August, 1911. 



American Bee Joarnalj 



ton No. I soon feel the lack of brood? 

 Tell me what to do, as two-thirds of my 

 bees are in this condition. They have 

 sealed honey along and above the top- 

 bars, but refuse to work in the supers. 

 The weather is warm, so I do not think 

 lack of warmth hinders them. 



New Jersey. 



Answers. — i. The condition of affairs 

 is very unusual, and on the face of it 

 would appear impossible on any supposi- 

 tion except that the bees are of such a 

 poor strain that they will do nothing when 

 there is plenty of chance for them to be 

 gathering. In that case the only remedy 

 is to introduce a queen or queens of bet- 

 ter stock. The conditon of affairs you 

 describe, however, is about what one 

 would expect to find in the fall in a good 

 colony, and it is just possible that you 

 are mistaken when you say, "the colony 

 lies idle when there is plenty to be had," 

 but that there has been a gradual shut- 

 ting off of the harvest for some time, the 

 bees ceasing to rear brood and filling up 

 the brood-chamber, the same as a colony 

 does in the fall. If tnis supposition be 

 correct, there is nothing to be done un- 

 less you extract some of the honey in the 

 brood-chamber ; but in that case you 

 would have to feed afterward if there 

 should come no fall flow. If a good fall 

 flow should come, it might be that brood- 

 learing would start up ; and in order to 

 empty out the cells for the queen the 

 bees would be obliged to carry the honey 

 above. 



2. Generally honey is ripe when it is 

 sealed, and it may be that the objection- 

 able taste comes from some peculiar plant. 

 If that be the case, the bad taste may 

 or may not disappear. Indeed, basswood 

 itself has the reputation of a raw taste 

 until it has attained a certain age, and 

 that taste may disappear even if the 

 honey be off the hive. I know of no way 

 you can tell when it is ripe except by the 

 taste and the consistency. 



3. As brood-rearing has ceased, the 

 strength of the colony will gradually di- 

 minish, but very slowly, as the bees on 

 account of lying idle w-ill not die off very 

 fast. I know of nothing further to be 

 done except as I have suggested in the 

 first answer. It may be some comfort 

 to you to know that my bees are likewise 

 doing nothing in the supers, and are not 

 as well off as yours, for Ihey have not 

 the brood-chamber crammed with honey. 

 A poor season is one of the things that 

 the most experienced is unable to fight 

 against. 



Getting Increase — Destroying Queen- 

 Cells — Average Crop per Col- 

 ony — Other Questions 



1. When a first swarm issues how long 

 is it before the young queen emerges iii 

 the hive? 



2. When you put on supers in the 

 spring, do you look for and cut out queen- 

 cells? 



3. I have 9 colonies, and one is far 

 ahead of the rest as honey-gatherers. 

 How can I requeen the other 8 from this 

 one, and not break it up or reduce it in 

 bees? 



4. If you had the above colony how 

 would you go about getting all the in- 

 crease possible out of it? 



5. In setting the new swarm in place 

 of the old one. and moving the old one 

 to a new location, it seems Cwith me) to 

 demoralize the old one, and it never 

 amounts to much afterward. Is there no 

 better way than this to prevent a sec- 

 ond swarm? How do you manage them? 



6. How often do you go over a colony 

 to destroy queen-cells to prevent swarm- 

 ing? 



7. Is once every 7 days enough ? 



8. What is about your general average 

 per colony in an average season ? 



9. Do you destroy drones during or be- 

 fore a honey-flow, or do you ever pay any 

 attention to them ? 



10. Do you take out sections as fast 

 as finished, or do you leave all on until 

 the flow is over? 



11. Do you give each hive a full en- 

 trance when you put on supers? 



12. How is the lettering or spelling in 

 raised letters on comb honey done? Please 

 explain. 



13. While trapping drones this spring 

 I caught a queen in the trap. Do queens 

 ever leave the hive except with a swarm? 



14. If you had two strong colonies and 

 wished to increase them to as many colo- 

 nies as possible, how would you go about 

 it? Missouri. 



Answers. — i. The first afterswarm is- 

 sues about 8 days after the prime swarm 

 (perhaps sooner, perhaps later), and the 

 young queen probably emerges the day 

 before that, say about a week after the 

 prime swarm. 



2. Generally the time for putting on 

 supers and for beginning to look for 

 queen-cells will not be far apart ; but it 

 can hardly be said to be "in the spring;" 

 being generally somewhere in the first 

 part of June. 



3. Here's one way : Take from the col- 

 ony 2 frames of brood and bees with the 

 queen, placing them on another stand as 

 a nucleus. Cells will be started in the 

 queenless colony, and in 14 days you can 

 cut them and return the bees, brood, and 

 queen from the nucleus. 



