, so it is more economical to feed with sugar.
Sugar syrup for the winter should contain much less water. For example, 10 kilos of sugar will be melted hot in 5 and a half liters of water; the cooled syrup will be given at once in large quantities, and the feeding continues without interruption until the desired quantity is stored.
If you do not have special feeders, you can use large, shallow jam pots covered with sturdy, light-colored canvas, which can be placed on the frames. Everything will be covered with a few blankets and the roof, in order to avoid heat loss, and care will be taken to ensure that no foreign bees can enter through the top of the hive. Finally we will narrow the doors a lot.
We must not forget, however, that in order to usefully feed a colony, it must have a large population, that the quantity of food it lacks must not be considerable, that finally a colony in feeding always absorbs unnecessarily part of the administered syrup; because this food excites the mother to lay eggs, and the raised brood spends at least a quarter of the syrup given. In summary: in disastrous years, fall feeding is often very expensive; It is often advantageous to bring together the colonies which have not harvested 8 to 9 kilograms, that is to say a sufficient quantity to arrive in March.
Fall meetings. — This question deserves your attention. The desire to quickly increase his apiary too often compels the young beekeeper to keep colonies which, taken individually, have no value at this time of year, but whose low population, brood and provisions combined at a other can help it easily get through the bad season, and, consequently, prosper the following year. But, you will say, what is a weak colony, and why is it so?
Let me give you an example: in the spring you have two colonies of the same strength and which you take care of equally well. The first, strengthening quickly, becomes very populous around the time of the big harvest. At this time, it can have around ten combs filled with brood and bees, the other repopulates very slowly; after the great harvest, she still only has four or five combs of brood, and has not even been able to gather enough honey for the winter.
Where does this difference come from? almost always because the mother is not very fertile. This last colony therefore has little value in itself and will have even less value in the spring of the following year.
Finally, let's examine a third colony: it was very weak in the spring, so it took a long time to strengthen itself; at the time of the great harvest, it was not yet populous enough to amass its winter provisions; but, after the trial, it has six or eight combs of brood and a fairly good population. This colony probably has a good mother; a little help will be enough for it to survive the winter happily, and to produce a good harvest the following year. It is to a colony of this type that it will therefore be preferable to unite the previous one.
By visiting colonies at harvest time, you may encounter some that lack worker brood; others will only have male brood. These orphaned and disorganized colonies could only be reunited with the others at this time.
It is useful to bring together the closest colonies as much as possible; the bees thus find their new home more easily; finally, hold your meetings immediately after harvest and even earlier if you can.
Wintering of colonies. — You will notice that during the autumn the colonies always lose a fairly large number of bees; populations therefore decrease, because the mother no longer lays enough to replace the bees who die daily.
As the temperature drops, the bees crowd more and more between the empty combs in the middle of the hive, and little by little consume the honey by which they are surrounded, on the sides and above their group.
In the countryside, it is generally believed that it is necessary to properly seal the hives during the winter, in order to better protect them from the cold. This is a serious mistake which causes many colonies to perish every year.
If air is a necessary element for every breathing being, even more so is it essential for these masses of bees piled on top of each other, exhaling humid vapors which cannot escape anywhere. The more bees are in regions where winter can be long, harsh or humid, the less they have to lack air. It is essential in winter to allow the air to renew itself easily. Comb mold and dysentery, a disease that bees contract too often during wet winters, most often come from hives being too tightly closed.
I have often noticed that colonies that are too well sealed overwinter poorly and lose more bees than others during the bad season.
To allow the air to be renewed easily, simply lift the hives from behind, and slide two small wedges 5 millimeters thick between the tray and the hive, remembering that the stronger a colony, the less she must be running out of air.
At the end of autumn, when the bees no longer come out, we replace the zinc tab used to open the door more or less with the winter grille (see Tools) in order to prevent field mice from entering the hives .
The top of the frames will be covered with straw or old blankets.
If the top of the frames is covered with oilcloth, it would be a good idea to lift a corner of the canvas and fold it over the frames so as to leave an opening of a few centimeters intended to let excess humidity escape.
If you do not have a special room to store the frames, there is no disadvantage in leaving as many of them in the hives as possible.
As for partition boards, they are, as I said previously, useless at all times and very harmful in winter.
