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Bee-Keeping Do’s and Dont’s - Tickner Edwardes · The Westminster Confession of Faith

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  Speaker 1: Section one of bee keeping dos and don'ts. This is
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Bee Keeping dos and don'ts by Tickner Edwards hell to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: become a bee keeper. To the man who, without any
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: previous knowledge of the subject, has made up his mind
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to start beekeeping, it may well seem that the obvious
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and necessary step is to obtain a hive or hives
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: of bees, My advice to him is don't. As a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: matter of fact, no greater mistake could be made by
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the complete novice. Would be much more accurate to say
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: that getting bees is about the last step which ought
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to be taken towards making oneself a bee keeper. There
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: are many things that should be carefully considered before actual
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: ownership in bees is adventured. First, in what sort of
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: district do you propose to keep them? Bees will generally
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: manage to keep themselves in almost any locality, but they
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: will not be able to provide their owner with surplus
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: honey unless the country surrounding the apiary is fairly rich
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: in nectar yielding plants. If your hives are to be
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: stationed near fruit orchards, or near sheep farms where flowering
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: crops are annually raised for sheep feed, or near heather
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: clad moorlands. The bees will probably do very well. A
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: situation combining the three would be ideal for honey production,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: But it should be remembered that bees do not ordinarily
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: forage more than a couple of miles at the farthest
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: from their hives. Also, it must be recognized that ordinary
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: garden flowers are practically useless to bees when honeymaking, so
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: that a suburb with miles of such gardens on every side,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: glowing with all sorts of bright blossom, may nevertheless prove
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: an exceedingly poor honey district. All this frankly stated, However,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it is wonderful what a good strain of bees will
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: sometimes accomplish, even in the most unlikely situation. I am tempted, therefore,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to say that the most ex experienced bee master cannot
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: determine in advance exactly what a given district is capable of.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: The only sure way is to set up a hive
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: or two for a season and judge by results. Then, Secondly,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: an important early consideration is what variety of honeybee to obtain.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: There may be two bee keepers in a village, the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: one securing year after year a good return from his hives,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and even in poor, bleak, sunless seasons, doing not so badly.
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  Speaker 1: The other will be a pretty constant prey to ill luck.
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  Speaker 1: His bees never do as well as his neighbours. He
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: loses many stocks in the winter, and he often complains
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: of disease among his hives a very great deal. The
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: difference in results secured by these two men is due
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to the fact that the one believes in keeping only
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: bees of a high blooded, vigorous strain, while the other
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: is content to go on season after season with his
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: ancient scrub stock in and in bread until it has
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: lost all racial stamina and is ready to succumb to
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the first microbe that happens along. Successful honey production depends
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: largely on the kind of bee kept. It does not
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: greatly matter whether the bees are Italians or Dutch or
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Carniolans or Brown's, which nowadays are more or less a
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: blend of the other racers. But the vital thing is
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: they must be good of their kind, or no amount
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  Speaker 1: of management will work them up. Into colonies strong enough
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  Speaker 1: in population to exploit to the full the honey flow
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: when it sets in. And thirdly, our bees must be
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: kept in the right sort of hives. The old straw
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: scap is very pretty, and there is no gainsaying that
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: in bumper seasons a good yield of fair quality honey
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: may be obtained by its use. But under no conditions
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: is it possible to secure as much as half the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: harvest with scalps as with hives of modern design. While
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the scap is at all times simply unmanageable, bees to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: be profitable must be housed in well made, modern movable
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: comb hives. There are many manufacturers of bee hives of
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  Speaker 1: high repute, and practically any one of them will supply
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  Speaker 1: a right article if the purchaser be not unduly intent
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  Speaker 1: on cheapness. As a rule, it is a good policy
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  Speaker 1: to select a type which is one of the dearest,
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  Speaker 1: with all the simplest and plainest on the list. But
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  Speaker 1: the main point to insist on when choosing a hive
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  Speaker 1: is that it should have double heat retentive walls to
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  Speaker 1: the brood nest or lower story, and if it have
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  Speaker 1: a double floor board, all the better. Single wall hives
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  Speaker 1: are unsuitable for wintering bees in this country. There is
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  Speaker 1: still another point to consider before we rush into ownership
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  Speaker 1: of a colony of bees, and that is twofold. What
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: time of year is the best wherein to make a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: start in bee craft, and ought one to begin with
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  Speaker 1: a stock or a swarm. There are advantages and disadvantages
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  Speaker 1: both ways. An established stock of bees may be bought
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  Speaker 1: at any time of year, though the novice should never
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  Speaker 1: do so except towards late spring, when the dangers and
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  Speaker 1: difficulties of bringing the bees safely through the cold, unproductive
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  Speaker 1: season are happily over. A stock will cost more money
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  Speaker 1: than a swarm, but it will have the advantage of
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  Speaker 1: coming into immediate profit obtained, say in March or April,
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  Speaker 1: and suitably treated as will be detailed hereafter. In its place,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the owner may look in a fair season for a
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  Speaker 1: yield of honey of probably fifty pounds in weight, and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: very possibly a good deal more. But for many reasons,
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  Speaker 1: even if he is able to meet the extra outlay
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: for purchasing stocks, the beginner is strongly advised to start
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: himself in the career of bee master by obtaining swarms.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: A stock may have its combs old, its queen past
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: her prime, its hive rotten, and is more likely to
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  Speaker 1: bring disease of some sort with it than a swarm
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: which consists of bees alone. The swarm may not have
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  Speaker 1: a young queen, and it may not be healthy, but
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  Speaker 1: at least it can be established in a brand new dwelling,
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  Speaker 1: which it will be feverishly eager to furnish with new,
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  Speaker 1: clean combs from top to bottom. Moreover, if the season
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: be an ordinarily good one, a swarm secured early in
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the month of May will most probably not only establish
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: itself the new hive and store good provision for the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: succeeding winter, but it may generally be counted on to
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: provide its owner with a fair amount of surplus honey
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: into the bargain. Assuming therefore, that the beginner has made
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: up his mind to start with a swarm, his first
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: step should be to obtain from a reliable b appliance
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  Speaker 1: dealer the articles now to be described a good double
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: walled hive. Nearly every manufacturer lists what is called a
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: WBC hive until the novice has gained such experience as
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  Speaker 1: will entitle him to have his own opinions as to
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  Speaker 1: the relative merits of the many good hives upon the market.
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  Speaker 1: He is advised to go in for a WBC. We
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  Speaker 1: should order it to be sent painted and properly furnished
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  Speaker 1: with ten brood frames filled with wide foundation, a queen excluder,
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  Speaker 1: a rack of sections, and a rack of shallow frames,
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  Speaker 1: both sections and shallow frames having full sheets of foundation.
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  Speaker 1: The brood frames go into the lower chamber of the hive,
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  Speaker 1: and it is here the swarm will set up its
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: domestic quarters, and whether queen or mother bee will live
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  Speaker 1: and breed, the queen will not be wanted at all
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  Speaker 1: in the upper stories the honey racks of the hive.
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  Speaker 1: Ordinarily she will not venture away from her nursery below,
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  Speaker 1: but if she become cramped for egg laying space, she
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  Speaker 1: is very likely to invade the upper regions. The queen
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  Speaker 1: excluder just made mentioned is a device intended to prevent this.
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  Speaker 1: It consists either of a sheet of zinc perforated with slots,
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  Speaker 1: or a griddle of wires, which allows the smaller worker
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  Speaker 1: bees to pass up and down, but interceps the fuller
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  Speaker 1: bodied queen. Thus, the sections or shallow frames are kept
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  Speaker 1: entirely for storage purposes in addition to the above enumerated
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: articles belonging to the hive, the prospective beekeeper will require
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the following tools. A smoker. This is best described as
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a kind of metal funnel with a small leather bellows attached.
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  Speaker 1: Some sort of material which will smolder, such as brown
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  Speaker 1: paper or fustian rags, is set alight in the funnel,
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  Speaker 1: and the smoke, thus reduced, is employed to subjugate the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: bees and induce them to allow their hive to be
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  Speaker 1: opened without reprisals. A bee veal. The novice is advised
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  Speaker 1: to get one of these, of the finest black silk
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  Speaker 1: net procurable, and to wear it habitually when working among
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  Speaker 1: his hives. As a matter of fact, the veil will
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  Speaker 1: not actually be needed nine times out of ten that
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  Speaker 1: it is put on. Many bee men never wear veals,
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  Speaker 1: and no harm may ever come of the omission. But
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  Speaker 1: the tenth time, it is quite possible one may get
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: stung in the eyeball, and this may easily lead to
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  Speaker 1: loss of sight. That is a risk not worth running
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  Speaker 1: to save the very little trouble of putting on a veal.
