Bee keeping for profit

Contents

Chapter. I'age

I.— Honey Bees 13

II. — The Controllable Hive and New System of Bee Management 22

Preface

In presenting this work I have no apology to make. After an experience with bees dating almost from childhood, and a careful study of all works published on the subject of bees, and the journals devoted to that particular branch of rural affairs., I find theory, guess-work, prejudice and selfish motives are so prevalent, as to confuse and discourage the beginner, and finally, all who are seeking after information by which they may make bee keeping a source of profit, and who wish to adopt a correct and scientific system of bee management.

Tn my early efforts at bee keeping, I met with many failures and heavy losses, from being confused by the contradictory teachings of selfish or ignorant bee keepers, and from a lack of that personal knowledge which experience, and a close study of the nature and habits of bees has now placed in my possession. After many unsuccessful experiments, and careful investigation, and a close study of the natural habits and instincts of bees, I have succeeded in inventing a hive and new system of bee management which completely changes the whole process of bee keeping, and renders the business safe, pleasant and profitable.

The hive and system of bee management recommended in these pages is entirely original with me, and is not patented. I invented the hive and plan of management for my own use, as I am engaged in raising honey for market, and wish every swarm of bees I keep to produce the

10 PREFACE.

greatest possible amount of surplus lioney, and in the most convenient and attractive marketable form. I am induced to place this work before the public at the earnest and oft repeated requests of friends and correspondents. The work has been hurriedly written, as I had but little spare time to devote to this matter, consequently sentences are not all, perhaps, grammatically arranged. I have made the beautiful of secondary importance to the useful. I have endeavored, however, to make my sta ements so clear as to be readily understood and comprehended by every person of intelligence, although he may be wholly unacquainted with bee keeping.

Every person, who has a farm or garden, should keep bees, at least one or more swarms, to furnish honey for the use of the family. There is no greater luxury than nice honey in clean snow-white comb in idee glass boxes, such as is produced by my new system of bee management. This best of all sweets is now within reach of every one who has a plot of ground large enough to set a hive of bees upon.

After bees are once located in my hives but very little expense is required to keep them in proper condition, so that they will give a good quantity of nice box honey every year.

Under the old methods of bee keeping, bees required a great deal of care and attention, especially during the summer season. And then the winters were very destructive to them, many often losing their entire stock; or if they were not a total loss, they were so damaged by the winter as to be of no profit, and two severe winters in succession were quite sure to finish them.

This was very discouraging, and many have abandoned bee keeping, entirely discouraged.

On my plan a complete revolution is effected in bee management, as will be shown in this work.

There is in my opinion no pursuit which offers greater inducements than bee keeping, especially to women. There are very many who are confined indoors nearly the whole time, excluded from the air and sunshine, to the great injury of their health; and after this great sacrifice they barely succeed in obtaining a livelihood. To such, bee keeping offers great inducements, such as improved health, and a handsome recompense for all labor performed. I am acquainted with many who have commenced bee keeping on my plan, who are meeting with complete success. A lady bought a swarm of Italian bees of me in 187-i, and she writes me that from that one she increased her stock to over twenty swarms the third season ; besides she got over one hundred pounds of nice honey from the swarm I sent her the first season. Here I wish to be clearly understood ; I do not wish to hold out inducements which will never be realized, for the purpose of causing any one to commence beekeeping; yet I believe bee keeping on correct principles should be encouraged, until bees enough are kept to collect all the honey now allowed to go to waste, and which if collected by bees and stored in nice glass boxes, would add millions of dollars to the wealth of the country.

Since the day I introduced my Controllable Hive and new system'of bee management to the notice of the j:>ublic, the worthless bee hive swindlers and their tools have been boiling over with wrath against me, lying and slandering me through the public journals, and especially through the Bee Journals, and all because, that I, a woman, had succeeded in inventing a bee hive and new system of bee management superior to anything yet produced, and which was fast coming into use on its merits among bee keepers; consequently the sale of other hives was decreasing in the same proportion. I first perfected the liive and system of management for my own use.with no thought of making it public, but through the kindness

12 PREFACE.

of my personal friends, and others who have visited me to enquire into the new system, it has become known from Maine to Oregon, and adopted by many of the most intelligent bee keepers in the United States. And in compliance with that command in the good book which reads — " Let your light shine" I am determined to spread the truth, regardless of all opposition from the ignorant and selfish crowd which is constantly attacking me.

