206 



June, 1913 



American liee Journal 



swarmine. If only 2 or 3 are started. like 

 enough it is a case of superseding. 



3. If a queen that has been laying only a 

 few days be given at the beginning of the 

 swarming season, and if the colony has not 

 yet made preparations for swarming, there 

 is very little chance of swarming that sea- 

 son. The same is true to a greater or less 

 extent if the young queen be given earlier. 

 I am not sure about the rctiu-iihi^, but the 

 chances for swarming are greatly lessened 

 by the giving of a young queen. When you 

 ask me to tell just how much crowding they 

 will stand, you're crowding me in too tight a 

 corner. Fact is. I don't know. I think some- 

 thing depends upon the queen, and perhaps 

 still more on the bees. "With some bees, a 

 vigorous young ciueen could probably not be 

 forced to swarm by any amount of crowd- 

 ing, provided the queen were not given too 

 early, and from that it will shade all the 

 way down to where allowing only room for 

 25 pounds of honey might induce swarming. 



4. My guess should be that bees would do 

 well there; but it is hard to make a safe 

 guess with no greater knowledge. In some 

 places cotton is a great honey-plant, and the 

 same may be said of tobacco: but I don't 

 know how it does in your locality. 



5. Most likely the lo-frame. 



Queenless or Very Strong? 



I have 8 colonies, but one seems to lly more 

 than the rest. What is the reason ? At 

 times when there is not one bee flying from 

 the 7. there are many Hying from the one 

 mentioned above. Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— I don't know. Sometimes a 

 very strong colony flies more than others. It 

 may be more excitable than the others. It 

 may be excited by the loss of its queen. 



Transferring—Choosing a Location 



1. I am a beginner, having 2 colonies of 

 bees in "box hives." Will you please give 

 me the best way to transfer them to a mov- 

 able-frame hive ? 



2. Do you think this (eastern North Caro- 

 lina is a good place for bees ? 



3. I wish to requeen my bees after trans- 

 ferring. Please give me a good plan for re- 

 queening. 



4. Do you think it would be a good place to 

 locate an apiary in a locality where there 

 are about 300 acres of cotton planted each 

 year. 4-0 acres of corn. 200 acres of peas, and 

 50 acres of tobacco: in which there are 50 

 colonies of bees in box hives within 2 miles ? 



■;. What size of hives do you think best for 

 this part of the country, when running for 

 comb honey ? North Carolina. 



Answers. — L Wait until they swarm, hive 

 the swarm in a movable-frame hive, set it on 

 the old stand, and set the old hive beside it. 

 A week later move the old hive to a new 

 stand 6 feet or farther away. That will 

 strengthen the colony in the new hi^e. and 

 give you a good lot of surplus if there is 

 surplus to be had. In 21 days from the time 

 the swarm iss.ued there will be no brood in 

 the old hive except a little drone-brood, 

 when you will break up the box-hive, fasten 

 in frames any good straight worker-comb 

 you may find, and fill up the new hive with 

 frames filled with foundation. 



2. From what I have heard I think it aver- 

 ages fairly well. 



3. You probably mean to send off and get a 

 Queen by mail, and with that will come 

 directions for introducing. The plan quite 

 generally used is to remove the old queen as 

 you receive the new one, put the cage in the 

 hive between the frames of brood, and let 

 the bees release the queen by eating through 

 the candy. Sometimes the plan is to have 

 the candy so covered that the bees cannot 

 get at it for a day or two. which is consid- 

 ered a little safer than if the bees should 

 release the queen too soon. 



How Many Colonies? What Kind of Bees, Hives, 

 Etc.? 



L I desire to start in bee-keeping, and 

 have had no experience in handling bees in 

 movable-frame hives. I am at present em 

 ployed in a railroad office as night telegraph 

 operator, with hours from i o'clock a.m. to 

 10 a.m.. and do not know how long I shall be 

 located here. Which do you think would 

 pay me belter, to get only i or 2 colonies of 

 a good strain or start with 10 or 20 ? 



2. What kind of bees do you think are the 

 best honey-gatherers ? 



3. Which hive do you recommend for a be- 

 ginner, the Tri-State. Dovetailed, or Leahy 

 telescope; also which size of frame. 8 or lo ? 



I am located in northeast Missouri, 



4. Which do you recommend for a begin 

 ner. comb or extracted honey ? 



5. Which frame do you think is the better, 

 the Hoffman or loose top staple-spaced 

 frame, and which is the easiest to handle ? 



d. What frame do you use ? Also what size 

 section or extracting frame ' 



7 What do you think of hives made of 

 yellow cypress or redwood? Missouri. 



Answers —I. It is better to have two than 

 one. but with no experience it is hardly 

 wise to go beyond three. 



2. Taken all in all. there is perhaps noth- 

 ing better than Italians. A cross between 

 Italians and blacks may do as well in the 

 first generation, but they are more likely to 

 run out than the pure Italians. 



