American 'Ree Journal 



rnay make it advisable to take some other 

 time. For instance, if you want to clianKC 

 your stock as rapidly as possible, instead of 

 waiting till next harvest, you will get a new 

 queen this fall or next spring, so that you 

 can begin breeding from her as soon as next 

 season begins. 



3. No need to kill the drones in any case. 

 The old queen must surely be out of the way 

 before a new one can be liberated in the hive. 

 Not absolutely necessary to cut out queen- 

 cells, but it may be safer. 



4. Not more than 2 or 3 days. Oftener 

 the queen is removed at the same time the 

 new <iueen is put in. but the bees are not al- 

 lowed to get at the candy for 2 or 3 days, and 

 the old queen is removed at the same time 

 the bees are allowed to get at the candy. In 

 most of my introducing the past season, I re- 

 moved the old queen upon first putting in the 

 new queen, the latter being a fast prisoner 

 in the cage, and 3 days later I let the bees 

 at the candy. 



5. Not certain just what you mean. All 

 queens are reared for breeding purposes; but 

 perhaps you mean how are you to rear a 

 queen that shall be extra good to breed from. 

 Perhaps there is nothing special to do, except 

 tp keep close tab of what your bees do, and 

 to breed from the queen of the colony that 

 has given best results. 



6. All must be cut out — rather destroyed — 

 unless you want the colony to swarm. But 

 destroying cells is by no means reliable in 

 preventing swarming. A colony may swarm 

 m spite of your destroying cells every day. 



7. There's no law against your doing so 

 whenever you feel like it, but I suspect you 

 mean to prevent swarming. As already said, the 

 bees may swarm in spite of all you can do 

 in that \vay, but it is hardly necessary for you 

 to destroy cells oftener than once every 10 

 days. If that will not prevent swarming, it 

 will hardly prevent it to destroy them more 

 frequently. 



Keeping Queens Over Winter. 



Can vou advise me of a way to keep a queen- 

 bee alive during the winter? The colony has 

 been destroyed. Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — I know of no way without hav- 

 ing a lot of worker-bees with her. 



Winter Bees in a House-Room. 



I have 4 a:>Ionics of bees that I wish to 

 winter safely. Would it do to put them in an 

 up-stairs room that has no stove-pipe running 

 through? The room is over a room that will 

 be warmed. I could darken the room. 



lOWA. 



Answer. — Might be a good place, providing 

 it is kept dark, with an even temperature of 

 about 45 degrees. The chances are against 

 that, and the probability is that bees would 

 winter poorly there. 



Why Not Advertise for Honey? 



I have about 100 colonit^s of bees, and my 

 honey didn't supply the demand for sales. I 

 would like to know of some good, reliable .firm 

 to buy 200 or 300 pounds of honey from, and 

 also would like to know how they put the 

 honey on the market — by comb honey or ex- 

 tracted. I suppose I could sell about 200 or 

 300 pounds, and it would be a great favor to 

 let me know of some firm who would ship me 

 the honey at a reasonable price. 



Subscriber. 



Answer. — The advertising columns of the 

 American Bee Journal ought to help you out. 

 If you do not see what you want advertised, 

 a small advertisement from vou would no 

 doubt bring yon offers. 



Cellar-Wintering of Bees. 



ex])ect to winter my bees in a 

 r December 

 in Central 

 Iowa? 



2. I have an old colony of bees 2 years 

 old that swarmed 3 times this year. It is in 

 a box-hive with holes at the top, but would 

 not store any surplus honey. It was seem- 

 ingly str:i:ig in bees toward the ena of the 

 season. They worked very slowly. I thought 

 they were queenlcss, but when cold nights 

 came and chilled the brood, they would carry 

 out a large amount of it. The prime swarm 

 they cast stored 00 pounds of comb honey, 

 the second swarm about 25 pounds. The 

 prime swarm I put in an 8- frame hive and 

 the second swarm in a box-hive, so you see 

 they are very industrious. Can you tell me 

 if the old colony is quecniess, or have lost 



their ambition? The hive seems lu be full 

 of honey. 



