PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF BOXES.
Putting on boxes may be considered a duty intermediate between spring
and summer management. I cannot recommend putting them on as early as
the last of April, or first of May, in ordinary circumstances. It is
possible to find a case that it would be best. But before the hive is
full of bees it is generally useless, very likely a disadvantage, by
allowing a portion of animal heat to escape that is needed in the hive
to mature the brood. Also, moisture may accumulate until the inside
moulds, &c. Some experience and judgment is necessary to know about
what time boxes are needed. That boxes _are needed_ at the proper
season, I think I shall not need an argument to convince any one, in
the present day. Bee-keepers have generally discarded the barbarous
practice of killing the bees to obtain the honey. Many of them have
learned that a good swarm will store sufficient honey for winter,
besides several dollars worth as profit in boxes.
ADVANTAGE OF THE PATENT VENDER.
Here is where the patent vender has taken the advantage of our ignorance,
by pretending that no other hive but _his ever obtained such quantities,
or so pure in quality_.
TIME OF PUTTING ON--RULE.
It is probable a great many readers will need the necessary observation
to tell precisely when the hive is full of honey; it may be full of
bees, and not of honey. And yet the only rule that I can give to be
generally applied, is, when the bees begin to be crowded out, but a day
or two before would be just the right time, that is, when they are
obtaining honey--(for it should be remembered that they do not always
get honey when beginning to cluster out). This guide will do in place
of a better one, which close observation and experience only can give.
By observing a glass hive attentively, in those cells that touch the
glass on the edge of the combs, whenever honey is being deposited here
abundantly, it is quite evident that the flowers are yielding it just
then, and other stocks are obtaining it also. Now is the time, if any
cluster out, to put on the boxes. When boxes are made as I have
recommended, that is, the size containing 360 solid inches, it is
advisable to put on only one at first; when this is full either of bees
or honey, and yet bees are crowded outside, the other can be added.
This is before swarming; too much room might retard the swarming a few
days, but if crowded outside, it indicates want of room, and the boxes
can make but little difference. It is better to have one box well
filled than two half full, which might be the case if the bees were not
numerous. The object of putting on boxes before swarming, is to employ
a portion of the bees, that otherwise would remain idly clustering
outside two or three weeks, as they often do, while preparing the young
queens for swarming. But when all the bees can be profitably engaged in
the body of the hive, more room is unnecessary.
MAKING HOLES AFTER THE HIVE IS FULL.
Whenever it is required to put boxes on a hive that has no holes
through the top, it need not prevent your getting a few pounds of the
purest honey that may be had, just as well as to have a portion of the
bees idle. I always endeavor to ascertain in what direction the sheets
of comb are made, and then mark off the row of holes on the top, at
right angles with them.
ADVANTAGE OF PROPER ARRANGEMENT.
Two inches being nearly the right distance, each one will be so made
that a bee arriving at the top of the hive between any two sheets will
be able to find a passage into the box, without the task of a long
search for it; which I can imagine to be the case when only one hole
for a passage is made, or when the row of holes is parallel with the
combs. A hive might contain eight or ten sheets of comb, and a bee
desirous of entering the box might go up between any two, many times,
before it found the passage. It has been urged that every bee soon
learns all passages and places about the hive, and consequently will
know the direct road to the box. This may be true, but when we
recollect that all within the hive is perfect darkness--that this path
must be found by the sense of feeling alone--that this sense must be
its guide in all its future travels--that perhaps a thousand or two
young workers are added every week, and these have to learn by the same
means--it would seem, if we studied our own interest, we would give
them all the facility possible for entering the boxes. What way so easy
for them as to have a passage, when they get to the top, between each
comb? That bees do not know all roads about the hive, can be partially
proved by opening the door of a glass hive. Most of the bees about
leaving, instead of going to the bottom for their exit, where they have
departed many times, seem to know nothing of the way, but vainly try to
get out through the glass, whenever light is admitted.
I am so well convinced of this, that I take some pains to accommodate
them with a passage between each comb; they will then at least lose no
time by mistakes between the wrong combs, crowding and elbowing their
way back through a dense mass of bees which impede every step, until
again at the top perhaps between the same combs, perhaps right, perhaps
farther off than at first; when I suppose they try it again; as boxes
are filled sometimes under just such circumstances.
To assist them as much as possible, when new hives are used for swarms,
I wait till the hive is nearly filled before making the holes to
ascertain the direction of the combs. We all know it is uncertain which
way the combs will be built, when the swarm is put in, unless
guide-combs are used.[15] When holes are made before the bees are put
in, guide-combs as directed for boxes should be put in; (of course they
should cross at right angles the row of holes).
[15] Perhaps Miner's cross-bar hive would do it.
DIRECTIONS FOR BORING HOLES IN FULL STOCKS.
_To make holes in the top after the combs are made_,--Mark out the top
as directed for making hives and boxes. A centre bit or an auger bit
with a lip or barb is best, as that cuts down a little faster than the
chip is taken out, leaving it smooth; when nearly through, a pointed
knife can cut the remainder of the chip loose, and it can be taken out;
if it is between the combs, it is well; if directly over the centre of
one, it is a little better; with the knife take out a piece as large as
a walnut; even if honey is in it, no harm will be done. The bees will
then have a passage through from either side of the comb.
After you have opened one hole, very likely the bees will want to see
what is going on over head, and walk out to reconnoitre. To prevent
their interference, use some tobacco-smoke, and send them down out of
your way, till your hole is finished. Now lay over this a small stone
or block of wood, and make the others in the same way. When all are
done, blow in some smoke as you uncover them, and put on your box. This
process is not half so formidable as it appears; I have in this way
bored hundreds. You will remember my hives are not as high as many
others keep them, they are in about as convenient a position as I can
get them. This method saves me the trouble of sticking the guide-combs
in my hives; also, the necessity of covering or stopping the holes. Dr.
