March, 1913. 



Americanize Journal 



lighted to have as little swarming as possi- 

 ble. There is a difference in the bees them- 

 selves as to swarming, and it may be that 

 you are so fortunate as to have a strain of 

 bees little inclined to swarming. It may be 

 that your hives are such as to allow the 

 queens great abundance of room, in which 

 case there would be little swarming. There 

 may be some otherreason that I don't know. 



Bee-Keeping in Newfoundland 



I wish to try bee-keeping here, and would 

 like to know what kind of bees would be 

 most suitable for this climate. At present 

 there are none in Newfoundland (save the 

 wild bumble-bees. We have plenty of 

 sunny, hot weather in summer, when they 

 would do all right, but our winters are 

 rather long. Still. I believe I could manage 

 them all right, as I can house them during 

 the winter. Newfoundland. 



Answer.— I wonder if you may not be mis- 

 taken about there being no bee-hives in 

 Newfoundland. I don't know anything about 

 it. only it would be very strange if no one 

 had introduced them before this. Anyway 

 you are to be congratulated if there are none 

 near you. even if they may be farther away. 

 As there are none within a few miles you 

 will be able to keep pure stock, at least for 

 a time. You can hardly go amiss to get Ital- 

 ians, preferably the leather-colored, as the 

 darker ones are called. 



Beesarekeptsuccessfullyin colder climes 

 than yours. The severe winters ought to 

 cut no figure, for cellaring offers the way 

 out. 



It is to be hoped we shall hear from you 

 after you get started. 



A Winter and Summer Bee-House 



I have in a convenient place a house 5 feet 

 wide by 12 feet long. I can put a hive at each 

 end two on one long side, and one on the 

 other long side .5 hives in all), leaving room 

 for a door on the side where 1 put only one 

 hive. I would put the alighting board on 

 the outside for each hive, and cut a notch 

 something like !^xio inches for each en- 

 trance. How would they do in the summer i 

 ■Would they gather as much honey as they 

 would placed on separate stands? What 

 has been your experience in bee houses z'j. 

 placing hives on separate stands i 



Kentucky. 



Answer.— I have had no personal expe- 

 rience with houses such as you propose. 

 Years ago there was much said in their 

 favor, and Quite a number were in use. The 

 greater number of those who had them, 

 however, gradually gave them up, if I am 

 not mistaken, although a few still think well 

 of them. On the face of it. it looks as if it 

 should be just the thing for winter, but I 

 think the general verdict was against such 

 houses for wintering. For summer there is 

 the objection that the bees are not so 

 promptly induced to fly out as they are 

 where there is a better chance for the sun's 

 rays to enter the hives. Yet in actual prac- 

 tice you will not find much difference. 



Old and Young Worker-Bees as Drone-Layers 



Do old bees become drone-layers, or do 

 only the younger ones " go astray .' " 



New Jersey. 



Answer.— I don't know. But I have a 

 strong impression it's only the younger ones. 

 Some have advanced the theory that laying 

 workers, in their larval existence, have been 

 located near queen-cells, and so have been 

 fed some of the royal jelly as a sort of over- 

 flow. If that were the true theory, of course 

 there would be no drone-layers except those 

 which started in at the business early in 

 life. But I wouldn't take much stock in that 

 theory. Nurse-bees are not so careless as 

 to slop around the soup-dishes in that sort 



of style. Besides, if that theory were cor- 

 rect, laying workers would be just as likely 

 to appear at all times after young queens 

 are reared, whereas we know that with 

 most races of bees no laying workers are 

 reared unless a colony has been hopelessly 

 queenless for some time. I don't remember 

 that I ever saw any other explanation given, 

 but if you can't find anything better I'll 

 offer one of my own for what it is worth. It 

 is that when a lot of nurses are loaded up 

 with pap. and only a few larvje are left un 

 sealed, these few are fed so heavily that 

 they are developed sufficiently to do some- 

 thing in the egg-laying line. If any reliance 

 can be put upon this theory it is still true 

 that no bee could start in as a laying worker 

 after it becomes old. 



Moving Bees by Wagon and Rail—Spreading Brood 

 Spring Work 



I contemplate moving soon, and wish some 

 advise about preparing my bees for the trip. 

 Will have 40 miles of very rough mountain 

 road, then on the train for 50 miles. Bees in 

 modern hives and light in stores. 



1. Will I need any packing over and under 

 the frames to keep themsolid enough ? 



2. Will they need more ventilation than 

 the usual entrance? 



3. How can one tell when bees need addi- 

 tional ventilation when in transit ? 



4. I wish to rear queens as soon as practi- 

 cable in the spring. How can I tell when 

 the proper time comes ? 



5. How warm should it be by the ther- 

 mometer when it is safe to handle brood in 

 ordinary manipulation? 



6. ■\\'hat are the indications when it is safe 

 and profitable to spread the brood. /. i-.. 

 place an empty comb in the center ? 



7. When a lo-frame hive is full of brood, 

 and the harvest v> days off. is it best to add 

 another brood-chamber above or strengthen 

 the weak colonies ? 



8. How about it if the harvest is just at 

 hand? ^ ^ 



Q. How can a person who has contracted 

 the " bee-fever " expect to come out alive if 

 he does not get a good bee journal ? 