Without egotism I claim a thorough knowledge of the habits and instincts of bees. Consequently I claim a thorough knowledge of the requisites of a hive, and all fixtures pertaining to it, as well as a knowledge required to make bee keeping successful and profitable; and all this has been acquired in the school of experience and practice.

Kind reader, I respectfully submit the following pages, and ask for them a candid and unprejudiced consideration. Read carefully and under standingly, and apply to bee keeping, and I feel certain you will realize many times the cost of this book in the increased profits of your bees, managed as here directed.

The statements herein set forth are the result of many years practical experience tvith bees with a view of making the raising of honey for market profitable, and the general management of bees successful.

MRS. LIZZIE E. COTTON.

West Gorham, Maine, Aug. 5th, 1880.

Chapter I. Honey Bees

QUEEN BEE.

SWARM of bees contains one Queen, thousands ^'fjk of workers and in the summer season a limited, ^number of drones. The queen is the only ^j? fully developed female in the swarm. She never leaves the hive except on two occasions — when leading a swarm, and when but a few days old. to meet the drone, or male- bee, in the air, for the purpose of fecundation. It appears from close observation that only one impregnation is operative during life, as old queens have never been known toleave the hive for that purpose.

The natural life of the queen averages from four to six years. Queens sometimes become entirely barren before death; at other times the eggs of old queens are found to produce only drones. No matter whether deposited in drone cells, or worker cells, the progeny will be drones invariably. When drones are reared in worker cells they will be very much dwarfed in size, notwithstanding the worker bees' attempt to overcome the difficulty, by lengthening the worker cells, to accommodate the monstrosities.

The queen has a sting, yet she may be handled with impunity, for she will not use it except when in deadly combat with a rival queen. She receives the most marked attention from all members of her family; deprive a swarm of their queen, and they will, as soon as the loss is known, manifest the greatest agitation and alarm, and if the swarm is one just hived, and only a few hours from the parent stock, they will all return at once to the old home. They appear to fully realize the vast importance of a mother, and that with no means to supply her place they must soon perish ; and to avoid their impending fate they return to the old hive. With old stocks deprived of their queen the result is different, as will be shown further on. Every one who keeps bees should strive to become familiar with the appearance of the queen, that they may be able to recognize her at a glance among thousands of workers, as it will often be necessary to look her up in my new system of bee management. In looking for the queen in full hives, she is usually found on the brood combs, unless in opening the hive she may have been frightened, and taken refuge in some hiding place, as the corner of the hive, at the bottom ends of the comb-frames, or some similar hiding place. After we become familiar with her appearance and movements we are able to find her quite readily, even when the hive is crowded with bees.

WORKER BEE.

The worker bee is much smaller than the queen. On the worker devolves all the labor of the swarm. They collect honey, pollen or bee bread, and propolis, or bee glue. The workers produce wax from honey, and from the

HOXEY BEES. 15

wax they build comb, in which to store the honey and bee bread they collect, for their own use in time of need. Wax is produced from honey, as butter is produce.! from milk. Bees do not collect wax, but they collect honey, which by a natural process in the stomach of the bee is changed, and exudes from between the rings of the abdomen in minute scales of wax, which is detached by the bee and moulded into comb. The worker bee possesses a sting, and is ever ready to make use of it in defending home and treasure. Tin's is a wise provision of nature, for were it otherwise, the other insect and animal tribes would appropriate the treasures of the bee — honey, wax, &c, and this industrious little insect would soon become extinct.

The worker bee possesses an instinct but little inferior to reason in the human family. A few examples will show their wonderful instinct: Twenty hives of bees, placed in a row, but a few inches distant one from the other, all of like size, shape and color ; the bees to our perception exactly alike, no difference in size, shape, color or action ; — yet every bee of this vast number (which at some seasons of the year would amount to more than six hundred thousand bees) in these twenty hives knows its own hive, and if let alone will not enter any other, except it be for the purpose of securing the honey therein for its own use,or in other words to plunder v a'nd rob its neighbor. There is no intercourse between swarms— each is a separate colony governed by a queen. If through mistake the subjects of one enter the domain of another, a war of extermination is commenced at once. To test this point, I changed two hives so that they were reversed, the one occupying the place of the other. This was done while the bees were out collecting honey in a warm day. The first bees that entered the hive were instantly killed, and this was kept up until the hives were set in their proper places. The ground in front of the hives was covered with hundi-eds of dead bees. A bee is killed almost instantly by the sting of another.