Don't forget, during the winter, to leave your bees in the most absolute rest: this is the first condition for a good winter.
SEVENTEENTH LESSON
MANAGEMENT OF THE Apiary. — 2nd YEAR
MULTIPLICATION OF COLONIES BY NATURAL Swarming. — MULTIPLICATION OF COLONIES BY ARTIFICIAL Swarming.
Multiplication of colonies by natural swarming. — You have, for example, two colonies; one of the two produced a swarm the previous year, and the second is the swarm that this colony produced. So you have a young mother in the first, and an older one in the second. The first will be intended to give honey, and you will prevent it from swarming by managing it using the method described previously. The second will perhaps give you a natural swarm, and you will prevent the secondary swarm by the method we discussed above for ordinary hives.
At the end of the season, you will be able to have three good colonies, and you will thus continue to increase your apiary.
Here is another method, preferable to the previous one, but the application of which requires a greater number of colonies.
The natural swarm, after being collected in a frame hive, will be placed in the place occupied by the mother hive. This, in turn, will take the place of a heavy and very populated hive; finally, the latter will be transported some distance to a new plateau.
The mother hive, receiving all the foragers from the displaced colony, will be able to produce a secondary swarm as strong as the first fourteen or fifteen days later, if the weather is favorable. This swarm will be put in a frame hive. The colony that has just produced the swarm will be transported to the laboratory and demolished. The worker and honey combs will be tied into frames, and in the evening the combs will be returned to the swarm.
The displaced colony will probably not swarm, will gradually resume its activity, and at the end of the season will be among the best colonies to keep for the following year.
Natural swarming has many disadvantages, the least of which is having to constantly monitor the departure of swarms, which too often do not want to leave, or which, leaving too late, risk not having time to raise enough for the winter season. So we're going to deal with artificial swarming.
Multiplication of colonies by artificial swarming. — There are a large number of methods for the formation of artificial swarms; but if we had to describe them all to you and discuss their relative value, one volume would not be enough. This large number of methods is proof of their insufficiency. However, in honey years, many of these processes are successful; but when there is a shortage of honey, it would be better not to create swarms. Now, as it is not possible to predict the weather, we must always act with caution, only ask our bees for a small number of swarms, and finally only adopt methods that are successful in an ordinary year. If in 1880, the year when three quarters of the hives died in France, due to lack of sufficient provisions, I kept my apiary in good condition, even without feeding the colonies, it is mainly because I did not make a only artificial swarm, and that I have completely suppressed the natural swarm.
Among the simplest processes, here is the one that has always given me the best results:
To create an artificial swarm with a chance of success, the first condition is to have first-rate colonies, that is to say hives which have brood on at least eight to ten combs.
You will therefore wait until you have two very powerful colonies, and you will operate, if possible, twelve to fifteen days before the probable time of the great honey flow. In order to obtain strong colonies, a little earlier than usual, you will do well to activate the egg-laying a little by giving a little sugar syrup to the colonies during bad weather.
On a nice day when the bees are very active, take from a very strong colony half of its brood combs, plus a frame of honey with the bees on the combs. Make sure that at least one of the brood combs contains worms of all ages, and that the colony you took the combs from is in the same conditions.
Place these combs in an empty hive in the following order: the honey comb, then the brood comb; finally add several frames filled as much as possible with wax, and close the hive.
Then remove a very strong colony from its tray after having lightly smoked it, then transport it to a new place as far as possible from its old position; finally, put the colony you have just formed in its place.
Most of the foraging bees from the relocated colony will reinforce your swarm.
If a few hours after the operation the colony from which you removed the combs has resumed its regular work, it has the queen; If, on the contrary, it shows signs of agitation, and you see the bees running in all directions on the board and around the hive, it is because the mother is in the swarm.
In any case, if, by opening the swarm eight days after the operation, we find maternal cells, it is obviously that the queen has remained in the colony from which the swarm was taken.
Fourteen or fifteen days later, the colony, without a mother, may give rise to a secondary swarm, which must be avoided. But you will always be warned the day before or the day before by the song of the queens, a song that you will hear very easily in the evening, and which is quite similar to that of a little bag.
