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QUESTIONS. — 

 ( 1 ) Does 

 about one 

 quart of bees 

 weigh a pound or 

 more ? ( 2 ) Does 

 one get more bees in 

 a one-pound pack- 

 age than in a one- 

 frame nucleus? (3) 

 Beginning in June, 

 if one should put one pound of beies in an old- 

 fashioned box hive and have a section fastened in 

 tlie top, would the bees be apt to stay and beqin 

 working and do fairly well without a queen? 



New York. Leeman Ferris. 



Answers. — (1) One quart of bees contains 

 about 3,200 bees, and one pound contains 5,- 

 000. (2) A one-pound package of bees con- 

 tains more bees than a one-frame nucleus. 

 (3) No, you could obtain no honey whatever 

 by this method, for the nucleus would con- 

 stantly dwindle and finally die outright. 

 They should be given a queen, and by slow 

 stimulative feeding allowed to build up their 

 colony to a suitable size for honey-gather- 

 ing. In the March issue of Gleanings you 

 will notice among the editorials a good de- 

 scription of the method of treating these 

 pound packages on their arrival. 



Questions. — (1) When all the Hofifman self-spac- 

 ing frames in a ten-frame hive are pushed together 

 to one side there remains a space of % inch. For 

 what is this space? (2) Should the Hoffman frames 

 in the brood-nest of a ten-frame hive be pushed 

 close together or should they be spread slightly apart 

 to take up the %-inch space kft on one side? 



Missouri, H. J. Pelikan. 



Answers. — (1) After the frames have been 

 used a while, the projections at the sides 

 of the frames become more or less covered 

 with wax and propolis, so that less space 

 will be left. There should be some extra 

 space, however, to facilitate the removal of 

 frames. If there were no space, then, in 

 order to remove a frame, it would be neces- 

 sary to pry straight up on the top-bar; and, 

 if the frames were stuck down as securely 

 as they often are, this would result in a 

 crack in the comb near the top-bar, and 

 !-ometimes the top-bar would even break or 

 be pulled away from the end-bar. If there 

 is some extra space, then, instead of prying 

 upward, one may first insert the tool be- 

 tween the ends of the frames, and by prying 

 sidewise loosen each end of each frame from 

 that of its neighbor. Then by an upward 

 lift the frames may be easily rcTuoved. In 

 this connection we wish to call attention to 

 the fact that a frame should never be pry- 

 ed near the middle since at that place there 

 is so much spring to the top-bar that the 

 prying is very apt to pull the top-bar away 

 from the comb. The tool should always be 

 used near the ends of the frames as above 

 stated. (2) A space of 7/16 inch should be 

 left at each side. If all the space were 

 left at one side of the hive, the bees would 

 build brace-combs — that is, irregular combs 

 connecting the outside comb with the hive 

 wall. 



Question. — I have ordered from the South ir, 

 pound packages of bees with queens to be delivoied 



GLEANINGS IN BKE GULTUKE 



May, 1918 



GLEANED by ASKING 



3 



E. R. Root 



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early in May. I in- 

 tend to put them 

 in Jumbo brood- 

 chambers and to 

 feed for comb-draw- 

 ing a lid brood-rear- 

 ing. As I have only 

 two or three drawn 

 combs for each colo- 

 ny, I must, there- 

 fore, fill in with 

 sheets of foundation in wired frames. Now, should I 

 -start the bees in extracting supers of standard 

 frames, and then during the honey flow, when the 

 combs are filled with brood, move the queen and one 

 brood below onto Jumbo frames under a queen-ex- 

 cluder, leaving drawn combs above to be filled with 

 honey as soon as the brood hatches, or should I. 

 start the queen to rearing brood in the .tumbo 

 frames? M. A. Shepard. 



River Falls, Wis, 



Answer. — If you could be perfectly certain 

 that each nucleus would increase sufficiently 

 to build out the foundation in the Jumbo 

 body and brood-chamber as well as store 

 sufficient honey for wintering, and also some 

 in the super, then they might be started in 

 the super, as you suggest. However, if you 

 wish to winter in the Jumbo hives, we be- 

 lieve the best plan would be first of all to 

 get the Jumbo combs properly drawn out so 

 that the approach of winter will not find you 

 with only frames of foundation for winter- 

 ing. Moreover, if these Jumbo combs are 

 used for breeding during the summer, the 

 extra cocoons added to the cells will make 

 the frames warmer for wintering. The nu- 

 clei should not be given the entire hive at 

 first; but by means of division-boards they 

 should be kept crowded onto only as many 

 combs as they will conveniently cover. Then 

 as the nucleus gradually increases in size, 

 more frames may from time to time be 

 added. 



Question. — What is the best way to feed bees 

 honey in the comb? C. F. Oliver. 



Indiana. 



Answer. — The best way to feed honey that 

 is in the comb is to put the comb right in the 

 hive. If it is liquid honey, it should be thin- 

 ned with about 10 j)er cent of warm water, 

 and, on account of the danger of transmit- 

 ting diseases, it would be preferable to boil 

 the honey, if it comes from a source un- 

 known. 



Question. — Would it not be better to use full 

 sheets of drone foundation in place of worker foun- 

 dation in the sections ? I find that bees fill out with 

 drone comb when starters of worker foundation arc 

 used. G. A. Sheppard. 



Minnesota. 



Answer. — It is true that, when given start- 

 ers, the bees show a decided inclination to 

 build drone comb rather than worker comb; 

 but this would in no way warrant the use 

 of drone foundation in sections; for the 

 v.'orker foundation results in comb of such 

 superior grade that this more than offsets the 

 apparent preference of the bees. 



Question, — Please give a good method for pre- 

 venting swarming. Maud Hulburt. 



Kirkville, N. Y. 



Answer. — The queen sliou'.d be clipped, the 

 (•oh)uies examined at least everv week to be 