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  Speaker 1: Such a veal, as I recommend, is almost imperceptible in
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  Speaker 1: use and will last for years with fair treatment. Gloves
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: should never be worn, as they interfere seriously with the
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  Speaker 1: bee keeper's work. If a little vinegar be rubbed on
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  Speaker 1: the hands before a hive is manipulated, there is practically
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  Speaker 1: no risk of stinging. In any case, you will soon
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  Speaker 1: get to think nothing of a sting or two on
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  Speaker 1: the hands. A few simple tools may be procured at
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  Speaker 1: this time, such as a painter's scraping knife, a triangular
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  Speaker 1: scraping tool, and a good strong screwdriver, all useful in
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  Speaker 1: cleaning hives and dealing with honey racks. To these may
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  Speaker 1: be added a few turkey wing feathers, a small bottle
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  Speaker 1: of vinegar, a jackknife, a box of matches, and a
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  Speaker 1: tin with a tight fitting lid containing an eighteen inch
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  Speaker 1: square of calico moistened with diluted carbolic acid. And the
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  Speaker 1: hole may be kept in a partitioned box with a
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  Speaker 1: handle rendering it easily portable. There is practically nothing else
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  Speaker 1: that need be provided in the outset except it be
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  Speaker 1: a bee garden jacket with collar buttoning up to the
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  Speaker 1: neck and cuffs with elastics to them. This will necessarily
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  Speaker 1: be kept in the bee shed and will prove both
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  Speaker 1: a comfort and a convenience, as well as an ad
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  Speaker 1: to cleanliness. When working among flying bees, one's clothes are
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  Speaker 1: liable to get spotty at times. End of Section one
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Section two of beekeeping Dos and don'ts by Tickner Edwards.
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  Speaker 1: This libribox recording is in the public domain. A swarm
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  Speaker 1: in May. Let us suppose the time is early May,
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  Speaker 1: and a crate containing the hive and other articles, which
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: we ordered a week ago, now stands on our premises,
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  Speaker 1: ready to be unpacked. I say a week, but it
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: is much more likely to be a month or even
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: longer at this busy time of year. A maxim for
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  Speaker 1: the beekeeper in these modern days is always to order
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: up supplies while in advance of the date they are
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: likely to be needed. Very little ingenuity will be called
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: for in fitting the parts of the WBC hive to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: go together. Their order will more or less suggest itself.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: The stand with legs attached may or may not be
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: separate from the floorboard. The two cases an inner and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: an altar forming the brood nest, are however, always separate.
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  Speaker 1: In this pattern of hive. They should be got into
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  Speaker 1: place on the floorboard, and the ten brood frames inserted
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: in the inner case side by side. These frames, unless
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: otherwise ordered, will be of the standard size as fixed
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: by the British Beekeepers Association. That is to say, they
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: will measure fourteen inches in their length and eight and
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  Speaker 1: a half inches in their depth, and their top bars,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: whose ends rest on the sides of the hive, will
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: be seventeen inches long side measure, it will be seen
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: that the frames are filled with thin sheets of bees
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: wax with a fine hexagonal pattern impressed into their surfaces
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  Speaker 1: on both sides. These sheets act as foundation for the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: future comb which the bees will raise on them, using
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the hexagonal pattern as bases for the comb cells. The foundation,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: it will also be noted, is reinforced by cross strands
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  Speaker 1: of fine wire. When the frames are put into the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: brood nest side by side, they are held one and
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a half inches apart from center to centre by tin
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: cross pieces at either end, and they are suspended by
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: their lugs so that they do not reach the floorboard below,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: nor do they touch the sides of the hive by
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: exactly a quarter of an ear. The object of this
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: rather complicated furniture of the brood nest of the modern
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: hive is to provide for the ready removal of the
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: combs at any time needed. The bee keeper can lift
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: out and examine any of the frames whenever he pleases.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Whereas the old scap or plane box had its combs
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: fixed by the bees to its top and sides, and
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: there was no possibility of doing anything with it. Now,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: if you are preparing the hive for the reception of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the swarm which you have bespoken, and which may be
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: expected very shortly, nothing more should be put on but
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the squares of fabric called the quilts and the roof.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Over All. When the hive may be at once stationed
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in the position in the garden which it is intended
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to occupy permanently, be sure that it stands perfectly level.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: The swarm may be ordered from a dealer, or it
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: may be obtained from a private beekeeper, either in the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: neighborhood or at a distance. If from a dealer, it
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: will arrive in a swarm box, which is a square
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: wooden receptacle specially constructed for traveling, with perforated zinc panels
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to allow of ample ventilation. Directly the box arrives, stand
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: it in a dim corner for an hour or two
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: before opening, to afford the bees time to recover from
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the excitement of their journey. It is advisable also to
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: give them a bottle of sugar syrup in case they
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: may be in need of food, as hungry bees are
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: difficult to handle. Make the syrup in the proportion of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: five pounds of white cane sugar to three and a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: half pints of water, bringing it slowly to the boil
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: while constantly stirring. Let it boil two or three minutes.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Then pour into a glass jam jar, filling the jar
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: right up to the brim. It may be given to
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the bees when cooled down to about blood heat. Lay
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: a slip of flat tin over the mouth of the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: jar in contact with the syrup. Then turn the hole
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: upside down and stand it upon the perforated zinc in
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the swarm box lid. Now slide out the tin without
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: disturbing the jar, and it will be found that the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: syrup will not run out, but that the bees can
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: readily suck it through the holes in the zinc. The
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: swarm can then be hived in the manner detailed on
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: page seventeen. If, however, you have arranged with some local
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: beekeeper to purchase one of his swarms. The bees will
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: be brought to you, or you will have to fetch
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: them in a scap or some such receptacle soon after
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: sundown of the same day on which the swarm issued.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: This arrangement is usually a very advantageous one for the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: novice to make, as a visit paid to the beekeeper
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: with the object of bespeaking a swarm can easily become
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the initial step of an acquaintanceship destined to prove of
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: enormous value, both in the present and for the future.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: No chance of scraping such an acquaintance, nor of improving
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: it from time to time, should be allowed to slip.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: A bee keeper of extended experience, really loving his work,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: will teach thee beginner more in a day than he
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: could learn from books in a month. If therefore you
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: have the hive already for the swarm, and no news
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: of the latter has reached you as yet, your best
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: plan is to take a stroll round to the bee
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: garden and find out how things are faring. On a
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: fine morning in May, the chances are that the bee
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: master will be very busy, indeed, and more than disposed
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: to accept any help proffered him. You will find that
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you have come in the nick of time. Just slip
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: on your bee vial, making sure that it tucks into
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: your coat collar all the way round, and follow your
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: friend to his next task. He is going to put
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a new super on a stock, he tells you, as
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: he bends down to light his smoker. The nozzle of
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the smoking apparatus is pulled off and a cartridge of
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: corrugated brown paper is inserted smoldering end first, The bellows
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: are gently worked until a steady full jet of smoke
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: escapes from the funnel. The bee master goes to the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: hive and sends two or three quick dense puffs into
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the entrance. He steps back to wait a minute or so.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: If he had only been going to supply an additional
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: honey rack to that already on the hive, he explains,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: he would not have smoked the stock at the entrance
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: at all, but have trusted to gentle deft manipulation to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: get the new rack between the old one and the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: brood nest before the bees realized that their home was
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: suffering invasion. But here he wishes to examine the brood
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: box as he fears that preparations for swarming are being made,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and his design is to frustrate the intention of the bees.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: He does not immediately open the hive after injecting the smoke,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: because it is necessary to give the bees time to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: fill themselves with honey, which they will always instinctively do
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: on being alarmed. The effect of the honey is to
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: quieten and reassure the stock, and to render them disinclined
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to sting. The smoke, be it noted, does not really subjugate,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: but merely frightens the bees. The bee master now removes
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the roof of the hive and then leaves up and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: takes away temporarily the honey rack already upon it. This
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: discloses the queen excluder, with worker bees crowding up through it.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: The excluder is gently removed, beginning at one corner, and
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the top bars of the ten brew frames are now exposed.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: The master inserts a finger beneath each end of the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: rearmost frame and lifts it carefully out, smothered on both
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: sides with bees. You never saw the inside of a
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: hive before. He surmises, well, all these little bees are
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: workers or undeveloped females, and these larger bees are drones
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: or males. The queen is the only fully developed female
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: in the hive, and all the eggs are laid by her,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: so she is the mother of the whole colar. We
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: shall find her in a moment. While he speaks, he
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: is lifting out and returning the frames one by one,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: scrutinizing each narrowly on both sides. Every now and again
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: he points out to me something like an irregular acorn
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: pendant from the edge of the comb. This he cuts
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: off and deposits in a small tin box queen cells.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He explains, the hive gets overcrowded, and from that cause
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: or some other, the bees decide to swarm. But first
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: they must prepare for the future. The old queen always
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: goes away with the swarm, so it is necessary to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: provide a successor for her. This is done by building
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: queen cells and raising in them young queen bees. Though
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the worker bees are raised in these little cells in
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the cones and the drones in the same sort of cells,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: only a little larger. Each queen has one of these
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: big royal apartments all to herself. Only one queen is
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: needed and will be allowed to live. But several are
