490 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1918 



c 



LJTS 



QUESTION. — 

 Last wiiitei' 

 we lost 1 7 

 out of 81 

 colonies of bees, 

 most of them the 

 strongest in the' 

 yard, just hecause 

 we could not get 

 sugar to feed 

 them ; and I am 

 afraid that we shall again find our hees poorly pro- 

 vided with stores this fall. So I am thinking, if I 

 could not get sugar enough to feed them this fall, 

 I might destroy half the queens about the middle 

 of August, to stop the increase, and double the colo- 

 nies up into 40 or 45 colonies. Please advise mei 

 in regard to this plan. C. A. Bunch. 



Indiana. 



Answer. — We should eertaiiily hate to kill 

 half the queens and double up the colonies 

 in the way you suggest, for we believe that 

 you will be able to obtain the sugar, altho, 

 of course, we cannot be certain of this. In 

 many cases 10 pounds of sugar would keep 

 a colony from starving during the winter, 

 if they already have some stores in their 

 brood-chambers. Next year that same colo- 

 ny would probably produce 100 or 150 

 pounds of honey. Now, it hardly seems like- 

 ly that the Government would be shortsight- 

 ed enough to attempt to save 10 pounds of 

 sugar and thereby lose 10 or 15 times as 

 much honey. In fact, since the war began 

 our Government has shown no such inclina- 

 tion, but has evinced a strong desire to helj? 

 the producer to increase his output. We 

 suggest that you fill out an application for 

 sugar, similar to the one given on page 74 

 of our February issue, if you are able to 

 save all of these colonies for next season 's 

 crop, it would clearly be a patriotic duty, 

 since it would add so much to the world's 

 sujjply of sweets. 



Qtiestion. — A peculiar case took place in our api- 

 ary this month. I had a colony of bees with two 

 supers above a queen-excluder. The bees found 

 an entrance between the top super and the cover. 

 When I opened the hive, I found the top super 

 with laying worker brood. I concluded that they 

 had lost their queen, and looked in the brood-cham- 

 ber where I found a perfect laying queen with 

 brood. When I shook thei bees of the top super at 

 the entrance of the hive, they refused to go in. 

 Please let me know if you have experienced any 

 similar cases. A. DuBoulay. 



Soupicrei Estate, South Africa. 



Answer. — Bees crossed with the Syrians 

 or Cyprians sometimes behave exactly the 

 way you mention, having both laying work- 

 ers and a queen in the same hive, and often 

 in the same brood-chamber. We do not 

 know why the bees refused to enter the hive. 

 It may simply have been hot and the hive 

 already crowded. Perhaps the bees had 

 been smoked until they were gorged with 

 honey and therefore logy. 



Question. — In the June number of Gleanings 

 there was given a plan for swarm control which I 

 used, raising the old brood-chamber above the two 

 supers with an excluder ,iust above the new brood- 

 chamber. Now, since the drones are clo.sed in 

 nlove and run all over the sections, T w;iu1d like 

 to know how long to keep the excluder on. And 



GLEANED by ASKING 



] 



E. R. Root 



lU 



K 



would it be all right 

 to take it out after 

 the brood above 

 hatches ? 



Edwin A. Wright. 

 Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — The 

 plan to which 

 you refer is for 

 the production 

 of extracted, and not comb honey. That is 

 why the excluder was used, in order to pre- 

 vent the queen from going above and laying 

 in the drawn combs of the empty supers. 

 If the supers were filled with sections of 

 foundation, the queen would not be likely 

 to go above even if no excluder were used. 

 However, as just stated, the plan is not in- 

 tended nor it is suitable for the production 

 of comb honey, which requires that but a 

 small amount of super room be given at a 

 time, and, preferably, that this be given at 

 the warmest part of the hive. When run- 

 ning for extracted honey, if it is found that 

 the drones collect above the excluders, the 

 supers may be lifted off, and then replaced. 

 But unless one has an excessive amount 

 of drone brood in the hive, this will not be 

 necessary, for, when the hive is examined 

 the next time, the drones would naturally 

 fall from the excluders, and thus the matter 

 would be remedied without the beekeeper 's 

 giving it any thought whatever. 



Question. — On page 336, June Gleanings, MJr. 

 Holtermann says: "After seven or eight days I 

 would go thru the colony." Seven or eight days 

 from when — Thanksgiving day or the Fourth of 

 July? Further along he says: "A beekeeper 

 must, however, adjust himself t9 conditions. * * 

 Bees might not follow the usual rule of casting the 

 second swarm the eighth day after the issuance of 

 the first, etc." I do not see what bearing this has 

 on the subject at all. If he kills the queen and 

 removes all queen-cells but one, there would be no 

 swarming as I understand it. C. E. Boddy. 



Minreroia. 



Answer. — When Mr. Holtermann said he 

 would go thru the colony in seven or eight 

 days he evidently had in mind the preceding 

 sentence in which he stated that, as soon as 

 the honey began to come in freely, the bees 

 began to build queen-cells. Therefore he 

 probably meant that, after queen-cells were 

 started, in seven or eight days he killed the 

 queen and removed every cell but one. 

 When he said that ' ' a beekeeper mitst, how- 

 ever, adjust himself to conditions," we be- 

 lieve that here he was thinking of the fact 

 that sometimes it might be to the beekeep- 

 er's advantage to kill the queen, as he had 

 just suggested, and in other instances it 

 might be better to keep the queen if she 

 seemed unusually good. Therefore it would 

 be difficult to give any hard-and-fast rule 

 as to the one best way to requeen. In any 

 given instance it would be necessary to 

 know something about the queen in ques- 

 tion, and also weather conditions, flow of 

 honey, etc. These factors would all have a 

 l^earing on the best way of requeening. It 

 niiglit be possible that rainy weather would 



