January, 1916. 



American ^Bee Journal 



of material in her spermatheca has become 

 nearly exhausted. But your case cannot be 

 accounted for in that way, since the queens 

 wereyounj. Either the fecundation of the 

 Queens was imoerfect, or there was imper- 

 fection in the muscles concerned in per- 

 forming the act of fertilizine each egg. The 

 remarkable thing is that you should have 

 had more than one young Queen of the same 

 kind. 



Pollen In Combs 



About four weeks ago I bought ii colonies 

 of bees in lo-frame hives. I hauled them nine 

 miles. Before packing them for winter I 

 discovered that one colony was dead. They 

 had plenty of stores for winter, but only 

 about a teacupful of bees; their frames 

 contained half honey and half pollen. 



I am sending you a sample of the honey 

 and the pollen. I would like to know what 

 is the matter and what to do ? They are all 

 in their winter Quarters side by side, ten in 

 a row. Some of the other colonies have lots 

 of dead bees outside of the hive. Iowa. 



[Sample received at office. It looks nor- 

 mal, merely pollen and honey. No brood.— 

 Editor.1i 



Answers,— There is no evidence of any- 

 thing wrong in the sample received, which 

 contains only honey and pollen (of course, 

 no brood), quite normal in appearance. It is 

 not a very wild guess to say that the colony 

 was Queenless. the bees having gradually 

 died off. In such a case there would be an 

 unusual amount of pollen, because for some 

 time the bees continue to store pollen, and 

 very little is consumed when there is no 

 brood. 



There is, of course, nothing to be done in 

 the case of the dead colony, except to save 

 the combs of honey and pollen for next year. 

 A swarm may then be hived upon these 

 combs, or they may be used in spring to help 

 any needy colonies. The dead bees at the 

 other hives areperhaps no more than should 

 be expected. 



Tin Separators 



I am enclosing a sample of a cheap grade 

 of tin, and wish to ask if such would be sat- 

 isfactory for ' separators," so far as »/«/ is 

 concerned? And, further, what grade do 

 you use? Illinois. 



Answer.— The sample of tin is all right. 

 The cheapest grade will do for separators, 

 there being no trouble from rust. I don't 

 use any grade of tin; I use wood. For years 

 I did use tin— the cheapest grade- but for a 

 good many years I have used wood. Tin was 

 better when I used tin. and wood is better 

 since I have used wood. All depends upon 

 whether the separators are loose or not. At 

 first I used wide frames with the separators 

 nailed onto the frames. The nailing was 

 necessary to keep the separators taut and 

 in place. But if wood had been used, there 

 would have been at least a little tendency 

 to swelling and shrinking, make the separa- 

 tors curl a little, whereas there can be no 

 shrinking and swelling of tin. Since using 

 T-supers the separators are of wood, and 

 loose. The grain of the wood keeps it 

 straight lengthwise, and being loose there is 

 no chance for curling no matter if there is 

 a little shrinking and swelling. If tin were 

 used loose, there would be some tendency 

 to waviness lengthwise. 



ter inside the hive and outside the cluster 

 on the bottom board registers 48 degrees. 

 The thermometer stands around ^^ and 46 

 degrees in the cellar. Yhe bees seem to be 

 more quiet with the fs inch entrance than 

 they do with the *e inch. The cellar seems 

 to be quite dry. I have a ventilator from the 

 outside. 14X10 inches, with two thicknesses 

 of burlap over it. It is open all the time, 

 and I can open the door in warm weather to 

 give more fresh air if needed. Do you think 

 I had better raise the covers and put a piece 

 of section under ? 



Last year I put two colonies in this cellar 

 one just like I have them now and the other 

 I took the cover off and put two thicknesses 

 of carpet over the hive. I could see no dif- 

 ference in the two in the spring. They were 

 both QUiet when I took them out. Some of 

 those colonies in the cellar are real quiet 

 and others are very restless and uneasy. Of 

 course, there are more colonies in the cellar 

 this winter. I have them piled two and 

 three colonies high. I darken the end of the 

 cellar where the bees are with burlap. They 

 all seem to be dry in the hives so far. Do 

 you think to change the hives and pry the 

 covers up would do much harm by disturb- 

 ing the bees. What is your advice ? 



Michigan. 



Answer.— I believe I would leave every- 

 thing just as it is. You say the bees having 

 the ,"e-inch entrance don't seem as quiet as 

 those with H- Sometimes, you know, 

 " things are not what they seem." It is just 

 possible that you are mistaken, and that the 

 apparently greater uneasiness is because 

 you can hear more clearly the noise at the 

 larger entrance. If it should be true that 

 the larger entrance is not so good, then you 

 surely would not help matters by raising the 

 covers. But the disturbance of raising the 

 covers would not be a serious matter, and 

 you might try raising at least two or three. 

 You will probably find it will not make much 

 difference. 



Sour Honey 



For the first time in my life I have a quan- 

 tity (about 125 pounds! of extracted honey 

 that is slightly soured, enough to impart a 

 strong taste. Would this honey be safe to 

 feed the bees after the opening of spring? 

 This honey is in a granulated condition, 

 and could be sold on our local market, but I 

 do not think it would be good policy to sell 

 it. Indiana. 



Answer.— Yes. after bees fly every day. or 

 even every week, it will be safe to feed such 

 honey to the bees. It would be well to add 

 at least an equal quantity of water, and of 

 course the granules should be melted. 



