Mar. 17, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



201 



far apart? Would the bees not make a larger bee-space, and would 

 the hive uot be more easily ventilated? 



4. I am sure I saw young bees, they look short like freaks. If we 

 space frames a little farther would bees build deeper cells and have 

 their young more developed, or longer, with probably longer tongues' 



5. If I use 9 frames in the brood-nest and the same number in 

 supers this would make a vertical bee-space from bottom to cover of 

 hive; would this not be easier to ventilate and reduce swarming! 



t). When bees crawl through an excluder I notice that they often 

 lose the pollen they carry. By using an excluder over the brood-nest 

 would this not, besides keeping the queen excluded, have a tendency 

 to have the bees carry less pollen in the upper stories! 



7. If I pour water or thin syrup on an empty extracting comb, 

 with pollen in, and place it over an excluder or over a super, will the 

 bees clean it out ! 



8. Is it not a great mistake to turn a brood-comb around in a hive! 

 If so, why do you put two spacing nails on each side of the frames! 

 If they were all four on one side the frame we could not make that 

 mistake to turn them when replacing them in the hive! 



9. lam keeping extracted honey in barrels with one head taken 

 out. These barrels stand in a basement with stone walls and windows 

 to the north and will become damp when spring rains come. I planed 

 the top edges off some so as to make a smooth surface. I then take 

 pieces of muslin with weights like your robber-cloth, coated the same 

 with paratlin and placed them over the top. Will the honey be sate 

 to keep that way ! At present it is candied, and the top or scum quite 

 hard and dry, with cracks along the barrel-staves. Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. The supers should be given before the harvest be- 

 gins, but even if given very early the queen might go up in the supers, 

 unless excluders were used. Eight frames instead of nine in the upper 

 story would help the matter greatly. 



3. No; although you might find but little difference. 



3. Yes, it would be easier to keep the hive cool, especially in the 

 early part of season when you want everything as warm as possible; 

 so too wide spacing would do more harm than good. 



4. If you crowd a brood-comb sufficiently you will have dwarf 

 workers, but the rule doesn't work the other way. Giving extra room 

 will not increase the size. There will be a larger space between combs, 

 but the cells for brood will be no deeper than usual. The upper parts 

 of combs occupied by honey will have deeper cells with the usual 

 space. 



5. Yes, it might a little; but I'll tell you a trick worth two of that, 

 as given in " Forty Years Among the Bees," page 91 : Instead of hav- 

 ing one story sit square over the other, let it be shoved forward or 

 back so as to leave a ventilating space of half an inch at one end, and 

 do the same thing with the cover. I never had a colony swarm when 

 so arranged, but I never had very many of them, for I work for comb 

 honey, and that needs all closed above. 



6. Whatever is lost off in passing the excluder would of course 

 make just that much less pollen in the upper story, but the great gain 

 would come from the fact that the bees would not care to carry up 

 much pollen with no brood above. 



7. Yes, but you needn't take that trouble, if your bees work as 

 mine do. Put combs with pollen in the extracting super, and before 

 the season is over they will be clean of pollen. The bees in the super 

 probably lunch on it. 



8. No, it is sometimes desirable to turn them end for end, and it 

 is better to have spacers so the frames will tit either way. 



9. Your covering will help a great deal, but there is some danger 

 that it will not be a perfect protection when the place becomes damp. 



Transferring Bees— Danzenbaker Super. 



I have kept bees for about 8 years, and have read the American 

 Bee Journal for about 8 months, and I see that I am not handling my 

 bees the way they should be handled. I never had any winter-killed 

 or starved. The man I bought them of claimed they were Italians. I 

 have wintered them on the summer stands without protection. They 

 are in the garden east of the house, shaded by plum and cherry trees, 

 which bloom profusely every spring, but do not bear any fruit. 



Four colonies are in 10-frame hives, and I have never taken any 

 honey from the brood-chamber. The other G are in grocery boxes, and 

 I let them have all the honey they stored, and they have plenty of 

 stores now. They had a flight on Feb. .5 and 6. I would like to trans- 

 fer them to new 10-frame hives with Hoffman frames, in order to have 

 them in the best condition for the honey crop of 1904. There is con- 

 siderable basswood in this locality. 



1. What is the best way, and when is the best time, to transfer 

 these bees in order to have them in the best condition for 1904? 



2. How do you transfer bees from a cracker-box to a 10-frame 

 hive? 



3. Is there any difference in the size of the Hoffman and Lang- 

 stroth frames? If so, what is the outside dimensions of each ; 



4. Would you advise the use of the Danzenbaker super on a hive 

 taking 10 Hoffman frames? 



