714 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 20, 1904. 



section-boxes with comb on a frame, and hung them in the 

 hive, thinking the bees would use it for storing-, but they don't 

 use it at all. They are building very white new comb, and 

 building it upward over the top-bar of the frames. Honey 

 is stored in some of the new cells, but not an egg can I see 

 in the hive. 



The bees are what I would call Italians, having three 

 bands. The drones are of large size. The bees are very 

 amiable, as I handle them without veil or gloves. I have been 

 stung but once, and that was just before a thunder-storm. 



Will you kindly answer the following questions: 



1. Is the colony queenless? 



2. If so, must I furnish them another queen now, or 

 wait till spring? 



.3. What grade of queen would suit best? 



4. Would I better take out the old comb, or leave it on 

 the frames all winter? 



5. Can I winter them on syrup, or must I feed honey? 



6. If I have to introduce a new queen, which wav is the 

 better, by cage or by daubing with honey? Ontario. 



Answers. — i. You give no positive evidence that they 

 are queenless. and some circumstantial evidence that they 

 are queen-right. If I understand you correctly, they have 

 been building comb while they had comb that they might 

 have used without building new. Queenless bees would hardly 

 do that. You don't say whether the new comb is worker or 

 drone. If mostly worker, you may be confident a queen is 

 there. 



2. Better wait till spring, in view of the possibility of a 

 queen being present. 



.3. That depends on your desires ; probably an untested 

 queen would suit all right. 



4. I confess I don't have a very clear idea of just how 

 things are; but probably it will be best to make no change at 

 present. 



5. They ought to winter all right on syrup. 



6. Cage. 



Qiueen Accepted but does no Work. 



' On the 24th day of August I purchased a golden Italian 

 queen. She was accepted all right by the bees, but up to 

 Sept, 24th there was no brood in the hive, and she had not 

 even laid the first egg. Do you think she will be of any 

 service in the future? I have kept bees for a good many 

 years, but have never had anything of this kind happen be- 

 fore. What is the cause of it? Ohio. 



Answer. — I don't know. Probably, however, it may be 

 accounted for in this way: It is not an unusual thing for 

 queens to stop laying in September, sometimes early in the 

 month, especially if bees are not gathering much. Neither 

 is it an unusual thing for queens sent through the mails, 

 or even introduced without being mailed, to be several days 

 at beginning to lay (I've had them a week or more that had 

 not been mailed) even when honey is yielding well. Your 

 queen, introduced Aug. 24, would be doing nothing very un- 

 usual if she should not be ready to lay till the first week in 

 September, and by that time laying would be slacking up, 

 and queens not already laying would not begin at all. You 

 may find her laying all right next spring. 



Introducing Queens. 



1. When you place a caged queer! to be introduced in 

 the hive, what should be the manner of the bees toward the 

 caged queen if favorable to her acceptance? 



2. When the bees hold on to the wires of the cage 

 so tenaciously as to require their being pulled loose, what does 

 it indicate? 



3. The object in asking the above question is to know 

 what should be the manner of the bees toward the queen 

 while in the cage. 



4. How long after the queen has been removed should 

 the other one be placed in the hive caged? 



5. I tried daubing the queen with honey in turning her 

 loose among the bees after she had been in the hive caged for 

 24 hours. They seized and balled her at once. Do the bees 

 ever release a queen of their own accord under such cir- 

 cumstances ? 



6. I notice in one of the back numbers of this paper 

 someone recommends putting bees from the hive into which 

 the queen is to be introduced in the cage with her instead of 



those from her own colony. I tried this, and the bees seized 

 hold of her as though angrily disposed toward her. Has 

 this plan been much tested, and have you ever tried it? 



Mississippi. 

 Answers. — i, 2, and 3. The answer on page 650 has 

 reference to a queen that is free, and what you want to 

 know refers to a queen in a cage, which is quite another 

 story. It isn't always easy to tell by the deportment of the 

 bees just how they do feel toward a queen that is caged. 

 When they seize hold of the wires, as you mention, and 

 hold on tenaciously, you may count it as an indication of 

 hostility. They will, at the same time, seem to hug close down 

 to the cage. If kindly disposed they are loosely located on 

 the cage, and occasionally you will see some of them offer 

 food to the queen. That's not very full information, but I'm 

 not at all sure that I can do any better. If any one can tell 

 better as to the signs of friendship or hostility to a queen 

 in a cage, I shall be thankful for the help. 



4. Sometimes the caged queen is put in the hive at the 

 time the old one is taken, and sometimes the colony is queen- 

 less two or three days before the caged queen is put in the 

 hive. E. T. Abbott, however, advocates putting in the caged 

 queen without removing the old queen, then three days later 

 removing the old queen and freeing the new one at the same 

 time. 



5. Bees sometimes release a queen after balling her, and 

 it is possible they might under such circumstances. 



6. I don't think the plan has been much used, I don't 

 think I ever tried it when introducing a queen, although I 

 have a number of times given strange bees to a queen in a 

 cage, and they were always kind to the queen. But I was 

 careful to use bees rather young, the kind that stick their 

 heads in a honey-cell when a frame is taken out. 



Please don't threaten to ask no more questions. I like to 

 get questions that are not fully answered in the books, and 

 if you don't get the information you want, "try. try again." 



Wintering; Bees wltti Potatoes and Plants. 



I have a large cellar under the house with a furnace. 

 I have it so partitioned off that it makes a fine place for the 

 bees to winter, as I can ventilate it at will. It is also a nice 

 place for potatoes. Do you believe that I can safely put 

 potatoes, also flower-plants that are dormants, in with the 

 bees? Illinois. 



Answer. — I shouldn't be afraid of it. 



Straining Extracted Honey— Extracting Supers 

 Cleaned Dy Bees. 



1. I am much troubled in straining my extracted honey. 

 I can not strain as fast as I extract. What method is used 

 by bee-keepers who have from 50 to 75 colonies ? 



2. I have moved my extracting-supers away from the 

 yard, placed them on a bottom-board, covered them up tight, 

 and contracted the entrance. Will the bees clean these out 

 all right? New York. 



Answers, — i. Various ways are used. Some have cheese- 

 cloth fastened under the extractor. If this be spread out 

 like a sheet, to make a large surface, or if so arranged that 

 a large bag can be suspended under the extractor, the warm 

 honey will go through fast enough. Others have the strainer 

 stretched over the vessel into which the honey is received. 

 It is important to have a large straining surface. E. D. 

 Townsend, who extracts on a large scale, says there is no 

 need to strain at all. He has a faucet at the bottom of his 

 honey-tank, and within 24 hours the honey may be drawn 

 off to be canned, all the impurities going to the top where 

 they may be skimmed off ; at least they need not be drawn 

 off at the bottom. 



2. Yes, there ought to be no trouble. If the combs are 

 old and tough the entrance need not be much contracted. 

 If the combs are new and tender, too large an entrance will 

 allow the bees to tear them, 



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