Sept. 12, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



583 



of cell-cups tried. But while this is so, there is one thing- 

 worth mentioning-, which is, that the longer those who have 

 poor results try the plan, the better they succeed. From 

 this I feel compelled to say that the fault, when a failure 

 occurs, must be in the operator, for, so far as I am aware, 

 bees behave very much the same along this line of cell- 

 building, whether it be in York State, Maine, Florida, Cali- 

 fornia, Canada, Europe, Australia, or Africa, as I have 

 reports of perfect success and also of failures from all the 

 places mentioned, and from many others also. If any man 

 or woman makes a perfect success of the plan in Ohio, 

 should not another make the same success in Ohio, provid- 

 ing he did exactly the same thing ? 



As f)0 out of 100 make a success with the plan, it would 

 look as if those who make a partial or entire failure in the 

 matter, failed, in some respect, to work in all the rainutia 

 of the matter, in the same way the successful ones do. 



As I mistrust that more fail in the matter of transfer- 

 ring the larva; than anywhere else, I am constrained to give 

 the fullest possible directions in this matter. 



To those who have not succeeded as they desire, I would 

 say, make a colony queenless and then wait three days till 

 queen-cells are formed having plenty of royal jelly in them, 

 and, after having removed the larva; occupying these cells 

 from the royal jelly, transfer larva; from your select breed- 

 ing queen to the royal jelly, left just as you removed the 

 original larva from it, marking the cells worked upon by 

 sticking an inch and a quarter wire nail about a half inch 

 above every cell thus grafted, when you will return the 

 combs to the bees. If this is a success you may know that 

 there is no trouble on your part in the transferring process ; 

 but should it not prove successful you may rest assured 

 that you killed the larva; in some way in manipulating 

 them, for with me every one is accepted under such circum- 

 stances. 



If you succeed here, try the same way again, only set 

 the frame having larva; transferred to the (-ells built by the 

 bees, in the upper story of a tiered-up col'ony ; and, if I am 

 not greatly mistaken, you will succeed here also, unless 

 your trial is made in early spring or late in the fall. If you 

 succeed in this way and can not with the artificial cell-cups, 

 then you may know that there is some mistake in your 

 manipulation of the roj'al jelly, or else the was used in 

 forming the cell-cups is offensive to the bees, or not fash- 

 ioned as it should be in some way. To find out which of 

 these is the cause of failure, instead of using royal jelly, 

 transfer the larva; to the cell-cups by the Willie Atchlej' 

 plan of removing cocoons — larvee and all to the cell-cups. 

 If j'ou now succeed you may know that the trouble was in 

 manipulating the jelly. If you do not, then the cups are at 

 fault. 



If you have made no success with any of your trials 

 till you transferred the larva; by means of the cocoons, then 

 you may know that you handled the larva; in transferring 

 in such a way that you killed the same, and here is where 

 you are to look for the trouble. If you know that you 

 failed in handling the larva;, allow a few suggestions : 



Make the point of the quill used in transferring very 

 thin and three-thirty-seconds broad, rounding the extreme 

 point. Having this done, give the point much curve by 

 soaking it in water for some time and then pressing it, 

 while soft, on the thumb-nail till it will fit the bottom of 

 worker-cells nicely, when it should be laid away for 24 

 hours. 



Now, before trying to transfer the first larva, dip the 

 point in royal jelly till it is thoroughly moistened with the 

 same, when you will note that, as you pass it under the 

 larva, said larva is floated up on this royal jelly adhering 

 to the curved point of the quill, so that it does not touch 

 the quill at all, so can not be injured if you use any care in 

 setting it down in the royal jelly in the cell-cups. If you 

 are bothered about seeing, shave the piece of comb contain- 

 ing the larva; down almost to the septum of the comb, or 

 base of the cells, when no one should have any difficulty in 

 seeing perfectly who can read the print of these pages. 