The young bee on its first excursion from the hive does not leave its home without precaution. With a view to a safe return, it turns its head towards its home, rises slowly on the wing, at first describing a circle of only a few inches in diameter, as it recedes slowly backward, seeming to so mark every object surrounding the hive as to enable it to return and enter, without the sli htest danger of entering any other hive. Bees in Spring, in their first flight, mark their location in this manner. After the location has been thus marked, the bees leave the hive in a direct line, and return by their way-marks, with perfect accuracy and regularity.

DRONE BEE.

The drone bee is a clumsy fellow. The drones are the male bees. Where a dozen or more hives are kept, there is no necessity for more drones than one swarm would naturally rear, yet each one of the twelve swarms carries out its natural proclivities, and rears a large number of these useless consumers, not one in a thousand of which is ever of any use. Swarms should not be permitted to rear a large number of these non producers. A few are indispensable, yet we should take this matter into our own hands. Not one drone in five thousand ever fulfils the purpose for which it was created. Fifty drone cells is enough for one hive, and when more than this number is constructed (sometimes they will number a thousand or more in a hive) cut out all but a very few, and fit in a piece of worker comb in iheir place — it is more profit to raise workers than drones. Drones leave the hive, to sport in the sunshine in large numbers, every fine afternoon in June and July. When on the wing they make a very loud, coarse buzzing. They have no sting and may be handled without the least fear.

When the honey season is over, the worker bees drive out the drones, and a prosperous swarm will not tolerate a drone in the hive through the winter.

In September 1 have seen a quart or more of drones clustered together near the entrance of the hive, from whence the}' had been driven by the bees. The workers on guard about the entrance of the hive, would not let one pass into the hive, though they were constantly making the attempt. As soon as one would approach the entrance to the hive to pass in, a half dozen or more workers would seize him, and drag him struggling to the edge of the platform and pitch him off, at apparent great danger to his portly and clumsy body.

I wish to impress strongly on the minds of all who adopt my plan of bee management, the great importance of cutting out all the drone cells, except a very few in every hive. Don't leave more than fifty, half that number will do. After you have once cut out the surplus drone comb and fitted in worker comb, there is no further trouble with an excess of dronps from that hive. It takes a great deal of honey to rear a large brood of drones, and still more to support them in idleness two or three months.

IIOXEY BEES.

WORKER CELLS

This engraving represents a section of comb in a miniature comb frame, containing all the different cells found ii. a hive. At the top are cells for storing honey. At the extreme right, near the bottom, is a queen cell complete, ;is it appears in queen raising, or in one week after a swarm has been deprived of its queen, in a full slock, or as it is found in stocks that swarm naturally, at the time the first swarm issues. Though often found in different places on the comb, and often to the number of a half dozen or more in one stock or hive, yet its relative position is always the same. It will always present the same appearance, whether at the edges or on other parts of the comb. Near the queen cell is seen the worker cells, containing brood in all stages of growth, from (he tiny egg just deposited by the queen, to the fullgrow n grub, or young bee. Near the worker cells, at the bottom, are the empty drone cells.

Breeding.

The natural increase of the honey bee is very imperfectly understood by the great majority of bee keepers. Wry many suppose that young bees are raised onlj r in the warm summer months, and their ideas of the modus operandi of increase are exceedingly vague. I find that strung stocks have maturing brood nearly every month in the year — have found brood in stocks in December and January.

The queen lays all the fertile eggs in the swarm ; consequently all increase is dependent on her. I say tlie queen lays all the fertile eggs, because occasional}'- under certain circumstances we find eggs laid by workers, but under my observation such eggs never mature. Egglaying workers arc known to be such, by eggs being found in stocks that have been deprived of their queen, and the means of rearing another. This is one of the wonders of nature, of which no satisfactory solution has been given. The points established as to the sex of bees are these: the queen is a fully developed female; the drones are fully developed males; the worker, — what is it? The worker is said by some to be neuter. If this last is true, how are the eggs produced? Others say the worker is a female with generative organs not fully developed! A pretty nice point — tu credit litem with 'the power to produce eggs, without imparting vitality sufficient to germinate.

We will leave this knotty question, as it is of no consequence in the practical management of bees for profit. Suffice it then to say, the queen is the mother of the entire family, and without a queen no swarm of bees can long

The time taken to perfect the th'-ee different kinds of bees, queen, worker and drone, varies slightly. The queen will mature in about sixteen days from the time the egg is deposited in the cell. The drone and worker each in about twenty days. This time is subject to some variation, governed by the weather, and number of bees in the hive, which causes the temperature of the hive to be greater or less. A high temperature will forward, while a low temperature will retard, the maturing of the brood.

