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(J L !•; A N I N (IS IN 15 !•: K <' T I, T C It K 



fioiii till' limb was IxM-iuiso they were j)racti- 

 cally without honey. Even swarming bees, 

 if they have no load of honey, will l)e (|uito 

 vicious. In regard to their staying on the 

 limb and starting comb there, it is very dif- 

 ficult to say why they did that; but evei-y 

 year swarms here and there do this very 

 thing. We have liuown a colony to hang 

 out on the limb of a tree until thej' had 

 eight large-sized combs all built nicely par- 

 allel to each other, almost as tho one had 

 Just lifted them out of a hive. At the time 

 you tried to hive them it is evident that 

 you did not get the queen with them. Prob- 

 ably she stayed with a few bees on the 

 limb, and that is the reason the others went 

 back. If you could get them all, queen in- 

 cluded, and give them a frame with eggs 

 and young larvaj, there would be no trouble 

 about their staying in the hive. Now that 

 they have already built combs, perhaps you 

 could transfer these combs into the frames, 

 tying them in and putting them in the hives 

 until the bees have time to attach the 

 combs to the frames. Since the colonies are 

 good Italians it would be a pity to let them 

 go. 



Question. — In your 1912 edition of tFie A B C 

 book, under " Increase " you say, " Set the body 

 (with no queen) on top." Why not put a laying- 

 queen in the top at once by the honey method ? 



Nebra.ska. F. Kingsley. 



Answer. — We have never been very 

 strong advocates of the honey method, for 

 the reason that we believe a queen after 

 having had a honey bath is never quite as 

 good as before. A queen could be introduc- 

 ed to the queenless colony above; but in 

 doing so one would run some chance of 

 losing one of the two queens. By the meth- 

 od given in the ABC and X Y Z of Bee 

 Culture you will note that the upper hive is 

 moved away, so that the two queens are not 

 left in the same hive, in sujjers right next 

 to each other. If one wishes to keep two 

 (|ueens in the same hive, and do it success- 

 fully, it is better to have more than one 

 excluder separating the two colonies. 



Que.stions. — (1) If I am raisins; queens in a weak 

 colony of young bees, and they accept about 28 

 grafted cells, and I give them a good large spoonful 

 of royal .ielly, what will the bees do with it? (2) 

 Can bees make a drone out of a worker egg ' is 

 there any condition which will cause tees to do 

 that? (3) Why do my bees begin drawing out full 

 sheets of foundation in the super at the bottom? 

 Yours commence at the top, do thev not ? When 1 

 lived in Ohio mine did; but here they begin at the 

 bottom, draw it out, attach it ail along to the bot- 

 tom-bar, and store the honey from the bottom up- 

 ward. I have seen sheets drawn out five inches 

 high, filled and capped, and at the top nothing but 

 foundation. Wooild you think in this case that the 

 shallow frame.s w^ould be better for me to use? (4) 

 If I take out of the hive about three frames of 

 1 ee-s and brood, and put them into another hive P.O 

 oj- 40 feet away, will tliey build up and make a colo- 

 ny? (5)Can bees control the hatching of eggs? 

 Can they cause them to hatch at will — either hatch 

 them immediately or keep them 10 days or two 

 weeks and then hatcli them ? T believe they can. 



Arizona. .f. B. Douglas. 



Answers. — (Ti The bees would ])rol)ablv 



eat tho royal jelly, but would not jilace it iu 

 the queen-cells. (2) No. This is impossi- 

 ble. (3) The refusal of the bees to draw 

 out the to])s of the sheets of foundation is 

 jirobably due to the excessive heat. In Ari- 

 zona the colonies should be well shaded and 

 ])rovided with plenty of ventilation. There 

 should be double covers or shade-boards, 

 and it is best to have the entire colony 

 r-overed with a good bee-shed. (4) If early 

 enough and given a slow flow, such nuclei 

 may build up into good colonies. (5) 

 We do not know whether bees could do 

 this; but we feel somewhat doubtful 

 whether they ever do. If you have any 

 proofs along this line, we should be glad 

 to learn of them. 



Question. — What shall I do with the Alley trap ? 

 The bees have vea-y hard work to get thru. An 

 hour after putting the trap on one of my hives the 

 air was thick with bees from the hive, and the 

 alighting-lioard was covered with balls of pollen 

 that they ruTibed off trying to get thru. I imme- 

 diately removed the trap ,so they could get in, and 

 they quieted down in 15 minutes. I think the per- 

 forations are too small. Could not the slots be made 

 wider and still trap the drones? 



Ohio. W. C. Greenleaf. 



Answer. — We never advise the use of the 

 drone-traj) except as a temporary arrange- 

 ment, for these traps do interfere consider- 

 ably with the work of the colonies. Except 

 in unusual cases, we believe that, when 

 bees are bringing in either pollen or honey, 

 there should be no obstruction in front of 

 the hives. As for the little wider spacing 

 that you suggest, it would certainly result 

 in some of the drones scjueezing thru such 

 space. 



Question. — Can you tell me about what the aver- 

 age prime swarm weighs and also the second 

 swarm? Walter Garabrant. 



New York. 



Answer. — The weight of prime swarms 

 varies greatly. A seven-or ten-pound swarm 

 would be a good one. The second swarms 

 that issue might be perhaps half as large, 

 or even smaller than that; and finally, to- 

 ward the end of the season, if the second 

 swarms are still allowed to issue, it will be 

 found that they will be very small, perhaps 

 containing no more than a pint of bees. 



AXSWER RV f. r. MILLER. 



Question. — You pay that you provide a two-incli 

 entrance for your bees while in winter quarters. 

 Do you make any provision for uiiward ventilation, 

 such as removing covers and replacing with burlap? 

 or do you put on the regular hive cover allowing 

 no ventilation on top? A. .1. Gardner. 



Quebec. 



Answer. — No opening for ventilation is 

 needed above, if there is opening enough 

 below. No opening is needed below, if 

 there is opening enough above. When I 

 had box-hives I turned them upside down, 

 following the teaching of M. Quinby, leav- 

 ing the hive entirely open above and closed 

 below. Now, with the very large entrance 

 below, there is no opening above, the covers 

 being glued down just as they were on the 

 summer stands. 