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: raised so that there may be no chance of the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: hive becoming queenless. When the first of the young queens
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: is nearly ready to emerge from her cell, the swarm
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: goes off. Now, if I want to prevent the hive swarming,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I go through the brood nest as I am doing now,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: destroying all the preparations the bees have made. I also
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: give them as much extra room as I can. The
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: result is generally that there is no swarm. He has
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: examined all ten of the brood frames now and return
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: them to their places in the hive. The excluder zinc
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: goes back over the frames. Then the new empty rack,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: either of section cases for comb honey or shallow frames
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: when extracted honey is being worked for. Then the old
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: half filled rack, still crowded with bees, goes on over
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the new one, and the hive is closed up, snug
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: and warm again. The new rack has been put between
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the brood nest and the old rack, because it is
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: found that the bees take to it more readily in
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: that position. Then when it is put on the top.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Bee nature abhors a vacuum, but sometimes continues the bee
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: master surveying his trimrows of busy hives with a critical why,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: nothing you can do will prevent bees swarming that hive
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: over there. Now, I cut out all the queen cells
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: a week ago and gave them plenty of fresh super room.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: But they have probably raised more cells, or there was
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: one I missed. Anyway, they look very much as if yes,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: they are going to swarm. Now you shall help to
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: hive your own bees. The novice never forgets the day
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: he first sees a swarm of bees issue. It is
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: such a tumultuously joyous proceeding. The bees pour out of
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the hive entrance in a living stream and mount into
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the air, every bee singing her loudest. In a minute
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: or two, the whole sky seems full of flying bees,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: darting hither and thither, and the sound of their voices
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: has risen to a perfect uproar. And then sooner or
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: later the multitude begins to concentrate. Generally in the upper
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: part of some tree or bush. You may count a
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: little dark knot of bees clinging together on a branch
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: just overhead, And as you look, the knot doubles its size.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: The whole singing concourse is now setting this way from
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: all quarters. Presently the last bee has attached herself to
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: the cluster, and the bees hang from the branch in
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: a big oval or sometimes cigar shaped mass, gently swaying
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: in the sunshine. A strange quiet fall on the bee garden.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: You watch your friend as he approaches the suspended swarm,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: a scap in one hand and a board in the other.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: He holds the scap just under the swarm, and with
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: a quick, strong jerk to the branch, precipitates the whole
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: company into the scalp, claps the board over it, then,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: gently turning the hive over, stands it upon the ground
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: just beneath the tree where the swarm pitched. He waits
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: a few seconds, then lifts the front of the scalp,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: propping it up an inch or so with a stone.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: At once, the entire multitude, as it seems, rushes out,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: some climbing up the outside of the scalp, but the
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: greater part getting on the wing with a frantic song.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: The bee master watches the maneuver unconcernedly. If the queen
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: comes out, he says, the swarm will go back to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: the branch and we shall have to hive it again.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: But if she stops inside, as I think she is
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: going to now, all will be well. In a few minutes,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: most of the bees will go back to her to
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: start a great cluster for wax making, while others will
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: go off into the fields to look for provisions for
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: what they think is their new home. But it isn't
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: their new home. They are bought and sold. We must
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: leave them here until sunset, when the foragers will all
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: be in for the night, and then we will carry
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: them round and put them in your new hive. In
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: the red light of sundown. That evening, the bee master
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: may be seen gingerly carry it the closed scape down
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the lane towards your dwelling. The bees, as yet unaware
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: that anything extraordinary is happening to them, arrived at their destination.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: They are set carefully down on the ground hard by
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: while the new hive is made ready for their reception.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: The necessary preparations consist merely of opening the entrance of
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the hive to its fullest width and providing an extension
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: to the alighting board. This extension may be conveniently contrived
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: by a good sized box lid sloping gently to the ground,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: a piece of old sheeting or the like being stretched
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: over all by means of drawing pins, covering both the
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: lighting board and addition, now the smoker having been got ready,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: a few quiet parts uffs are blown into the scalpe,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: just to warn the slumbrous inert crowd that something unusual
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: is going to happen. Then the whole mass of bees
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: is poured out upon the cloth, so that some of
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: them at least are near the hive entrance. Very few
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: of the bees will get on the wing, but the
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: entire company will soon be trooping up into the hive,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: like first nighters crowding into a theater. In ten or
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, the last stragglers ought to have disappeared inside,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: and the temporary extension of the alighting board may be removed.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: But if the operation has been undertaken rather late, and
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: dusk has fallen before the bees are all in, it
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: may be necessary to hasten their movements by a little
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: smoke puffed at the hindermost otherwise, a good many of
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: the bees may remain outside all night. Under normal conditions
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: of weather. A good strong, healthy stock properly hived in
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: this way upon ten standard frames fitted with full sheets
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: of foundation, will need very little further attention for the
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: rest of the season. The swarming bees will have brought
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: with them in their honeysacks sufficient provender to last them
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: four days, and by the expiry of that time, provided
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: the weather has been reasonably favorable, the home keeping bees
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: will have built comb and the outgoing bees will have
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: gathered nectar enough to give the colony a start in life.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: But if a period of cold, wet weather should set
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: in immediately after the hiving of the swarm, it may
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: be necessary and is generally desirable, to administer food, either
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: in the form of a frame of sealed honey, which
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: is best of all, or by means of the syrup bottle,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: as detailed on page ten, provided the weather conditions remain good. However,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: it is quite possible that in ten days or a
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: fortnight's time, the swarm will have made such progress with
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: the building of the combs of its brood nest that
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: it may be desirable to give it a rack of
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: shallow frames or sections. These racks will have been supplied
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: with the hive ready furnished, and will only need placing
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: over the brood nest when needed, but in future, the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: beekeeper will make up his own racks, which he will
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: easily do with good examples before him, having now seen
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the novice comfortable he started with his swarm. In May
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: the best of always to commence beekeeping, we will turn
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: back to the beginning of a typical calendar year in
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the life of a modern honey producer, and go through
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: it month by month to the year's end, endeavoring to
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: deal with all its difficulties and equivocal points. By the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: way end of section two Section three of beekeeping Dos
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: and don'ts by Tickner Edwards. This LibriVox recording is in
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Spring and Summer management the honeybees year
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: properly commences at what old countryfolk call the turn of
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: the days, that is to say, soon after Christmas time,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: when the mornings and evenings have just begun to draw out,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: albeit imperceptibly at first. It is then that the queen,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: hitherto snugly laid up in the heart of the warm,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: drowsy cluster of worker bees, feels again the call of nature,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and the first few eggs are deposited in the inmost
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: cells of the central brood frame, soon to be hatched
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: into tiny, glistening white grubs. These grubs are fed by
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: the worker bees mainly with a thick white substance from
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: their own mouths, not inappropriately called bee milk. The grubs
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: reach full size, completely filling their cells in five or
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: six days time. They then spin themselves silken cocoons, and
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: the worker bees seal them up in the cells, where
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: they remain quiescent for another week or so. In about
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: three weeks from the day the egg is laid a
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: little longer in the case of the drones or male bees,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: the fully developed young bee emerges from the cell, having
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: gnawed its way through the edible capping, and at once
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: mingles with the throng in the hive. These young worker bees, however,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: do not normally leave the hive to forage for nectar
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: until after the first fortnight of their lives. During this
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: first fortnight, they remain indoors, where they are occupied with
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: the nursery work of the colony and the comb building.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: After this age, and for the rest of their lives,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: they are engaged in the daytime, almost exclusively out of doors.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: The life of a work bee extends from about six
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: weeks in the height of the summer season to four
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: or possibly five months, when they are lying up in
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: a semi dormant state throughout the winter. But the honey
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: bee does not hibernate in the strict sense of the word.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Though a beehive shows little or no signs of life
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: while the weather remains really cold, the first mild break
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: in the wintry conditions will bring out a cloud of
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: flying bees round every hive. This happens every warm sunny
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: midday during the whole of the winter, the bees coming
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: out for the purpose of easing nature, a function which
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: never takes place within the hive. In the case of
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: healthy bees. This cleansing flight, as it is called, should
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: always be carefully watched for by the beekeeper. Towards noon
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: on every really mild winter's day. Each stock should have
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: its period of flying activity, however brief. If a hive
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: obstinately resists the call of the sunshine, when the rest
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: are eagerly disporting themselves, a corner of the quilts should
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: be lifted for a moment or so, just long enough
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to make sure of the state of things within. The
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: bees may be stupefied through starvation, or they may be
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: even dead, and so beyond all help. But if it
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: is merely a case of stupor due to inanition, they
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: can usually be saved by warming a little honey or
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: syrup and letting it drop gently among the torpid bees.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: When the food has roused them, a bottle of thick,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: warm syrup may be given and renewed, so long as
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: it is rapidly taken down, then followed by a regularly