3. These all have the regular Langstroth 

 frame. n^Ay.>)V%. the size to be recommended, 

 and aside from this the particular form of 

 the hive does not matter greatly. The dove- 

 tailed has the advantage that it is the one 

 most generally in use. As to the number of 

 frames, the lo-frame is decidedly better for 

 a beginner, and like enough for the old 

 stager as well. 



4. For some, one may be best; for some, 

 the other. For the greater number ex- 

 tracted is probably better. 



3. Preferences differ. Some like the Hoff- 

 man, and others would not have it around 

 because the bees glue the frames together 

 making them harder to handle than the 

 other kind of frames. With the metal 

 spacers latterly used on the Hoffman, it is 

 not so objectionable, 



6. I use the Miller frame, w'hich is a plain 

 Langstroth frame with common galvanized 

 shingle nails for side-spacers and small 

 staples for end-spacers. I use the same for 

 an extracting-frame. although if I were going 

 extensively into extracting I would likely 

 have a shallower frame. I use the section 

 most generally in use. 2-bee-way 4'4X4'4Xi"8. 



7. I have had no experience w-ith them, but 

 from W'hat I have read I suppose they are 

 good. 



Supersedure— Rearing Queens 



1. i have noticed you said, on one occasion, 

 that you left supersedure to the bees In 

 that case, you could probably tell me the 

 percentage of queens that live 3 years: also 

 4 years, and s. if any :" 



2. I propose rearing a few queens this sea- 

 son from an imported queen Italian!, as I 

 find it a very slow process Italianizing an 

 apiary of 60 or 70 colonies by the purchase 

 of five or six dollar queens each year. I can 

 have a location 4 miles from home, and 2!;! 

 miles from any bees. Now what outfit 



would I require to rear say 2s queens and 

 have them mated in that yard ;- Would you 

 take 2 colonies, one for drones and one for 



3. The horizontal method appeals to me as 

 being more simple than any other that I 

 have read of. What do you think of it ? 



4. Would a 2-frame nucleus be large 

 enough: say 4 of these in a lo-frame hive 

 properly divided - Would you make these 

 nuclei at home, and then haul them to the 

 queen-rearing yard. ^ 



^. With drones in all the hives, more or 

 less, as in the swarming season, how would 

 you dispose of them? I have your '' Forty 

 Years Among the Bees." but you do not 

 seem to have had this mating question to 

 deal with. Manitoba. 



A.nswers— I. It would take the figuring 

 up of a number of years to find such an 

 average. I have just looked up the year 

 1012. and find that the year opened up with 

 31 percent of the queens from the previous 

 year. 114 percent of the two years previous, 

 and 3 percent of three years. Another year 

 might give quite a different story, as also 

 might, and almost certainly would, a series 

 of 10 or 20 years. For surely it will not prove 

 the rule that there will be twice as many 2- 

 year-old queens as i-year-olds. Why that 

 happened to be so in 1912 I do not know. 

 Neither will it generally happen that there 

 are no 4-year-olds, although 5-year-olds are 

 very rare. 



2. No great outfit is needed. All that is 

 essential is to have the 25 nuclei and a col- 

 ony with drones, unless, indeed, you do 

 without the latter colony and manage to 

 have the drones in your nuclei. No need to 

 take the colony with your best queen. Let 

 her stay at home, and merely take cells of 

 her stock with the nuclei. I take it that you 

 will use your regular brood-frames of full 

 size, so the only special thing needed is the 

 nucleus-hives, and you can do without them 

 if you use a full hive for each nucleus. 



3. I am not certain I know what you mean 

 by the horizontal method, unless you mean 

 several nuclei on the same level in a hive, 

 and that certainly is good. Yet as a matter 

 of convenience, of late years I have gener- 

 ally used a full hive for each nucleus. You 

 have the advantage of mutual heat when 

 you have several nuclei in one hive, yet in 

 hot weather that does not make so much 

 difference. 



4. Yes. a 2-frame nucleus answers well. I 

 wouldn't form the nuclei at home: merely 

 prepare for them at home. That is the chief 

 beauty of hauling the bees off to a distance 

 of- 1 or 4 miles: you can divide them upas 

 you like, and they will stay where they are 

 put without precautions. In a lo-frame hive 

 you can manage to have 10 frames, each wel 1 

 filled with brood and well stocked with 

 bees. After they have stood queenless in 

 the home apiary perhaps two days, staple 

 on each comb, centrally, a queen-cell. A 

 day or two later take this hive to the out- 

 apiary, and put one of the frames wherever 

 you want a nucleus. At the same time you 

 will take along another hiveful of brood and 

 bees that have been queenless for two or 

 three days;, and of these given to each 

 nucleus will complete the nuclei, unless you 

 wish to add a frame with some honey. Lay 

 your plans so that by no chance shall any 

 virgin emerge from its cell before being in 

 its nucleus. The sooner it emerges after 

 that the better. 



3. A drone trap at the entrance of the 

 hives prepared for the out-apiary will dis! 



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