Improved Queen-Rearing; or, How to Rear Large, Prolific, Long-Lived Queen Bees / The Result of Nearly Half a Century's Experience in Rearing Queen Bees, Giving the Practical, Every-day Work of the Queen-Rearing Apiary

Chapter 33: BROOM FOR BRUSHING BEES

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A practical manual for beekeepers detailing techniques for producing robust, fertile queen bees. It explains hive and brood-frame construction, three methods of cell-building, preparing and handling eggs and young workers, forming and feeding nuclei, and managing drones. The text covers queen care from rearing to mating and introduction, use of queen nurseries and frames, equipment such as drone traps and a tobacco pipe for smoke, and hive management to prevent honey candying. Emphasis is placed on step-by-step, experience-based procedures and apiary organization for both small- and large-scale queen production.

BROOM FOR BRUSHING BEES

The first year I had bees I found that feathers were not just the thing with which to brush bees, so a corn broom, such as is used for clothing was utilized, but not until more than one-half the broom was cut out. With a sharp knife cut out nearly two-thirds of the straw material just under the binding. Then when the bees are brushed off the combs none will be destroyed if any are half way in the cells.

This kind of a brush is called the “Coggswell broom.” I greatly mistake if I did not sell the Coggswell Brothers of Groton, N. Y., the first broom they ever used. The one I use and the so-called Coggswell brush are quite different. There is stock enough in the Coggswell to make a dozen of the kind used by me. See Fig. 18 for illustration of broom.

Figure 18