3. I have an 8-frame hive that it is al- 

 most impossible to lay a cover over the top 

 of the brood-frames, so I laid a board over 

 the top of the hive and sealed it air-tight, 

 but it leaves a ^-inch air-space over the top 

 of the frames. Will tins matter if I winter 

 them in tlic cellar? 



The bees in this locality did well this year. 

 Iowa. 



Answers. — i. That depends somewhat upon 

 the weather. Perhaps it will average some- 

 where near the first of December. If you 

 can tell when they will take their last flight, 

 the day after that will be the right time to 

 take them in. 



2. Naturally the colony would not be very 

 strong after sending out 3 swarms, and yoi- 

 hardly ought to expect anything more from it 

 than to build up for winter. You said the 

 bees carried out brood. Like as not that 

 was drone-brood which was carried out after 

 the young queen was fertilized. Of course, 

 it is impossible for me to be positive about 

 it. but the chances are that the colony is 

 all right. 



3. It will do no harm. 



Using Again Parts of Hive Having 

 Foul Brood. 



If bees with foul or black brood partly fill 

 comb and extracting supers, can the sections 

 and extracting combs after being extracted, 

 be used again next year, or can they be dis- 

 infected so that they are safe, or should they 

 be destroyed — the fences, combs and sections? 

 Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — The safe thing to do with combs 

 from foul-broody colonies, whether the combs 

 are in sections or in frames, is to melt them 

 into wax. Some say they have succeeded in 

 disinfecting them with formaldehyde, but oth- 

 ers sav it is not a success, and it is best to 

 be on 'the safe side. Fences would probably 

 be safe to use again, providing they are not 

 daubed with honey. 



Why Didn't the Bees Do Better. 



Last spring I got a very small colony of 

 bees. They sent out a very large swarm the 

 latter part of July. I went down to Toledo 

 to the G. A. K. Encampment, and stayed 3 

 week*;. When I came back I found the bees 

 all dead, and no honey. A few days after the 

 first swarm they sent out another. Other bees 

 are doing well, excetjf they fight like little 

 demons. What is the matter? 



South Dakota. 



Answer. — After sending out the 

 the young queen was lost perhaps on her wed- 

 ding trip. That left, the colony hopelessly 

 queenless. and the colony being previously 

 weakened from swarming became a prey to 

 robbers, perhaps what bees were left going 

 with the robbers. 



Covering for Bees in Cellar. 



tlu 



As I am going to winter some bees 

 cellar the coming winter for the first time, 



1 would like to know what to put over 

 the top of the hives, or do you leave the 

 covers on ? Would 2 or 3 thicknesses of 

 burlap be all right? Kansas. 



,\nswer. — Mv hives are now on the stands 

 just as they will be in the cellar. That is, 

 they will be lifted from the stand with the 

 bottom-board and cover, carried into the cel- 

 lar, and piled up 4 or S high. The burlap 

 would be all right, too; probably better than 

 close-fitting covers unless entrances are very 

 large. My entrances are 2 inches deep, the 

 full width of the hive, and there is a space 



2 inches deep under bottom-bars. 



Management to Prevent Swarming — 

 Italians as Fighters and Wax- 

 Makers. 



I began bee-keeping when I was 1 1 years 

 old. and am still at it. My first colony was 

 what I believe are called the German gray 

 bscs. They were in a box-hive made to use 

 caps. I now have 4 colonics of bees in this 

 kmd of hives. 



I. I am thinking about making supers fitted 

 with extracting frames about 12 by 5'/^, to put 

 under these hives in the spring, and leave 

 them there till they are full of brood, and 

 then take them out from under the hives 

 and put them on top over the excluder and 

 leave them there for the brood to hatch, and 

 fill the combs with honey. My object is tj 



prevt-nt swarming. Is it a wood plan? 1 

 don't want to transfer them. 



