(American l^gc Journal i 



October. rgoN 



rE- 





Docfor Miller^ 



1^ 



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



DK. C. C. MILLER, Mareneo, 111. 



Dr. Miller does «"' answer Questions by mail. 



Placing Stores for Wintering. 



1 have a colony of bees that lias been 

 working in 2 large brood-chambers all. the 

 season. At this date (Sept. 17), the brood 

 is all in the lower story, and the combs of 

 the upper story are practically full of un- 

 sealed honey. Tlvere is not, nor has there 

 been, any bee-zinc between stories. I wish 

 to leave the honey in both stories for winter 

 ■ feed. Would you place the upper story under 

 the brood, or leave it where it is? low.^. 



Answer. — Leave it where it is — probably. 

 That's on the supposition that the colony is 

 very strong, and before so very long will 

 work its way into the upper story. With a 

 w;ak colony, and lower combs well filled, it 

 may be better to change. 



Feeding Sugar Syrup for Winter — 

 Paper Hive Protection in Winter. 



1. Wc Lxpcct a late fall ll.iw of homy from 

 hcailseasc. I wish to take nearly all the honey 

 and pollen from 200 colonics and feed sugar 

 syrup. How late would you advise me to 

 feed? Or I might feed 160 or 180 pounds of 

 syrup at once and take all the honey from 

 the other 100 colonies about Nov. i, just be- 

 fore lime to put them into the cellar, so they 

 would have a flight or two. My idea is to 

 feed by the 15th or 20th. 



2. I gave my bees spring protection with 

 tar paper and red rosin paper, and the 46 

 colonies covered with tar paper gave me just 

 about twice the surplus honey that those 46 

 covered with red rosin paper gave me — a costly 

 experiment. The bees were all in one apiary. 



Iowa. 



Answers. — i. There is no reason for anv 

 delay after the heartsease closes,' so you will 

 do well to feed immediately after that. Your 

 idea of feeding the middle of October will 

 work all right, but a« heartsease will probably 

 close in September vou might as well be a 

 little earlier. 



2. If such a marked difference could be at- 

 tributed to nothing else than the different 

 kinds of protection it is quite important to 



Feeding Bees for Winter. 



We have about loo colonies of bees, and 

 have secured no surplus, not having had anv 

 rain since early m May, and of course tlii- 

 bees could store no honey. Now how shall 



1 proceed to carry bees through the wiivter 

 in the best shaiic with least expense? When 

 shall I begin feeding, as it is so dry now 

 that they are into everything they can get at? 

 And what shall I feed? My Ikcs are in 

 8-framc I^ngstroth hives. Ohio. 



.Answer. — Feed best granulated sugar. If 

 there is no prospect of further pasturage, you 

 may feed at once, or any time up to say 

 about 2 weeks before bees are likely to cease 

 flight. If you feed at once, you can use 

 sugar and water, half and half^ or a little 

 stronger, say 3 parts sugar to 2 parts water. 

 If you feed late, have lllc syrup still stronger, 



2 parts sugar to i of water, or even as strong 

 as ^ parts sugar to 2 of water, cither bv 

 weight or measure. No need to cook the feed, 

 only to dissolve the sugar in the water, oiiJv 

 if the syrup is strong it hastens the work of 

 dissolving if hot water be used. Whatever 

 you do, don't burn the feed, for burnt syrup 

 IS death to bees in winter. If you feed late 

 llierc is an advantage in giving the feed 

 hoi; the bees take it move rcauily. The Miller 



probably the best thing yo 



Fumigating Comb Honey — Beeswax 

 Instead of Honey. 



1. How much bisulphide of carbon should 

 I use to fumigate comb honey ? 



2. How long should the honey be exposed 

 to the fumes of the bisulphide of carbon ? 



i. What is the best method of producing 

 beeswax? I want beeswax instead of honey. 

 New York. 



Answers. — i. I have never had any personal 

 experience with bisulphide of carbon, for since 

 it has come into use I have never had occasion 

 to fumigate. With Italians or a good strain 

 of hybrids you don't have to. It isn't the 

 easiest thing to learn from others the right 

 quantity to use. Root's "A B C" says: '"file 

 combs to be treated are placed in a toolbox 

 or small room. A pint or a quart of the 

 liquid, depending on the size of the. enclosuTe, 

 is then placed in an op;ji vessel above the 

 combs.'' Instruction from others has been 

 ething like this: "Pile up your combs to 



:-bodi< 

 3 or 4 table- 

 'rr closely." 

 difference if 



lied, those 



feeder 

 but 



if you liavcii't thai or some' other gooil 

 T you can use the crnck-and-plate method. 



be treated 4 or 5 stories high, 

 I'ut on top a saucer containin 

 spoons of bisulphide, and ( 

 Probably it doesn't make nun 

 you use too much. 



2. Open up in about 24 hou 



3. So far as I have ever lea 

 make a business of producing wax rather 

 than honey have done it by feeding back 

 the honey, thinned, as fast as the bees built 

 combs and stored it. But that was in places 

 very far from market, where the honey would 

 not pay for transportation and wax would. 

 It is not likely you can make it pay in 



Shipping Comb Honey — Producing 

 both Comb and Extracted. 



1. What size shipping-cases arc Ixst to ship 

 honey to a distant market, the 24-section or 

 the 12-section case? If the 12-section size 

 is used, will it sell for a better price, so as 

 to repay for the extra cost in cases? 



