May, ]&18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



301 



certain that no queen-cells are built; and 

 sliould they appear all capped ones should be 

 torn out and a hive of combs, containing 

 one comb with young larva^ and the queen, 

 t'hould be placed on the old stand and cover- 

 ed with a queen excluder. Above this should 

 be placed the supers, if any are in use at the 

 time, and, at the very top, the hive of brood. 

 At the end of eight days this upper story 

 may be moved to a new location and the bees 

 allowed to raise a queen if increase is desir- 

 ed. If not, the cells may be torn out and 

 the bees allowed to hatch just where they 

 are, or the brood distributed to other colo- 

 nies that are in need of it. 



Question. — Will a queen leave her hivei and go 

 to another and remain there? Last summer I hived 

 a swarm, and two days later saw a fine yellow queen 

 alight and go in. liater I examined th&m and found 

 her quite different in appearance from tlie others. 



Virginia. A. A. Campl:ell. 



Answer. — It would be very unusual for a 

 queen to leave her own hive and go into 

 another and remain there. If she did so at 

 all, it would be purely by accident, and, un- 

 less the other colony was queenless, this 

 new queen would probably be balled and 

 killed. But if the colony were queen- 

 less, her chances of being favorably accept- 

 ed would be rather good. The fact that the 

 queen yon saw was of a more yellow color 

 than the bees proves nothing. Many times 

 a queen is of better color than her own bees. 



Question. — In the Townsend bee book I have 

 read that, as soon as the swarm begins to clu-ster, 

 a new hive should he set on the old stand and the 

 supers from the old hive put on it whether they are 

 l)artly filled or not. No'vv, what becomes of the old 

 hive? Should I put a super on it also? 



Richmond, Va. F. E. Ingroff. 



Answer. — Since the old colony is in a very 

 weak condition, having lost most of the bees, 

 and since there will not be another laying- 

 queen for at least one or two weeks, it is 

 evident that they will be unable to store any 

 surplus honey for some time. Therefore no 

 super sliould be put on until the colony has 

 built up sufficiently to warrant such a step. 

 If the swarm occurs early in the season, it 

 may be possible to obtain several supers of 

 honey from this old stand, but, if late, not 

 much can be expected from them in the line 

 of surplus. 



Question. — In a neighborhood containing hybrid 

 stock, how may one raise pure queens? 



R. L. Wilby. 



Answer. — The question of obtaining pure 

 mating is a vexing one frequently. You can 

 not hope to attain the highest percentage 

 of pui-e mating until you have done all you 

 ])0ssibly can toward Italianizing your locali- 

 ty. For a temporary emergency, drone-exclud- 

 ing entrance-guards can be put on the en- 

 trances of colonies in the locality that have 

 undesirable drones. At the same time you 

 should insure plenty of young vigorous Ital- 

 ian drones that will be flying at the time 

 your young queens would go out to mate. In 

 order to improve the locality permanently 

 it often ])ays for a queen-breeder to furnish 

 young laying (pieens to neighboring beekeep- 



ers at a low price, say about half the usual 

 amount charged. If this is done in July 

 or August, when queens are cheapest, the ex- 

 pense is not great, and for the next sea- 

 son the drones flying will be largely Italians. 

 Of course, if there are a large number of 

 colonies of bees living in trees, or in old 

 box hives, about all one can do is to make 

 sure of plenty of young vigorous drones fly- 

 ing in his own yard. 



Questions. — Does a temperature of 16 degrees 

 above zero kill wax-moth eggs, or do they survive 

 the winter and hatch out in the spring to stait a crop 

 of moths ? Do the larvaj become dormant with low 

 temperature, survive the winter and hatch out in 

 the spring? Can you tell me whether at this time 

 of the year, combs may be stacked moth proof and 

 be safe without further notice until they are needed? 



Texas. T. P. Robinson. 



Answers. — We believe there has been no 

 scientific determination of the exact temper- 

 ature required to kill the wax moth, pupa, 

 larvae and eggs, respectively. However. 

 F. B. Paddock of the Texas Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station in bulletin No. 158, June, 

 1913, states that wax moths sometimes stand 

 a freezing temperature for as long as three 

 days, and in well protected places can stand 

 an outside temperature of 26 degrees Fahr. 

 for five days. In general, a freezing tem- 

 perature is considered sufficient to kill all 

 moth eggs and larva?. During the winter 

 aboiit one-third are in the pupal stage. 

 These being better protected are able to 

 withstand greater extremes of temperature, 

 and at the advent of warm weather will 

 hatch out and begin their work of destruc- 

 tion. The best way to treat the combs is to 

 pile them in moth-proof piles and then ex- 

 amine them often, giving them a carbon bi- 

 sulphide treatment as soon as evidence of 

 moths occurs. 



Questions. — (1) What is the easiest way to find 

 the old queen when re-queening black bees and 

 one's sight is not good? (2) Suppose one-day-old 

 virgins or young laying queens were properly intro- 

 duced without de-queening, about what percent 

 would survive ? 



California. L. T. Ayers. 



Answers. — (1) The hive should be opened 

 during the middle of the day and the bees 

 smoked as little as possible. As black bees 

 run so rapidly, it is a good plan to have a 

 person at each side of the hive, only one 

 handling the frames. Beginning at the edge 

 of the brood nest, carefully examine one 

 frame after another. When a frame is pull- 

 ed out, the queen will probably be frighten- 

 ed and run to the side of the comb furthest 

 from the manipulator. So the chances are 

 that the queen will be first seen by the one 

 not handling the frames. As fast as the 

 frames are examined, they should be placed 

 in an empty hive body, for after the frames 

 are removed the queen may be found run- 

 ning about wildly on the bottom board or 

 further side of the hive. When working 

 alone, begin taking out the frames from the 

 further side of the brood nest, for when a 

 frame is removed, a black queen often runs 