The probability is that the part of the 

 honey that is not granulated is thin, and 

 that this thin part contains all the sourness. 

 In that case lay the vessel on its side and 

 let the thin part drain off slowly, and then 

 after melting the part that is left you may 

 have a fine article. The thin part will make 

 vinegar. But that will not work inall cases, 

 for sometimes the honey is like lard, and 

 the thin part will not drain off. But if it has 

 soured at all. there is pretty surely a thin 

 part that will drain off. 



[Honey that ferments may often be im- 

 proved by heating, which destroys the germs 

 of fermentation, but it is nevertheless in- 

 ferior honey —Editor.) 



Bees in Cellar 



December i, I i)ut w colonies of bees in my 

 house cellar, which is 14x18 feet, sand sides 

 and bottom. The hives are piled up on 

 benches two feet from the floor. I left the 

 cealed covers on and bottoms also. I gave 

 them "s-inch entrance the full width of 

 the hives, and the bees seem to be more un- 

 easy than they do with -?s-inch entrance; the 

 hives have no vent above. The thermome 



Adding Room— Put-Up Plan 



What difference in effect is ther.e when a 

 hive IS overflowing with bees before the 

 queen-cells are started ? When about to add 

 another full-depth hive-body with comb 

 foundation or both, whether this added 

 hive-body is the upper or under hive-body ? 



1. When there is nothing between the 

 bodies ? 



2. When there is an excluder between ? 

 Over a year ago vou gave me a modified 



way of the put-up plan, eliminating the need 

 of clipping or hunting queens. A body was 

 to be set on the old stand with the brood, 

 cover put on. and on that the old hive with 

 queen and empty comb or foundation. How 

 would it affect the result, if a person ar- 

 ranged the hive-bodies just as stated, only 



on the lower hive put an excluder, and on 

 that the old hive-body with queen directly 

 on without bottom board ? Later the queen 

 was to be put back, but that is the same 

 in either of the procedures as above out- 

 lined. Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — i. If no excluder is used, with 

 the idea of letting the queen enter the 

 added story, then it seems more desirable 

 to give the added story below, since that 

 will put upon the bees no added burden in 

 the way of keeping additional room warm, 

 while if it is added above, the bees will 

 have to keep both stories warm. Moreover 

 it seems more natural for the bees to ex- 

 tend their brood gradually downward than 

 upward. But if the chief thing is to make 

 as little work for the beekeeper as possible, 

 and the added story is to be removed when 

 supers are given, then giving the added 

 story above will be easier. 



If an excluder is used, then the addec. 

 story can only be used for surplus, and 

 should be given above. Bees will store sur- 

 plus in a story under an excluder, but when 

 given their choice prefer to store above. 



2. Never having tried it, I don't know just 

 what would happen if the brood were left 

 in the lower story with the queen in com- 

 paratively empty story over excluder. But 

 I doubt whether the bees would swarm un- 

 less, and until, cells were allowed to mature 

 in the queenless story. 



Goldens for Foulbrood 



In the American Bee Journal foi January, 

 IQ15. page 20. under the heading. " Breeding 

 from Prolific Queens." question 4, mention 

 is made of some combs with dead brood in 

 them. 



These same combs contained quite a little 

 honey, so one day last spring I set them out 

 near the hives for the bees to clean out. The 

 honey. I later found out. contained Ameri- 

 can foulbrood germs, so about one month 

 later I found all but two of my colonies rot- 

 ten with the disease, and I guess the two 

 that didn't take it were too weak to partake 

 in the feast. I then sent a sample of dead 

 brood to E. F. Phillips, of Washington. D. 

 C , and he pronounced it American foul- 

 brood. Along with his answer came a bul- 

 letin on foulbrood a»d its cure. 



I shook those bees and was very careful to 

 follow directions, giving each colony one 

 shake each. Some failed to stay cured, so I 

 ordered golden Italian queens from Vir- 

 ginia and began to requeen. One of those 

 colonies had a pretty bad case of it about a 

 month after being shaken, but when those 

 golden bees began to hatch they cleaned the 

 dead brood right out. and it has not appear- 

 ed since. 



1. Do you think the disease will reappear 

 in those colonies again next spring or will 

 they remain healthy ? 



2. If golden Italians are a sure protection 

 against European foulbrood and perhaps 

 American also, isn't it best for me to keep 

 that kind altogether even if they don't pro- 

 duce quite so much honey. 



I have a friend that fought American foul- 

 brood the past season, and he is very en- 

 thusiastic about the goldens also. 



I had a lot of experience with the disease 

 this year, and I feel it was worth many dol- 

 lars to me, for I have learned things that I 

 might have been years learning. Our honey 

 crop was nearly a failure on account of the 

 disease, but we got enough for our table use 

 besides barrels of fun and a lot of stings 

 and experience. 



rhe thing I regretted the most was the 

 burning of those beautiful combs, and if I 

 ever burn any more it will be after I have 

 given those golden bees a chance. 



Father had one colony, spring count, in- 

 creased to two. and took off 132 pounds of 

 comb honey. Prospects are good for next 

 year. 



The bees are on summer stands well 

 packed for winter with plenty of good 

 stores, and if those yellow bees and I can 

 conquer that foulbrood I will think we are 

 on the road to success. Illinois. 



.•\nswers.— I. Although you do not give 

 exact dates, I should judge from what you 

 say that after the last treatment there was 

 a considerable time when brood was reared, 



