March, ipri. 



American l^ee Journal 



were after them. But lately I decided 

 that they have gotten away with about all 

 the drones in 70 colonies. What am I to 

 do about it? I procured a gun, and have 

 two birdiS and am looking for more. But 

 how about the drones? Perhaps they got 

 some of the queens, too. I am a novice 

 at the business, having just commenced 

 last spring with other work enough to 

 have taken all my time. I am working 

 th€ place on shares, including the bees. 

 New Mexico. 



Answer. — If the birds take only the 

 drones, you need not be much disturbed. 

 There will no doubt be plenty of drones 

 teft for all necessary purposes. It is 

 hardly likely that queens have been dis 

 turbed. I don't know much about what 

 these birds will do. but it has been re- 

 ported that some kinds will take drones 

 and none of the other bees. 



When to Put on Supers 

 I see on page 181 (1910) an article on 

 when to put supers on hives. Last year 

 I waited for the first sweet clover bloom 

 before putting on supers — June 13; and 

 got left, as my bees commenced swarm- 

 in.g May 17. and kept it up. Would it 

 do to put on supers earlier than that, as 

 we have fruit-trees and dandelions to 

 work on for a month before that time? 

 New York. 



Answer. — If you will look again at page 

 181, you will see that it is white clover, 

 and not sweet clover that is spoken of. 

 But that really makes little difference, for 

 you would have been "left" anyway if 

 bees began swarming May 17. Certainly 

 it nvighT do to put on supers for the fruit 

 and dandelion bloom if you have such a 

 yield at that time as to set the bees to 

 continued swarming. One thing, however, 

 must be considered. The honey from 

 fruit-bloom and dandelion would be likely 

 to be mixed with the later honey from 

 white clover, and to darken the latter. 

 Possibly it might be better to get the 

 extra honey from dandelion honey stored 

 in extracting-frames. or else in brood- 

 frames, to be fed back wlien needed. 



3. When a swarm is hived it will desert 

 the hive if the hive is not to its liking, 

 and when the hive is not to its liking 

 nearly always it is because the hive is too 

 hot. .-Kt least for the first few days, make 

 the hive as open as possible at the bot- 

 tom, leave the cover open a half inch or 

 so, and see that the hive is shaded from 

 the hot sun. It will also help to hold 

 the swarm in the hive if a frame of brood 

 is given. 



Keeping Virgin and Mated Queens^ 

 Queenlessness in March — Substi- 

 tutes for Early Pollen — Bee- 

 Feed for Fall 



1. How long can you keep a virgin 

 queen by feeding her in a queen-cage? 



2. How long can you safely keep a 

 mated queen in the same way? 



WBiat is the best thing to do if a strong 

 colony becomes queenless about the first " 

 of March? Is it safe to send to the 

 South for a queen at that time of the 

 year? 



4. Is anything gained in the spring by 

 letting bees have access to rye-chop or 

 oil-meal before thev can get natural pol- 

 len? 



5. Which is the better for fall feeding, 

 bee-candy or sugar syrup ? 



Pennsylvania, 



Answers. — i. and 2. I don't know. A 

 laying queen may be kept caged in a hive 

 or super for 6 weeks or more, but "I'm 

 afraid a virgin would not last so well. 



3. Doubtful if you would have good 

 success by sending South at that time 

 The best thing is to break up the colony, 

 uniting it with one or more queen-right 

 colonies. 



4. Generally not ; but there might be in 

 a place where there is no natural pollen 

 to be had after the weather is warm 

 enough for bees to fly. You can tell by 

 trying, for as soon as natural pollen is 

 plenty, bees will desert the substitute. 



5. Likely syrup; unless it be too late to 

 evaporate and seal the syrup, in which 

 case the candy would be better. 



Queen Stings? — Bees Sweating in 

 Cellar 



1. Can a queen sting? 



2. What makes bees sweat in the cellar 

 in winter? Mine are all wet. I put them 

 into the cellar just as they were in the 

 summer. 



.1. Some of my bees will swarm 3 or 4 times. 



1 put them in a hive, queen and all, and in 

 an hour they will swarm again, and so on for 



2 or ? times more What is the cause of that? 



Iowa. 



Answers.- — If you allow two queens to 

 come together, unless one of them is 

 pretty old, you will soon learn that they 

 can sting, for one of them will soon be a 

 dead queen. The strange part of it is that 

 the victor is never injured in these duels. 

 But a queen will never sting you. I have 

 handled thousands of queens and I never 

 knew one of them to make the least show 

 of stinging. Nor will a queen sting a 

 worker. Just once in my lifetime I knew 

 of one exception to this rule, when I 

 saw a queen sting a worker. 



2. The moisture from the breath of the 

 bees settles on the cold walls of the hive, 

 just as we say a pitcher sweats when a 

 pitcher of cold water stands in a hot and 

 moist time and the moisture of the air 

 settles on the outside of the pitcher. It 

 is a bad thing to have this moisture settle 

 on the hive-cover, for then the drops fall 

 on the cluster of bees. The matter may 

 be helped by enlarging the entrance, by 

 allowing a little crack at the top for the 

 moisture to escape, or by having some 

 kind of warm packing on top. 



