27fi 



August, 1913 



American Vee Journal 



was mentioned, wrote as follows : "Like 

 you, I know that dark honey does not 

 produce dark wax. If anything it is 

 the contrary. Whether the other col- 

 ors affect the color of combs, I can't 

 say. I am inclined to think that the 

 color of the pollen the bees gather 

 when the comb is built influences the 

 color of the comb. The bitter weed 

 which yields a very yellow pollen and 

 a very yellow honey gives us a bright 

 yellow comb. But when I chew this 

 beautiful yellow comb for some time, 

 it loses its yellow color and is about 



the color of best grade wax. 



"Partridge pea, which does not vield 

 nectar from the blossoms, but from the 

 base of the leaves, gives us nearly water- 

 white honey. At the close of the season 

 it blooms, but it yields only pollen from 

 the blossom. This pollen is very yel- 

 low, and colors all the combs of beauti- 

 ful white honey. We will take further 

 notice of these matters and report." 



In concluding this study, we may as- 

 sert positively that dark honey does not 

 give dark wax. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Dr. Miller's ^ Answers* 



Send Questions either to the office of the .\tnerican Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail 



Saving Empty Hives 



Please tell us when we shake on founda- 

 tion for foul brood whether the frames 

 should be new, or can we cut the old comb 

 out clean and use the frames acain ? 1 don't 

 want to buy frames for so hives if it is un- 

 necessary. \'IRGINIA. 



Answer.— Generally it is considered best 

 to burn up the old frames, but when one has 

 so large a number as you have I think it pays 

 to clean them up and use again. At any 

 rate, that is what t did with a number. 

 .^fter cutting out the combs I put the frames 

 into a big iron kettle holding a half barrel of 

 water into which was put 2 pounds of con- 

 centrated lye. The water, of course, was 

 heated, and the frames were kept in the 

 kettle until all wax and glue was melted off. 

 Then the frames were rinsed in cold water 

 to get off the lye. 



Tearing Down Queen-Cells 



What causes the bees of a swarm (taken 

 from a building and given a frame of brood 

 for encouragementj to start and seal several 

 .queen-cells, and in a Jnc dens, h-js than a week, 

 destroy tliem all ? Californl^. 



Answer.— I don't know. It happens not 

 infrequently that when something unusual 

 takes place, such as the introduction of a 

 new queen, orthe removal of the brood, as 

 in your case, the bees start queen-cells, and 

 then sometimes tear them down later. It 

 looks a little as if the bees said to them- 

 selves. " There's been such a break in brood- 

 rearing that there must be something wrong 

 with our queen, and we must take steps to 

 rear one to take her place " Then, as the 

 queen keeps laying regularly, they say, "The 

 old lady seems to be on her job all right; 

 guess we may as well tear down those cells." 



Shifting Colonies — Injudicious Manipulation 



1. We had 4 colonies of bees cast sec- 

 ond swarms. We put the young swarms on 

 old stands, and at the end of seven days we 

 moved the parent colony to a new stand. Do 

 you suppose the old colony will collect a 

 surplus? 



2. We had an immense colony of bees in a 

 double deck 8-frame hive, or 16 frames alto- 

 gether. This was the last colony to swarm, 

 and on June ig. it cast the biggest swarm I 

 ever saw. We moved the parent colony and 

 set the swarm in its place. Now it looks to 

 me as if both are extremely populous. I 

 have a notion to let them alone just as they 

 are. and not move the old hive to a new 

 stand. What do you think of it 'i 



3. We have read a good deal about foul 

 brood, but never saw any. and don't want to. 



It IS our opinion that too much manipula- 

 tion, such as shook and shaking, have a ten- 

 dency to lower the vitality of bees, as 



Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." 

 may apply to bees as well as to vain human- 

 ity. Low vitality means a good chance for 

 disease. We notice that the American peo- 

 ple have a great tendency to accept the easy 

 way, regardless of what the outcome may be. 

 I hey do not believe that " By the sweat of 

 your brow you must earn your bread." I am 

 a great admirer of Nature, and also of the 

 lower insects and animals, and do not care 

 to disturb them from the even tenor of their 

 ways, consequently I think that too much 

 manipulation has a tendency to begin dis- 

 ease in bees. Of course, this may be far 

 fetched. What is your opinion of it ? 



Iowa. 



Answers.— I. Most likely they will be well 

 stocked for winter, seeing that you are hav- 

 ing a great flow, and also seeing that the old 

 colony would already have filled with honey 

 all space not occupied by brood and pollen. 



2. In such a heavy How both may do well 

 enough, except that the mother colony may 

 send out an after-swarm within a week or lu 

 days after the prime swarm. 