But perhaps you tried the plan of queen-rearing too 

 early in the spring, or during cool weather in September or 

 October. Or perhaps you did not feed the colony when 

 honey was not coming in from the fields, or did not have 

 unsealed brood in the upper story ; any or all of which 

 would tend toward a failure. 



If the weather is cool and no honey coming in from the 

 fields, the bees should be fed till they are all alive and 

 active, the same as they are when honey is coming in from 

 the fields and at swarming-time ; for, if we would rear 



good queens at any time of the year these conditions should 

 be brought about as nearly as possible. 



Of late years, for spring and fall rearing, I slip a sheet 

 of perforated zinc down into the hive so as to confine the 

 queen to one side of the same, when queens are reared in 

 the other side, or the side not having the queen, the same 

 as in upper stories. This can be done when there are not 

 enough bees to fill properly two stories so as to rear queens 

 to the best advantage. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



\ Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



r>K. O. O. MII^LER, Marengo, Ul, 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal oflBce, or to Dr. MlUer 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Transferrins Bees from Bex-Hives. 



1. I have several colonies of bees in box-hives that I 

 wish to transfer to movable-frame hives. They have each 

 considerable honey in the brood-chamber, and I suppose 

 brood also. Would it be as well, or better, to- do it now 

 (Aug. 5), or wait till next swarming season ? 



2. In cutting the combs to fit the movable frames, 

 which end of the combs would be best to trim off and throw 

 away, if any — the upper or lower edge ? Supposing the 

 combs are too deep for my frames for one, and not deep 

 enough for two. 



3. Would there be any danger of robbing, were I to 

 undertake this job, on account of my hives being situated 

 so close to each other ? They are only about three or 

 four feet apart in rows. 



4. If I find any of them too weak to protect themselves 

 from the moth, could I safely unite two or more weak ones 

 at the time of transferring ? 



5. My hives are scattered over a lot of about 1-16 of an 

 acre. How would be best to bring the hives together for 

 uniting ? and should I take one and carry it to another to be 

 there united and transferred ? Suppose No. 5 and No. 10 

 are two weak colonies, and I wish to unite and transfer 

 them at the same time from their box-hives to movable- 

 frame hives. Must I take No. 5 and carry it to No. 10 to be 

 proceeded with ? 



6. Ordinarily, when two colonies are desired to be 

 united, how would it do to move at night, one of them, to 

 the side of the other, and wait a few days till the moved 

 colonies become accustomed to the location, before uniting 

 them ? 



7. Is it too late in the season for bees to build comb ? 

 If -your answer should be no, I wish to ask why have my 

 bees not rebuilt the combs I robbed them of a month ago ? 



8. Is there any limit to the time of comb-building ? 



9. If you advise transferring from the bos-hives now, 

 when must I remove the wire or strings used to hold the 

 combs in place in the movable frames ? 



10. Will it make any difference whether the comb is 

 placed in the movable frames in the same position it has in 

 the bos-hives ? That is, which side or edge goes up or 

 down ? 



11. How am I to overcome the trouble of the bees of 

 each hive returning to the old stand ? If I move one hive 

 to another to be united, won't the bees of the hive moved 

 be apt to return to the old stand before they get used to the 

 new order of things ? 



I read all the standard bee-books and it seems I ought 

 to be able to answer all these questions myself, but these 

 little points are not covered in the works on these subjects. 

 I have about 30 colonies in box-hives, and about the same 

 in movable-frame hives, and wish to transfer them now if 

 you so advise, or wait till next swarming-time. I greatly 

 fear robbing may get started. I have handled bees for 

 three years, and can do the work all right if given the 

 advice asked for. Mississippi. 



Answers.— 1. It will probably be better to wait till 

 next season. 



2. That depends on the combs. Very likely the lower 

 part will be best to retain. Cut away the lower edge so it 

 will fit perfectly true on the bottom-bar, and then cut away 