Bevan and some others have made a cross-bar hive, instead of nailing on
a top in the usual way; a half-inch board of the right length is cut
into strips, some over an inch wide, and half an inch apart, across the
top. It is plain that in such a hive a bee can pass into the box
whenever it arrives at the top, without difficulty. I will here repeat
the objection to allowing too much room, to pass into the boxes, that
you may see the disadvantages of the extremes of too little and too
much room. In these cross-bar hives, the animal heat rises into the box
from the main hive, making it as warm as below; the queen goes up with
the bees, and finding it warm and convenient for breeding, deposits her
eggs; and young brood as well as honey is found there. When we think it
full, it is then indispensable to return it, if taken off, till they
hatch, (otherwise they spoil it by moulding), which makes the combs
dark, tough, &c. Another objection to such open tops is, that open
bottom boxes must be used, which are not half as neat for market.
TO BE TAKEN OFF WHEN FILLED.
This advantage attends glass boxes: while being filled, the progress
can be watched till finished, when they should be taken off to preserve
the purity of the combs. Every day the bees are allowed to run over
them, renders them darker. Consequently, when our bees are a long time
filling a box, it is not as purely white as when filled expeditiously.
TIME TAKEN TO FILL A BOX.
Two weeks is the shortest time I ever had any filled and finished.
This, of course, depends on the yield of honey, and size of the swarm;
three or four weeks are usually taken for the purpose. I have before
said that the first yield of honey nearly fails in this section,
usually about the 20th of July; there are some variations, later or
earlier, according to the season. In other places it may be much later.
WHEN TO TAKE OFF BOXES PART FULL.
It can be ascertained by occasionally raising the cover to your glass
boxes. When no more is being added, all boxes that are worth the
trouble should be taken off; if left longer the comb gets darker, and
such cells of honey as are not sealed over, (and sometimes the majority
are such,) the bees generally remove down into the hive.
TOBACCO SMOKE PREFERRED TO SLIDES.
When boxes are to be taken off, if a slide of tin, zinc, &c., is used
to close the holes, some of the bees are apt to be crushed, others will
find themselves minus a head, leg, or abdomen, and all of them be
irritable for several days. A little tobacco smoke is preferable, as it
keeps all quiet. Just raise the box to be taken off sufficient to puff
under it some smoke, and the bees will leave the vicinity of the holes
in an instant; the box can then be removed, and another put on if
necessary, without exciting their anger in the least.
MANNER OF DISPOSING OF THE BEES IN THE BOXES.
Arouse the bees by striking the box lightly four or five times. If all
the cells are finished, and honey is still obtained, turn the box
bottom up, near the hive from which it was taken, so that the bees can
enter it without flying; by this means you can save several young bees,
that have never left the hive and marked the location, and a few others
too weak to fly, but will follow the others into the hive; (such are
lost when we are obliged to carry them at a distance.) Boxes can be
taken off either in the morning or evening; if in the morning, it may
stand several hours when the sun is not too hot, but on no account let
it stand in the sun in the middle of the day, as the combs will melt.
The bees will all leave, sometimes in an hour; at others they will not
be out in three. They may be taken off at evening and stand till
morning, in fair weather; if not too cool, they are generally all out;
but here is some risk of the moth finding it and depositing her eggs;
perhaps one in fifty may be thus found.
BEES DISPOSED TO CARRY AWAY HONEY.
When boxes are taken off at the end of the honey season, a different
method of getting rid of the bees must be adopted, or we lose our
honey. Unless the combs are all finished, we lose some then any way, as
most of the bees fill themselves before leaving; they carry it home and
return for more immediately, and take it all, if not prevented. It has
been recommended to take it to some dark room with a small opening to
let the bees out; in the course of the day they will sometimes all
leave; but this method I have found unsafe, as they sometimes find the
way back. When a large number of boxes are to be managed, a more
expeditious mode is, to have a large box with close joints, or an empty
hogshead, or a few barrels with one head out, set in some convenient
place; put the boxes in, one above another, but not in a manner to stop
the holes; over the top throw a sheet of one thickness, a thin one is
best, as it will let through more light. The bees will leave the boxes,
creep to the top, and get on the sheet; take this off and turn it over
a few times; in this way all may be got rid of without the possibility
of carrying off much honey. All that know the way will return to the
hive, but a few young ones are lost.
NOT DISPOSED TO STING.
They seldom offer to sting during this part of the operation, even when
the box is taken off without tobacco smoke, and carried away from the
hive; after a little time, the bees finding themselves away from home,
lose all animosity.
As honey becomes scarce, less brood is reared; a great many cells that
they occupied are soon empty; also, several cells that contained honey
have been drained, and used to mature the portion of brood just started
at the time of the failure. We can now understand, or think we do, why
our best stocks that are very heavy, that but a few days before were
crowded for room and storing in boxes, are now eager for honey to store
in the hive; as there is abundant room for several pounds. They will
quickly remove to the hive the contents of any box left exposed; or
even risk their lives by entering a neighboring hive for it; after
being allowed to make a beginning, under such circumstances.
RULE.
During a yield of honey, take off boxes as fast as they are filled, and
put on empty ones. At the end of the season take all off. Not one stock
in a hundred will starve that has worked in boxes, that is, when the
hive is the proper size, and full before adding the boxes, unless
robbed or other casualty.