Here's another way : Take from the 

 hive all but 2 or 4 of the frames of brood 

 with enough adhering bees to care for the 

 brood you take away. Put in the hive 3 

 or 4 frames with one or two small start- 

 ers of foundation in each, the starters 

 being 2 or 3 inches wide and twice as 

 deep. Be sure to leave the queen in the 

 old hive with these empty frames. The 

 brood you take away you will put in an- 

 other hive, which you will set on top of 

 the old hive, of course with no communi- 

 cation between them. In about one week, 

 more or less, you will find built in one 

 or more of the empty frame comb large 

 enough to fill the frame half full or more, 

 containing eggs and young brood. Take 

 away all these frames that were given 

 and return to its place the brood you took 

 away with adhering bees. Now go to any 

 other strong colony, take away its queen 

 with 2 frames of brood and bees, put 

 them in a hive and set it on another 

 stand. Give to this now queenless col- 

 ony one of the combs partly filled out. 

 and in 10 days take it away and return 

 the combs with the queen. The cells can 

 now be used to rear queens. You may 

 think the queenless bees will start cells 

 on their old combs. They may, but they 

 will be very few, and you need not use 

 them. Most of the cells will be started 

 on the new and tender comb. 



4. With natural swarming here is one 

 way: Strengthen the colony, if need be, 

 by giving sealed brood or young bees 

 from other colonies, so as to have it 

 swarm first. Set the swarm in place of 

 the mother colony, and put the mother 

 colony on the stand of another strong col- 

 ony, say No. 2, putting No. 2 on a new 

 stand. The field-bees of No. 2 will 

 strengthen the mother colony, and when 

 it sends out a second swarm put the 

 swarm in place of the mother colony, 

 and set the mother colony in the place 

 of another strong colony, say No. 3, put- 

 ting No. 3 on a new stand. Continue this 

 way as often as a swarm is sent out, and 

 you may have quite a number of new 

 colonies with queens from your best col- 



onj', for when a colony prepares to swarnr 

 it is likely to have 8, 10 or more queen- 

 cells. 



5. You can't have your cake and eat it,, 

 too. Of course it weakens the old colony 

 to throw most of the bees into the swarm ; 

 but that's just what is wanted, for the 

 swarm being thus strengthened will store 

 more than both would otherwise do. 

 Only if in a locality where the late flow is 

 more important than the early flow, then 

 I would let the old colony remain on the 

 old stand and depend upon its building 

 up for the late flow. I can hardly say 

 I manage natural swarms at all, for I 

 try to prevent them, but sometimes they 

 manage me. 



6. About once in 10 days. 



7. Yes, more than often enough. But 

 don't for a minute think you can make- 

 sure there will be no swarms if you kill 

 the cells every 7 days. 



8. I don't know. My yield per colony 

 runs all the way from nothing to 150' 

 pounds or more. That would seem to- 

 make the average 75 pounds, but I don't 

 believe I do so well as thaf. 



9. I don't destroy drones, only by de- 

 stroying the brood or replacing drone- 

 comb with worker-comb. 



10. Neither. I take off each super as 

 soon as it is finished, or finished all but a 

 little at the outside or corners. 



11. Maybe; maybe not till later. It de- 

 pends upon weather and strength of col- 

 ony. 



12. I know little about it practically. I 

 think it depends upon having an oppos- 

 ing surface with a part cut out of the 

 form of the letters. 



13- She leaves the hive also on her 

 wedding-trip. 



14. Like enough by the nucleus plan. 



Old Queen-Bees 



1. Did you ever have a queen live t» 

 be 7 years old? 



2. Did you ever know of a queen liv- 

 ing to that age — not hearsay, but what 

 you know? 



3. Don't you think that picture of a 

 frame of brood from a 7-year-old queen, 

 that appeared not long ago — don't you think 

 the story a little fishy ? To me the whole 

 story sounds very fishy. I have kept bees- 

 for 25 years, and only once did I ever 

 know a queen to live into the 4th year. 



New Mexico. 

 Answers. — i. Not that I know of. 



2. No. 



3. If we confine our beliefs to what 

 comes directly within our own knowledge, 

 rejecting everything that comes under the 

 head of "hearsay," I'm afraid there would! 

 be trouble. All I know about New Mex- 

 ico is from hearsay, but I am hardly pre- 

 pared to deny its existence. In 25 years' 

 experience you have only once known a 

 queen to live into her 4th year; but since 

 you have had that one exception it is 

 quite possible that you or others may 

 have still greater exceptions. At present 

 writing I have 5 queens born at such- 

 dates in the year igo8 that if they live 

 from s to 35 days longer they will enter 

 their 4th year. As they are doing fine 

 work laying, and appear vigorous, there 

 is every probability that they will enter 

 their 4th year. Another queen was born 

 about the middle of July, 1907, and will 

 need to live only a few days longer to 

 enter her fifth year. Still another has al- 

 ready entered her jth year, having been 

 born on or before June 29, 1907. As yet 

 she shows no signs of decrepittide, keep- 

 ing her hive well filled with brood. Noth- 

 ing remarkable about this, only it has 

 come under my own personal observation, 

 and I can easily believe that others have 

 had older queens. 



