January, 1911. 



American Vae Journal 



moisture settles upon them, and may run 

 down and out of the entrance, and this is 

 sometimes called sweating. The worst of it 

 is when the moisture collects overhead and 

 drops down upon the cluster. Covering up 

 warm helps to prevent this. 



Cellar-Wintering of Bees 



I I have 35 colonies of bees in the bee- 

 cellar, which is under the barn. The cellar 

 is 12 by 16 feet, and 7 feet high. The tem- 

 perature of the cellar is 37 degrees, t ahr., all 

 the time, and the bees seem to be dying oft 

 verv fast. The cellar is very dry and well 

 ventilated. The hives are all lo-frame hives. 

 10 of them being Woodman chaff-hives, and 

 25 of them are hives I made myself, and are 

 not single-walled hives. I gave all colonies 

 full width by 5-6 of an inch entrance, and 

 covers on all the single-walled hives The 

 hives are slid to the front about 1-16 of an 

 inch or so to let out the moisture from the 

 bees. Nearly all the hives are dry at the 

 entrance, only a few seeming to be damp at 

 the entrance, but not much. All the hives 

 slope to the front quite a little— 2 inches. 

 All the colonies have plenty of honey. Uo 

 you think it best to give more ventilation at 

 the top by sliding the covers more to the 

 front? Or do you think it would be a good 

 plan to put on the supers filled with chart, 

 and then the covers on the super [• 



2. I did not put my bees in the cellar until 

 Dec. 1st. and they did not have a flight for a 

 month, although the bees seem to be quiet. 

 Does it do any harm to disturb the bees in 

 the winter in changing them, or entering the 

 cellar ? Would you think best to give them 

 a smaller entrance, such as they had in the 

 fall ? Subscriber. 



Answer.— If your thermometer is reliable, 

 your cellar is too cold by about 7 degrees for 

 good wintering. Then that month outdoors 

 without any flight before they were taken in 

 was bad. In so cold a place you are not 

 likelv to improve matters by sliding the 

 covers more to the front. The packed su- 

 pers might be better. Possibly less ventila- 

 tion will be better, for in so cold a cellar it 

 is a good deal the same as being outdoors. 

 Going into the cellar is not likely to disturb 

 the bees, but doing anything to jar the hives 

 would. 



Queens and Workers Destroy Queen 

 Cells 



I. When a colony is queenless, and 



there «re queen-cdls, then one queen 



hatches, do the bees, or the first queen 



hatched, destroy the other queen-cells? 



Subscriber. 



Answer. — Both engage in the gruesome 

 business. 



Miller and Heddon Feeders 



I. What is the difference between 'he 

 Miller feeder and the old Heddon feed- 

 er? Some seem to think that they are 

 one and the same thing? 



Subscriber. 



Answer. — The Heddon feeder uses 

 much the same principle as the Simplicity 

 feeder, a series of thin pieces allowing 

 the bees access to all parts of the feed. 

 In the Miller feeder no bee can get into 

 the main part or parts of the feeder, and 

 the feeder may be opened, and sugar, 

 water, or syrup poured in without any 

 bees being in the way. 



Rearing Queens for Requeening 



I have been in the bee-business for 7 

 years, and have had pretty good success, 

 but I have never tried to rear any 

 queens. I have studied up the businesi 

 quite a good deal and think I can suc- 

 ceed. I have been studying the Alley 

 and Doolittle methods, and think I can 

 take the Doolittle method and improve on 

 Alley's, but I thought I would write to 

 you for your opinion first. 



Why couldn't I take a piece of comb 

 containing eggs, or larvae, destroy every 

 other cell, cut down the cells to about ^ 

 inch, take my manufactured queen-cells 

 open at both ends, slip down over these 

 cells containing eggs or lar\-se, first dip- 



ping one end of the queen-cell in meltea 

 wax to make it adhere to the septum, 

 or base, and then give it to a queenless 

 colony? I think it would be better and 

 more easily done than transferring the 

 epes or larvse. If you think this a pretty 

 good plan, and that it will work all right, 

 please tell me so. I expect to Ibuy two 

 or three Italian queens next May or June, 

 and requeen my apiary from them in this 

 manner, if you think it will work all 

 right. Illinsis. 



Answer. — If you empty every alternate 

 cell you will probably find that you wall 

 not have room enough for any manu- 

 faotured cells, although you might have 

 room enough by destroying 2 cells and 

 retaining every third cell. But it is hard 

 to see what you will gain over the regular 

 Alley plan unless you think it will make 

 the cells stand rougher handling. 



Winter Hive-Entrance 



I, I have 8-frame hives and use an 

 entrance H by 6 inches. Is that enough 

 for a winter entrance? Explain this 

 question throughly, as it is one that usu- 

 ally bothers me. West 'Virginia. 



Answer. — Yes, for outdoor wintering 

 6x-J^ is considered an entrance large 

 enough for a strong colony. In the cel- 

 lar you can hardly have too large_ an en- 

 trance. My bees have an entrance the 

 full width of the hive and 2 inches deep. 