But it often happens that the mothers do not sing: in this case, the departure of the swarm is not to be feared.
In order to avoid its departure, as soon as you hear the song of the queens, you will transport the hive about ten meters from the place it occupied, and as soon as the song of the queens is no longer heard, you will put it back in its former place.
You can also wait for the swarm to leave, and only the next day you will return it to the hive. It is rare in this case that he leaves a second time.
About thirty-five days after the formation of the swarm, you should find capped brood there, provided the weather was favorable at the time of fertilization of the mothers. But, if forty-five days after its formation there is no brood in the swarm, it is probable that the queen will have gotten lost in her nuptial race. In this case, it will be necessary, without delay, to reunite this orphan colony with the nearest hive.
If you have a certain number of strong colonies in your apiary, you will do well, a fortnight after the formation of the swarm, to add a comb of brood, without bees, in order to further strengthen it. The removal of this comb of brood, which you will immediately replace with an empty comb, will not significantly harm the harvest of the colony which provided it.
Later, you should not forget to add new combs or embossed leaves to the swarm and the colony that provided it, so that the mothers always have room to lay eggs, and the bees from the space to deposit their harvest. This is a principle that must never be lost sight of, otherwise the harvest will be considerably reduced.
If I suggested the previous method to you, preferentially to the others, it is for the following reasons:
1° In honey years, your swarms will amass more than their winter provisions, provided that they have few combs to build;
2 The colonies moved about fifteen days before the main harvest will have time to gain enough strength to harvest a large surplus of honey, if the honey season extends somewhat¹;
¹ history of these displaced colonies is very interesting: - during the first days, you will no longer see flies coming out, and if they have males or brood of maies, they start by throwing it out of the hive, an advantage for the 'beekeeper. But the queen's egg laying is not interrupted.
Little by little, you will see activity resume in these colonies, which a month later can be among the most populated and active in the apiary.
If during the first few days of the move the weather turns cold, you would do well to close the flight hole at night.
3° This method avoids having to look for queens, an operation that is sometimes long and difficult for those who are not used to it;
4° Natural swarming is suppressed in relocated hives, provided, of course, that you enlarge these hives in due time;
5° The artificial swarm has a reserve of honey at the time of formation in the event of bad weather;
6° Finally, this method is both quick and easy to carry out.
APPENDIX
I. — REMARKS ON BEEEKEEPING IN GENERAL
In the free state, bees thrive almost everywhere and collect as much honey in tree trunks and cracks in rocks as in our most advanced hives.
Simply harvesting honey from wild bees is primitive culture. Thus, in the great forests of Poland, this process is still used.
Why couldn't we do the same in our apiaries, that is to say, harvest the surplus honey, and let the bees behave more or less as they please, which would greatly simplify the cultivation processes, and make making beekeeping accessible to as many people as possible? This is because instead of studying the habits of bees in the free state, that is to say working most often in unlimited spaces, where they can extend their constructions indefinitely, we forced them to work in limited spaces, and most often in hives that are too small. The result was many swarms, little honey, and too often the ruin of the apiaries. Thus, in 1879, two thirds of the hives died in France as a result of the overabundance of swarms and the shortage of honey. The following year was very honey-rich, but there were no more bees to benefit from this rich harvest.
Beekeepers forced bees to swarm by giving them homes that were too narrow, and they concluded that the instinct of bees led them to swarm in order to renew their over-aged queens; inexact reasoning, because if, on the contrary, we give the bees homes large enough so that they can work there and develop their natural instincts, as in the free state, they rarely swarm; here, swarming, instead of being a rule, becomes an exception.
For sixteen consecutive years, we only had swarms exceptionally in good and bad years, and we can affirm that during this period no apiary neighboring ours could be compared to it, neither for the strength populations, nor for the quantity of honey harvested; moreover, we spent less time than anyone else on running the apiary.
The suppression of natural swarming, while increasing the harvest, greatly simplifies the cultivation processes, since at a pinch we could be content each year to harvest the surplus honey, and to create a few artificial swarms intended to replace the colonies orphans. But these simple processes are hardly applicable to ordinary hives, because a thousand disadvantages arise when it comes to partially harvesting these types of hives; also, the rural dweller is generally content to sell the heavy hives, and keeps the others for the following year.
