174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1918 



bees, we rather pu'^pect they died of dysen- 

 tery. They doubtless took a cleansing flight 

 during unsuitable weather and thus died out- 

 side. This would account for the small num- 

 ber of dead bees in the hive. 



Questions. — (1) People always advise keeping 

 tees and chickens with fruit. Now in spraying fruit 

 trees with arsenate of lead, will not the honey he 

 poisoned and kill the hees and any person eating it ? 

 (2) And will not the spray falling on the grass 

 also kill the chickens ? Charles Goller. 



Canada. 



Answers. — (1) Spraying should be done 

 before the blossoms open, and again after 

 the petals fall. To spray during fruit bloom 

 has been jjroved quite injurious to the pollen 

 and reproductive organs of the blossoms as 

 well as to the bees. The queens and brood 

 are most quickly affected, altho whole colo- 

 nies of bees are sometimes killed by the 

 poison.. (2) We have no record of any per- 

 son having been poisoned by such honey and 

 it seems probable that honey containing a 

 sufficient amount of poison to affect a per- 

 son, would kiU the bees before they had a 

 chance to store any surplus. Of course 

 chickens would be poisoned by the arsenate 

 of lead on the grass if they ate it, but we 

 have never taken any special precautions in 

 this respect and yet to our knowledge have 

 never had any chickens thus injured. It is 

 our opinion from some observation that 

 chickens will not eat grass that has a de- 

 posit of arsenate of lead on it. There is 

 always enough other grass beyond the reach 

 of the sprayer that the chickens can get. 



Question. — This winter I have been troubled with 

 slush freezing at the entrance. Several times I have 

 scraped it away just in time. How could one with 

 a large apiary avoid losing bees from this cause ? 



Vermont. R. L. Palmer. 



Answer. — Hives should slope a little to- 

 ward the front, so there will be no chance 

 for Vv^ater to stand in the hives. If there 

 is sufficient upward ventilation, we would 

 have no fear of the slush freezing over the 

 entrance. In the first place, if the colony is 

 strong, enough warmth usually escapes thru 

 the entrance so that it is not closed with 

 slush. "When good colonies are hiiried in 

 snow, there is nearly always a melted space 

 in the snow just in front of the entrance and 

 extending up the front of the hive. In those 

 cases, in which the entrances are closed with 

 ice, good upward ventilation leaves the bees 

 in a perfectly safe condition. If non-porous 

 covers are used, it will be necessary to keep 

 the ice cleared from the entrances in order 

 to avoid smothering the bees. To prevent ice 

 from thus collecting, there should be no 

 ledge under the entrance, for in a winter like 

 the present, the ice may gradually pile up until 

 the entrance is completely shut off. If there 

 is an alighting board, it should be shoved 

 back so far that there is no projection in 

 front of the hive. Straight down from the 

 entrance there should be a sheer drop of at 

 least two or three inches. 



Questions. -^The combs the bees have in the cellar 

 are moldy. Will this do any harm ? And can I 



use the combs in spring? (2) When bees need pol- 

 len and are unable to get it in the spring, what 

 should they be fed? (3) Would it be all right here 

 in Wisconsin, to set my bees out in March and put 

 on winter cases? Frank Beran. 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — (1) We would much prefer that 

 the bees should not have moldy combs, and 

 if the case is very bad, we would replace the 

 combs; but ordinarily removing the cause 

 will be all that is necessary. Evidently the 

 stores were unripened, the cellar too damp, 

 or the hives or cellar not sufficiently venti- 

 lated. Such combs may be used in the 

 spring with no danger whatever. They will 

 be cleaned in a short time if they are dis- 

 tributed to various brood chambers or plac- 

 ed under strong colonies. (2) Different flours 

 and meals have been used for this purpose. 

 Equal parts of rye and oats make a very 

 good artificial pollen. Ordinarily such feed- 

 ing is unnecessary and often a real detri- 

 ment and should not be resorted to except 

 when the bees are in actual need and refus- 

 ing to be satisfied with water, continue their 

 vain search for a pollen substitute. (3) Yes, 

 if desired. However, many prefer to wait 

 until settled warm weather and then use no 

 winter eases. The condition of the bees 

 should be the determining factor. As long as 

 they are quiet and contented, nothing is 

 gained by moving them from the cellar be- 

 fore the coming of the first pollen. We 

 usually set ours out at the opening of maj)le 

 bloom. 



ANSWERS BY C. C. MILLER. 



Questions. — (1) Will it be all right to get one pound 

 packages of bees with a queen in each and put them 

 in a 10-frame hive with one frame of sealed brood 

 and the remaining frames with full sheets of foun- 

 dation ? How would it do to get one-pound packn,g?s 

 without queens, put them in the same kind of hive, 

 with one frame of eggs from another colony ? I 

 would like to do this the last week in April. (2) 

 What do you think about a 20-frame brood chamber? 

 I understand they use them successfully in Iowa. 



Illinois. Edw. J. Steinberg. 



Answers. — (1) The first plan you mention 

 is many times better than the second. Your 

 ])Ound of queenless bees in April would hard- 

 ly be likely to rear a queen worth having. 

 A good queen should have her start in a 

 strong colony at a tiriie when there is a 

 strong honey-flow. It would likely be three 

 weeks before the young queen would lay, and 

 three weeks more before her progeny would 

 begin to emerge, and during that six weeks 

 most of the original pound would have pass- 

 ed in their checks. With a laying queen at 

 the start there would be a different story. 

 (2) The big brood-chamber with 20 frames, 

 more or less, has been successfully used in 

 this country under the name of the " long- 

 idea hive," and isi used much more in Eu- 

 rope. I don 't think there is any special 

 trouble in using it, but for one reason or 

 another most beekeepers in this countiy 

 would rather have the surplus department in 

 a separate and higher story instead of in the 

 .same story with the brood. 



C. C. Miller. 



