West Alexandria, O., Jan. 1, 1894.
=A Good Report—Bee Management.=
My 18 colonies of bees came through the winter in good condition last
spring. They gave me a surplus of 2,000 pounds of white and sweet
clover honey, 1,400 pounds of extracted, and 600 pounds of comb honey.
The former sold here at $1.00 a gallon, and the latter at 13 cents a
pound. I run 5 colonies a different way for extracted honey, and those
5 gave a surplus of 800 pounds. It was done as follows:
I watch until they prepare to swarm, and the honey-flow is close. I
take out all frames from the brood-chamber, except the one the queen
is on, which I put in the center, and fill the chamber with new frames
of full sheets of comb foundation. I then take a full sheet of Root's
perforated zinc, with ¼-inch bee-space between the frames and zinc,
and put it over the brood-chamber. I then put a chamber on top of the
zinc, and put the frames with the bees and brood in this top chamber,
and cover it up. Now I have a laying queen and lots of room for brood
below, and as fast as the brood hatches above, they fill it with honey
if the flow is here. It was here this year, for they filled the top
chamber, after the first extracting, in four days—6 frames two-thirds
capped.
My increase is from 18 to 25 colonies, which are in double-walled
hives, and in as good condition for winter as I ever had them.