This method would be very simple if, every year, it gave satisfactory results; However, this is far from being the case, and we have often seen in bad years apiaries with fifty colonies reduced to around ten the following spring. The colonies saved from shipwreck were precisely those which had not swarmed.
Removing swarming therefore has a dual purpose, that of harvesting more honey, and, what is more important, of keeping your apiary in good condition for the future.
We tried to overcome the difficulty by adopting hives with caps. Here, in fact, the partial harvest presents no difficulty; but if the hive is large enough to eliminate swarming, the bees climb into the cap with some difficulty, and after removing the cap empty of honey, we find ourselves faced with the same difficulties in harvesting the hive body. than for common hives. If, on the other hand, the hive is small, it is hardly possible to suppress natural swarming.
As for hives with supers, this system has long been condemned by experience, so we will not dwell on it.
The adoption of large hives with movable combs removes all the preceding disadvantages, since they lend themselves easily to partial harvests and the suppression of swarming.
This hive is therefore called upon to replace the others in a more or less distant future.
In conclusion, we will advise the student who wishes to increase his apiary to simply suppress the swarming, and to buy new colonies with the product of his honey.
This method of increasing your apiary is, in our opinion, the safest and simplest, especially for those who do not yet have experience in beekeeping. The student will only be able to call himself a true beekeeper when he knows how to keep his apiary in good condition in the worst years.
II. — EXPERIENCES ON THE USELESSNESS OF PARTITION BOARDS
We extract the following from a summary of Mr. Gaston Bonnier's experiences on this subject.
“A first series of experiments was carried out on two large colonies overwintered in one of Mr. de Layens' apiaries, in October; at this time, the bees no longer came out, and the temperature, which dropped below zero during the night, still rose noticeably during the day; I operated on a series of days of good weather, and regular variations in temperature. The necessary precautions being taken so that the bees could not reach the reservoirs of the thermometers, I took three precision and comparable thermometers for each hive. The reservoir of thermometer No. 1 was placed exactly above the group of bees. Thermometer No. 2 had its reservoir at the same height, but outside the group of bees which was isolated by a metal mesh. Between this metal canvas and thermometer No. 2, one could place either a shelf or a partition board. Thermometer No. 3 was used to give the temperature of the outside air. »
“By successively alternating the partition board and the comb, I found that the average of all the temperatures for the first hive was 7°.86 with the partition board, and 7°.88 with the comb. For the second hive, I found that the average temperature was 8°.44 with the partition board, and 8°.46 with the comb. »
“It follows that the temperature in a hive, taken at the same point outside the group of bees, is identically the same, whether there is a partition board, or whether it is replaced by a comb. »
“All of these results therefore demonstrate the uselessness of using partition boards, mainly in winter where their use condenses in the hive the humidity which is so harmful to bees during this time of year. This is why in many apiaries partition boards are no longer used either in winter or in summer. »
“The previous experiments also explain why a weak colony develops just as quickly in a hive containing many combs (which are all natural partition boards protecting the brood) as in a hive having only a small number of combs. »
III. — COMPARISON BETWEEN HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL HIVES
However numerous the models of hives, there are in reality only two categories, but these two categories differ essentially, not only by the form, but above all by the kind of direction that must be given to them.
Hives are horizontal or vertical. In the first, the frames are arranged next to each other in a single row. The seconds have two or more levels of frames; the lower floor is occupied by the brood nest, and is used to house the honey necessary for winter food; the upper layers or boxes are placed, at the time of honey flow, on the lower box to store the harvest.
What are the reasons for preferring one system to the other? We will give in a brief comparison the reasons which made us adopt the horizontal hive:
1° In vertical hives, the super must be placed at the very moment when the harvest begins, but there is a disadvantage in putting it too early.
Indeed, at the time when the honey flow begins, unexpected cold weather too often occurs which changes the temperature of the hive so sharply that it is dangerous to enlarge the space occupied by the colony. It is obvious that a suddenly raised house requires a significant effort to maintain the heat necessary for the brood to hatch.
We can affirm that, out of a hundred beekeepers, there will not be ten who know how to choose the right moment to install the supers; most often, their implementation depends on chance or everyday activities.
In horizontal hives, the brood nest can be enlarged on the sides without uncovering it, and therefore without heat loss.