3. There is much to be said on both sides. 

 Injudioious and ignorant meddling may do a 

 lot of harm; intelligent management may do 

 a lot of good. As to foul brood. %vhen it 

 happens that bad cultivation of the ground 

 will start a lot of weeds without any seeds 

 of weeds being present, then it may happen 

 that you can get foul brood started without 

 any of the bacilli or spores that cause the 

 disease. At the same time it is true that if 

 a colony is weakened by bad management, 

 it will succumb to disease where a vigorous 

 colony might entirely resist it. 



Introducing Queens 



I have had trouble in introducing laving 

 queens on account of the bees starting 

 cells. I have always lost about half of the 

 queens I tried to introduce. Would it be 

 perfectly safe to shake about s pound of 

 bees taken from three or four different 

 colonies into an empty hive containing 

 about three combs with no brood, and con- 

 fine these bees three or four days, in the 

 meantime introduce a queen in the regula- 

 tion way. brood to be given later ? Would 

 these bees be likely to swarm out after they 

 were released f Ohio. 



Answer.— 'Ves. practically the plan has 

 been used, the bees being put in the cellar 

 or other dark place. They ought not to 

 swarm out afterward. 



Let me giye yon one of the kinks I have 

 used in introducing a valuable queen. It is 

 the old bees, and not the youngsters, that 



make trouble when a step-mother is given 

 them. So the thing to do is to get the lield- 

 bees out of a hive before the queen is given. 

 That is a thing very easily done. Just set 

 the hive in a new place, and leave on the old 

 stand a hive with one of the brood-combs. 

 When the gatherers return from the field 

 they will go to the old stand, and in 24 hours 

 the old hive will have in it no bees more 

 than It) days old Asa matter of convenience 

 I lift the old hive from its stand, setting it 

 close by, put the new hive with one frame 

 of brood on the old stand, put on this the 

 supers if there are any, and then put on the 

 cover, and then set the old hive over all. At 

 the same time the caged queen is put into 

 the upper hive. By the time the bees have 

 eaten out the candy and liberated the 

 queen, or some time before it. all the field 

 bees have joined the lower hive, and the 

 Queen is kindly received by the younger 

 bees. In two or three days, when the queen 

 has begun to lay. the hive may be returned 

 to its original place, and the fielders will 

 make no trouble when they enter. 



Equipment for Comb-Honey— Locations 



1. I wish to engage in the production of 

 comb honey what style and size of hive 

 would you advise me to adopt ? 



2. Would you consider the Danzenbaker 

 hive practical in a large apiary - If not 

 please give your reasons. 



\ If you were to start again from the be- 

 ginning intending to make bee-keeping your 

 hfecalling. and had no ties to bind j-ou to 

 any particular locality, where would you be 

 likely to settle? Illinois 



Answers. — I. The lo-frame dovetailed 

 would be a safe venture. 



2. A single objection would bar it out for 

 your use. I had more pollen in sections 

 with one Dan,^enbaker hive than with 50 

 others, probably because of its shallowness. 



3. I don t know. I would do a lot of inves- 

 tigating before settling. What might suit 

 me might not suit yon I'm growing more 

 and more to think that there's a good deal of 

 equality in locations, advantages and disad- 

 vantages. I used toenvy Californians. I'm 

 not sure I would care to be there now. since 

 knowing more fully about it. In general, 

 the place where one happens to be is "not 

 so worse " as it might be. 



Finding Queon— After-swarms 



1. It seems to me that directions as to 

 shake swarming, when to be practiced on 

 colonies with clipped queens, are deficient 

 in that It IS not stated what is best to do 

 when one cannot find the queen so as to 

 cage her. This may be caused by the queen 

 remaining in the hive. I have not been able 

 in any case this year to find the queen 



2. Do you think it better to sit while ex- 

 amining colonies, frame by frame = There 

 might be less danger of losing the queen 

 than when standing upright, for when so 

 doing, the frame is so much farther away 

 from the top of the brood-chamber 



3. I have just seen that the parent colony 

 of a hive that swarmed about a week ago. and 

 which I placed next to and at right angles to 

 the hive containingthe swarm, hasall of half 

 a dozen queen-cells. Will this, if left by it- 

 self bring on after-swarms, or will the first 

 emerging queen kill the others? It would 

 seem to be of some advantage to have these 

 cells undisturbed, as should one queen fail 

 to return from her mating flight, there 

 would at once be others to take her place. 



Pennsylvania 

 AxswERs.-i You can get along very well 

 without finding the queen at all when you 

 shake a swarm. Shake and brush .;// the 

 bees from the combs you take away, and 

 then you will be sure that you have not 

 taken away the queen. If you want to take 

 with the combs enough bees to take care of 

 the brood, put an excluder over the hive, 

 set an empty hive-body over this and put 



