Jane 26, 1886. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



485 



If " B. A. '3 " accounts are correct, wliicb my experience 

 makes me thint impossible, would he have any objection to 

 give an outline of his management, feeding, and so on — how 

 often the Ducks were fed — the size of the place they were kept 

 in — and how long the hen went with them ? If he would do 

 so I have no doubt many of your readers would feel obliged, 

 and none more so than myself ; for any one acquainted with a 

 Duck's appetite must have been struck with the small amount 

 put down for food, and the necessarily large balance on the 

 right side in " B. A.'s " communication. — J. E. Betton. 



QUEEN REMOVED ^VITH A SUPER. 



In removing a super from a stock hive of bees, does it over 

 happen that the queen is in the super and is removed in the 

 same ? How may I distinguish the queen from the workers 

 and drones ? 



On June lath, in consequence of my bees having swarmed 

 the day before, I wished to remove the small straw super 

 (Payne's, 8 inches diameter, 7 inches deep), from the stock 

 hive in order to place it on the swarm, intending to leave the 

 box placed between the straw super and the stock hive a few 

 days back, on the stock, as the bees were busy building comb in 

 it. My stock is a common straw hive with a hole in the top, the 

 bees a last year's swarm. I carefully lifted off the super, which 

 seemed very heavy, and placed it on a board with a piece of 

 stick an inch thick under one side, but for a quarter of an hour 

 hardly a bee left. I then tiu'ned it up, and found it full of 

 bees. After I set it down again a number of bees, I should 

 think about half, left during the next half-hour ; after which I 

 could not induce any more to leave. Again I turned it up, 

 and with a feather tried to brush them out ; but they ran down 

 between the combs, and would do anything but leave. After 

 about two hours of this sort of work I thought there must be 

 some reason, and, being a novice, determined to put it back on 

 the stock and apply to you for advice. All this time I had to 

 keep carrying the super about the garden to prevent other bees 

 from entering. The stock hive all this time was as quiet as 

 usual. Can you account for the bees refusing to leave ? Do 

 you think the queen was in the super, considering the fact 

 that half the bees or more went home 1 The inside of the super 

 contained five combs, but they were not joined to the sides 

 anywhere, but only to the top. There was about half an inch 

 between the end of each comb and the straw, so that the bees 

 could pass all round. Is this usual ? The two outside combs 

 only seemed to contain honey, and these I took out before 

 retiu'ning it to the stock hive. In the three middle combs the 

 cells were much larger ; some of them empty, the others 

 covered not with a flat cover, but with a dome-shaped one ; 

 some with bees partly protruding. Is this brood ? Are supers 

 always so ? Can it be prevented ? — A Novice. 



[The queen is sometimes removed with a super, and in this 

 case the fact is generally made evident by the confusion which 

 results in the stock hive as soon as the bees discover their loss. 

 She may be readily distinguished from all others by her being 

 much longer than a worker and less bulky than a drone. A 

 queen might not have been hatched out the day after the issue 

 of a first swarm, or, if hatched, would not be at all hkely to be 

 in the super, which was probably not completed, or the combs 

 would have been attached to its sides. The large cells with 

 dome-shaped covers contained drone brood, which is not un- 

 usual, but which made the bees reluctant to leave. It need 

 not have been preserved. It is said that the queen may be 

 confined to the stock hive, and breeding in supers entirely 

 prevented by the communication being restricted to narrow 

 sUts not exceeding one-fifth of an inch in width. As we have 

 had no experience of this plan, we should be glad if any of our 

 readers who have tried it would report the results.] 



REMOVING BEES FROM A W.VLL, 



Which would be the best method of removing and securing 

 in a hive a colony of bees which took possession of a hollow in 

 a garden wall in 1864, and have hved there ever since ? The 

 entrance to their abode is (5 feet from the ground, just over a 

 door leading from a garden to an orchard, and so rather an in- 

 convenient place for them to be allowed to continue to hold. 

