1893 



GLEANINGS JN BEE CULTURE. 



521 



there were several separate movements; but in 

 practice they are all combined or continued as 

 one move, as neither hand comes to a standstill 

 anywhere, and each is engaged in a different 

 manipulation. C. W. Uayton. 



Pasadena, Cal., .Tune 10. 



GETTING RID OF LAYING WORKERS 

 "PULLED QUEENS/' ETC. 



value, because so old. If the whole colony were 

 united with a weaker colony having a queen, 

 the queen might be i<illed. C .C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



WINTERING. 



DR. C. C. MILLER TELL« US HOW TO AVOID THE 

 TROUBLE TO A GREAT EXTENT. 



A correspondent relates to me his tribulations 

 with fertile workers, in which the troublesome 

 pests came out ahead. He first gave them a 

 ride on a wheelbarrow, and dumped them on 

 the ground :20 rods away from the apiary, hop- 

 ing the bees would desert the laying workers 

 and como back to the old stand, on which he 

 had piaci'd a new hive containing frames of 

 brood. But they didn't return. They just lay 

 on the ground in a pile till nearly dark. I sus- 

 pect that, if they had been left long enough, 

 they might have returncid; and I further sus- 

 pect that the only effect of their rough ride on 

 the wheelbarrow was to make them lie there 

 on the ground longer than they otherwise 

 would have done. 



Toward dark he put the liive by them; they 

 •ran in, and he placed them on a new stand. 

 Next day most of tlunn returned to the old 

 stand— pretty clear proof that if he had left 

 them on the ground, they would have gone back 

 to the old stand. Then he introduced a laying 

 queen by the candy plan. The bees ate the 

 candy and killed the queen in the cage. A 

 virgin queiMi introduced the same way probably 

 met a similar fate, as she could not afterward 

 be found. 



He now wants to know about the plan of giv- 

 ing them a pulled queen, and asks how old a 

 queen-cell must be when the queen is ready to 

 pull out, and how to tell by the looks of the cell 

 when it is old enough, providing he knows 

 nothing as to when it was started. 



It is well known that a queen just hatched 

 will be kiudly received almost anywhere, al- 

 though if a laying queen is present the young 

 queen may be killed as she becomes older. If, 

 however, instead of a laying queen being pres- 

 ent, there are laying workers, I think the bees 

 transfer their affections from the laying workers 

 to the young queen. Instead of taking a queen 

 that has just hatched, it seems to work equally 

 well to use a queen that is just ready to hatch, 

 or perhaps 24 hours in advance of the time when 

 it would emerge of its own accord. How to tell 

 by the looks of the cell when the queen is ready 

 to pull is something beyond me. I can tell 

 about it only after I have pulled her; and as 

 that is usually at a time in the year when 

 queen-cells are very plentiful, it matters little 

 if a number are pulled open, only to find the 

 young queens too immature to use. Yet a very 

 soft, white-looking queen may be used, if she is 

 only matnre enough to crawl about. Ifyou"i'e 

 not sure about it, it will do no harm to put in 

 two or three. 



(^ueen-cells are not plentiful in the spring, 

 and I don't believe I would fool with bees hav- 

 ing fertile workers at that time of the year try- 

 ing to save them. There arc plenty of colonies 

 that are short enough of bees to be benefited by 

 having additional bees given them. So I would 

 divide the bees around among colonies needing 

 them, giving one or two frames to each. If 

 given at a time when blossoms are yielding, 

 there is not likely to be any fighting. But 

 these bees are not likely to bi' of any very great 



AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM. 



Gleanings for June 1st is just received, and 

 I read with much interest the article on cellar 

 wintering, by friend Taylor. I consider this the 

 most important subject connected with the 

 business of honey production, especially in this 

 northern latitude. With this problem once 

 solved the production of honey would be placed 

 on a solid basis. If I could only winter my 

 bees successfully every winter I would ask for 

 no better business than raising honey, even in 

 Iowa; but I must confess I have had to buy 

 bees several times to keep up my stock. This 

 is not as it should be; and' as I have a love for 

 the business, and am depending on the produc- 

 tion of honey for bread and butter, I am very 

 much interested in the wintering problem. I 

 have had several years' experience in cellar 

 wintering, and last winter I had bees in three 

 different cellars. In cellar No. 1, which is a 

 cave on the Doolittle plan, I put 62 stands. 

 About half had sealed covers, with bottoms re- 

 moved a /a Boardman. Half of the rest had 

 top ventilation by slightly raising the cover, 

 and fast bottoms, and the rest had queen- 

 excluders on top. covered with cotton cloth, 

 cover removed, and fast bottom. All wintered 

 equally well so far as I could see. I lost two by 

 starvation: put them in house-apiary Mar. 15, 

 since which I have lost 1.5 more from the failure 

 of queens; and I am convinced that many of 

 the spring losses are caused by old or worthless 

 queens. 



In cellar No. 3, which is my home cellar, I 

 had 11 stands, part with sealed covers and no 

 bottom, and part with nothing but queen- 

 excluding honey-boards on top; all wintered 

 perfectly; commenced rearing brood in Decem- 

 ber. I examined them several times, and all 

 are strong to-day except one which lost its 

 queen. This cellar was very warm. 



Cellar No. 3 is cemented on the bottom; stud- 

 ded, and plastered sides and overhead, and con- 

 tained 30 stands, 21 of which had two or three 

 thicknesses of burlap and cai'pet, daubed with 

 bee-glue, and a heavy chaff cushion in the 

 super, cover removed. These all wintered per- 

 fectly, and are strong to-day except one which 

 was robbed, and two which had poor queens, 

 and are weak. The other nine had slatted 

 honey-boards on the cover, with three or four 

 thicknesses of cotton cloth, new, without any 

 propolis, and cover removed. B^'lve of these died, 

 and two are now weak for this time of year. 

 This cellar was very cold, and I am sorry I did 

 out use a thermometer. 



Fifty colonies were wintered in ten-frame 

 chaff hives, with several thicknesses of heavy 

 cloths covered with propolis, and a heavy chaff 

 cushion or loose chaff on top, and sticks laid 

 across the center of the frames to form a pass- 

 age over the tops of frames in severe weather; 

 and I consider this important. Of these, 47 are 

 alive and in good condition: and permit me to 

 say that these chaff' hives have wintered suc- 

 cessfully in this same yard for 13 years. 



The above, as well as my former experience, 

 proves to me that there can be no fixed rules 

 for cellar wintering. We must be governed by 

 the conditions of the cellar. A system that is a 

 success in one cellar might be a total failure in 

 another. J. E. Hand. 



Eldora. Iowa. .June 3. 



