Whenever it is required to put boxes on a hive that has no holes through the top, it need not prevent your getting a few pounds of the purest honey that may be had, just as well as...
But when the combs do actually need removing, I prefer the following method of pruning, to driving the bees out entirely, as has been recommended. It can be done in about an hour....
Now I cannot say positively that these things do harm, yet I am quite sure they do no good, as nothing but bees is needed in a hive. Is it reasonable to suppose they are fond of al...
During these warm days, while waiting for the flowers, the bees are anxious to do something. It is then interesting to watch them, and see what will be used as substitutes for poll...
For a time, I supposed that this moisture on the combs gradually mixed with the honey, making it thin, and that the bees eating so much water with their food, would affect them as...
Thus we see that queens are lost on these occasions from some cause, and part of them by entering the wrong hive, perhaps most of them; if so, it is another good reason for not pac...
First, all quick motions, such as running, striking, &c., about them, are noticed. If our movements among them are slow, cautious, humble, and respectful, we are often let to pass...
Get a tube of tin about five-eighths of an inch diameter, five or six inches in length; make stoppers of wood to fit both ends, two and a half or three inches long; with your nail-...
As no part of the breeding season is exempt, the stocks should be carefully observed during spring, and fore part of summer, relative to increase of bees. When one or more is much...
In a few days, I could see at first a little white dust, like flour, on the side of the combs, and on the bottom of the jar. As the worms grew larger, this dust was coarser. By loo...
"A snail had entered the hive and fixed itself against the glass side. The bees, unable to penetrate it with their stings, the cunning economists fixed it immovably, by cementing m...
To witness the operation of depositing honey, a glass hive or box is requisite; the edges of the combs will be attached to the glass--when honey is abundant, most of these cells ne...
At all events, I think it too small for our Yankee bees in any place. We must remember, that the queen needs room for all her eggs, and the bees need space to store their winter pr...
This advantage attends glass boxes: while being filled, the progress can be watched till finished, when they should be taken off to preserve the purity of the combs. Every day the...
When the boxes are free from the bees, two things are to be prevented, if we wish to save our honey till cold weather. One is to keep out the worms, the other to prevent souring. T...
Suppose, if you please, that the worm has no thread attached above, and your board is far enough from the bottom of the hive to prevent his reaching it. Of course, he can't get up;...
Now do not be deceived in this matter, and through indolence be induced to get those hives with descending bottom-boards, to throw out the worms as they fall, and hope by that mean...
The king-bird stands at the head of the list of depredators! With a fair trial he will be found guilty, though not so heinously criminal as many suppose. I think we shall find him...
Occasionally a swarm will issue, and in a few minutes return to the old stock. Mr. Miner gives a cause for this, very ingenious, and romantic, but unfortunately there are but few f...
Separate one-third or more of the two swarms, being sure there is no queen with this part, (by the test given of setting them at a distance) and then return them to one of the old...
It is essential that you see them, that you may know where they cluster, otherwise it might be difficult to find them. They are apt to go farther from the parent stock than others;...
The reader who is accustomed to doing things on gigantic principles, will consider this long "yarn" about saving a few bees in spring, a rather small affair, and so it is; yet smal...
I am not particular about the snow being gone--if it has only lain long enough to have melted a part of it, it is "terra firma" to a bee, and answers equally well as the bare earth...
The worst time for them to leave the hive is immediately after a new snow has fallen, because if they light on it then, it does not sustain their weight; and they soon work themsel...
Piping for third swarms (when they issue) may usually be heard the evening after the second has left, though one day commonly intervenes between their issues. Here my experience is...
Another thing, when after swarms start, the appearance about the entrance is altogether different from first ones, unless there is an unusual number of bees. I have said that for a...
Some put on boxes at the time of hiving the bees. In such cases the box is often filled first, and nearly as often will contain brood. I consider it no advantage, and often a damag...
I have found the process for all regular swarms something like this: before they commence, two or three things are requisite. The combs must be crowded with bees; they must contain...
There is another object effected in this way, considered by some apiarians as very important. It is the change of the queens in the old stock. A young queen is thought to be "much...
When all are in, except a few that will be flying, let the hive down close to the board; take hold of this and carry it at once to the stand they are to occupy, and raise the front...