American l^ae Joarnalj^ 



April, 1908. 



member (if I can have an office), and secret 

 societies arc such a rarity ( ?) that you would 

 have no trouble in securing a large membership 

 and tilling the treasury full to overflowing. 

 Meanwhile you might whisper the secret to me. 



I kept my bees from swarming :: years ago 

 by placin" the brood over the queen with, an 

 excluder between. When buckwheat came on, 

 1 had my hives chock-fnll uf bees. I also 

 had several swarms in September, and that's 

 rather late for Northern New York. I'd like to 

 know how to stop them at that time. 



I want to thank you for the kind and cour- 

 teous answers you have given to my some- 

 times foolish questions from time to time. Your 

 replies have been of much value to me, and I 

 am correspondingly grateful to you. 



New York. 



Answer. — Yes, that's the plan given by 

 G. W. Demaree, a Kentuckian who was promi- 

 nent in the ranks some years ago. The plan 

 is good, and the pity of it is that it will 

 worK only for extracted, not comb. The brood- 

 combs being put above become extracting- 

 corabs. To prevent swarming in September 

 (which is not usual, I think, but may come 

 where there is a fall flow), it might work to try 

 the same plan over again: extract the frames 

 in an upper story, put them in the lower 

 story with the queen, the brood above, ex- 

 cluder between, if this be done just as buck- 

 wheat begins, it seems it ought to work as 

 well as earlier. If you try it, kindly report 

 as to success or failure. 



Danzenbaker Hive — Preventing 

 Swarming. 



1. What information can you give me con- 

 cerning the Danzenbaker hive? Would you ad- 

 vise its use for comb honey? What style of 

 hive do you use, and what advantage do you 

 claim for it? 



2. Do you like the 4x5 plain sections? Has 

 it any advantages over the ukl style bee-way 

 sections? 



3. I have 10 colonies and I intend to run 

 them for comb honey, and do not want any in- 

 crease. Can I keep them from swarming? If 

 80, how? ' Vermont. 



Answers.— I. The Danzenbaker hive is shallow 

 er than the Langstroth, with closed-end frames. 

 From a trial of two such hives side by side 

 with the hive I am now using, I concluded 

 I liked the latter better. It is the dove- 

 tailed, with frames the same size as recom- 

 mended by I-'ather Langstroth. and has the 

 advantage of being most common in use, sim- 

 ple, and with the Miller frame easily manipu- 

 lated. 



2. Some claim it an advantage to have a tall 

 section because it looks more than a square 

 one. A 4 X 5 section is also supposed to look 

 larger than a 4^x4^ of the same weight, be- 

 cause having a larger surface, although thinner. 

 After trying many other sections, some of 

 them on a pretty large scale, I prefer the 

 square 4i4 of the old style. 



3. Not the easiest thing to do. You may be 

 able to succeed by shaking swarms. See also 

 something on the subject on another page of 

 this number. 



Nuclei for Increase. 



Being a beginner, I am somewhat in doubt 

 as to the _ method of procedure in forming 

 nuclei for increase. If I am not mistaken you 

 take 2 or 3 frames with brood and bees, in- 

 cluding a ripe qucen-cell. and place them in a 

 new hive and set it on a new stand, and then 

 gradually give them frames with full sheets of 

 foundation, or better, with brood from other 

 colonics. 



1. Now the question is, by placing the nu- 

 cleus on a new stand, won't almost all of the 

 bees go back to the parent colony, and thus 

 leave the nucleus without sufficient bees to 

 take care of the brood? Is it necessary to close 

 up the entrance entirely? If so, how and 

 with what — that is, the entrance-blocks, or with 

 grass or leaves — and how long would you leave 

 it thus closed? Would they get sufficient ven- 

 tilation if the entrance i.' closed entirely? 

 If it is not necessary to close it entirely how 

 much of an opening would you leave in order 

 to avoid robbing? 



2. Suppose you had one colony of pure 

 stock, and 2 or 3 other colonies of hybrids. 

 Now you wish to breed from pure stock, how- 

 would you proceed? Would you use the nu- 

 cleus plan, or is there a better way? Would 



• you cut out all the drone-comb in the hybrid 

 stock? Is there any danger of in-breeding 

 in thus breeding from but one colony? 



