September, 1908. 



American "Bee Journal 



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j|)ocforMillerSf^? 

 %iestl0n-B9X^ 



Send Questions either to the oliice of the American Bee Journal or to 



DR, C. C. MILLER. Marengo. 111. 



Dr. Miller does r^t answer Questions by mail. 



Pollen in Extracting Supers. 



What do you do when there is pollen in 

 extracting supers? Tennessee. 



Answer. — Leave it there. The bees will 

 work it out. Even if they shouldn't, it would 

 do no harm, for it would not be thrown out 

 with the honey when you extract. 



What Are Genuine Italians? 



Are the enclosed bees genuine Italians ? I 

 bought them for that, and wish to sell stock 

 from them, but being a beginner with bees, I 

 want to know what I am selling. Missouri. 



Answer — The worker progeny of a pure 

 Italian queen should show 3 yellow bands, al- 

 though the first band next the thorax is quite 

 narrow. As nearly as I can tell in their dried 

 condition, after being through the mail, only 

 one of the 4 specimens clearly shows the 3 

 bands. 



Requeening and Transferring. 



I have 2 colonics of bees that I wish to re- 

 queen. The comb is somewhat crooked. I 

 will have to cut some. When is the best time 

 to do this? Is it likely to start robbing to do 

 it soon, say in August, or would I best wait 

 until next spring? 



We have had a bad year for bees, not getting 

 any honey this season. Missouri. 



Answer. — Right now, any time the bees are 

 busy gathering, will be as good as any to avoid 

 robbing. In one respect it is better in spring, 

 for then the combs are not full of honey. 



Black Drones in Italian Nucleus. 



Do pure Italian bees show black drones, or 

 drones on which the yellow is in very small 

 spots where the bands should oe? That is the 

 way most of the drones are from a queen in 

 a 3-frame nucleus of bees that I purchased 

 in June. They are working well. 



Nebraska. 



Answer. — Italian drones vary no little in 

 appearance, and can hardly be said to have 

 bands as do the workers. If the workers show 

 the proper number of bands, you may rest 

 assured the drones are all right. 



Bees Gathering from Sour Fruit. 



What is good for bees in the fall of the 

 year when they get after sour fruit? \.c are 

 troubled here in the fall with bees aying on 

 with cholera. Michigan. 



Answer. — You probably have reference to 

 bees dying with diarrhea when working on 

 sour fruit. Generally there is no very great 

 harm from this except in the vicinity of cider- 

 milis, and sometimes these make serious trou- 

 ble. I do not know of any cure. Prevention 

 is the only thing, and that is difiicult. Some 

 beekeepers succeed in getting owners of such 

 mills to screen them in, so that the bees can 

 no: get at the pomace or cider. 



Pollen in the Sections. 



I am in the bee-business on a small scale. 

 I started with one colony of bees, in 1902, 

 and I now have 32. I winter my bees on the 

 summer stands, and have never lost a colony. 

 In all of my bee-keeping I never saw so much 

 pollen in the brood-nest. All colonies seem 

 to be in about the same condition as regards 

 pollen. My queens are all young — none over 

 one year old. I reared some, and bought some 

 from different queen-breeders. What / rear 

 seem to be equal to any I have. My bees are 

 in ID-frame Langstroth hives. I have not had 



any trouble with pollen in sections. What 

 would be the best course to pursue in this 

 case? Missouri. 



Answer. — I, doubt if there is anything wrong 

 but what will right itself. At present there 

 may be an unusual amount of pollen in the 

 brood-combs, but please remember that the bees 

 use a very large amount to feed the brood. 

 Unless the bees fill so much pollen in the 

 combs that the queen is crowded for room, 

 there is no cause for alarm. If it really 

 comes to the point where you think you must 

 get rid of some of the pollen, you can soak 

 the combs with water till you can throw out 

 the pollen with an extractor. 



Lubricant for Foundation Mill Rolls. 



What is used as a lubricant on the rollers 

 of a foundation mill? The one I have sticks. 

 I can not set it close enough to make any cell- 

 walls at all. This is the first time I am using 

 it, as I had a lot of foundation bought shortly 

 before buying the mill, so did not try it be- 

 fore. I am using just clear water now. I 

 dipped the sheets last winter. Any advice you 

 give me will be thankfully received. 



New York. 



Answer — Starch is used as a lubricant, also 

 honey. If your sheet of wax is too cold, the 

 wax will not be pressed up into a side-wall. 

 Try having the w; 



Supers Under Brood-Chamber. 



What would be the result if supers are put 

 under instead of over the brood-chamber? I 

 suppose it has been tried, but I have seen no 

 mention of it anywhere. I mean for comb- 

 honey production — the 4x4 sections. 



Chicago. 



Answer. — It is natural for bees to store 

 above the brood-nest, and they would hardly 

 be expected to make as good work, especially 

 at sealing up, with the sections below. I have 

 known them, in some cases where brood-combs 

 were over sections, to carry down black wax 

 from the combs and darken the cappings of 

 the sections. 



Perhaps Old Queen. 