2° If, as a result of negligence or error, the supers are put on too late, that is to say when the big harvest has already begun, the beekeeper risks losing a lot of honey; the bees, no longer having room to house their harvest, remain inactive or swarm.
With horizontal hives, you can: either leave all the frames in the hive during the winter, or enlarge them all together in the spring, whatever their number of bees; hence, certainty, in both cases, of being able to benefit from all the successive honey flows; hence, also, almost absolute suppression of swarming.
3° It can happen that the queens go to lay eggs in the boxes of vertical hives, so that, during the harvest, brood frames are found there. The presence of this brood then causes the beekeeper real embarrassment, because in general the frames of the supers do not have the same height as those of the lower box.
This disadvantage cannot occur with horizontal hives, because they do not have supers.
4° In years with little honey production, or in regions poor in honey, the box sometimes contains enough honey, while the brood chamber contains too little. In this case, we cannot take combs from the top to bring them down to the ground floor, the frames do not go from one to the other, and it will be necessary to sell the honey from the top to buy the sugar necessary for bee food; bad speculation in all respects.
By using the horizontal hive, the reserve honey is naturally placed by the bees above their group, and the beekeeper does not have to carry out any operations.
5° In years of high production, a single chamber being insufficient, it is necessary to add second chambers to the first before they are completely full. But, as all the hives on the farm are not full on the same date, the obligatory monitoring to successively place the supers becomes almost daily.
With the horizontal hive, all the frames having been placed before the honey flow, no supervision is necessary. Furthermore, as a horizontal hive has no supers, it can be visited much more easily than when two or three have to be disturbed. supers to reach the brood chamber.
6° It has been objected that hives with supers are more fortunately arranged for the production of sections than horizontal hives, and also that the honey from the supers is superior to that collected on each side of the brood.
It was in the harvest of fixed hives that the quality of the honey located at the top was higher than that of the old combs of the hive body; from this, an argument in favor of hives with supers was wrongly deduced. But experience proves daily that the honey housed in horizontal hives is identical to that collected in the supers. As for the sections, it is easy to place them in the frames of horizontal hives.
7° In countries where heather honey is harvested, if hives with supers are used, we could find ourselves embarrassed by the frames of the supers which are filled more or less completely with heather honey than we would normally have. can be removed with the extractor. Because of the difference in size between the frames of the supers and that of the hive, they cannot be put back in the hive or used in the spring.
With the horizontal hive, it is enough to leave in the hive the frames filled with heather honey which serve as provisions either for winter or for spring.
Let us say in passing that it is of little advantage to the beekeeper to produce honey in sections, unless these sections are sold at a very remunerative price, or unless he finds personal pleasure in doing so.
In summary, hives with supers to be well managed require a lot of work and beekeeping experience. It is therefore the horizontal hive which must be adopted by the mass of bee owners. Its superiority has been recognized in a number of French and foreign companies among which we will cite: the Comtois companies, those of Aube, Tarn, etc., where all the hives are of the type that we recommend.
IV. — MANUFACTURE OF MEDROMEL
As beekeeping develops, honey production increases; but, as consumption does not follow the same upward trend, it often happens, in good years, that the beekeeper finds it difficult to sell his honey. It is therefore of the utmost importance to find a new outlet for honey; however, nothing is easier than transforming your honey into honey wine or mead, which is comparable to the best wines.
Honey wine or mead has been known from antiquity, but the formulas handed down to us for making it often left much to be desired; However, in recent years, we have managed to use new processes to eliminate all chances of failure.
Here is the formula which I have definitively adopted, and with the help of which I have always invariably succeeded.
Pour into a perfectly clean 100 liter barrel (proportions per hectoliter):
Water, 75 liters;
Honey, 25 liters (or about 75 pounds); Bismuth subnitrate, 10 grams;
Tartaric acid, 50 grams.
Cut from a frame about a square decimeter of radius containing pollen of the year. Using a hammer, crush this piece of spokes to reduce it to a paste. Finally mix this paste in the barrel.
Place the barrel in the sun during summer and in winter in a cellar or storeroom.
Place a wet cloth covered with wet sand 5 to 6 centimeters high on the drain.
