A hive that is proof against the moth, is yet to be constructed. We frequently hear of them, but when they come to be tested, somehow these worms get where the bees are. When your...
But the worms, you can surely keep them out, you think, since you can seal up the boxes perfectly close, preventing the moth or even the smallest ant from entering! Yes, you may do...
A "_post mortem_" examination revealed the following circumstances: Nine-tenths of the breeding-cells were found to contain young bees in the larva state, stretched out at full len...
About the first of April they commence collecting pollen and rearing their young; by the middle of May all good stocks will occupy nearly, if not quite all, their brood-combs for t...
This may be put down as a rule, that all after swarms _must_ be out by the eighteenth day from the first. I never found an exception, unless the following may be considered so: Whe...
The bees seem to make a provision for this emergency, the sheets of comb are farther apart than actually necessary at first, the diameter of the cell is also a little larger than t...
The greatest difficulty in uniting two families or more in this manner, is where they have to be taken from different places in the same apiary; where the locations have been marke...
The breath of a person inside the hive, or among them, when clustered outside, is considered in the tribunals of their insect wisdom as the greatest indignity. A sudden jar, someti...
_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...
My method of making them is as follows: The top is like those for other hives, fifteen inches square, adapted to boxes and cover. This hive we want to be as profitable as any, givi...
The only time when I have witnessed the process with any degree of satisfaction is when the combs approach the glass, and but few bees in the way; then, by watching patiently a few...
If we keep bees for ornament, it would be well to build a bee-house, paint the hives, &c.; but as I expect the majority of readers will be interested in the profit of the thing, I...
In spring and first of summer, when nearly all the combs are empty, and food abundant, they rear brood more extensively than at any other period, (towards fall more combs are fille...
When the day is fair and not too much wind, first swarms generally issue from ten o'clock till three; if you are on the lookout, the first outside indication of a swarm, will be an...
In the morning, when cool, raise the hive, and you will find them on the board. You must not suppose that these chaps are bred outside the hive, got their growth, and are now on th...
It is very difficult to detect the first hundred or two that die in a stock. But when nine-tenths of the breeding cells hold putrid larvae, there is but very little trouble in maki...
I have a case in point. Having been from home a couple of days, I found, on my return, a swarm of medium strength, that had been carelessly exposed, had been plundered of about fif...
I wished to keep them warm, and save the bees as well as honey, and at the same time, get rid of the moisture. I found that a large family expelled it much better than small ones;...
In all cases, whether you set a new hive in place of the old one or not, whenever a swarm returns, if other stocks stand close on each side, they are quite sure to receive a portio...
Concerning the remedies for stings, it is a hard matter to tell which is the best. There is so much difference in the effect in different individuals, and the different parts of th...
After swarms are second and third issues (or all after the first) from a stock; and quite a different affair from the first, as also are some first swarms, when the old queen has b...
Robbing is another source of occasional loss to the apiarian. It is frequent in spring, and at any time in warm weather when honey is scarce. It is very annoying, and sometimes get...
I am satisfied of this much, from actual experience, that every time the bees have to renew their brood-combs in a hive, they would make from ten to twenty-five lbs. in boxes, henc...
When a hive is full of combs, the edges are usually attached sufficient to steady them, and it is of less consequence which way it is turned, yet in very warm weather the honey wil...
When the family is large and honey abundant, a brood of drones is reared; the number, probably, depends on the yield of honey, and size of the swarm, more than anything else. As ho...
Those among the combs may be able to move, though feebly. When this is the condition of things, invert the hive, gather up all the scattered bees, and put them in. Get some honey;...
We are all familiar to some extent with the contagious diseases of the human family, such as small-pox, whooping-cough, and measles, and their rapid spread from a given point, &c....
I would now like to show the advantages I derived in transferring the twenty swarms before mentioned. We will suppose that each family, from the first of October till April, consum...
Hundreds of bee-keepers lose some of their stocks in this way, and can assign no reasonable cause. "Why," say they, "there wasn't twenty bees in the hive; it was all full of honey,...
It has been strongly urged, without regard to the strength of the stock, to keep them all out of the sun; because an occasional warm day would call out the bees, when they get on t...