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: maintained supply of sugar candy, which is the safest form
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: of artificial food during the close season. But while these
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: cleansing flights are not too long intermitted, the beekeeper is
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: strongly advised never to interfere with his bees during the
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: closed season. Don't hesitate to open a hive whenever it
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: seems necessary, but don't take unwarranted risks in this way
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: merely out of curiosity. Untimely manipulation of a stock during
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: the early months of the year may mean chilled brood
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: and the progress of the colony disastrously checked, just at
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the time when steady continuous progress towards strength of population
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: is most vital. Most begins at beekeeping seem to take
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: it for granted that bees have to be fed artificially
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: at some time or other during each year, or they
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: will not thrive. As a matter of fact, my own
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: sugar bill for bee food during many years past has
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: not amounted to sixpence per hive annually. This is because
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: my bees have always been kept in an exclusively sheep
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: farming district where early large bee populations are not necessary.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: If my stocks reach good strength by the beginning of May,
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: they will be well in time for the main local
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: nectar flow, which is derived almost entirely from crops grown
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: for sheep feed. But where the apiary is stationed in
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: a fruit orchard area, it will pay to stimulate early
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: breeding by the right system of artificial feeding. The syrup
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: used for this purpose should be fairly thin, seven quarts
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: of water to each twenty pounds lot of sugar being employed.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: The whole should be boiled for a short time and
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: administered to the bees by the means of the bottle feeder,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: which allows of graduated supply. The gist of the idea
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: is to permit the bees to take the syrup in
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: regular but restricted quantity as nearly at the rate of
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: a natural nectar supply as possible. The syrup should never
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: be given at such a rate that it may be
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: stored in the combs. Many beekeepers add vinegar, salt and
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: an antiseptic to these syrup foods, but in my own
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: practice I do not do so, and have never been
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: able to trace any resis result and harm to the
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: omission nor advantage in their use. The vital thing to
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: remember in all spring stimulation by artificial methods is to
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: make the supply continuous. Once started, it must be steadily
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: maintained until the natural sources of nectar are available, or
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: a serious check to the stock may occur. Don't feed
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: at all for spring stimulation unless you are prepared to
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: go on with it. In the South of England, as
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: soon as March is well in a short period of
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: fine warm weather may be expected any day. It usually
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: lasts for a few days only, so no delay should
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: occur in taking advantage of it. This warm, bright interlude
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: should be watched for and the chance ceased for making
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: a start on the annual spring cleaning of the hives.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: This process is very necessary as during the long close
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: season of winter and early spring there is always an
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: accumulation in a hive, which, for sanitary reasons should never
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: be allowed. To remain over the summer. The best way
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: where several stocks have to be dealt with is to
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: have a spare hive completely ready for occupation, and to
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: transfer your first stock to this on block. The hive,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: thus liberated, is then cleaned and repainted when it is
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: used to house the second stock, and so on. Even
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: when you are the possessor of only one colony of bees,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: this is still the best plan. Although the spring cleaning
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: operation can be carried through quite efficiently by having a
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: temporary receptacle into which the frames of the brood nest
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: may be placed while the hive is being scraped and cleaned.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: But the disadvantage of this plan is that the young
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: maturing brood in the frames is more exposed to the
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: risk of chill than when the frames are merely transferred
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: from the old soiled hive to the new clean one
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: and the quilts expeditiously returned to their place. When spring
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: cleaning a stock proceed as follows. Wait until the morning
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: is thoroughly warmed up and the bees flying freely. Then
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: give the hive a few strong puffs of smoke in
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: at the entrance, and lift it bodily forward about a
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: yard now place the new hive in the place previously
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: occupied by the old one, seeing that it is firmly
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: footed and quite vertical, Go to the old hive, remove
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: all coverings, and carefully scrape the tops of the brute
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: frames clean of all propylus or bee glue and brace coomb,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: using the painter's scraping tool and driving it steadily along
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: the length of each frame until all are cleaned. Great
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: care should here be exercised to avoid crushing any of
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: the bees. This done, the frames with adhering bees should
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: be lifted out one by one and placed in the
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: new brood nest in exactly the same order which they
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: previously occupied. Now cover the frames with a square of
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: new unbleached calico bed ticking or similar strong tough cloth,
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: and pile over this as many squares of warm woolen material.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: Old blanket or carpet serves this purpose admirably, as will
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: suffice to keep the stock thoroughly warm. Go back to
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: the old brudeness now, and if any bees remain in it,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: crawling about the floor and sides, shake them out in
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: front of the entrance of the new dwelling upon a
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: board as described for swarm hiving on page seventeen. Now
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: carry the old hive indoors, where it should be drastically
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: cleaned within being first scraped and then either scrubbed out
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: with plenty of soap and hot water, or carefully toasted
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: throughout by means of a painter's blow lamp. Finally give
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: it a coat or better still two coats of good
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: paint outside, when it will be ready to contain stock
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: number two. Although in England the main honey flow cannot
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: be counted upon to last much more than six or
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: seven weeks at the most, in districts where there are
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: many willows and sallows, a good quantity of nectar is
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: often obtained by the bees from these saucers as early
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: as March. Preparations for exploiting the honey harvest should therefore
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: be well in train before this time. A beekeeper may
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: either elect to go in for comb honey production, or
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: he may decide to harvest his honey in bottle form.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: To the man with only one or two hives, the
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: first is by far the best, indeed the only practicable
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: method with bottle honey, unless the very wasteful and expensive
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: system of crushing the honeycombs be adopted. Certain appara for
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: extracting the contents of the honey frames is essential. This
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: means no inconsiderable outlay, which is justified only when the
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: apiary consists of half a dozen hives or more. Comb
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: or section honey may be produced in any quantity large
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: or small, with practically no additional outlay beyond the cost
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: of the racks and their furniture. The best section rack
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: is that wherein the section boxers are wedged up from
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: one side as well as from the end. This form
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: of rack is now made by practically all the b
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: appliants manufacturers. The novice's first attempt at comb honey production
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: will probably be made with racks already furnished and ready
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: to be put into the hive, but thereafter he will
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: naturally prepare his own racks. The white basewood sections are
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: delivered in the flat to be folded by the beekeeper.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: It will be seen that three of the corners are
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: indicated by transverse grooves, which all but penetrate the thickness
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: of the wood. The fourth corner is an ordinary dovetail joint.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: In folding these sections, great care is needed to prevent
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: breakage of the grooved corners. It will pay to give
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: each flat section a wipe with a damp sponge on
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: the reverse side at every groove before bending into box form,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: otherwise they may be broken. This is specially desirable in
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: dry weather. These sections are of various patterns, but the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: best for the small beekeeper is that known as the
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: two way split top. The four way section, that in
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: which passages for the bees are provided horizontally as well
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: as vertically throughout the rack would seem theoretically to be
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: more accessible to the bees, but in practice no difference
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: in the time taken to complete the rack of sections
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: is noticeable. While the two way has undoubtedly one advantage,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: The finished section looks as if it contained a larger
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: block of honeycomb. This is actually no more than an
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: optical illusion, the two forms of section averaging the same weight,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: but when one comes to cell honey the point is appreciable.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: The dividers, the pieces of tin or thin wood placed
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: between the rows of sections, are necessary to secure flatness
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: in the comb. The wax foundation used with these sections
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: should be the thinnest and purest obtainable, and full sized
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: squares of it should always be employed. A cardinal rule
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: in good beekeeping is don't skimp your foundation, either in
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: honey racks or in broodness. The use of what are
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: called starters, small pieces or strips instead of full sheets
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: is a proved penny wise and pound foolish policy. The
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: full sheet in a honey frame means a more quickly
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: completed comb, just at the time when speedy production is
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: most vital. The full sheet of worker size foundation in
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: a brood frame means not only saving of time, but
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: it also limits the amount of drone comb constructed in
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: the hive and so tends to keep down the drone population,
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: always excessive when natural comb building is permitted. Starters absolutely
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: encourage the building of surplus drone comb. To obtain section
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: honey in perfection, Racial vigor and great strength of population
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: are essential, as only strong stocks in high fettle can
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: get the sections drawn out, filled and sealed as quickly
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: as is necessary to make the most of the honey flow. Also,
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: speed of production is needed in order that the sections
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: may be early removed from the hive and thus the
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: snow white purity of the wood and comb cappings be preserved.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Sections left long on a hive are bound to lose
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: their fresh appearance owing to the continual traffic of the bees.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: When supplying a hive with a second rack of sections,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: this should always be placed underneath the first, the right
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: time to do so being when the first rack is
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: a little more than half filled. Take care never to
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: let the bees get restricted for storage space. A third
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: or even a fourth rack may be given, always next
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: to the brew chamber, so long as work is going
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: well forward in the racks already on the hive. But
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: one must also try to avoid being left at the
