April, 1916. 



American Bgc Jonrnalj 



137 



Exlracting Wax 



I would like to know liow to get wax out 

 of old comb in some clean easy way. I have 

 a lot of it, and have spoiled some in boilinK 

 the comb to net the wax out. I will be Klad 

 if yon will tell me some wav. New York. 



Answer.— I suspect that you have no book 

 on beekeeping, and I strontfly advise von to 

 get one. I feel pretty sure you will say it is 

 worth five times its cost. In that you will 

 find answers to most of the questions you 

 would like to ask. I am always glad to re- 

 receive questions about things not entirely 

 clear in the books, and this department is 

 meant to til just such cases. As to the mat- 

 ter of wax. I have had a good deal of experi- 

 ence on a small scale, and the very best 

 thing I know is to send the old combs and 

 scraps to those who advertise that they 

 melt up such material and get out the wax. 

 It is quite a saving, for they get out more 

 wax than I possibly can. 



[The only absolutely indispensable re- 

 quirements in rendering combs into wax 

 are to use plenty of rain water with the 

 combs, in a tin boiler and dip the melted 

 wax out through a screen pocket with a 

 ladle, as it comes to the surface, and not let 

 it overboil or run over. But the experience 

 of the past indicates that those who make a 

 business of it can save you some money, as 

 they get enough more wax out of it to make 

 it profitable to both.— c. p. d] 



Increase by Division 



1. I have a single colony and would like to 

 make some increase, say two colonies out 

 of the one and get some surplus. In order 

 to do this would it be best to divide early or 

 wait until the main flow is over and feed if 

 necessary ? 



2. Doesn't opening the hives once a week 

 to look for indications of swarming, etc., as 

 advised in the books, greatly interfere with 

 the work of the bees ? 



3. In one part of your book you say that 

 sections are removed as soon as completed, 

 and on another page the statement is made 

 that you sometimes have six or seven supers 

 on at a time. Which is the better way ? 



4. You say that you do away with all 

 queens that are not good. Is there any other 

 way of telling other than tearing open the 

 hives frequently, if she is good or not ? 



5. In making a single frame observation 

 hive what should be the inside width be- 

 tween the two sheets of glass ? 



6. During last summer I sometimes noticed 

 two bees tumbling out of the hive, tightly 

 locked together. They would roll down the 

 inclined entrance board to the ground, and 

 after strugling for a while would sometimes 

 fly off together while clinched. Was this 

 robbing? There is no other bee-yard within 

 two miles. 



7. In Gleanings for April 15. igi4, you say 

 that you had seven or eight swarms, but that 

 they were not hived as such. What was 

 done with these swarms ? 



8. Since I cannot be with my bees every 

 day. shook swarming would. I presume, be 

 my only plan to control swarming, and as a 

 swarm may issue anyhow, in spite of the 

 preventive methods tried, the books say 

 that if this happens the old colony should 

 be set on a new stand if increase is desired, 

 and given a queen or ripe queen-cell. Now 

 what becomes of the queen-cells that were 

 built in the old colony when it swarmed ? 



In Gleanings for April 15, 1015. page 338. 

 you say " put the empty 8-frame bodies on 

 top," In the American Bee Journal for Jan- 

 uary, 1015. page 30, you say " always put the 

 second story below." Which way is better ? 



10. My hives are 10 frames. Could I work 

 your plan of building up the bees by using 

 shallow or half story bodies to give the 

 queen more room in the same way that you 

 use full depth Bframe bodies ? Would it be 

 better to use regular hive bodies ? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers —Before answering any of your 

 questions I want to say that it is refreshing 

 to meet a man who has more bee-books as 

 well as more bee-journals than he has colo- 

 nies of bees. The man who thinks he can 

 keep bees without having any book of in- 

 struction is saving at the spigot and wasting 



at the bung-hole. It will always be a pleas- 

 ure to receive questions from you. Now for 

 your questions. 



1. In your case it would probably be as 

 well to make the division just before danger 

 of swarming, perhaps by the plan that later 

 on you call shookswarming (only please 

 don't call it by that name unless you favor 

 saying. " I have took more lioney than was 

 took by my neighbor." Shake or shaken is 

 better Knglish. and you're not in the habit 

 of using bad English). If you wait until the 

 flow is over you are likely to have too much 

 trouble with the bees trying to swarm. It 

 might be a good plan for you to set the hive 

 with the rest of the brood close beside it. 

 then a week later remove the latter to a 

 new stand. That would probably give you 

 more surplus anti still allow both colonies 

 to be in good shape for winter. 



2. I don't think it interferes much, cer" 

 tainly not enough to overbalance the advan- 

 tage, and yet it does no good to open a hive 

 unless there is some reason for it. 



3. Both are good, and both happen at the 

 same time. A hive may have on it three to 

 seven supers of sections, some of them con- 

 taining very little honey and from that up to 

 being filled and yet a number of sections un- 

 sealed. As soon as any one of the supers 

 has its sections completed the super is re- 

 moved. Indeed, generally the super is re- 

 moved while the sections at the four 

 corners are not yet completed. 



4. Generally you will not— indeed, gener- 

 ally you cannot— judge as to the value of a 

 queen by opening the hive and examining. 

