All Bee Keeping
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2000 Inches Safe For This Section
I am satisfied that 2,000 inches in the clear, is the proper size for safety in this section, and consequently, profit. On an average, swarms from this size are as large as any. The dimensions should be uniform in all cases, whatever size is decid... A Case In Point
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 fifteen pounds of honey, every particle they had.[13] About the usual nu... A Cause Suggested
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. We must also admit that some cause or causes, adequate to the effect,... A Disputed Question
We now approach another disputed point in natural history, relative to the queen leaving at any time except when leading out a swarm. Most writers say that the young queen leaves the hive, and meets her paramour, the drone, on the wing. Others deny ... A Duty
It is the duty of every bee-keeper, who expects to succeed, to know which his weak stocks are; an examination some cool morning, can be made by turning the hive bottom up, and letting the sun among the combs. The number of inhabitants in them is eas... A Moth Can Go Where Bees Can
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 hives become so full of bees, that they cover the board in a cool mor... A Multitude Of Drones Needed
Instinct teaches the bee to make the matters left to them as nearly _sure_ as possible. When they want one queen, they raise half a dozen. If one drone or only half a dozen were reared, the chances of the queen meeting one in the air would be very m... A Person's Breath Offensive And Other Causes
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, sometimes made by carelessly turning up the hive, is another. After being o... A Room Made For Wintering Bees
In the fall of 1849 I built a room for this purpose; the frame was eight by sixteen feet square, and seven high, without any windows. A good coat of plaster was put on the inside, a space of four inches between the siding and lath was filled with sa... A Rule For The Time Of These Issues
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: When a swarm left the middle of May, and another the first of July, seve... A Successful Method
When you are all ready, take a stock that can spare a swarm; if bees are on the outside, raise the hive on wedges, and drive them in with a little water, and disturb them gently with a stick. Now smoke and invert it, setting the empty hive over. If ... A Suggestion
Mr. Miner's cross-bar hive is intended to make the bees construct all straight combs, and probably will do it. But the disadvantage of bee-bread and brood in the boxes will not be made up by straight combs. For the benefit of those who have been m... A Test
But while you are learning this nice distinction, your bees may be ruined. We will, therefore, give some other means of protection. Bees, when they have been stealing a sack of honey from a neighboring hive, will generally run several inches from ... A Test For The Presence Of A Queen
If you have a hive that you suspect has lost a queen at this season, her presence can be ascertained nine times in ten by this method. Sweep off the board clean, and look the next day or two after for these eggs. Take care that ants, or mice, have n... A Test For The Presence Of Queen Doubted
It is further asserted that if a hive loses its queen "no pollen is collected." Also, "that such quantities are sometimes collected, and fill so many cells, that too little room is left for brood, and the stock rapidly dwindles away in consequence."...