538 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 4, 1904. 



Will the bees feed the queens all winter in case they run 

 short of candy ? 



Perhaps you will say that the cluster will move about 

 and leave the queen exposed to the cold. To prevent this I 

 will use only 2 or 3 frames of honey, causing the cluster to 

 stay, the remaining space being filled with empty combs. 

 My frames are only 14x834 and hold a little over 4 pounds, 

 so I will have to look after them on the first fine day that 

 comes. Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. A tested queen is one whose worker 

 progeny have 3 bands, and no attention is paid to the 

 drones. The queen herself may be very dark or light and 

 so may the drones. Just why, I don't know. If the work- 

 ers have the three bands, that's all you can require of a 

 tested queen. 



2. If they have the three yellow bands they are all right. 

 The leather-colored Italians are generally favorites, al- 

 though on the dark order. A few workers without the yel- 

 low bands are not always conclusive proof of impurity un- 

 less so young that you are sure they never have flown from 

 the hive ; because there is more or less mixing from other 

 colonies. But it would be nothing else than you should ex- 

 pect, to have your young queens impurely mated if blacks 

 or hybrids are within a mile or two of your apiary. 



3. Not necessarily ; drones are very variable, even in 

 the purest stock. But as said before, with black bees all 

 around you, your young queens are likely to be impurely 

 mated. 



4. I don't know; although a queen which has been 

 through the mails is likely to be superseded sooner than 

 others. 



5. As the bees are trying to supersede the queen, she 

 would likely be put out of the way as soon as a young queen 

 is reared to take her place. If you are anxious to keep her 

 over the winter, let her be in a nucleus for a time, strength- 

 ening up the nucleus in time for winter, destroying any 

 queen-cells that may be started. Even then there is some 

 danger that she may not winter over, if the bees seem bent 

 on superseding her. 



6. The caging of the queen, so far as it would have any 

 effect in that direction, would make the bees more inclined 

 to retain the drones. 



7. I don't know of any way in which you are likely to 

 succeed satisfactorily. Perhaps the nearest to it would be 

 to have two or more nuclei in one hive, making very sure 

 that no bee could get from one nucleus to another without 

 going outside the entrance. 



8. For a very small sum I'll guarantee that every queen 

 you attempt to winter in that way will be dead before time 

 to fly in spring. 



Size of Brood-Frames-Cliaff-Hives. 



1. Are the Hoffman and the Langstroth brood-frames 

 the same size? and which kind do you consider the best ? 



2. Would a 10-frame hive, using either of the above- 

 named frames, be large enough to winter a colony without 

 a second story, provided the frames were full of honey, or 

 nearly so ? or what size would I need ? I would like to adopt 

 a hive of that capacity. I now use frames 13'+x7 inches 

 deep, and have to use a second story for wintering. 



3. Should the chaff in chaff-hives be removed every 

 spring and repacked in the fall ? or is it all right after being 

 once put in ? 



4. What ought to be the inside dimensions of a 10-frame 

 hive, using Hoffman or Langstroth frames 7 and how deep 

 using reversible bottom-boards ? 



5. I am thinking of making my own hives, if I cannot 

 buy them at a reasonable price, with double walls, having 



an air-space of two inches between the two walls without 

 packing, and then pack the hives well in straw in winter- 

 time. Would they be better than a single-walled hive ? 

 Only the brood-chamber should be double-wall, using Hoff- 

 man shallow frames for tiering up. 



Northern Indian.*.. 



Answers. — 1. The Hoffman frame is really one form of 

 the Langstroth frame, and the size is the same. The name 

 Langstroth, however, is generally applied to the loose-hang- 

 ing frame. Between that and the Hoffman it would be a 

 little hard to choose. After using many of both kinds I 

 have discarded both and prefer the Miller. 



2. Yes, it would be plenty large. 



3. In the regular chaff hive the packing remains per- 

 manently. 



4. The 8-frame hive is 12' s inches wide inside, which 

 width gives room for a dummy. A lOf rame hive to be used 

 in the same way must be 147s wide, but they are quite com- 

 monly made narrower than this so that the dummy cannot 

 be used. I should prefer a dummy. Depth, y,'2 inches. 



5. Only trial of the two kinds side by side would prove 

 which is the better in your hands. 



Yellow Jacket— Swarms Going Back— Prevention of 

 Swarming- Clipping Queens in Criss- 

 cross-Comb Hives. 



Enclosed please find a wasp or bee, or whatever it is. 

 I found it in a hole in the ground. 



1. What is it ? Does it store honey when domesticated ? 



2. This year I caught several swarms, and I had no 

 sooner caught the swarm than a few of the bees would go 

 back to the parent hive a few at a time. Have you ever had 

 such experience ? and what was the cause ? 



3. What method do you think would be ber.t for me to 

 pursue to prevent swarming, so as to produce the most pos- 

 sible honey? I hear of the " shook swarm " method, clip- 

 ping the queen's wings, and several other methods, but are 

 they now in practical and daily use ? 



4. How can you clip the wings of a queen where the 

 combs are built crisscross ? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. It's a yellow jacket and could not be in- 

 duced to store honey. 



2. I don't think I ever had just that experience, and I 

 don't know the cause. If the queen should not go with the 

 swarm, bees would return to the old hive, but then all 

 would go. 



3. Shaking swarms might work very well for you. It 

 is certainly practical, and has been practiced to a large ex- 

 tent by experienced bee-keepers. In reality it is little else 

 than making the bees swarm at your own will a little be- 

 fore they %vould swarm naturally, with some advantages 

 over natural swarming, as keeping a stronger force to- 

 gether. 



4. You would have to drum the bees out, so as to catch 

 the queen. 



Probably Bee-Paralysis. 



What is the matter when shiny, hairless, wingless bees 

 that are pushed out of a hive by the other bees ? Are they 

 diseased, or are they robbers ? Iowa. 



Answer. — Most likely paralysis, although the bees are 

 not usually wingless. 



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