Rearing and Mating Queens 



1. What is the best plan to rear queens 

 by the wholesale? 



2. Do you mate your queens in baby 

 nuclei ? Georgia. 



Answers. — i. Hard to tell; but likely 

 nothing is better than the plan Doolittle 

 gives in his book on queen-rearing. 



2. I did for a time, but now prefer to 

 have them mated in a 2-frame nucleus 

 or something larger. But if I were rear- 

 ing queens to sell it is possible I might 

 do differently 



Oilcloth Over Frames in Cellar 



My bees are in the cellar, and the oil- 

 cloth has not been removed from the 

 frames. Would I better remove it now? 

 I do not know that the bees can get 

 around the ends of the frames, which are 

 I 'A inches from the bottom-board, and 

 the hive is raised one inch. 



New York. 



Answer. — There is danger that mois- 

 ture will condense upon the oilcloth and 

 fall in drops upon the cluster of bees. 

 The colder the cellar the more the dan- 

 ger. If you can remove the oilcloth with- 

 out disturbing the bees much, it would 

 be well. 



Natural Swarming or Dividing? 



1, Which is the better, natural swarm- 

 ing or dividing? 



2. Which is the easiest way to make 

 swarms by dividing, or a couple of ways? 



t. At what time of the year do you 

 think is the best to do it ? 



New York. 



answers. — Wlhether the swarm made 

 by dividing is as good as a natural swarm 

 depends upon how the natural swarm is 

 made. It may be made weaker than a 

 natural swarm, and it may be made 

 stronger. There are, however, advantages 

 in dividing such that experienced bee- 

 keepers generally prefer it to natural 

 swarming. 



2. Perhaps the easiest way is to take 

 from a strong colony half the brood and 

 bees, put them in an empty hive, and 

 fill up each hive with frames of comb 



foundation. But the easiest way is far 

 from the best way. Here's a better way : 



Find the queen ; put her with 2 or 3 

 frames of brood and adhering bees into 

 an empty hive on a new stand, filling both 

 hives with frames of foundation OT 

 dirawn-out combs. About 8 days later 

 let the 2 hives swap places, and the beei 

 will do the rest. In this way you are 

 likely to ha^e an excellent young queen, 

 whereas by the easier way, first men- 

 tioned, you might have a poor one. 



3. Take the swacm about the time 

 bees begin to swarm naturally. If you 

 can not tell easily when that is, wait till 

 white cover is in bloom in your locality, 

 and wait longer still if the colony to be 

 operated on is not already strong. 



Mustard and Smartweed 



Do you consider mustard a good honey 

 >Tielder? If so, how does it compare 

 with smartweed in the yield of honey 

 and quality? Illinois. 



Answer. — Mustard is a good honey- 

 plant. Just how it compares in yield and 

 quality with smartweed (by which you 

 probably mean heartsease) could be bet- 

 ter toild by some one having an equal 

 acreage of considerable extent of each. 

 In Europe rape, which belongs to the 

 same family as mustard, is a honey-plant 

 of ver>' great importance. It is possible 

 that mustard would be equally important 

 if it were cultivated to the same extent. 

 ^vs to quality, Root's "A B C and X Y Z 

 of Bee Culture" says : "The honey from 

 these plants is said to be very light, equal 

 to any in flavor, and to command the 

 highest price in the market." 



When Queen Begins Laying — Differ- 

 ence in Color of Bees 



1. How soon will a queen begin to lay 

 in the State of Illinois? 



2. Please illustrate how to tell the dif- 

 ference in Italian bees in regard to band*, 

 golden and red clover Italians, etc? 



Illinois. 



Answer. — i. If wintered in the cellar 

 she ma}' not begin to lay until taken out 

 in the spring, and she may begin to lay 

 some time in March while still in the 

 cellar. She will begin laying earlier if 

 wintered outdoors ; possibly in February, 

 or even in January, especially in the 

 southern part of the State. 



2. As introduced from Italy , Italian 

 workers have 3 yellow bands, the first 

 band of the abdomen not being so large 

 and distinct as the two following. Ameri- 

 can breeders have increased these bands 

 to 5, when they are called "goldens." Red 

 clover bees are those which work more 

 than others on red clover, whether they 

 have 3 bands or more, or no bands at all. 



Getting Pollen in the Hive — Foul 

 Brood Treatment 



1. How can we get pollen in the hive? 

 The colonies were put on full combs of 

 honey and no pollen. Bees start breed- 

 ing here in February. The object is to 

 get pollen in the hive without the bees 

 leaving the hive, if such a thing is pos- 

 sible. 



2. You have written several plans for 

 curing foul brood. Now if half of your 

 colonies were diseased next spring, what 

 treatment would you choose? 



Indiana. 

 Answers. — When bees begin breeding 

 in February there is no need, under nor- 

 mal conditions, for you to do anything 

 about furnishing pollen to them, for they 

 always lay up a store of pollen as well as 

 honey, and if either runs out it will be 

 the honey and not the pollen. Generally 

 pollen is to be had in greater plenty than 



