June, 1918 



G L E A N r N S IN BEE C U L T U K E 



365 



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QUESTIONS.— 

 ( 1 ) If I 

 should re- 

 move a queieii 

 from a hive for a 

 few days, keepinjr 

 lier in a nueleus, 

 could I return her 

 to her original hive 

 without introducing '. 

 (2) Could I take 

 two frame's of brood 



with queen and heeis, put them in an obiservation 

 liive with a screen over the entrance, keep the 

 hive in tlie house for two days, and return all to 

 the original hive? (3) If I should buy a hive of 

 bees in our neighborhood, how shall I keep the 

 bees from returning? It has beien said that putting 

 bees in a dark cellar for two days cures them of 

 returning. Could I not confine them in the hive 

 on the new stand, giving plenty of ventilation and 

 darkening the entrance, and thus secure the pur- 

 pose of a cellar? I have no cellar. (4) I have 

 been asked repeatedly, "When do bees sleep?" As 

 it is dark within the hivei, night and day would be 

 the same. Do their labors cease at nightfall? 



Pennsylvania. Bert Boland. 



Answers. — (1) No, she would then need 

 introducing just the same as she would to a 

 strange , colony. (2) Yes, if the weather 

 were not so warm as to make them uncom- 

 fortable from the long confinement. But 

 when returned to the original hive, they 

 should be united with such precautions as 

 one usually takes in uniting any two colo- 

 nies. (3) As stated in the Talks to Begin- 

 ners, in the May issue of Gleanings, the best 

 way is to move them to a place two or three 

 miles away. Then a few weeks later move 

 them to the desired spot, for by that time 

 the original location will have been forgot- 

 ten. We strongly advise that the bees 

 should not be confined to their hives for sev- 

 eral days. This would cause the bees to so 

 worry and raise the temperature of the iiive 

 to such an extent, that it would seriously 

 damage and probably kill the colony. (4) 

 Whether or not we have a right to call it 

 sleeping, we cannot say, but bees do take 

 periods of rest, not only at night, but also 

 during the day. Between their trips to the 

 fields, the workers crawl into their cells and 

 remain quietly resting for a few minutes or 

 perhaps for half an hour at a time. The 

 drones and queens also rest, but not usually 

 in the cells. During the honey flow, most of 

 the honey-ripening and comb-building are 

 carried on during the night. And some- 

 times when a great deal of honey is gathered 

 during the day, this work may continue most 

 of the night; but usually the work stops be- 

 fore midnight and the entire colony rests 

 until morning. 



Question. — In " Gleanings " I read of a plan 

 whereljy a beekeeper feeds back unfinished sections, 

 by pla<'ing them in supers, tiering them up in the 

 lioney-house, and. when all is in readiness, opening 

 the door and letting the bees remove the honey, 

 afterward leaving the honey-house door open for 

 two we«ks until every vestige of honey has disap- 

 peared. I found the plan works satisfa^'torily and 

 with no robbing; but I fear the bees have ruined 

 several hundred sections for me, for in their eager- 

 ness to remove the honey, they gnawed holes entire- 



GLEANED by ASKING 



E. R. Root 



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ly thru the founda- 

 tion, or bottom of 

 the cells, and many 

 of the sections look 

 very ragged. Also, 

 small particles of 

 wax are sticking in 

 tlie cells and can- 

 not be shakeJi out. 

 If I put the.^e sec- 

 tions on at the start 

 of the honey flow, 

 will the l)ees r((i)air the foundation and remove the 

 particles of wax, or had I better cut all thii old 

 comb out of the sections and reset with new foun 

 dation ? Harry E. Garey. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — The i)lanyou mention forgetting 

 sections cleaned is a good one for old combs, 

 or for any combs, if there are plenty of su- 

 pers for the number of colonies that have 

 access; but if not, the empty supers should 

 be stacked in piles about as high as one's 

 head, and in each stack an opening left only 

 large enough for the admission of one or 

 two bees at a time. It is a poor plan to 

 reset the old sections with new foundation. 

 Old sections usually need replacing as much 

 as the combs. If the sections are much soil- 

 ed, or if the mid-rib is very badly torn, the 

 sections should be replaced by new ones con- 

 taining foundation. Otherwise, we would 

 leave the bees to attend to small particles 

 of wax and ragged edges, for altho the re- 

 sultant sections will not be as fancy as 

 those stored in new sections of foundation, 

 still they are exceedingly valuable as bait 

 combs for getting the bees started to work 

 in the super. Bait sections at each corner 

 or outside row and one in the center of the 

 super would be worth much more to you 

 than the same sections filled with founda- 

 tion. 



Questions. — (1) When is the best time to put new 

 queens in hives? (2) Would the bees kill the new 

 queen, if you took the old one out when the new- 

 one was put in? (3) How soon would the new 

 queen begin laying? Chas. Floding. 



Ohio. 



Answers. — (1) Probably the best time for 

 introducing is along toward night during a 

 good flow of honey. (2) If the new one is 

 introduced by means of the mailing cage, at 

 least 24 hours will elapse before the bees 

 gnaw thru the candy and liberate the queen, 

 therefore it will be perfectly safe to intro- 

 duce the new one at the same time the old 

 one is removed. (3) Usually within two 

 daj^s, if introduced during the summer. If 

 shipped a long distance it may be several 

 days or even a week before the queen re- 

 covers sufficiently to begin laying. 



Questions. — (1) Describe the making of individ- 

 ual cakes of comb honey used in dining-cars and 

 hotels. (2 How can I keep the different kinds of 

 honey separate in the hives — that is, honey of dif- 

 ferent flavor, such as fruit, clover, alfalfa, white- 

 wood trees, locust, and goldenrod ? I think Allen 

 Latham has a theory. (3) If I have a scale hive, 

 how can I tell the amount of honey coming in, as 

 the brood must weigh something also. 



Massachusetts. George A. Stedman. 



Answers. — (1) The small individual cakes 

 of comb honey are made by cutting the regu- 