5. What are the exact dimensions of a 10-frame Danzenbaker 

 super ; 



6. Has the 10-frame Danzenbaker hive any advantages over the 

 8-frame dovetailed hive for comb honey '. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Nowadays the tendency seems to be to wait till tlie 

 bees swarm. Put the swarm in the new hive on the old stand, and bet 

 the old hive close beside it. A week later set the old hive on top nt 

 the new one. That will send the field-force into the new hive. Two 

 weeks later still (three weeks after swarming) when all the workn- 

 brood has hatched out, drum out all the bees from the old hive ami 

 let them run into the new one; then melt up the old combs. Thut 



plan will give you a chance for a big yield of white-clover honey if 

 the season is good. 



If you want to have a new colony from the old one, proceed as 

 before at hiving, and at the end of a week set the old hive on the new 

 stand, and two weeks later transfer into the frame hive according to 

 instructions in your bee-book. 



2. Just the same as your book tells you to transfer from a box- 

 hive. 



3. Both the same size — 17°^x9)f,'. 



4. You can so use it if you think that Is the best super for you; 

 but be sure of that first. 



5. Inside measurements : Length, IS V inches; width, 14'.<; depth, 



6. My own preference is decidedly for dovetailed, although there 

 are some who are of the opposite opinion. 



Feeding Bees Outdoors In Winter. 



I had 13 strong colonies last fall, in 8-frame dovetailed hives, on 

 the summer stands. They were, I thought, fairly well supplied with 

 stores for winter. They all have on Hill's device, which attracts the 

 cluster above the frames and causes greater disturbance on removing 

 the cloth than though the bees were all below on the frames. 



Two extra-strong colonies have starved, almost no honey being 

 left in the hives, and the others must be short of stores. I have over 

 100 sections (4I4X434XIJ,,') and 25 frames of sealed honey to give them. 

 What is the best way to doit? To lay sections (4 or 6) sidewise on 

 top of the frames, under the Hill's device! To fill a super with sec- 

 tions, and put on top of the hive, with a cloth and cushion above it in 

 another super? To put the supers under the hive? Or to give the 

 frames of honey ! If this last way, huw can I get the bees, which 

 stick to the frames, back into the hive ! 



Would it be best to give them food now, regardless of cold 

 weather >. 



Would it do harm to use smoke, if necessary? 



The hives are all on the summer stands, and the bees have occa- 

 sional flights. I have no outside protection to hives, as I found on 

 using protection for three consecutive years, those colonies came out 

 strongest and best in the spring which were not protected. 



In preparing them for winter, I put on an empty super, then a 

 piece of bagging over the Hill's device on the frames; then a bag filled 

 with ground-cork, and then covered the bag with loose ground-cork, 

 filling all interstices. 



On Feb. 15 I opened a hive and put 4 sections of sealed honey flat 

 under a Hill's device — but it disturbed the bees very much, and they 

 were still running about the entrance two hours later, although ihe 

 thermometer stood at 20 degrees F. They have been flying out with 

 the thermometer at 30 degrees (in the shade). The hives stand in the 

 open, in a warm, protected place. Dense evergreen trees protect them 

 on the north and west, an apple orchard on the east, and a building 

 and evergreens on the south. 



I have never lost but 3 colonies from cold ; 2 of these in the pro- 

 tected hives. I keep my numbers down by uniting. New York. 



Answer. — Answering your questions somewhat in reverse order, 

 it will be better to wait for a day when the bees can fly, unless you 

 think they might starve before that. If there is danger of starvation, 

 they must be fed at all hazards, and you need not hesitate to use 

 smoke if necessary. Better use the frames of honey than the sections. 

 If weather is so the bees can fly, take out one or two of the outside 

 frames, brushing back any bees that may be on them, and put one or 

 two frames of honey right in the middle of the cluster. If you think 

 the need is so urgent that you cannot wait for a warm day, you will 

 proceed much in the same way, only you must proceed with more 

 caution so as not to excite the bees to lly out and be chilled. Care- 

 fully remove the Hill's device, brushing back the bees, using smoke 

 if they attempt to fly. Remove one or two of the outside combs, which 

 you will pretty surely find empty of bees, but if any should be on the 

 combs brush them back on the cluster. Then move the frames if neces- 

 sary till you come to the cluster of bees, and put the honey directly 

 against the cluster, closing all carefully again. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song- — words by Hon- 

 Eug-ene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a "hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 2S cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get them 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this iournal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and uddresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



