=ESTABLISHING AN APIARY: TIME--SELECTING HIVES OF
BEES--MOVING BEES--SELECTION OF SITE.=
Spring is the best season to establish an apiary, especially for a
person unacquainted with the practical care of bees. Colonies in good
condition procured then are more easily kept in order by the novice
than if purchased in the fall. Mistakes in management may possibly be
remedied before the season closes, and by the time it is necessary to
prepare for the winter the learner will have gained a certain amount of
practical knowledge of the nature and requirements of the bees. If the
start be made late in the season mistakes, if they occur, may result
fatally before the proper remedy can be applied.
The beginner had better obtain his start by purchasing one or two
colonies of pure Italian or Carniolan bees in accurately made frame
hives and in first-class condition. These he should get from some
bee-master of repute near his own place, if possible, in order to
avoid expressage and possible damage through long confinement or
numerous transfers. The cost per colony may be $6 to $8; yet bees
at this price will generally be found much cheaper in the end, for,
though common bees in box hives may frequently be obtained for half
or even less than half as much, the cost, when finally transferred
into frame hives, fitted up with straight combs, and the common queens
replaced by Italians or Carniolans, will not be less. The possession
of a colony already in prime working order gives the novice a standard
with which to compare all others and often enables him to avoid costly
experiments. Another plan, also commendable, is to agree with some
neighboring bee keeper to deliver as many first swarms on the day they
issue as are wanted. These will give the right start if placed as soon
as received in hives with foundation starters and the frames properly
spaced--1⅜ inches from center to center, it being understood that the
swarms are early and prime ones, with vigorous queens. Only those
issuing from colonies that have swarmed the year before or from such as
were themselves second swarms of the previous year should be accepted.
Swarms from these will have queens not over one year old. It is better
to have queens of the current year's raising, but these can only be
obtained by taking the second or third swarms from a given hive, which
come later and are smaller, or by substituting young queens for those
which come with the swarms.
SELECTION OF STOCKS.
The relative Strength of different stocks may be determined by watching
the flight of the bees. The playing of the young bees in front of the
hive is apt to deceive one. This lasts but twenty minutes or so, but
a weak stock compared then with a strong one whose young bees are not
flying might be regarded as very populous. The young bees sporting in
front of the hive may be known by their light, fuzzy appearance, and
by the fact that as they take wing to leave the hive they turn their
heads toward the entrance and sail about it in semicircles, frequently
alighting on the flight board and taking wing again. They are thus
marking the location of the hive so as to be able to return to it, for
an attempt to enter another hive might result fatally to them. They
finally fly away in constantly widening circles. Field workers used to
the location fly in a direct line away from the hive. When the young
bees return they do not alight at once as do the field workers laden
with honey, but generally hover about the entrance until certain they
have reached the right hive. Having noted by their flight which stocks
seem to have the most bees, a closer examination can be made by blowing
a little smoke of any sort into the entrances and tipping the hives
back, if they stand on loose bottom boards. When not so constructed the
examination must, of course, be made by removing the top covering, or
if the combs are built in frames, some of these.
In addition to the strength of the colony, the number of combs
containing brood, straightness, kind and age of combs, amount of
honey on hand, the cleanliness and healthfulness of the colony are
points upon which full information is desirable. In April a good
colony located in a central latitude ought to have brood in five or
six combs; yet as ordinarily wintered it will be difficult to find
colonies having at this time more than three or four combs containing
brood. The combs should be straight, so that if in an old-fashioned
box hive they can be cut out and fitted without great waste into
frames, and if the hive is a frame one it is absolutely necessary to
have combs straight and built wholly within the frames in order that
the latter may be readily removed and returned to the hive. The less
drone comb the better. There will always be enough, an area half the
size of a man's hand being quite sufficient for each hive. The larger
size of the drone cells and greater thickness of the combs (1¼ inches)
will make it readily recognizable. If over one-eighth of the surface
is drone comb the colony should be rejected. If the combs are so old
as to be nearly black and to show cell walls much thickened they are
very objectionable. There should be several pounds of sealed honey
in each hive in early spring. Other things being equal, those stocks
which come through the winter with 20 pounds or so of sealed honey in
the combs will develop much faster than those having just enough to
last them until they gather fresh honey rapidly enough to supply their
daily needs. The presence of an abundance gives the bees courage.
They do not fear to draw upon their stores to supply the young that
are fast developing. The combs filled with honey part with their heat
only slowly when the outside temperature falls, and there is thus less
danger of a check in the development of the brood through too low
temperature in the hive.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Box hive prepared for transportation.
(Original.)]