No longer take care of the barrel until the moment when, using a small hole pierced with a tendril, we find the perfectly clear liquid, which takes place in a more or less long time, of five at twelve months, depending on the temperature and the nature of the honey. Bottle, leave the bottles standing for a while.
When the wine has become completely dry, we can then, without fearing that the bottles will break, place them in the cellar as usual.
It is advantageous to color it lightly by adding, at the time of manufacture, about a small liqueur glass of syrup used to color the eaux-de-vie.
V. GUYOT GLUCOMETER
To use the washing water containing honey, such as opercula, etc., we place these comb debris and these opercula in a tub with water; When these debris and covers are well washed, we make wax balls. This is when the Guyot glucometer is essential to know the quantity of honey contained in these waters. On this glucometer there is a column at the bottom of which is written: alcohol to be produced. Suppose, for example, that by floating the glucometer in the liquid, it reads 6 degrees; this means that, if we used this honeyed water as it is to make mead, we would obtain 6 degrees of alcohol, which would be much too low. It will therefore be necessary to add honey to these waters until the glucometer reads at least 15 degrees; the formula that was given previously roughly corresponded to this number.
CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION v
FIRST LESSON
Mobilist and fixist school. — Produces hives 7
SECOND LESSON
Queen or mother. — Workers. — Males 12
THIRD LESSON
Bee buildings. — Laying of the mother. — Brood 15
FOURTH LESSON
Abridged history of a bee colony. — Artificial swarm 23
FIFTH LESSON
Conservation of rays. — Removal of male cells. — Advantages of large populations 27
SIXTH LESSON
Hives in general 29
SEVENTH LESSON
Beekeeper's tools. — Hives. — Feeders. — Grilled frame in case of looting. — Box for storing the frames. — Ordinary smoker. — Mechanical smoker. — Hat, veil, gloves, clothing. — Winter grid. — Grilled corridor intended to suppress the secondary swarm. — Goose feathers for brushing bees. — Centrifugal force extractor. — Honey cell uncapping knife 34
EIGHTH LESSON
Regions favorable to beekeeping. — Establishment of an apiary. — Water necessary for bees. — Spacing of colonies; their movement 46
NINTH LESSON
Fireworks sun. - Reminder. — Ventilators. — Guarding the hives; looting. — Method for stopping looting... 50
TENTH LESSON
Management of the apiary. — 1 r. year
Visit the hives in spring. — Strong colony. — Colo-. deny weak. — Orphan or buzzing colony. — Method for visiting a frame hive............... 55
ELEVENTH LESSON
Meeting of the colonies, in spring 62.
TWELFTH LESSON
Direction of rays. — Melting the wax. — Replacement of male combs with worker combs. — Artificial rays. — Enemies of bees; conservation of rays. — Bee disease 65
THIRTEENTH LESSON
Method for populating frame hives 75
FOURTEENTH LESSON
Honey spent in March, April and May. — Nourishment due to lack of provisions. — Speculative food. — Artificial pollen 83
FIFTEENTH LESSON
Principles and rules concerning the successive enlargement of hives in spring. — Method for obtaining honey in combs and sections. — Box constructions. — Way of placing boxes on hives. — Harvesting boxes 90
SIXTEENTH LESSON
How we recognize that bees collect honey. — Signs by which we recognize that a colony will not swarm. — Signs that indicate the end of the harvest. — Honey harvest. — Honey that must be left for wintering. — Autumn food. — Fall meetings. — Wintering of colonies 95
SEVENTEENTH LESSON
Management of the apiary. - 20 year
Multiplication of colonies by natural swarming. — Multiplication of colonies by artificial swarming 105
APPENDIX
I. — Remarks on beekeeping in general 112
II. — Experiments on the uselessness of partition boards 115
III. — Comparison between horizontal and vertical hives 117
IV. — Making mead 121
V. — Guyot 123 glucose meter
END OF TABLE OF CONTENTS
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MORALS AND DESTRUCTION
OF
THE ANTHONOME
OF THE
APPLE FLOWERS
BY
BRISTLEING ME
Director of the Trois-Croix Practical School of Agriculture
Memory crowned by the Society of Encouragement of Paris, in 1892
And by the Western Pomological Congress in 1889 and 1891
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