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: close of the season with a great many sections only
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: partially filled. The best system is to use new sections
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: throughout only when making up the first two racks. Do
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: not wait until the first racks are sealed to the
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: very corners before removal, but take them off when the
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: majority of the sections are finished. The uncompleted sections are
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: then placed with some new ones in subsequent racks, and
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: as the season passes, fewer and fewer new ones are
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: given until the last racks consist wholly of incomplete sections
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: return to the hives to be finished. By this method,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: it is generally possible to reduce to a minimum the
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: number of imperfect sections left to be carried over until
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: the following year. There are two ways of dealing with
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: these unfinished sections. They may be done up just as
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: they are in paper parcels, and put away in some dry,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: warm place out of the reach of vermin, being used
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: in the succeeding space for making up the earliest racks.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: So employed, they are extremely useful, for they serve to
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: attract the bees into the supers when new sections would
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: be ignored. Two drawbacks to this plan must be noted.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: The wood of the section will have inevitably lost its
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: freshness and so possibly its slability, and the new honey
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: may be of a different colour from the old, thus
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: giving the section a piebald appearance when finished. The latter
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: fault may be avoided by extracting the honey from the
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: sections before they are put away for the winter sea
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: page thirty two. With all its difficulties, however, comb honey
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: production will ever remain the favorite method of working hives
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: with the majority of beeks keepers, and there is no
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: doubt that honey eaten in the comb has a peculiar
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: delicacy of flavor and aroma, which it does not retain
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: after extraction and bottling. On the other hand, a considerably
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: larger yield of honey can be obtained from the hives
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: when they are worked exclusively for bottle honey on the
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: modern machine extraction system, because the combs have their contents
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: removed and are then returned to the hives to be
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: refilled by the bees. Thus, all the time occupied in
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: making fresh comb is saved just when time is most
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: precious during the height of the honey flow. Only one
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: super rack is strictly necessary for each hive when run
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: honey is the sole desideratum. This rack contains ten comb
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: frames of the se pattern and length as those used
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: in the brood nest, but commonly only of a depth
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: of five and a half inches instead of eight and
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: a half inches as with the brood frame. These are
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: known as shallow frames. Racks of these frames should always
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: have a queen excluder between them and the brood nest below,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: otherwise the queen is pretty sure to go up and
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: lay eggs in them. This is not so likely with
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: racks of sections. Indeed, some notable producers of section honey
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: state that they never use queen excluders at any time.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: The common experience, however, is that queens do sometimes invade
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: section soupers and spoil a great deal of honey which
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: would otherwise be saleable. Don't omit the excluder under any circumstances.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: Is therefore good advice for a beginner. The best procedure
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: in run honeywork is as follows. Have at least half
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: a dozen hives equipped for this branch of beekeeping, but
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: it is better to have more still, so that a
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: good sized batch of completely sealed comb frames may be
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: ready for removal each time the beekeeper goes his round.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: It is the central combs that get finished first. The
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: operator should have a carrying box or even a light
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: box barrow on wheels, made with hinged lid, the box
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: being quite beeproof when closed and having bee escapes in
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: the lid. This is filled with frames of empty comb,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: or with new frames fitted with wired worker foundation. If
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: no drawn out combs are available. Every few days during
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: the honey flow, more or less frequently according to the
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: rate in which nectar is coming in and the number
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: of stocks, the bee keeper goes the round of his hives,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: taking out the full frames and putting empty ones in
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: their places. The roof of the hive is removed, the
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: quilts covering the honey rack are generally turned back, smoke
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: being puffed between the frames as they come into view.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: This smoke serves to drive most of the bees downward
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: off the comb. Any combs seen to be fully sealed
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: are now lifted out one by one. What bees remain
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: upon them being shaken off by a sudden downward jerk
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: or brushed off by a stiff feather. The full frames
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: are then put into the box and empty frames used
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: to fill the gap in the honey rack. The hive
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: is quickly closed up and the bee keeper passes to
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: the next stock. In this way, if upwards of half
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: a dozen hives are being worked for run honey, and
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: two or three combs are taken from each, enough will
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: have been secured for the average man to deal with
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: single handed at one operation. The honey should always be
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: extracted immediately after taking the frames from the hives. It
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: is then in a warm, fluid condition and will leave
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: the combs much more readily and completely then if allowed
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: to get cold. Herein will be seen the wisdom of
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: having a sufficient number of stocks given over to run
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: honey production to enable the bee keeper to collect in
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: a single round enough full frames four, say, an entire
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: afternoon's work in the extracting shed. Apart from the fact
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: that the expense of the extracting outfit is not warranted
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: where only a few hives are kept, it is never
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: worth the trouble to prepare the outfit and to have
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to clean it up again after use. Merely to get
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: the honey out of a few combs. For honey extraction,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: there will be needed first a good centrifugal machine. This
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: consists of a circular vat of heavily tinned plate with
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: an internal revolving mechanism to hold two or more comb frames.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: The mechanism is rotated by means of gearing above, and
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: the combs, after having their cell cappings removed, being rapidly
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: world round. The honey is thrown out of the cell
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: against the sides of the vat, whence it runs down
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: and is eventually drawn off by a tap or honey
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: gait at the bottom. These extracting machines are of various patterns, sizes,
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: and prices. The large professional honeyman will need a machine
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: holding many combs at a time, and it may even
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: pay him to have it power driven. But for the
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: ordinary beekeeper, a machine worked by hand and capable of
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: holding two frames will simply suffice. The extractor, however, should
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: always be geared so that one turn of the handle
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: produces two turns of the internal contrivance holding the frames.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: Otherwise it will be very difficult and laborious to get
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: up sufficient speed to eject the honey. The bee man
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: will also require a good uncapping knife. That shape somewhat
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: like a bricklayer's trowel and known as a bingham will
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: be found very suitable, and it is a great convenience
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: to have two of them. These knives should be kept
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: quite sharp, and they should be used both hot and wet.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: Some sort of heating apparatus for them will therefore be necessary.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: A tall tin with a heating stove or lamp underneath
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: for boiling water, in which the knives may stand when
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: not actually in use, will serve the purpose admirably. What
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: is known as an uncapping tray will also be needed.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: This may be any deep, wide vessel, such as an
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: enameled iron bowl with a strong grid over its mouth.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: When extracting proceed as follows, the work should be carried
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: out in a room or shared with plenty of light
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: and air, but from which bees can be rigorously excluded.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: The best system is to have a hut near the
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: apiary used only for work of this kind, its doors
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: and windows being fitted with frames of muslin or wire gauze.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: Get the whole batch of combs to be dealt with
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: into the hut, and make sure that the place is
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: be proof before commencing operations. The work can be done
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: by one, but an assistant to turn the handle is
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: very desirable. Take the first of the frames, letting its
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: end rest upon the grid of the young capping tray,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: and holding it nearly vertical the left hand firmly ripping
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: its topmost lug. Now withdraw one of the knives from
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: the heating tank, and leaning the frame a little forward,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: try to slice off the whole sheet of cappings from
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: one side of the comb at a single sliding cut.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: This will be found rather difficult at first, but as
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: soon as the knack has been acquired, it will come
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: quite easy. Don't cut away more of the honey than
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: you can help. The ideal thing to aim at is
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: the removal of the entire area of sell cappings in
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: a single sheet. This falling upon the grid any honey
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: adhering to it, draining through to the vessel below. When
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: one side of the comb has been thus dealt with,
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: reverse the frame and treat the other side in the
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: same fashion. One knife should uncap a whole, but if
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: it is inclined to drag, use a fresh knife for
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: the second side. Having uncapped two frames, place them into
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: the cages of the machine in such a way that
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: when the internal mechanism is revolving, the frames go round
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: bottom bar first. This is important, as otherwise the honey
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: will not leave the comb as readily and cleanly as
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: it should do. All comb cells have a slight upward inclination,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: and this slant of the cells will cause the honey
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: to hang up unless the frame be inserted in the
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: rotating cages in the manner described. With a moderate sized
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: batch of frames, such as I assume is now under treatment,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: there will probably be enough space in the lower part
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: of the extractor to hold all the honey obtained without
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: impeding the action of the cages. In this case, the
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: honey may be left in the machine after taking out
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: the revolving mechanism, and allowed to stand all night for
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: settling and clearing. Next day, it will be found quite
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: practicable to draw it off into the screw capped jars
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: in which run honey is ordinarily sold without further manipulation.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: It should not be necessary to strain it until almost
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: the last pound or two is coming away, when there
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: is sure to be an amount of wax particles which
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: must be intercepted. But if a larger number of combs
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: are to be extracted yielding more honey than the lower
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: part of the vat will hold, some sort of vessel
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: will be needed to which the honey may be temporarily transferred.