Swarms with healthy prolific queens increase rapidly through the spring and summer. The queen at this sea-

20 MONEY BEES.

son will deposit from one thousand to fifteen hundred eggs per day. Some writers estimate higher. To secure so large a number of <ggs, and consequent increase of bees, we must have healthy prolific queens to start with, and offer every available facility to encourage the desired increase. How to do this successfully is shown further on.

If we wish to secure a good harvest of honey, we must have the bees to collect it, and we must have them at the proper time, viz: when the harvest is ready. To do this we must encourage breeding to the utmost in early spring.

Early in the spring the queen enlarges the circle containing the brood ; perhaps, if the stock was very stiong, and everything favorable, she laid a few eggs in one or two combs near the center of the cluster of bees in January. Perhaps the cells occupied at that time were less than a ''ozen,all compact together in a circle, occupying less space than the size of a silver half dollar. As sne progresses, this circle is enlarged, and the cells on the opposite side of this comb is used ; then the next comb and so on, at the same time enlarging the circle, keeping the brood compactly together, so that the bees, by clustering around it, can keep up the required warmth to forward to maturity the brood. As the young bees hatch, the queen proceeds with her duties of laying eggs, until every brood cell is occupied, and as fast as a bee matures and leaves its cell, she is on hand with an egg to occupy the vacant place. This is kept up without cessation till swarming time, when the hive becomes crowded with bees, then, as preparation for swarming, the queen deposits eggs, from which the bees by a special course of treatment, rear queens. When they are sealed over, as shown in the plate, the old queen leaves the hive with the first swarm to seek a new home. In about ten days the young queens hatch and lead out after-swarms — second, third, etc.

HOXEY BEES. 21

When swarming is over, the strongest queen destroys the others, and reigns over the old swarm till another swarming season. This is the process in natural swarming; on my plan we improve upon the process, as will be shown in th£ proper place.

w

Chapter II. The Controllable Bee Hive And New

SYSTEM OF BEE MANAGEMENT.

i<8U^[T is now nearly ten years since I perfected the

_J r ;fl||| Controllable Bee Hive and New System of Bee

- ffrX Management. I commenced bee keeping with

- p the common box hive, with no knowledge whatever, of the habits of bees. I was not long in learning that I could not make bee keeping a success with the l>ox hive, and I also found that the thousand and one patent hives were no better, and the great majority of such hivts, inferior to the simple box hive. I found there was no practical method of controlling the swarming propensities of bees. All such hives would swarm or not, as seemed to suit the caprice of the bees, which I found very perplexing. Stocks under the old plan of management, sometimes show every indication of swarming, such 'as clustering out, etc., yet they adhere pertinaciously to the old stock through the entire summer, a peck or more of them clustering idly on the outside of the hive, through the season; and if one put on boxes, it is all the same, they will do nothing. And such swarms often starve early the next winter, : fter passing the summer in idleness. Other stocks with apparently not so many bees will swarm several times; often swarm so much as to reduce the number of bees so low that the bee moth will effect its destruction during the summer; there not being bees enough to protect the combs from the attacks of this

THE CONTROLLABLE BEE HIVE 23

destructive little insect. This swarming problem I found very difficult to solve. There were so many conflicting theories, I found I could gain no positive, reliable information from any source, to aid me, and that I must solve the problem by practical experiment.

Experience is a good teacher, but often a very costly one. Some told me if I wished to prevent swarming, I must cut out the queen cells, which the bees constructed preparatory to swarming. This was simply impossible, with the box hive, sol constructed a hive with movable frames, so the bees, could build their combs in the frames, and each comb of the hive could be lifted out separately. But when I attempted to prevent swarming by cutting out the queen cells, I found if T was to thwart nature in that way, I had, to say the least, a big job on my hands. I could cut out the queen cells, but within twenty-four hours after I bad done this, the bees would have others constructed, and be ready to swarm, and as I kept cutting, they would keep building. They had ihe advantage of numbers and position, and when I opened the hive every day and destroyed such, to them, important work, they were not long in declaring and proclaiming me to be an enemy to them, and they would attack me whenever occasion offered. I soon found that if not impossible it was certainly impracticable to prevent bees swarming by cutting out the queen cells. - It was a surprise to me that this plan should be recommended by bee keepers claiming to be well skilled in b^e management. After proving this plan of no value, 1 was told if I would contract the entrance to my hives so the queen could not pass, I cou d tlureby successfully prevent swarming, as the swarm would not leave without the queen. This looked to me like a very nice operation, to say the least, in fact, more nice than wise. However, I determined to test the plan. I accordingly contracted the entrance to my hives, and lo! the drones being larger than the queen they