 You can hardly judge in ordinary cases un- 

 til the close of the season, when the queen 

 his done a full season's work. Then she 

 will be considered good or bad according as 

 her colony has stored above or below the 

 average amount of surplus. 



5. 1 don't know what is the generally ac- 

 cepted distance between the two panes of 

 glass, but from my experience with nucleus 

 hives having only one frame. I should judge 

 it might be twoinchesor a trifle more. With 

 less than that the bees are more likely to 

 swarm out. A less distance is likely to 

 make less trouble with bits of comb built 

 where not wanted, but it is no great trouble 

 to clean out such bits from time to time. 



6. You may feel certain that one of those 

 bees was trying to rob. It could easily come 

 two miles. It is just possible, too. that bees 

 might be nearer than two miles without you 

 knowing it. 



7. The queen being clipped could not go 

 with the swarm, and so the swarm returned 

 to the hive, and then the colony was treated 

 in one of the ways described in " Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees." 



8. What becomes of the queen-cells after 

 a colony has swarmed and is removed to a 

 new stand depends somewhat on the time 

 when the removal is made. If moved at the 

 time of swarming or very shortly thereafter, 

 it is possible that the first virgin emerging 

 will be allowed to kill all her royal sisters 

 in their cradles, and it is also possible that 

 one or more afterwards will issue before all 

 cells are destroyed. If. however, the swarm 

 be set on the old stand with the old hive 

 set on a new stand a week later, it is almost 

 certain that there will be no more swarm- 

 ing, all the cells after the first being de- 

 stroyed. If the beekeeper wants to give a 

 queen or a ripe cell, he must make it his 

 business to destroy first all cells in the hive. 



0. I have spent no little time looking over 

 and over again page 338. to which you refer 

 in Gleanings, but cannot find what you quote. 

 There may have been some special case in 



which it would be advisable to "out the 

 empty 8-frame bodies on top." but in the 

 case quoted from American Bee Journal. I 

 should put them below. (Last year I put 

 them on top beiiiinea more lazy way. but not 

 so good a way. Kindly give me the exact 

 place to find what you quote in Gleanings, 

 and I think I can explain that there is no 

 conflict, although I do not by any means 

 claim that I am always consistent. 



10. I think the shallow stories would work 

 just as well as the deeper ones. 



Transferring Bees from an Old Box-Hive 



I have a good colony of bees in an old box- 

 hive. I never transferred any or ever saw it 

 done. I am rather afraid to start the job. If 

 I put a good hive above or below, do you 

 think the queen would go into the new hive 

 to lay her eggs as the old box-hive is not very 

 large? Illinois. 



Answer.— Yes. when the old quarters be- 

 come too cramped the bees will work up 

 into a new hive placed over, and still better 

 into one placed under. Another way you 

 can do is to wait until the bees swarm, 

 hive the swarm into a proper hive, set the 

 swarm on the old stand with the old hive 

 close beside it. a week later move the old 

 hive to the other side of the new one. and 

 then two weeks later still, at which time all 

 the worker-brood will have emerged, break 

 up the old hive, adding the bees to the 

 swarm and melting up the old combs. 



Transferring Bees into Standard lO-Frame Hives 



I have seven colonies of bees in soap boxes 

 and home-made.hives no two alike as to size, 

 etc. Kindly give me instructions as to the 

 best way to transfer them into standard 

 dovetailed lo-frame hives that I have. When 

 will be the best time to do this, and what 

 will I do for starters in the new hives ? 



Arkansas. 



Answer.— Wait until the colony swarms 

 and hive the swarm in one of your up-to 

 date hives. Set the swarm on the old stand 

 that the old hive occupied, and set the old 

 hive close beside it. A week later jump the 

 old hive over to the other side of the swarm. 

 Two weeks later still, when all the worker- 

 brood will have emerged, break up the old 

 hive, add the bees to the swarm, and melt 

 up the old combs. You can fasten starters 

 of foundation in the frames, but it will be 

 much better to fill the frames with full 

 sheets of foundation. 



Drone-Comb in Sections 



In as much as a given area of drone-comb 

 will store the same amount of honey as a 

 like area of worker-comb, and as less wax 

 and therefore work is required to construct 

 the drone-comb, why is not all super foun- 

 dation for use in sections, drone foundation, 

 instead of worker ? New 'York? 



Answer.— I don't know for certain, but 1 

 think some doubt has been thrown upon the 

 belief that drone-comb takes less wax than 

 worker-comb. However, even if it should 

 take less, the gain in that direction could 

 not be enough to counterbalance the objec- 

 tions. It goes without saying that no drone- 

 comb is wanted in the brood-nest, although 

 some favor a little there. Probably, how- 

 ever, no one wants as much of it in the 

 brood-chamber as the bees would have 

 there if left to their own devices. If there 

 is not as much in the brood-chamber as the 

 bees like, then they prepare for eggs any 

 drone-comb found in the super, or build 

 drone-comb in any vacancy found there, 

 and the queen goes up and lays there. Un- 

 less one wants the trouble and expense of 

 using queen-excluders, the only thing is to 

 have worker-foundation in the super, and to 

 have each section #//ci/with it. 