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: Large tins called honey ripeners, holding about a hundredweight and
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: fitted with a tap below, are specially made for this purpose,
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: and may be obtained quite cheaply from most bee appliance dealers.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: The proper way to deal with the emptied combs is
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: to make them up into racks and put them on
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: to the hives to be cleaned up. This should be
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: done on the evening of the same day on which
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: they have been extracted. But these racks of wet frames
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: must not be given to the bees in the same
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: way as they would be given if they contained dry,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: clean combs. Such a proceeding would be very likely to
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: set the hives in an uproar. The racks must always
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: be given over what is called a porter escape board.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: This is a frame square of wood having a device
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: in its center which allows bees to pass down but
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: will not permit them to come up. At one side
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: of the board there is a circular hole about an
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: inch in diameter, which is closed by a tin slide
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: capable of being opened from the outside. The escape boards
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: should be got into position upon the hive selected to
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: receive the racks of wet frames, this being done any
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: time during the day. Then after sunset, when all bees
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: are in for the night, the racks are brought out
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: and quietly placed over the escapeboard. The tin slides are
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: then withdrawn, and the bees will soon find their way
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: into the soupers and clean up the combs without any
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: disturbance being occasioned. In the morning, the bypassers can be
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: closed again when all bees in the supers will eventually
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: go down through the non return device in center of board,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: leaving the racks empty and ready to be removed to
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: the comb store, where they remain until wanted as exchangers
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: at the next extracting operation. As I have previously said,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: The great majority of beekeepers who work for bottle honey
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: use the shallow frame in their extracting soupers, and experience
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: proves that this size of frame serves the purpose very well.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: But the larger standard frame as specified by the British
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: Beekeepers Association, that having the same width as a shallow frame,
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: but having a depth of eight and a half inches
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: instead of five and a half inches, can also be
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: employed for honey storage without much extra difficulty, And as
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: in my own practice, I use only the large frame
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: for all purposes, both in the brood nest and in
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: the honey chambers. I wish here to explain why I
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: do so, because it naturally leads me to a topic
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: I have very much at heart. This is the special
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: method of working hives for run honey production, which I
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: have been following for many years past, and which, while
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: making no pretensions to an intensive system, does claim to
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: be very suitable for the busy country dweller with no
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: superfluity of time to give to his bees. Writers on
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: bee culture for at least half a century back to
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: my own certain knowledge, have constantly laid emphasis on the
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: great desirability of reducing the swarming habit of bee to
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: a minimum if large honeytakes are to be secured. Swarm
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: prevention has been laid down as the royal road to
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: successful bee keeping from the profit earning point of view,
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: and the efforts of bee specialists throughout the country have
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: been largely concentrated on devising systems by which stops can
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: be induced to give up swarming and so maintain their
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: strength for the purpose of honey getting. Very rightly, it
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: has been asserted that one stock of bees of good
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: strength will produce in a season much more honey than
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: two colonies having collectively the same strength. But hell is
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: swarming to be prevented? No doubt, A great deal can
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: be done in the desired direction by those having the
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: leisure to devote to the matter. But what can be
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: accomplished by the average busy man with maybe a living
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: to get from a small piece of land, and his time,
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: capital and energy spread out over many other activities besides
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: the care of his few hives. He cannot afford to
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: re queen his stocks with expensive queen bees bred through
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: long years from supposed non swarming strains, and he has
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: no time to set about the many manipulations recommended as
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: preventatives or at least deterrents of the swarming habit. The
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: difficulty is farther complicated by the fact that of recent
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: years the country has been inundated with Dutch bees, who,
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: though immensely prolific, hard working, and resistant of disease, are
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: notoriously heavy star swarmers. Moreover, one must ask oneself this question,
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: is it really sound policy to endeavor to restrict, even
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: if one cannot prevent, this instinct of the honey bee
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: to swarm, seeing that the swarming habit is natural in
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: bees and is their ordained method for the dissemination of
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: their race. In trying to induce our stocks to go
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: against nature, are we not also going against our own
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: interests as keepers of bees. It was this aspect of
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: the matter, together with the conviction born of experience, that
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: swarm prevention was only possible as the result of an
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: infinity of trouble, not really worthwhile for the average man,
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: which led me to adopt the system now to be
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: briefly described. Instead of trying to abolish swarming in my apiary,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: I now work to encourage the issue of very early
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: and very heavy swarms by every means in my power.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: These swarms are hived at once in brudness, containing ten
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: fully drawn out standard combs, and the swarm hive is
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: then put upon the stand of the mother stock, the
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: latter being removed to a new location some distance away.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: Thus all flying bees who did not join the swarm
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: come back to it now and so serve materially to
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: augment its population. At the same time, the swarm is
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: given a super containing ten more standard frames over a
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: queen excluder, these being new frames fitted with full sheets
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: of properly wired worker foundation, and the situation created is
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: just this. The swarm queen finds herself in possession of
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: ten empty standard brood combs, so that she has unlimited
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: scope for egg laying. Among the swarm bees, those that
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: are comb builders crowd up at once into the super
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: and begin to draw out the foundation, while those that
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: are foragers set off into the fields to gather nectar
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: for the combs. Thus building all the natural propensities of
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: the swarm are provided for, and if the season turn
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: out anything like a good one, the swarm stock is
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: sure to prove itself a profitable concern. The mother hive
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: may either be deprived of all its queen cells and
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: given a fertile laying queen when it will soon settle
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: down to work and re a good account of itself.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: Or it may be left to its own devices, any
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: after swarms which it may throw off, being returned to
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: it on the evening of their day of issue. In
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: my own practice, these after swarms are returned not to
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: the hive they left, but to the swarm which previously
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: originated from it, the strength of the latter being thus
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: still further increased. Provided the honey flow is still at
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: its height, the various lots of bees seem to unite
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: quite amicably. Don't bother about the young queens, one of
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: which will accompany each of these after swarms. The stock
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: will effectively dispose of them. In good seasons. The mother hives,
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: even when thus depleted, may generally be counted upon to
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: give some surplus honey. But it will be seen that
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: the system here sketched depends for its honey yield on
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: the swarms and not on the stocks. The plan works
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: particularly well with Dutch bees, their heavy swarming propensities and
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: immense prolificness rendering them peculiarly adaptable to such a method.
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: The one drawback to the system lies in the fact
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: that it requires two seasons to get into full working order,
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: as a stock of fully drawn out combes in standard
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: frames is necessary to begin with, but thereafter the frames
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: drawn out in the soupers of one year will be
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: carried over the winter to be used for furnishing the
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: brute ness of the swarms in the following spring. There
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: is incidentally considerable advantage in thus having all brood frames
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: built out in honey chambers. The combs are carried right
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: down to the wood of the bottom bars and sideways
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: to the side bars, whereas a comb drawn out in
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: a brood nest always comes short of the lower bar
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: by half an inch or so, and there is a
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: similar space left by the bees for some distance up
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: peach side. The result is that though the frame is
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: the same size in each case, the one contains a
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: considerably greater number of cells than the other. End of
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Section three Section four of bee keeping dos and Don't
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: by Techner Edwards. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: Autumn and Winter Management Autumn for the bee master begins
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: directly the season's neptar flow has come to an end,
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: and the last honey super has been removed from the hives.
