Sept. 29, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



business." Now if he gives that as a possible alternative, or 

 even as a probable alternative in that particular case, I 

 might promptly accept the amendment. But when he talks as 

 if bees never ball tlicir queens for protection, and makes it 

 appear a probable thing that every time a queen is touched 

 by the fingers she will be balled, I respectfully — very respect- 

 fully — demur. 



He says : "The nicest, cleanliest fingers are to the bee 

 more than an onion is to a human being." Now, if Mr. 

 Hasty detests cinions as much as I, that means that every time 

 a queen is touched by the fingers she is sure to be balled. 

 Every queen we have is handled at least once in her life- 

 time by the fingers — when she is clipped — and if any harm 

 comes from it once in a thousand times we never know it. 

 To be sure, we don't watch to see whether the bees ball her, 

 but if harm came to the queen from the handling, we should 

 be able to recognize it at the next opening of the hive. 



A good many times a queen is found balled by her own 

 bees — not immediately after being handled, for at that time 

 she is allowed to run down among the bees, and the hive is 

 immediately closed — but she is found balled when the hive 

 is first opened, when human touch could not have defiled 

 her for days, or for months. In such a case I don't know 

 for certain why she is balled, but she is certainly not balled 

 because handled. If the hive is promptly closed, and the 

 bees left in quiet, the queen will be found all right at the 

 next visit. That looks as if the bees had been frightened at 

 the opening of the hive, and balled her to protect her. If that 

 isn't the correct explanation. Mr. Hasty, tell us what is ; but 

 please don't say the touch of the fingers has made the trouble 

 when she has not been touched at all. 



Stung by a Queen-Bee — Drone-Laying- Queen- 

 Swarming— Bee-Hive Chickens. 



Old bee-keeper though I am. I have been having some 

 new' experiences this summer. 



Swarming has been very much in order among tlie colo- 

 nies. I aim to practice "anticipated swarming," but the bees 

 got ahead of me on many occasions until I am about ready 

 to say, "For ways that are dark and tricks that are vain, the 

 swarming bee is peculiar." 



The books to the contrary notwithstanding, I am quite 

 sure I was stung by a cjicrcn-bce. The circumstances were as 

 follows : 



I had given a mature queen-cell which failed to hatch, 

 and later out came a swarm that had at least four young 



queens. As I watched them at the hive-entrance I caught one 

 of the queens and made a prison of my left hand. Presently 

 r picked up another and put her with the first. Soon after 

 I felt an unmistakable sting on the inside of the prison that 

 could have come from none hut one of the royalties. Possi- 

 bly they undertook to wage war in their close quarters. 



I have also for the first time had a drone-laying queen, 

 greatly to the detriment of the colony that cherished her. She 

 was a very fine-looking queen, too. I could not see anything 

 wrong with her. 



A short time since I had a letter from a friend in which 

 she told me of her troubles— that the bees had done little in 

 the supers but had all swarmed twice, some of them three 

 times. It recalled vividly to my mind my own experience in 

 the early years of my bee-keeping, w^hen it could truly be said 

 of my hives : "There is always room at the top," and my bill 

 for sections was of the lightest, because the same ones did 

 duty for more than one year. Bait sections? Yes, to be 

 sure I had them, and the "bait" was carried beloiv! 



I have much better success now, and if I had had my friend 

 with me the day after I received her letter. I would have 

 given her an object lesson when I overhauled two of my 

 hives. One was a lo-frame hive where everything was pros- 

 perous from a bee-standppint. There were populous combs 

 with plenty of honey, and what little drone-comb was in the 

 hive was filled with eggs or brood instead of honey, showing 

 preparation for swarming. The other was a hive in which 

 I had put a splendid swarm less than two weeks previous. I 

 hived them on 5 Langstroth frames with starters which they 

 had built into beautiful snowy combs, and they had gone with 

 a rush into the sections and were ready for a second case. 



I feel grateful to Mr. Hutchinson for his article on the 

 "Use and Abuse of Comb Foundation." His little book is 

 full of meat. 



I see the matter of bee-hive chickens is still on hand. 

 I think if my success with them had been as ereat as I hoped 

 for, I would have sent a report long ago, but I have y, bee- 

 hive chickens that were hatched on June 8th. I had 12 eggs 

 that, stood the first test all right, and I was hoping that most 

 of them would hatch. I think some dashing rains and a de- 

 fective hive-cover might account for the failure of the other 

 chicks to get out of the sliell. 



Now, lest some doubting Thomas should set me down as 

 being related to Munchausen I would better tell the whole 

 truth.' It seemed to me when I put the thermometer in the 

 nest that the heat w-as insufficient, so I put hot water in an 

 ordinary rubber warming bottle, and laid that over the eggs — 

 not touching them, of course, but having several layers of 



DIRECTOK W. A. SKLSER. 



DIRECTOR UDO TOEPPERWEIN. 