2. Is it advisaible when shipping honey to 

 weigh each case separately, and mark the case 

 weight and honey weight on a label, or other- 

 wise, on each case? or is that not needed? 



\. When is the best time to ship comb 

 honey ? 



4. Do you think it a good plan to work 

 for both comb lamd extracted honey? That 

 is, to have the weaker colonies produce ex- 

 tracted honey, while the stronger ones are 

 liroducing comb honey ? 



5. This year, after having my comb-honey 

 supers stored in the honey-house for about 4 

 weeks, I examined them and found that wax- 

 moths had been working in nearly every super. 

 Could there have been eggs from wax-moths 

 stored in each super, or do thev travel from 

 one to the other? 



0. Which is the best way to destroy them' 

 Does fumigating with sulphur hurt the flavor 

 of honey? 



We had a good lioney crop here this year. 

 Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. So far as concerns safely in 

 shipping, there i.s probably little difference; 

 the little there is being in favor of the smaller 

 package. In some markets honey brings more 

 in the larger c^jies. But I suppose some 

 grocers might not have any preference, when- 

 Ihcy never sell by the case. 



2. If you sell by weight, it is well to have 

 at least the net weight on each case. The 

 tendency seems nowadays toward scllinir by 

 the case rather than by weiglit. Caua-dians 

 call il selliiiR by the dozen. Colorado State 

 niKs I iinirr ilini a -'4-section case .of No. i 



sei'.ii ,i!i n I 1 \ shall average 21 pounds net; 



h:iH riiiiit I. jj; and unseparatored, 23. 



.; (.iiiri ilK .itiout as soon as it is ready. 



in very_ cold weather combs aire in danger 

 of breaking. 



4- "That's a matter on which there is room 

 for difference of opinion. Depends upon cir- 

 cumstances. Best for some; not best for 

 others. Your market has something to do 

 with it. 



=:. There were eggs in each super. 



6. Bisulphide of carbon seems the favorite, 

 ^'ou would hardly affect the flavor by sul- 

 piiuring, but too much of it gives the cap- 

 ping a greenish color. 



Wintering on Heartsease Honey. 



.My bees have done well in this part of 

 Southern Kansas this season. There is no 

 trouble in wintering bees here, as they have 

 a flight nearly every week. I expect to 

 move to South-central Iowa this fall. Will 

 my bees winter successfully there on hearts- 

 ease honey, or would it be better to extract 

 the honey from the broodnest and feed sugar 

 syrup? In 1905. some of my bees died of 

 dysentery wintering on heartsease honey and 

 not being able to take a flight for about 6 

 weeks on account of the severe weather. 



Kansas. 



Answer. — It is possible that heartsease hon- 

 ey was not to blame for the trouble in 1905. 

 Surely thousands ot colonies have wintered 

 on it, and_ it has not had the name of being 

 bad for winter food. My bees wintered well 

 last winter, amd I think a good share of their 

 lionev was heartsease. 



Late Queenless Colony. 



I have 4 colonies of bees, and last spring 

 I found one of them very weak and without 

 a queen. I gave it a queen-cell from one of 

 the other colonies, and now they liave a fine 

 queen and lots of honey for winter. One of 

 my other colonies has no queen, and I find 

 no queen-cell to transfer to them. If I had 

 I think it would be too late anyway. What 

 is the best thing I can do? The colony that 

 is without a queen has lots of T^oney, ' I got 

 90 pounds from 3 colonies this season. The 

 most I ever had from 3 colonies was j.^o 

 pounds. Please let me know what I should 

 do with the colony without a queen this late 

 in the season. Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — It is just possible that even thus 

 late your colony might rear a queen if you 

 should give it a frame containing very voitug 

 brood, but a much better way would Iw to 

 buy a queen for it from some one .-f the 

 (lueen-breeders advertising this month, or last 

 Bee Tournal. 



Packing Bees for Wintering — Foul 

 Brood and Supers. 



1. How do you pack hives for the winter 

 on the summer stands? Do you use sealed 

 covers or enamel cloth over the top, or quilts 

 under the covers? 



2. If a colony having black or foul brood 

 should store honey in the supers, comb or ex- 

 tracted, would it be safe to use the supers 

 after the honey is extracted or disinfected 

 in a solution of carbolic acid and rinsed in 

 clean water the same as the hiv^s, or should 

 they be destroyed? Pennsylvania. 



.\nswers. — J. My colonics are wintered in tlu- 

 cellar. If I were to winter them outdoors. 

 1 might try sealed covers and also quilts 01 

 cushions, but in either case 1 should strive 

 to have abundant covering to make the top 

 warm. .\ plain sealed cover, with nothing 

 over it to keep it warm, would seem to be 

 just the thing for the moisture of the col- 

 ony to condense upon, and then drops of 

 water would fall down upon the cluster; but 

 if sufficient covering were over to keep the 

 cover warm, there ought to he no such con- 

 densation. 



2. So good an authority as Wm. McKvoy, 

 the Canadian expert, says there is no need to 

 disinfect hives that have lodged foul brood. 

 so of course supers could be safely used again. 



Colony D.esertetf Queen — Bees and 

 Queen by Express. 



hali: 



iple 



colony of black bees and they accepted her 

 all right, but the colony had been queenless 

 so long that the bees were all dead but 10 or 

 1 5 about 2 weeks after 1 introduced her. 

 'riicy had plenty of feed, and I (guarded them 

 very carefully against robbers, hach morning 

 I found a lot of dead bees in the bottom of 