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: The date varies according to the district. If there be
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: a good stretch of heather land within a mile or
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: so of the apiary, the foragers may be kept busy
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: right to the end of July, or sometimes well on
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: into August. Where heather is plentiful, even though it be
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: several miles off out of breach of the bees. In
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: the ordinary way, it will usually well repay the trouble
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: involved in taking the hives to it. What is called
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: heather honey, however, is the exclusive product of the true
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: heather plant or ling, not of the heath sometimes spoken
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: of as bell heather. It is important to know how
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: to distinguish these. The heath is the bell or picture
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: shaped blossom that covers whole provinces at this time with
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: intensely brilliant purple. There is honey of sorts to be
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: made from it, but its quality is not to be
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: compared with that from the ling, whose inflorescence cannot be
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: called brilliant at all. The ling bears an infinity of small,
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: spiky blooms of a somber, washed out pink, whose combined
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: effect is very inferior to that of the bell heather,
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: but the honey from it is excellent and so dense
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: that it is useless to attempt its extraction from the
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: comb by the centrifugal machine. Only hives supered with sections
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: therefore should be taken to the moors if the wasteful
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: system of crushing the combes is to be avoided. But
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: in ordinary districts where neither ling nor bell heather is available,
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: the nectar flow very seldom lasts beyond the end of June.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: At the outside. As soon as it becomes evident that
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: the supply has come to an end, the beekeeper should
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: begin seriously to consider what is before him. If there
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: can be said to be a cardinal secret in the
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: achievement of success in apiculture, it lies undoubtedly in the
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: proper preparation of the hives for wintering. To winter well
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: and come out in the following spring strong and ready
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: for another season's work. A stock should go into winter
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: quarters possessed of a young, vigorous, fertile queen, a large
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: population consisting all most wholly of late bread bees, and
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: a store of good, ripe sealed honey weighing about twenty
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: five pounds to thirty pounds. Unless the winter population consists
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: mainly of young bees, the early batches of brood in
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: the following year will not have enough nurse bees to
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: care for them, while shortage of stores at the same
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: period will mean that brood raising will be undertaken by
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: the stock in but half hearted fashion, and progress will
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: be slow. In consequence. To ensure that sufficient sealed honey
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: be left in the broodness for wintering, an inspection should
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: be made when the last supers are being removed. If
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: the season has been a good one, nearly every brood
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: comb should have its upper part filled with honey, forming
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: a sort of arch, and in five or six of
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: the central frames at least the lower region of the
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: comb should still contain brood in various stages of development.
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: Probably also the outermost frames on each side will be
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: filled or nearly filled with honey, one or two of
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: them perhaps being solid blocks from wood to wood. Now
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: Here the novice will be beset by a great temptation.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: It would be so easy to take out these fat
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: combs and extract them, so adding materially to the honey
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: take for the year. And yet that brings us perhaps
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: to the most imperious. Don't in the whole of this
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: little book. The honey that the bees store in the
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: superax is yours to the last ounce. But always leave
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: the bees the whole of what they have stored in
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: their brood chambers. Beekeepers do not sufficiently realize the importance
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: of wintering their stocks on plenty of sound, mature honey.
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: On a first thought, it may seem a clever move
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: to take the honey worth perhaps two shillings per pound,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: and feed to the bees in its place sugar syrup,
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: which can be made for sixpence. But I am convinced
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: nature's own provender turns out much the cheaper in the
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: long run. It must be remembered that on the maintenance
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: of the high condition of the queen bee and her
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: helpers throughout the winter and early spring depend the vigor
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: and stamina of the future generations. And I believe the
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: deterioration that one so often observes in the spring condition
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: of stocks of bees is largely caused by inferior artificial
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: winter food. Of course, after a very bad season autumn
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: may find the stocks with very little sealed honey in
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: the brood chambers in which emergency. If there be no
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: natural food available for the purpose, the necessary weight of
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: winter stores must be made up by sugar syrup. In
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: this case, the artificial food should be given as rapidly
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: as possible to the required amount, not later than the
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: end of September, when all stocks should be packed warmly
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: down with plenty of thick woolen quilts, and left absolutely undisturbed,
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: if possible, until well on into the succeeding spring. Indeed,
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: the great test of good beamanship is just this ability
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: of the beeman and his bees to forget all about
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: each other during the close season. The former, sure that
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: his chargers, well provisioned and snung in a warm, dry hive,
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: will be thoroughly able to take care of themselves. It
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: has been said that to winter well all stocks must
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: be strong. If any weak lots exist in the apiary,
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: they should either be united to other and more populous colonies,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: or joined up together in twos or even threes. This
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: work is best carried through in the early autumn, directly
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: the honey flow is over. The lots to be combined
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: should be gradually brought together side by side, moving them
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: no more than two or three feet on each day
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: of flying weather. Then, choosing a fine mild day, go
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: through the stocks, selecting the frames containing the most brood,
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: and put the best ten in one of the brew
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: chambers together, alternating the combes of the two lots. As
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: a precaution to ensure amicable union, each of the frames,
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: as it is lifted up crowded with bees, may be
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: thoroughly dusted with flour from a dredger, or sprayed with
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: a scent at a miser. The object of this is
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: to give the different families the same appearance and odour,
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: and so promote friendly relationships. But in nine cases out
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: of ten, a good fumigating from the ordinary smoker will
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: provide all that is necessary, and this, of course, they
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: will have had before the hives were opened. In joining
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: up stocks of bees in this way, one or other
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: of the queens may be searched for and removed, the
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: youngest and most vigorous being allowed to assume leadership of
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: the combined forces. But if there is no difference in
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: the value of the queens, it is not strictly necessary
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: to go to this trouble. They may just be turned
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: in together. When it will be a case of the
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: weakest going to the wall. When selecting the ten best
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: frames for the United Colony, regard must be had to
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: the presence of stores as well as brood. With a
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: little practice, the bee keeper will soon be able to
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: judge by the eye alone the contents of a given
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: amount of honeycomb, and so be able to arrive at
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: an estimate of what is needed next to strength of
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: population and a larder filled with the right sort of food.
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: The successful wintering of bees depends on their being housed
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: in thoroughly weather and cold proof hives don't have anything
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: to do with hives any of whose walls consist of
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: a single thickness of wood, unless you intend to supply
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: them with a second and outer casing when winter comes.
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: It is true that bees contained in single wall hives
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: will survive the ordinary English winter and build up again
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: moderately well in the spring, but it is always at
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: the expense of much vitality and consumption of stores that
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: would have been saved had their hives been scientifically constructed.
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: The double walled and double floored hive, with or without
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: packing material, is better for bees in every way. Not
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: only is such a hive heat retentive, but it defies
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: what is the chief enemy of bee life in the
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: quiescent time of the close season damp The brood nest
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: of a double walled hive will remain dry, when the
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: interior of single walled hives may be reeking with moisture.
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: The true reason for this is likely to be overlooked
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: by the novice. It is not that moisture penetrates from without,
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: although that is quite possible with hives made from thin,
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: poorly seasoned timber. It is that single walls always remain cold,
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: and the warm vapor incessantly given off by the cluster
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: of bees precipitates its moisture on these walls, instead of
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: passing harmlessly out of the hive entrance as it should do.
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: The inner surfaces of the brood chamber being thus rendered
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: permanently damp and cold into the bargain, these communicate their
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: chill sodden condition to everything they enclose stores of honey
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: absorb the moisture the comb sweat fermentation often sets in,
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: and dysentery may break out in the colony. The stores
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: of pollen become mildewed and therefore spoilt. The winter cluster
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: of bees with the queen in its midst feels the
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: general chill humidity of its surroundings, its temperature falls, and
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: the bees have to consume more of the deteriorated stores
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: to maintain the necessary warmth. This means, at the very least,
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: an expenditure of vitality that would not oca her under
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: proper conditions. And when the time comes for the stock
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: to get busy in the spring, its members are already
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: half worn out by winter difficulties, instead of being rested
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: and ripe and eager for the task ahead of it.
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: Probably half the mortality which occurs among stocks of bees
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: is directly due to neglect or ignorance of this housing problem.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: Good hives will not by themselves ensure success in apiculture,
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: other things being absent, but there is no doubt they
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: will go a very long way towards securing the success
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: we all desire to Autumn belongs most properly an operation
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: which also bears very directly on the successful management of bees.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: This is the requeening of those stocks known to be
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: headed by a mother bee past her second year of
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: full activity, or where a colony has shown undesirable traits
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: such as lack of good working qualities or bad temper.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: The requeening of a stock is always attended by a
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: certain amount of risk, as the bees may resent the
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: introduction of the stranger and either severely maul her or
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: even kill her outright. But if the old queen be
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: removed at least twenty four hours beforehand, and the new
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: queen be protected by some device, or another day or
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: so after her insertion, the stock will usually accept her
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: without any trouble. There are many different ways of contriving this,
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: but one of the best of these is the old
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: plan of using a queen cage, which may be merely
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: a small cylinder of perforated zinc, closed at the upper
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: end but open at the lower end. This end, however,
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: being plugged with half an inch of stiff candy. The
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: cage containing the queen bee is pushed down between two
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: of the central combs and the hive closed. The bees
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: of the colony will set to work to eat away
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: the candy, and the queen be thus eventually released. But
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: by the time this happens, the stranger will have acquired
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: the general odour of the hive and will be allowed
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: to assume duty with the rest without opposition. When requeening.