I. I have a large colony of bees that work 

 well, but do not have much honev. They have 

 a lot of drones, and a large number of drone- 

 cells. There are not many worker-cells, and 

 almost all of them are empty. vVhat is the 



Nebraska. 

 Answer. — Hard to say _ why such a large 

 proportion of drone-comb is present. Perhaps 

 an old queen was present at the time of comb- 

 building. You can help matters by taking out 

 any frames that have too much drone-comb, re- 

 placing them with frames full of worker-foun- 

 dation. You micht also cut out the drone- 

 comb, and put in its place patches of worker- 

 comb. Spring, however, is the best time for 

 this, say about the time of fruit-bloom. 



Facing Hive-Entrances — Getting In- 

 crease — Wild Clover. 



1. Does it make any difference if the hive- 

 entrance faces the north during the winter, 

 and would it be a good plan to build a sort of 

 box around the hive and close the entrance 

 one-half its present width? 



2. Would j'ou advise me to take the frames 

 out of the super and fill it with rags or saw- 

 dust, and place it over the brood-chamber in 

 the winter? I intend to leave the hive out-of- 

 doors all winter on its summer stand. 



-K, How shall I increase in the spring? I 

 don't want to lose the swarms. 



4. Is wild clover a good honey-producer ? 

 We have hundreds of acres of it here. Ohio, 



Answers. — i. So far south as southern 

 Ohio it probably makes little difference how 

 a hive faces. Yet a good many favor facing 

 south, and having no protection on the front. 

 In this way the bees more quickly get the 

 effects of the sun on a warm day in winter. 



2. Your plan is good. 



3. If I understand aright, you are afraid 

 that the bees may swarm naturally, and ab- 

 scond. You can help matters by having all 

 queens clipped. The queen may sometimes be 

 lost, but that is better than to lose both bees 

 and queen. You may practice shaking swarms, 

 or, as the Germans call it, anticipatory 



4. By "wild clover" you probably mean 

 white clover or sweet clover. Either one is an 

 excellent honey-plant. 



Getting Rid of Moths. 



1 am a young bee-keeper. I have been 

 brought^ up with bees until my father died. 

 Since his death I have been taking care of the 

 bees. They have increased from 3 colonies to 

 ir. and about 9 ot the 11 are strong colonies. 

 The other 2 are weak. I find moths in some 

 of the other colonies, too. I go to the hives 

 every morning and raise the hive and clean 

 out from underneath. I would like to know 

 how to get rid of moths. Illinois. 



Answer. — Just two things to get rid and to 

 keep ^ rid of moths. Keep none but strong 

 colonies. Second, keep Italian bees. Even a 

 quite weak colony of Italians will keep the 

 moth at bay. For years I've paid no attention 

 to moths, and my bees are to a large extent 

 hybrids. Years ago, when I had bees that 

 could be guaranteed pure black, the moths 

 were quite troublesome. 



Best Appearance of Queenless 

 Colony. 



1. What is the best appearance or indication 

 of a queenless colony? I have one that cast 

 a large swarm the first week in June. Thev 

 continued to work 3 weeks, and have the brood- 

 chamber full of honey and brood. They have 

 stored no honey in the super. For the past 

 3 weeks they have stopped all working. 



2. If queenless, will they not rear a new 



queen r 



Missouri. 



fallible outside 

 lony has been 

 n\\ see that it 

 hen others are 



Answers. — i. There is no 

 indication, although after a 

 queenless for some time you 

 carries in little or no pollen 

 carrying in much. 



2. If they have_ been queenless 10 days or 

 more, and have failed to rear a queen, or have 

 reared one which has been lost on its wed- 

 ding-trip, there is no hope of their rearing an- 

 other unless you give them eggs or young 

 brood from which they may rear one. 



Questions by a Beginner. 



1. Would it pay to keep bees in the east- 

 ern part of Virginia ? 



2. How may I know whether I have pure 

 Italian bees? 



3. After a queen's wings are clipped, how 

 long will it be before she has wings again? 



4. What time of the year is best to buy 

 queens? 



5. Are Italians larger than black bees? 



6. Does it make any difference if Italians 

 are reared in black combs? Virginia. 



Answers. — i. Rightly managed, they ought 

 to be profitable. 



2. The rule is that the worker-bees should 

 all show 3 yellow bands, although the first 

 band, the one toward the head, is very narrow. 

 That is as the pure Italians come from Italy. 

 Bees are bred in this country, however, that 

 have more yellow. Some think them an im- 

 provement, others not. 



3. A clipped wing never erows out again. 



4. Any time from June till Fall. 



5. You can distinguish no difference. 



6. No. 



Cellar for Wintering Bees. 



I have a cellar under the west wing of my 

 house, 16.X26 by 7 feet high. There are 2 

 windows in the west end. It is built of stone, 

 with concrete floor; lathed and plastered over 

 head. There are two 2-inch ventilators in 

 the north wall. I partitioned 8x16 feet off 

 the north side of this cellar for bees. In the 

 fall of igo6, I placed 50 colonics in it. In 