2. Last spring I bought a 3-framc nucleus 

 of leather-colored and Italian bees, and put 

 them in an 8-frame dovetailed hive. They 

 filled this and 2 supers with fine honey; 

 but oh, such fighters! They are not inclined 

 to fight unless bothered, and then they are 

 about as bad as hornets. Is this a common 

 thing with Italians? 



;j. I notice that the the Italians use about 

 twice the amount of \vax in comb-building 

 that the gray bets use. Is this a common 

 thipg? 



Please excuse me for bothermg you with 

 these questions, I finally made up my mind 

 to write to you. and when a boy of 15 makes 

 up bis mind he is hard to stop. 



^Iissouri. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, except the idea of con- 

 tinuing odd-sized frames. You don't siy 

 when you intend to make the change, which 

 is an important point if you want to put 

 ui) the frames of brood to help prevent swarm- 

 ing. To get the best results it should be 

 about 10 days before swarms are likely to 

 issue, although local conditions may make 

 some difference. If you are in a white- 

 clover region, you will do well to put up 

 the brood about the time the bees begin to 

 store in the supers. 



J. Italians have the reputation of bemg 

 rather gentle. You may have been unfor- 

 tunate in getting a particularly vicious strain, 

 or there may be some black blood in them — 

 what vou likely call gray blood— for hybrid 

 bees, that is a cross of black and Italian, are 

 apt to be vicious. In any case, possibly you 

 are not as gentle in handing them as you 

 might be. 



3. No. 



Indications of Queenlessness — Rearing 

 Queens. 



1. Is there any wa>; to tell if a colony is 

 queenless without looking for the queen? 



2. How is queen-rearing done? 



Minnesota. 



Answers. — i. Not at this time of year. Yoiv 

 can tell any time from the time queens begin 

 to lay in the spring until they stop in the 

 fall. If no eggs nor brood are present, there 

 is no laying queen. There may be, however^ 

 a young queen which has not yet begun lay- 

 ing. Give the colony a frame of young 

 brood, and if there is no young queen the 

 bees will start queen-cells on the frame you 

 have given. 



2. To answer that question in full would 

 take a book. Indeed there is an excellent 

 book on queen-rearing by no less an author- 

 ity than G. M. Doolittle. Possibly what you 

 are trying to get at may be answered by say- 

 ing that a queen can be reared only by worker- 

 bees, and that if a colony be made queenless 

 th^ workers will rear a queen from a young 

 worker-larva by feeding it with special food. 

 [See page 324 for price of Dooliltle's book.— 

 Editor.] 



A Method of Swarm Control. 



I should like to try the following melliod 

 of swarm-control, using the Dudley tube, as 

 explained in the Bee-Keepers' Review for .Au- 

 gust, 1907- page 234- As soon in the spring 

 as the queen begins to fill the hive with brood, 

 remove some of the frames of brood with ad- 

 hering bees, placing them in an empty hive- 

 body, which is to be put. with cover and 

 bottom-board in place, under the main hive. 

 The onlv exit from the under hive is by 

 wav of 'a tin tube which extends froni the 

 closed entrance to the entrance of the hive 

 above, so that as the older bees leave the 

 lower hive they will emerge at the entrance 

 of the main hive and return to it thereafter. 



As the brood hatches from the lower hive, 

 it is replaced with frames of brood from the 

 upper hive, ana the emitty combs returned 

 to the queen. This gives the queen unlimited 

 room, and at the same time produces a very 

 strong colony. When the honey-flow _ begins, 

 the lower hive is placed above the main hive, 

 and used as an extracting super, or it can 

 be removed entirely and a super of sections 

 added for comb honey. 



1. If the queen is thus given plenty of 

 room, will swarming be prevented, even though 

 the hive be crowded with bees? 



2. Should only capped brood be nut in the 

 ower hive, or can the bees attend to brood 

 of any age if thin syrup be fed them in an 

 Alexander feeder? 



3. For colonics run for extracted honey^ 

 would there be any disadvantage in the above 

 system, over simply placing the extra hive- 

 body of drawn combs over the main hive 