Illinois. 

 Answers. — i. If the nucleus is forced from 

 hccs that have been quecnlcss 2 days or more, 

 the number returning to the old stand will be 

 much smaller than if taken from a queen- 

 right colony. Besides taking the bees adhering 



to the combs of brood, an additional lot of bees 

 can also be shaken from other combs. If the 

 nucleus is formed from a queen-right colony, 

 fasten them in the hive for 3 days by packing 

 green leaves in the entrance. If you forget 

 to open it, the drying of the leaves will open 

 it. With no more than 3 or 4 frames in a full- 

 sized hive there is no danger of smothering 

 the bees. 



2. Yes, the nucleus plan is good, or you can 

 use natural swarming. Give sealed brood from 

 the other colonies to your best colony, strength- 

 ening it so it will swarm first. Each time it 

 swarms set the swarm in its place, setting the 

 colony that has swarmed in place of another 

 strong colony, and setting the latter on a new 

 stand. This strengthening each time will re- 

 sult in its swarming a number of times, of 

 course with an Italian queen each time. 



Hive-Entrances in Winter — Trans- 

 ferring — Spring Feeding. 



1. When bees are wintered on the summer 

 stand with a chaff box around the hive, should 

 the entrance of the hive be shut with a wire 

 screen so the bees can*t fly out, or should it be 

 left open? 



2. If it is left open will the bees come out 

 on warm days and fly to the field, and never 

 return? 



3. What would be the best way in the spring 

 to transfer the bees irom a box-hive to a frame 

 hive? 



d. Is it a usual thing for bees when win- 

 tered in a chaff box to come out and die? 



5. What is the best to feed in the early 

 spring, sugar syrup or candy? How should it 

 be made. Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. The bees must not be fastened 

 in. Those that try to get out will stir up the 

 rest. 



2. No. 



3. Better not transfer till 3 weeks after the 

 colony swarms. Then drum out the bees, cut 

 out the combs and fasten in frames, unless 

 you may prefer to add the bees to the swarm 

 and melt up the combs. 



4. Yes, it is the usual thing for a number 

 of bees to die in the winter, no matter how 

 they are wintered. 



5. It is not best to feed either in early spring 

 unless there is danger of starving. For this 

 purpose either syrup or candy mav be used. 

 The syrup may be made of granulated sugar 

 and water, pint for pint, and the candy like 

 any candy is made, cooking the sugar in a verv 

 little water until it is brittle when dropped into 

 cold water. 



Either Chunk or Section Honey — 

 Interesting Experiment. 



I have a few colonies of bees in 8-frame dove- 

 tailed hives with 4 14x4 '4 plain section-hold- 

 ers. I am thinking of getting some small 

 frames to fit these section-holders, for the pro- 

 duction of chunk honey, perhaps only for 

 my own use. My idea is to have both small 

 frames and sections to fit these section-hold- 

 ers, so I can get either chunk or section honey 



— not both at the same time, 



I. Would there be any advantage 

 pi- -^ 



this 



Would the bees work in the small frames 

 more readily than in boxes? 



3. Kindly tell me what kind of foundation 

 is the enclosed? 



4. I want to tell vou of an experiment I have 

 been making this winter. Last fall I had 2 

 colonies of bees so cross that I had to move 

 them on account of the neighbors. A few of 

 the bees came back and entered an empty 

 hive near the old stand. I don't believe there 

 was a pint of them. And in a few days I 

 was surprised to find that thev had built a 

 comb about the size of my hand. About that 

 time I requcened the old colonies, and for fear 

 of an accident to a new queen, I thought I 

 would put one of the old queens with the little 

 swarm for safe-keeping. This was the last of 

 October. As I did not care whether I kept 

 them or not, I thought I would experiment 

 with them, so I made a box, or false bottom. 

 2 inches deep, the size of the hive, in the end 

 bored a pin-hole, and put in a pine 4 inches 

 long. Then I put a shelf in the ory room of 

 my mill where it is hot most of the time, 

 placed the false bottom on the shelf and run 

 the pipe through the wall to the outside. Then 

 I put on the hive. That left them with no 

 outlet except outside the building. I was shut 

 down 2 weeks when the temperature outside ran 

 down to 20 degrees below zero and water froze 

 in the room. With that exception there has not 

 been a day they would not take syrup, and 

 they must have been breeding, as there are 

 many more hces than there were last fall. They 

 are very quiet and never come out except on 

 days when other colonies fly. fhe jar of ma- 



chinery does not disturb them. All my bees 

 had a good flight yesterday. 