 The wall is 12 feet high, and very old, so that the bees have had 

 plenty of room to spread between the stones. I was in hopes 

 they would have swarmed, but to the best of my knowledge 



they have not done so during the throe seasons they have been 

 there, so you may imagine that they are very strong, as they 

 have had it all their own way, no honey having been got from 

 them. If in the evening I opened a hole in the wall, so as to 

 lay bare the bees and combs, and then removed some of the 

 brood combs with the bees on them and fastened them in a 

 flat-topped straw hive, would it be possible to get the remain- 

 dor of the bees into the hive ?— Co. Dcdlin Suuscriber. 



[If you can open a hole in the wall sufficient to lay bare the 

 combs, an experienced apiarian would have little difliciJty in 

 cutting them out and fitting them into a frame hive, keeping 

 at the same time a bright look-out for and securing the queen. 

 So many unforeseen contingencies are Ukely to arise, which 

 must be met on the instant, and to combat which the operator 

 must rely on his own resources, that it is diflicult, if not alto- 

 gether impossible, to give precise directions. The middle of 

 a fine day is, however, the best time for performing the opera- 

 tion, which may be much facilitated by the use of just sufficient 

 smoke to intimidate without actually stupifying the bees.] 



■SVEIGHT OP SWiVRMS. 

 I HAVE had a second swarm only four days after the first, it 

 weighed 2 lbs. (the first weighed 2J lbs.). The time between 

 the two swarms seems so short, that I am afraid that what I 

 consider the first swarm was in reality the second, and that the 

 first went away unperceived. Please give me yoiu- opinion. I 

 found mine on the following extract from Paj-ne's book : — 

 " The period which usually transpires between' the first and 

 second swarms is from nine to thirteen days, between the 

 second and third the time is much shorter." — J. E. Bkyton. 



[We fear yoiu: first swarm must have escaped, and that those 

 which have been secured are really the second and third. The 

 small weight of the supposed first swarm, taken in conjimction 

 with the fact of one issuing only four days after the other, 

 seems to us tolerably conclusive on the point. " Books " 

 should be substituted for "hives," in om- answer to you at 

 page 448.] 



CARE NEEDEB IN DRIVING BEES. 



On the 10th of June my bees, in a common straw hive, were 

 hanging out vei-y thickly, and appeared about to swarm. I 

 took an empty clean hive, and drove them in the open way 

 spoken of in your Journal about two years ago. It was my 

 first experiment with bees, and I foimd no difficulty in getting 

 them into the new hive. When I had driven as many as I 

 considered sufficient, probably about two-thirds of the stock, I 

 placed the new hive on the floor-board of the old hive in the 

 place which it occupied before, and I set the stock hive on a 

 new floor-board at a distance of about 8 yards. The driven 

 bees appear to be doing very well, and are as busy as possible, 

 but I am not quite satified with the appearance of the stock 

 hive. There are very few bees about it, and they do not seem 

 to be at work. They alight on all parts of the floor-board round 

 the hive, and on the hive itself, but not many seem to be going 

 in and out. I observe, also, a good many dead bees on the 

 ground beneath the stock hive. I am in doubt what to do, 

 whether or not it would be advisable to place the old hive in 

 its old place again or not. 



I must tell you that the stock hive, when I turned it up, 

 seemed quite full of comb, and was very heav-y. I did not 

 obtain any houey from it last year, as the bees refused to build 

 in the super, nor did I have a swarm. The reason was, I 

 imagine, because the hive had had a journey last May, and a 

 good many of the bees had died. I had a good suporful of 

 honey the year before. 



I should be greatly obliged by your advice on two jioints. _ 



1. As to whether I can do anything to improve the condition 

 of the stock hive ? 



2. What steps I should take to procure honey this year? 

 Should I super the driven bees ? and if so, when ? or should I 

 super the old stock ? I should be much obliged if you would 

 answer these questions in your Journal, and give me any 

 other hints on the subject. I only have these two hives. — As 

 Ajiateur, Surny. 



[Ton have by your manipulation formed a strong swarm, 

 but have in all probability inflicted fatal injury on the stock 

 hive, which when removed to its new position was doubtless 