Your answers to questions have helped 

 me wonderfully. Kentucky, 



Answers.— I. That depends. If you'have 

 self-spacing frames, they ought to travel 

 safely just as they are. If they are loose- 

 hanging frames, they must be secured in 

 some way so they will not shake around. 

 One way is to thrust down at each end of 

 the hive, between each two frames, a small 

 stick with a small wire-nail driven in at one 

 end, so that the stick shall not sink down 

 into the hive. But no sort of packing is 

 needed either over or under the frames. 



2. Again, that depends. It depends upon 

 what the " usual entrance " is. and what the 

 temperature is. If your entrances are like 

 mine. 2x12 inches, no further ventilation will 

 be needed unless it be quite warm, say 

 something like 70 degrees. But if your en- 

 trances, like many entrances, are only H- 

 inch deep, then you should give extra ven- 

 tilation unless the temperature be less than 

 50 degrees, and even at that there might be 

 some danger. The larger the entrance the 

 less need for extra ventilation. 



3. Not so easy to say. They will be very 

 noisy, but they'll be noisy anyhow when be- 

 ing jolted over rough roads. When suffering 

 for want of ventilation, they may become so 

 heated that you will easily recognize the in- 

 creased heat by holding your hand at the 

 entrance or any other point where air may 

 escape. But it is rather dangerous to let 

 them be heated up to that degree. The safe 

 way is to give them a good showering with 

 water whenever you are at all suspicious 

 they are too warm. 



4. Not until about the time the most ad- 

 vanced colonies begin to start cells of their 

 own accord. Or. to take it on another basis, 

 not until bees are gathering enough so as to 



begin building comb. You can begin a good 

 deal sooner than either of those times, but 

 your queens will not be worth rearing. 



5. About 70 degrees. Instead of going by 

 the thermometer.it may be better to say. 

 don't handle bees any time when bees are 

 not flying freely. But if you merely lift out 

 a frame and quickly return it. as when you 

 want to know in the spring whether brood 

 is present, then it may be safe St 33 degrees 

 or less. 



6. For some years I have been of the opin- 

 ion that for me there is no time when it is 

 profitable to spread brood. Early in the 

 season, at the time when we want bees to 

 build up as fast as possible, the bees of their 

 own accord have all the brood they can 

 cover. In that case, if brood is spread it 

 can result only in chilled brood, thus hin. 

 dering instead of helping the building up. I 

 don't know whether the bees of others are 

 different or not. If at anytime your bees 

 are covering combs that have no brood or 

 eggs at the outer part of the cluster, it ought 

 then to be safe and profitable to spread. 

 But be sure you're right before you go 

 ahead. 



7. Strengthen the weak colonies. Perhaps 

 not all of them, but as many as you can 

 make strong enough for the harvest. 



8. I don't know. Perhaps in that case it 

 may be as well to do neither, for generally 

 with the beginning of harvest there is no 

 further spreading of the brood-nest, and 

 the supers will give all the extra room 

 needed. 



<j. I don't know. 



Queens Produced by West's Cell Protectors and 



Cages— Ditlerence in Weight of Honey 



Sections 



1. Some one has said that queens develop- 

 ing from cells given to colonies by means of 

 West's cell protector or queen cages do not 

 do well. In 1012 I used this method consid- 

 erably, and it seems to be the case as as- 

 serted. What is your opinion as to this ? It 

 looks a little to me as though such colonies 

 fill up the brood-chamber well, but do noth- 

 ing in the supers. In the two cases that I 

 tried West's protector, the colonies reared 

 their queen from those queen-cells. The 

 colonies appeared so quiet as to suggest 

 their dying off from queenlessness: but 

 when looking the colonies over preparatory 

 for wintering outside . queens were found, 

 and the brood-chamber well stocked with 

 honey. 



1 made it quite a practice, in looking for 

 surplus queen-cells, to put the best looking 

 ones in the West protector and introducing 

 the latter with cells. I have a little stand 

 for keeping the cells in the protector in an 

 upright position. I have gotten to be preju- 

 diced against the " protectors. " 



2. It rather displeases me that my sections 

 of honey IC12;. while lookiirs well, averaged 

 in weight only 13 ounces, while about all 

 the others I weighed in this neighborhood 

 weighed at least 14 ounces, and sometimes 

 more. 



Are there any reasons evident for such 

 discrepancy ? In i«i2 I had five times as 

 much honey than in ion. Pennsylv.^nia. 



Answers. — 1. Some European authorities 

 claim that the inmates of the cells receive a 

 benefit from the close contact of the bodies 

 of the bees, which benefit is lost when cells 

 are in nurseries or cages. The Stanley nur- 

 sery ought to be an exception, for in that the 

 bees are allowed free access to the cells. 

 One would naturally suppose that it would 

 be more harm to a cell from long than from 

 short confinement in a cage. Moreover I 

 should expect that the young queen would 

 be hurt as much by an hour's imprisoment 

 immediately after being sealed as it would 

 by a day's imprisonment immediately before 

 emerging from its cell Indeed. I suspect 

 that the convenience of a nursery may over- 

 balance all the harm of the confinement if a 

 cell be not caged until within a day of the 