Massachusetts. 

 Answers.— I and 2. Yes; bees store more in 

 extracting-combs than in sections, and your 

 small frames would be at least a little approach 

 toward extracting-frames. 



3. Thin surplus. I think. 



4. This is decidedly interesting. It shows 

 that when necessary field-bees may become 

 nurse-bees. But the most remarkable thing is 

 the prosperity of that little colony. According 

 to my best judgment it ought to have been dead 

 long ago. 



Spraying Fruit-Trees in Bloom. 



Is there any law which protects bees from 

 being poisoned on fruit-trees which are sprayed 

 when in full bloom? How can any one know 

 whether his bees are being poisoned or not? 

 Do they die in the orchard or return to the 

 hives and die? People in this vicinity seem 

 to disregard bees entirely when s- raying. 



Kansas. 



Answer.— I don't know your State laws, but 

 I'm afraid you have no law on spraying. If 

 bees are poisoned you will find at least some 

 of them dead in or near the hives. 



Prevention of Swarming, 



I have 5 colonies of bees on a 60-foot lot in 

 the suburbs of Brooklyn, and don't want any 

 more increase, as I don't like to give away 

 swarms. I had 3 swarms last year, and gave 

 away one swarm and 2 of the parent colonies. 



What do you consider the easiest and sim- 

 plest way of swarm management and no in- 

 crease? Brooklyn Suburbanite. 



Answer. — A little before time to swarm, if 

 you remove the old queen, and destroy all 

 cells but one before the young queens emerge, 

 you ought to have no- swarming. Perhaps you 

 might like the plan on page 70. 



Hive- Ventilation — Observatory Hive. 



1. Would not an inch hole on each side of 

 the super, with wire netting inside, be of some 

 benefit in the way of ventilation in hot 

 weather? 



2. I have an observatory hive in which I ex- 

 pect to put bees this spring. How shall I get 

 them started? This is my first year with an 

 observatory hive. Maryland. 



Answers. — i. It would not work well for 

 section honey, but would for extracted, al- 

 though I would rather give ventilation between 

 stories by shoving the upper story forward. 



:;. There's no trick about it; merely start 

 as you would in any other hive by putting in 

 the requisite number of combs of brood with 

 bees and queen. To prevent the bees going 

 back to the old home, set the hive in a dark 



ella 



dav 



Closing Hives When Spraying Bloom. 



What would be the best thing to do with 

 my bees in the spring when the orchard is be- 

 ing sprayed? We have a large orchard and 

 I want to spray it at least 3 times this 

 spring. Would it be a good idea to close the 

 entrances of the hives, and keep the bees closed 

 a few days after each soraying? The colo- 

 nies are all in good shape and will have 

 enough to eat during the time they would be 

 closed. I have heard that the spraying of the 

 trees when in bloom kills the bees when they 

 work on the blossom. Nebraska. 



Answer. — It would be pretty hard on the 

 bees to fasten them in the hives, although not 

 so bad if kept in a dark, cool cellar. But there 

 is no need to shut them in. No up-to-date 

 fruit-grower would think of spraying an or- 

 chard when in bloom, even if no bees were 

 within a thousand miles. It does no pood to 

 the fruit, and is a positive injury. You can 

 spray before blossoms open, or after they 

 drop, but if you want fruit you'll never spray 

 when in bloom. 



Balm Attracting Swarms. 



Have you ever tried rubbing balm leaves 

 on a certain limb of a tree when bees are in 

 the act of swarming, to have them settle on 

 that limb on the exact spot ^'here the balm 

 leaves were rubbed. 



A friend of mine told me he had seen this 

 plan tried, and it was a success. And another 

 man heard him tell this, and said he was going 

 to try it. Friend No. 2 says it was successful. 

 So I am anxious to know if anyone else has 

 tried the plan. If it is a good one. there 

 is not much use clipping the queens, although 

 I have my doubts yet as to the certainty of 