Brushing and Shaking Bees — Balling 

 the Queen 



On page 261 "Forty Years Among the 

 Bees," you say, "Before brushing, how- 

 ever, most of the bees should be shaken 

 oiT." Now suppose the queen was on 

 the side of the comb at the top near your 

 left hand in that admirable method of 

 yours of striking the back of the hand 

 when holding the comb with the closed 

 fist, thus pounding the bees off the comb. 

 What percentage of queens would be in- 

 jured by such a fall? Doesn't Mr. Doo- 

 little claim that queens are seriously in- 

 jured when brood-rearing is going on at 

 full capacity, by such treatment? I am 

 under the impression that I have lost 

 queens by shaking thus. 



2. Wouldn't bees be too much demor- 

 alized by shaking, to ball and kill queen 

 at that time? 



3. Have you found some breeds or strains 

 more addicted to balling than others, or is it 

 fairly common to all ? Canada. 



Answers. — i. I never knew a queen 

 to be injured in that way. Still, that does 

 not say it is impossible. If she should 

 fall from the upper part of the comb and 

 strike upon the bare floor of the hive, 

 while the comb is held clear above the 

 top-bars, there would be some danger of 

 it. But that is not likely to happen. 

 When the comb is held as high as that, 

 the queen would fall no farther than to 

 fall on the top-bars, unless the frames 

 were spread apart, and if the frames are 

 spread apart the comb is lowered between 

 them before being pounded. Answering 

 definitely, I should say that less than one 

 percent would be thus injured. 



2. Yes. but they would be likely to get 

 over such demoralization pretty soon, and 

 then kill the queen. 



3. I never noticed any difference : and 

 yet it is likely tihat such diffpfence exists. 



I thank you heartily for your kind 

 words. 



Pasturage for Bees — Dead Bees Car- 

 ried Out in Winter — Bees Dying 

 on the Snow 



1. I have 50 colonies of bees and there 

 is 100 acres of alsike clover within one 

 mile, and about 200 acres of white clover, 

 which looks well now. Is that pasturage 

 enough for 50 colonies? I am in a locality 

 where there are very few bees. 



2. My bees had a flight 4 or 5 days this 

 month, and they carried out young bees. 

 Is that usual for this time of year? They 

 are on the summer stands, and went into 

 winter good and strong. 



3. I find dead bees carried out by the 

 bees. Is that common? 



4. How soon does the queen begin to 

 lay eggs? 



5. Bees had a flight when the ground 

 was covered with snow ; they flew out and 

 lit on the snow and perished. Is that 

 common? Kentucky. 



Answers. — i. I think they ought to do 

 well. 



2. It is not very common, but if the 

 number was not large it need cause no 

 alarm. 



3. It does not often occur, and if you 

 find a considerable number carried out 

 by any particular colony, it is to be feared 

 that colony is not queen-right. 



4. That depends. In the cellar she does 

 not do much before the bees are brought 

 out, but outdoors she begins earlier, some- 

 times even in January'. I don't know how- 

 early she does begin 'way down south. 



5. Unfortunately it is rather common. 

 Some shade the entrance at such times. 



Queenless Colony in Winter 



Yesterday (Feb. 13) the bees were fly- 

 ing nicely, and as I cleaned out some dead 

 bees from some of them I scratched out 

 a dead queen — a nice big one. It looked 

 to me as though it was an old one from 

 Hast summer. Now this is one of my 

 best colonies and Italian queen. How can. 

 I save the colony? It is too early to 

 send for a queen — she would freeze in 

 the mail. What would you advise me to- 

 do? Would you unite them with a weak 

 colony ? I have a lew weak ones in the 

 cellar. I have so far lost 2 colonies out 

 of 61, but lots of time yet for losses. 



Pen n sylvan i a. 



Answer. — There is no great hurry to 

 do an>thing. Likely the colony would 

 live through till warm weather if left just 

 as it is. But it might be a good plan 

 to unite with a weak colony either now 

 or immediately upon taking from the cel- 

 lar. It may be well, however, to men- 

 tion that there is a chance that the col- 

 ony is not queenless. A young queen may 

 have superseded the old one last fall, and 

 the two queens may have lived together 

 until winter, and now the old one is 

 thrown out dead. If you think there is 

 any likelihood of this, better wait till time 

 for bees to fly, and then see whether 

 brood-rearing is started. 



Applsring Bee-Stings for Rheumatism 



O. P. Redding, who lived in this town 

 two years ago the coming spring, was ■ 

 suffering with rheumatism so badly he 

 could not work. I treated him with bee- 

 stings, doubling the dose each week, be- 

 ginning with 2 stings the first week, and 

 so on until he had 16 stings the last week 

 he moved away to the eastern part of 

 Illinois. Four weeks ago his brother died 

 here, and Mr. Redding came to the fun- 