24 THE CONTROLLABLE BEE HIVE

cotdd not pass! so they clustered about the entrance, and in their efforts to get out, completely blocked up the passage, so the workers could not pass. Yet this plan of contracting the entrance was claimed to be protected by letters patent of the U. S. I found this plan for preventing swarming of no value whatever. Very many other plans were tendered me and tested with like results. I was all this time pushing my experiments, and learning something from experience every day. I was determined to arrange and construct a hive which would render bee keeping successful and profitable, and I can say at the present time, my labors have been rewarded with success. I ought to go on and write out a description of all the old methods of bee keeping,- and all the patent bee hive humbugs, with the thousand and one ?20??-patent hives and fixtures, got up expressly to swindle bee keepers out of their hard earnings, by a class of rascals, many of whom never owned a swarm of bees, and who care not one cent whether bee keeping is a success or otherwise, if they can pocket a round sum by their fraud. Were I to write out minutely these points, this work would become too voluminous and extended; besides it would be of no pracMcal value to the bee keeper, who wishes to keep bees for profit. I will not, therefore, give such minute descriptions of all the old systems, hives, etc., but will confine myself more closely to such practical information as will be of value to the bee keeper.

Sw arming Controlled.

How to control swarming is truly an important question. I believe that the successful controlling of swarming is the key to succes; and profit in bee keeping. Now how shall we do it? I will tell you. But first a few preliminary words. If swarms are desired, we a. range in early spring to have them issue in the swarming season, and at such a lime as will best suit our convenience. When no swarms

AND NEW SYSTEM OF BEE MANAGEMENT. 25

are wanted, we turn the whole force of bees to storing surplus honey in small glass boxes, throughout the entire season, and have no swarms, yet have the same increase of bees that would be gained if they swarmed. Then all the bees work at storing honey in boxes, instead of swarming out; and to any one who has not tested the matter it is surprising to see the amount of honey which a swarm of bees will store when not allowed to swarm, and fed judiciously, ample box room being provided oieasy access, so that all the bees have room to work, and by this plan we are not constantly watching and waiting for swarms with uncertainty throughout the entire summer, for we know with certainty when and where to look for swarms. In my plan, the swarming properties of bees are effectively controlled, without frequently disturbing or overhauling them, but by observing rules strictly in accordance with the habits and instincts of bees.*

If you wish your bees in controllable hives to swarm keep the partition in place at the sides of the brood section, and the honey board over the top; or in other words, keep the bees confined in their labors to the central or

*ilerc let me be clearly understood. I admit that bees will sometimes swarm, with abundant room for work in their boxes. Yet I claim that on my plan all increase by swarming may be prevented without great trouble or perplexity, such as has heretofo7e attende 1 all attempts to bring about this greatly to be desired object. If a person commences bee keeping, with a certain number of swarms in controllable hives, and in early spring gives the bees access to the hive boxes, and later, after they commence work in them, gives the bees access to the top boxes, giving them otherwise ordinary care, (except to feed if desired,) but a small proportion will swarm on the average yearly. Much the larger portion will work in the boxes without swarming out, and give a handsome yield of surplus box honey, the yield of course being governed by the amount of feed given them, and the yield fro ■ flowers, etc. But if increase of stocks is preferred, rather than surplus box honey— if the bees are not given access to the boxes, but confined in their labors to the Drood section of the hive, being fed as directed, nearly every one will swarm, and swarm early.

26 THE CONTROLLABLE BEE HIVE

brood section of the hive. Now, if you wis!) them to swarm in any particular week of the swarming season, ten days before, remove the old queen. (It is well to kill her, and to do so, take with her about a pint of bees, and put them in a small miniature hive, six or eight inches square, with movable frames, like those in the central part of the controllable hive. Keep them shut in, twenty-four hours; then give them their liberty, and they will work the same as a large swarm through the summer; but will not winter. If such queens are known to be very old it is best to destroy them when we take them from the swarm. Keep only young, vigorous queens). The bees in the hive, from which you have taken the queen, will in nearly every instance, construct queen cells immediately to replace the loss of their queen. At the earliest possible moment, they seem to sense fully their loss, and to know that if they do not get another queen at once, their loss is irreparable. They usually will construct a number of ceils, perhaps a half dozen or more. These will hatch in about ten days, and then swarms will issue.*