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: It is sound policy to obtain queens of guaranteed fertility
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: and good strain from some reliable queen bee breeder at
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: a distance, and so import new blood into the apiury.
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: There is a danger prevalent indeed in early spring, but
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: still more likely to evince itself in autumn, particularly just
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: at the conclusion of the nectar flow, which the beekeeper
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: must carefully guard himself against. This is the tendency of
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: hives to rob each other. It is usually the weak
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: colonies which are thus raided by the strong, and this
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: forms an additional reason for allowing no weak stocks to
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: exist in the apiury. When a hive is being attacked,
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: the first effective device to employ is to create an
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: artificial rainstorm all over it and round it by means
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: of a watering pot with a fine rose. This will
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: tell and periarily drive off the aggressing host. Then close
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: the entrance of the hive to about half an inch,
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: place a double handful of loose high upon the alighting board,
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: and hang over the face of the hive a cloth
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: sprinkled freely with carbolic acid. In addition to these deterrents,
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: it is a good plan if possible to enclose the
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: hive in a sort of tent of netting or wire gauze.
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: This should stand about six feet high, but should be
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: open at the top. The bees of the hive will
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: find their way in and out, but the robbers will
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: be effectually excluded. In cases of robbing, however, prevention is
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: always much easier than cure. Carelessness on the part of
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: the beekeeper is nearly always its exciting cause. The interior
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: of a hive may have been unduly exposed, or syrups
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: built on the ground when filling feeders, or scraps of
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: comb propulus, et cetera allowed to lie about the vicinity
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: instead of being punctiliously removed at the end of a manipulation.
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: All these are incentives to robbing, especially in autumn, and
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: it is a wise plan at this season to defer
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: all necessary operations such as feeding and removal of supers
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: until the close of the day. End of Section four
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: Section five of beekeeping Dos and don'ts by Tichner Edwards.
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Diseases of bees.
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: So far I have said nothing about disease in bee life.
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  Speaker 1: Assuming throughout that the principles of management described will be
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: understood to refer only to stocks of bees in a normal,
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: healthy state. My reason for thus leaving to the last
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: the consideration of bee diseases is two fold. In the
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: first place, that it is the right position for them
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: in respect of importance. Taking the whole country together, there
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: is little doubt that the number of diseased colonies is
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: at the present time small in comparison with the number
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: of healthy colonies. And as enlightened modern methods of bee
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: keeping gain ascendency and the old let alone ignorant hive
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: owners are weeded out welt, this proportion must still further improve.
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: Two facts in my own experience are worth attention in
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: support of this view. First, as b editor of an
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: important weekly journal with a sile approximating a quarter of
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: a million in all parts of Great Britain, I am
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: called upon to give advice on matters of bee disease
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: in cases averaging not more than six or eight a week.
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: And second, I have not had a single case of
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: disease among my own bees for over ten years, though
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: the hives have been located in a district where informally
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: disease was largely prevalent. I think these two facts tend
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: to prove that the risk of losses from disease in
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: apiculture is actually not very great. And my second reason
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: for leaving the consideration of bee diseases to the last
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: is that I did not wish unduly to alarm and
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: possibly discourage the prospective bee keeper. No doubt, owing principally
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: to sensational paragraphs as to disastrous epidemics in bee life
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: which have been appearing at intervals for many years past
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: in the daily press, the public has acquired a greatly
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: exaggerated notion of the real state of affairs. It is
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: true that the honey bee is subject to several diseases
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: which annually cause the extinction of a certain number of stocks,
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: one in particular, which will be familiar to all under
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: its popular name of Isle of Wight. Disease has had
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: a remarkable recrudescent of recent years, and it is a
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: fact that many thousands of stocks have succumbed to it.
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: But it is equally a fact that Isle of Wight
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: as an epidemic is now a thing of the past.
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: The disease still lingers here and there in the country,
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: and probably never will be entirely stamped out, Yet it
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: cannot be too widely known alike among would be beekeepers
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: and the public generally, that an ailment now known as
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: acharine disease is no longer the scourge it undoubtedly was
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: at one time, and that no one need any longer
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: be deterred by it from adventuring their little capital in
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: what may once more be styled one of the most
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: pleasant and profitable among our minor rural industries. In a
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: little book of this nature, which claims to be merely
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: a collection of hints on apiculture, it is obviously impracticable
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: to do more than give a few details of the
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: principal bee diseases, so that they may be recognized by
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: the novice, and to indicate the most generally accepted means
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: either of prevention or cure. Bee diseases group themselves under
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: two heads, those affecting the adult bee and those attacking
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: the bee in its laval and pupil stage. Of the
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: first class, that now called acharine disease is by far
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: the most prevalent, though no doubt other railments have been
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: confused with it, both in the present and the past.
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: It is an affection of the respiratory system, attacking workers,
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: drones and queens alike. A minute parasitic might enters the
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: breathing tubes of the bee, and there breeding and multiplying
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: eventually chokes up the air passages and the bee dies.
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: In its advanced stage, the disease is easily recognized by
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: the fact that many bees lose the power of flight
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: and are seen crawling about on the ground where they
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: have fallen on attempting to leave the hive. Generally, it
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: is not until this condition of things becomes evident that
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: the inexperienced beekeeper has any suspicion that anything is wrong
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: with the hive, and unluckily, it is then generally too
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: late to save the stock. But if treatment be undertaken
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: in the early stages on the first invasion of the
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: acharine might, there is a good reason to hope for
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: the recovery of the bees. Unfortunately, it is impossible to
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: detect these early stages of the disease without the use
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: of the microscope, when on dissection of a few specimens,
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: the presence of the invading parasite can be easily ascertained.
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: Good results have followed the adoption of sulfur fumigation held
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: at sulfur being dusted over the corrugated brown paper before
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: this is rolled up for use in the smoker. This
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: may be very gently applied at intervals of a few hours,
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: the bees being carefully watched, and the treatment temporarily discontinued
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: should any obvious ill effect on the stock ensue. It
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: must be remembered that sulfur in excess will destroy bee life,
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 1: so great caution with this substance is. Another and much
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: safer method of treatment for this disease in the hands
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: of the novice is the following, and I strongly recommend
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: its employment in all cases where acharine is known or
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: suspected to exist. Remove all coverings from the brood nest
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: and lay over the frames a square of clean old calico.
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: Sprinkle this sparsely but evenly with oil of peppermint, and
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: then cover up with several layers of warm woolen material.
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: The sprinkling may be renewed every other day or daily,
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: if no deleterious effect on the bees evince itself. But
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: see that it is the British preparation of oil of
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: peppermint that your chemist sells you. Don't be fubbed off
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: with the foreat substitute, which is distinctly not as good.
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: Among diseases attacking the immature bee that's known as fowl
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: brood is the most important. There are two distinct diseases
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: to which this name is commonly applied, and these are
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: due to different organisms. The one, known as European fell
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: brood destroys the young larvae of the bee when in
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: the feeding stage. That known as American fel brood affects
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: the destruction of the pupee after the cells are sealed over.
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: In both forms of the disease, recognition is fairly easy
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: by reason of the unhealthy appearance of the combs, either
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: with open cells containing dead and putrefying larvae, or if sealed,
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: the cappings being sunken and many broken. In slight cases
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: of European foul brood, the disease will frequently disappear as
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: the summer season advances, but with the much more serious
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: and very malignant American fowl brood this cannot be hoped for.
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: The likelier remedial measure in cases of foul brood consists
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: in giving the bees an entirely new house and furniture.
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: The hive should be moved away, and a fresh, clean hive,
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: fully furnished, with frames put in its place, and prepared
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: with an extension of a lighting board as for the
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: reception of a swarm. Then take out the combs of
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: the old hive with the adhering bees, and shake the
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: bees off in front of the entrance of the new hive,
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: allowing them to run in. When all the frames have
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: been thus treated, close the hive up, snug and warm,
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: and at once burn or bury all the diseased comb frames,
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: place a feeder with syrup upon the stock, and leave
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: it to build out a new set of cones and
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: start life for itself afresh. The only other ailment of
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: bee life which the novice is likely to fall in
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: with is dysentery, and this is not properly a distinct disease.
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: It is due mainly to unwholesome food or to fermentation
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: of stores, frequently caused by a damp hive, And here
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: the remedy obviously lies in the administration of good food
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: and the substitution of a properly designed hive for the
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: faulty one. But the great safeguard against every kind of
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: disease in bee life is the adoption of sound methods
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: of management, such as I have endeavored to describe in
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: the foregoing pages. Keep nothing but strong stocks, headed by
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: vigorous young queens of good strain, and keep them dry
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: and warm at all seasons, and you will have little
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: to fear from disease of any kind. End of Section five.
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: End of bee Keeping Dos and don'ts by Tickner Edwards