730 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 27, 1904. 



Ihe honey through one or more thicknesses of some kind of 

 ■cloth. 



3. There may be localities, or certain plans of manage- 

 ment, that make it advisable for the bee-keeper to take the 

 matter in his own hands, but in general it is pretty safe to 

 leave it to the bees. Perhaps in all cases it would be pretty 

 well for the bee-beeper to interfere, if he would this : Leave 

 all queens that have done better than the average, replac- 

 ing the remainder with better stock. 



4. Yes. 



5. One entrance is all that is needed as an entrance. I 

 don't know just how it may be in all localities, but in my 

 locality I believe there is a very decided advantage, how- 

 ever, in having some kind of entrances to the upper stories 

 when running for extracted honey. The bees will not use 

 them as entrances, but they aid in ventilation, and have no 

 Jittle effect in keeping down swarming. 



6. I don't know. In a mild climate it might not make 

 any difference. 



7. I am not sure that anyone is patented. 



8. Very likely it would answer fairly well. The ques- 

 tion is not so much, " How cold is it ?" as " How often do 

 the bees fly ?" If they fly every week the syrup would be 

 all right, at least it would be all right to feed to supply 

 actual needs, but harm might be done to feed in such a way 

 as to stir up to unreasonable brood-rearing. 



Moving Bees for Cellar-Wintering. 



We packed our bees last fall on the summer stands, and 

 lost about three-fifths of them. Hoping to avoid a repeti- 

 tion of the experience, we want to put about 25 colonies in 

 the cellar. It is a high and dry cellar, and we have win- 

 tered one colony in it for two winters for experiment. They 

 have come through in fine condition, dry and clean, and 

 -with but little loss of bees. This seems contrary to every 

 one else, on account of the temperature, both times it hav- 

 ing been cold enough for long periods to freeze apples good 

 and hard. The bees are about SO rods from the cellar. 



1. Will it be practicable to move them this distance to 

 the cellar ? 



2. Or would it be necessary to move them now near to 

 "the cellar, and not have to stir them up by the long ride 

 just before cellaring ? 



3. The other 25 colonies must be moved the same dis- 

 tance before spring work begins. When will be the best 

 itime, now or later ? Ohio. 



Answers. — l. Yes. 



2. No, I'd make only one job of it, doing the moving as 

 gently as possible, but they will stand quite a little stirring 

 up without serious harm. Indeed, it would not be such a 

 very hard job to carry them on a hand-barrow or stretcher 

 that distance, carrying two colonies at a time, and that 

 would stir them up scarcely more than a short distance. 



3. Better late in the fall ; but before they stop flying 

 entirely. 



Gorged Honey— Spring Peedlng-Afterswarms-Unltlng 

 Colonies— Non-Swarming Apiary. 



1. In many operations entailing the opening of the hive, 

 we are recommended to make the bees gorge themselves with 

 honey so they will not sting, etc. I want to know whether 

 this honey that the bees fill themselves with must be reckoned 

 as a total loss to the colony, or is any of this honey re- 

 gurgitated by the bees and re-deposited in the cells again 

 after the disturbance is over? 



2. How much honey should 3 and 4-frame nuclei, in 

 prosperous condition, have to winter on safely? 



3. Do you recommend spring-feeding for stimulating 

 purposes ? 



4. To prevent afterswarms, which is the better plan, 

 liive the afterswarm temporarily in an ordinary hive, and 

 as soon as you see the remaining queens in the parent colony 

 killed and dragged out of the hive, run the afterswarm back 

 into the hive it came from through an entrance-guard, thus 

 catching their queen? or, as soon as piping is heard, open 



~ the hive and destroy all queen-cells found? Are either of 

 them likely to prove successful? If not, why not? 



5. Is it practical to unite a queenless, eggless, and brood- 

 less colony, with a colony having a laying queen, through a 

 bee-escape? 



6. (a) Wlicn should alsike clover be sowed here? (b) 



How much seed -should be sowed per acre? (c) Should it 

 be sowed by itself or with any other crop? 



7. What would you consider the easiest plan to follow 

 for a non-swarming apiary? I don't like "shook" swarms, 

 or your putting-up plan, or your foundation-plan. Absolutely 

 no increase desired, and as little mterference as may be with 

 the honey yield : shall be constantly in the apiarv. 



Virginia. 



Answers.- 1. I can't say positively, but I think it will be 

 found that most of the honey thus gorged will be returned to 

 the cells. 



3. If you mean that the 3 or 4 frames are covered with 

 bees fairly, I should guess that there would be needed about 

 three-fourths as much honey as a full colony would need un- 

 der like conditions. It's the outside of the cluster that has 

 to stand the cold and cause the consumption of stores, and 

 there's the same amount of outside at the sides whether 

 there be two frames or ten. Each additional frame makes ad- 

 ditional exposure only at top, bottom and ends. So if a 

 nucleus be half as large as a full colony, it will need a good 

 deal more than half as much winter stores. 



3. In some cases yes, in most cases no. If a colony is 

 well supplied with stores, and if the bees arc gathering at 

 least a little, so that the queen lays enough to give the bees 

 all the brood they can cover, nothing would be gained by 

 trying to get her to lay more ; and mischief might be done 

 liy the inexperienced feeding and getting the bees to fly at a 

 time when they would be chilled and lost. But in some places 

 there may come a time in spring with warm weather favor- 

 able for flying, but nothing yielding. Feeding then might 

 be an absolute necessity to get the queen to laying. 



4. The first plan ought to be entirely successful, and 

 the second just as successful if you are sure to miss no cells. 



5. Ought to be, but I don't know from experience. 



6. (a) At the same time farmers in your locality sow 

 I'ed clover, (b) About four pounds, (c) Either way, a favor- 

 ite way being to sow with oats. On rich ground, where the 

 alsike would be likely to lodge badly in wet weather, a sprink- 

 ling of timothy may be good. 



7. Oh, my! don't you think you're a little hard on me? 

 You bar out pretty much all the ways I know, and then 

 say, "Give us a better way." I've been groping after the 

 answer to that conundrum for many years, and am still 

 groping. But I can't be in the apiary all the time, and you 

 make the thing easier by saying, ".shall be constantly in the 

 apiary." In that case the following might be submitted for 

 your consideration : Have queens clipped. When a prime 

 swarm issues, kill or remove the queen. Then prevent after- 

 swarms b}' either of the w'ays you suggest in (luestion 4. 



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