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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 22, 1904. 



room in the hive to glance over one side of each comb 

 before you touch it at all. That is, when you lift out a 

 frame, before carefully looking it over, glance over the 

 exposed side of the next frame in the hive. Often you 

 may see the queen thus in the hive, when with gentle 

 haste you will put down the frame in your hand and lift 

 out the one with the queen. After looking over the 

 combs two or three times without finding the queen, it 

 is generally as well to close the hive till an hour or two 

 later, or till another day. 



4. You can get combs drawn out only when bees are 

 storing, either from a natural flow or from feeding, and 

 even them they will draw out combs no faster than they 

 fill them. 



5. Just the same as getting any combs drawn out, 

 by giving them to the bees when they need them to be 

 filled either with stores or brood. 



Queen Entering Wrone Hive on Returning from 

 Bridal Trip. 



1. What are the signs, indications and manners of 

 bees when they are disposed to accept a strange queen? 

 And what are their manners when they are not? 



2. I find that one of my colonies has mixed bees in 

 it, and evidently has a different queen from the one that 

 has been in the colony all along. My hives' set in rows 

 15 feet apart, and are set in pairs in the rows. There are 

 about SO in all. Last April I placed a Carniolan queen- 

 cell in a hive of natives that I found queenless. Shortly 

 afterward I examined the hive, and found that the queen 

 had hatched. A month or so after this I had occasion to 

 examine this same hive, and found it queenless again. I 

 supposed the young queen got lost while off on her bridal 

 trip. About the same time I discovered that 'a. hive that 

 sat in front of this queenless colony had mi.xed bees in 

 it, and on examination it was evident that a different 

 queen had entered it, for about half of the bees were of 

 a different race, and resembled hybrid Carniolans. What 

 do }-ou think of that? A young queen returning from 

 her bridal trip and entering the wrong hive! Is it pos- 

 sible that bees under such circumstances will receive a 

 strange queen? Could it have been that this particular 

 colony was queenless at the time, and in a mood to re- 

 ceive any queen that might come along? All of the bees 

 in these 80 colonies are brown, with the exception of two 

 colonies, and these have old, fertile queens in them — one 

 a Carniolan and the other an Italian. These two queens 

 would have no occasion to leave the hives, except to 

 swarm. And there is no possible way in which a queen 

 could have gotten into this hive in any other way than 

 the one I have mentioned. Please tell me what you think 

 of this. Mississippi. 



Answers. — 1. A sensible question, yet one that hard- 



ly needs to be answered to those with some experience, 

 for I suspect that as good a guesser as your next ques- 

 tion shows you to be would readily judge as to the be- 

 havior of the bees without being told. If the bees are 

 kindly disposed to the queen, they will appear to stroke 

 and caress her, perhaps climbing over her at the same 

 time, but no one will take hold of her. If hostile, they 

 will grab hold of the^queen, and appear as if trying to 

 sting her — in reality they will not sting her — and if very 

 unfriendly one after another will seize the queen till there 

 is no room for any more to get hold of her, when they 

 will seize the bees that have hold of the queen, and you 

 will thus have a case of balling the queen. Then you 

 must release the queen, either by throwing the ball of 

 bees in water, or by blowing on them smoke that is cold; 

 for if you hold the smoker close enough to blow hot 

 smoke on them you will make them sting the queen. 



2. Yes, you've made the right guess. A young queen 

 may enter the wrong hive; and what's more, even an old 

 laying queen may of her own accord change her domicile, 

 issuing with a swarm «nd then entering the wrong hive. 



Wtiat Ails the Bees?-lntroduclng Queens. 



1. What is the matter with bees when in coming out 

 of the hive (that is in the late autumn, midwinter and 

 early spring), they pass large quantities of a thick yel- 

 low matter on the front board of the hive, sometimes like 

 long thread? 



2. What is the best and easiest way to introduce a 

 queen? 



3. Which is the best time to introduce a queen, just 

 before the swarming season, during the swarming season, 

 or immediately at its close? New Zealand. 



Answers. — 1. They are merely emptying the contents 

 of the intestines, which accumulate when they are con- 

 fined for any length of time to the hive. 



2. There are so many best ways that it is hard to 

 say. Besides, even the best of the best ways is likely to 

 be a failure sometimes, for bees are freaky things. There 

 is, however, one way by which you may be successful 

 without fear of failure. Have some combs of hatching 

 sealed brood — one way of getting them ready is by put- 

 ting combs of brood mostly sealed over an excluder for 

 eight days or more. Put these frames of brood in a hive 

 without allowing a single bee with them, and put in your 

 queen, closing up bee-tight, and keep in a warm place for 

 five or six days. Then set the hive on its permanent 

 stand, leaving the entrance for a few days only large 

 enough for a single bee to pass. 



3. That depends upon circumstances and your own 

 desires. It is better to choose a time when honey is 

 yielding well, whatever the time of year. Other things 

 being equal, perhaps as good a time as any is near the 

 close of the honey harvest. Less danger then of inter- 

 fering with the harvest. 



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