If the surfaces of the combs, the frames, or the inner walls of the
hive are spotted with a brown, crumbly looking substance it is an
evidence that the bees have bad diarrhea during the winter or spring,
and if they have been badly affected not only will the combs and the
whole interior of the hive be soiled, the former perhaps so as to be
rendered almost worthless, but the bees will lack vitality, and will
soon dwindle in numbers, not being able to survive the first arduous
labors of the opening of the season. It is not always easy to determine
whether a stock in a box hive is affected with foul brood or not, for
the odor of decaying brood is not of itself sufficient to warrant such
a conclusion, although it is well to reject any hive having any putrid
odor about it. The natural odor of the hive, produced as it is largely
by honey, wax, pollen, and propolis, is not unpleasant to most people,
so that the presence of any disagreeable odor should arouse suspicion.
If larvæ that have turned black are seen in the cells, and the capping
of the sealed brood is sunken and in some instances perforated,
showing brown and ropy contents in the bottoms of the cells, and the
putrid odor is present, the existence of foul brood (_Bacillus alvei_
Cheshire) is pretty certain. This is a scourge much to be dreaded. Not
only should no hives or colonies be purchased from the same apiary, but
none in the vicinity of an apiary so affected.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Frame hive prepared for transportation.
(Orig.)]
MOVING BEES.
In moving bees the box hives should be turned bottom upward, the bees
driven back by blowing a little smoke on them, and a few loose rolls
of rags laid across the lower edges of the combs in such a manner that
a piece of sheeting, sacking, or preferably cheese cloth or other open
material may be tied over the whole lower end and drawn tightly, so
as to press the rolls against the combs and hold them in place. It is
even well to tack strips of lath outside of the covering, so placed
that they will cross the rolls of rags and press the latter more firmly
against the lower edges of the combs. Strips may also be tacked around
the lower edges of the hive to hold the cloth in place, or it maybe
fastened by winding with strong cord. The bees should be thus prepared
as late in the day as possible, care being taken that none escape, and
at dusk stood bottom upward in a spring conveyance or on straw or hay
several inches deep in the box of a wagon, with straw packed between
and around the hives. It is advisable to drive slowly, avoiding ruts as
much as possible. By turning the hives bottom upward the weight of the
combs rests on their points of attachment, and since in such hives the
combs are not always attached well down the sides danger of breakage
is lessened, especially when the rolls of cloth are pressed against
the edges of the combs. If the bees are in frame hives, the frames of
which have not been disturbed recently, it is likely that, with care in
driving, the combs will not get displaced. If necessary to use a sheet
or cloth to give ventilation, it should be tied over the top and the
hive placed in the wagon in the same position it occupied on the stand,
lest the combs, not being attached all the way down, should fall to one
side or the other. Except during quite warm weather and for long trips
it may not be necessary to adopt all the precautions here indicated,
although in case bees are to be transported on long journeys by rail or
water far more careful preparation is even necessary.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--An apiary in Florida. (Reproduced from
photograph.)]
SELECTION OF SITE.
The apiary should be located where no surface water will collect
during heavy storms, yet the ground should not be very uneven, but
rather a gentle slope. In the colder portions of the United States
a south-eastern exposure is decidedly preferable, though in the
South the slope of the site is less important to the welfare of the
bees; a direct southern or south western exposure, however, will
be found extremely uncomfortable at times both for the operator and
for his bees. A windbreak, such as a board fence, a hedge, or a row
of evergreens on the north and west, is advisable as a protection
against sharp winds in winter and early spring, which keep many bees
from reaching their hives even when near the entrances. Some shade
is desirable, yet such density as to produce dampness is extremely
detrimental. In moist elevated regions, which are of course cool,
no shade will be needed, except temporarily for newly hived swarms.
Tall trees are objectionable in or near the apiary, because swarms
are likely to cluster so high as to render their capture difficult
and dangerous. Some of the self-hivers or nous warming devices now
offered for sale may with improvement yet accomplish the end in view,
but heretofore clipping one wing of each laying queen and using all
precautions to prevent after-swarming, making artificial swarms,
selection in breeding, or any other means known to limit swarming,
have not sufficed to prevent the occasional issuance of a swarm with
a queen having wings. Therefore it is advisable to have the apiary
located under or near low trees, where the hives can be readily seen
from the house. Carniolan, Italian, and Cyprian bees give less trouble
to passers-by or to live stock than do the ordinary brown or German
bees, or hybrids of these races, yet whatever race be kept, it is best
to have the apiary as secluded as the necessary or desirable conditions
will permit.
The frontispiece and figures 20, 21, and 75, taken from photographs of
apiaries located in different parts of the country, give a fair idea of
sites actually occupied and the arrangement of hive-.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--An apiary in California. (Reproduced from
photograph.)]