172 



May, 1916. 



American l^ee Journal 



mals." The complete series make a 

 fine addition to any library. Prices of 

 any of these books is $1.50, and they 

 may be obtained direct from the pub- 

 lishers or from this office if desired. 



Shakespeare Quotation. — In our num- 

 ber for June, 1913, we gave seven quo- 

 tations of Shakespeare, mentioning 

 "hives," and thought we had given 

 them all. But here comes the British 

 Bee lournal with another: 

 ■' He is not worthy of the honeycomb 

 That shuns the hive because the bees have 

 stings." 



Can any of our Shakespeare students 

 tell where this is to be found ? 



Massachusetts Society of Beekeepers. 



—The 5th of the six regular meetings 

 of the year 1915-16 was held in the 

 Williams Room in the Ford Building, 



Boston, Mass., Saturday evening, March 

 18. 



Miss Dorothy Q. Wright, of Lowell, 

 Mass., (one of our own members) was 

 the speaker. Being a practical bee- 

 keeper, she was very interesting and 

 held the attention of the large gather- 

 ing for about two hours. She had a 

 display at an exhibition in Lowell re- 

 cently. There were miniature hives in 

 an apple orchard, dolls with hoods of 

 net tending them. The trees were 

 made of bayberry shrubs with the ber- 

 ries painted red. Above was a sign, 

 "An Apiary," and a large number of 

 visitors stepped up to ask her what 

 sort of animal an apiary was. She be- 

 lieves that all beekeepers should rear 

 their own queens, as queens by mail 

 are more or less injured. 



Arthur C. Miller, of Providence, R. 

 L, was also present. 



Henry W. Brixton. 



Queenless colony, they will stay better tha 

 if taken from a queenright colony, [tf the 

 weather is hot keep them in the cellar dur- 

 ing the confinement to the hive.— C. P. D.] 



Dr. Miller's ^.Answers* 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. II-.. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Starting to Keep Bees 



I am anxious to try to keep a few bees. 

 It is a calling that always appealed to me. 

 but always having lived in such cities as 

 London, Paris and New York, where there 

 was no space at my disposal, I never tried 

 it But I consider that I have an ideal spot 

 here in Wisconsin. I would like to start 

 with two hives, and gain knowledge by look- 

 ing carefully after these. Could I buy the 

 hives, frames, bees. etc.. from a dealer 

 already with instructions how to set them 



In reading the Bee Journal I see that a 

 great deal of mention is made of Queens. Is 

 it necessary to change the aueen yearly or 

 oftener ? I would like a few hints that might 

 help a beginner, and will write to let you 

 know later what has been my luck or other- 

 wise. Menasha. 



Answer.— The first thing I would advise 

 is that you get a good book of instruction on 

 beekeeping, such as Dadanl's-Langstroth. if 

 you do not already have such a book. 



You will have no difficulty in buying all 

 the things you need, but I am not sure that 

 dealers send out printed instructions for 

 putting together hives, etc. Generally, how- 

 ever, those who buy supplies in the flat 

 have on hand hives, etc.. that are already 

 put together, and by looking at these thev 

 have no trouble in understanding what is to 

 be done. It might be advisable for you to 

 have at least one hive that is put together. 



Some beekeepers have a practice of 

 changing their queens when a year or two 

 years old. but probably the larger part do 

 not. In my own practice I never replace a 

 queen merely because she is old, leaving it 

 to the bees to supersede her themselves. So 

 my queens are left to die a natural death, 

 unless I find one that is not a good queen 

 and then her head comes off as soon as I can 

 replace her with a better. 



The hints that you want you will get from 

 the bee-book, better than I can give you by 

 filling many pages. You will, however, find 

 things that are not fully clear to you in the 

 book, and then this department is at your 

 fullest service to help you out. By all means 

 let u§ hear of ygur experience. 



Starting a Colony— Introducing a Queen 



I, Can I make a new colony of bees with 2 

 frames of bees and a queen, and how early 

 in spring ? , , , ^ 



2 How long will I have to leave them shut 

 up with the queen before they get acquaint- 

 ed in the hive? Subscriber. 



Answers.— I. Yes. 2 frames well filled 

 with brood and well covered with bees 

 ought to make a good colony before winter. 

 If you mean how early it will be wise to be- 

 gin, all things considered, it will not be wise 

 to begin until colonies are so strong that 

 they can spare the 2 frames of brood and 

 still be strong, and that will likely be not 

 such a great while before swarming time. If 

 Tou mean how early it will be necessary to 

 begin so that there shall still be time for 

 building up. that depends upon the strength 

 of the nucleus with which to begin, and also 

 upon the pasturage and the season If the 

 2 frames are hardly half filled with brood, 

 with scarcely enough bees to cover it, in a 

 place where there is no late flow and the 

 season poor, there might be some difficulty 

 about the colony being strong enough for 

 winter, no matter how early the beginning is 

 made. If the frames are well filled with 

 brood abundantly covered with bees, in a 

 place where there is rich pasturage con- 

 tinuing until late in the fall, there might be 

 no need to begin until some time in August, 

 or possibly even the first of September. 



2. I suppose you mean how long the bees 

 must be fastened in the hive so they will not 

 return to the hive from which they were 

 taken. If two frames of bees and brood are 

 taken from a colony, and put in an empty 

 hive in the same apiary, many or all of the 

 bees will desert if no precaution is taken. 

 If they are fastened in the hive for three or 

 four days there should be no trouble, and 

 not many bees will return if they are im- 

 prisoned two days. There will be less need 

 for fastening the bees in the hive if a double 

 portion of bees be given. The old bees may 

 then return and still leave a good force of the 

 younger bees. U the bees are taken from a 



Transferring — Hiving Swarms 



1. My bees are in 8-frame hives and I wish 

 to put them in lo-frame hives. When shall I 

 make the change, and where shall I put the 

 two frames of foundation on the sides or 

 between the combs ? 



2. Will you explain the working for bulk 

 comb honey. 



3. In hiving a swarm should I hive them on 

 the old stand in a new hive or give them a 

 new location ? 



4. In hiving a swarm on the old stand, hav- 

 ing no flow on at the time, should I use start- 

 ers or full sheets of foundation ? 



5. What size of foundation would you rec- 

 ommend to use in shallow frames 3?s inches 

 deep of bulk comb honey ? 



6. Will light brood foundation do as well 

 as medium when wired ? 



7. In buying bees in pound packages how 

 many frames of foundation should be given 

 them at the time? Ohio. 



Answers —I. You can do it any time when 

 it is warm enough so bees fly freely. Put the 

 frames of foundation at one side. 



2. Cut the combs of sealed honey out of 

 the frames, divide it into pieces small 

 enough to go into the container, and after 

 filling the container with these combs pou 

 in all the extracted honey you can. 



3. If you don't want the colony to swarm 

 again, hive the swarm on the old stand; if 

 you want an afterswarm. hive the swarm on 

 a new stand. 



J. Better use full sheets at all times un- 

 less you want a good deal of drone-comb. J 



J. Thin super. ■ 



6 Yes. if it has a little closer wiring. 



7. You may give just what the bees will 

 cover, or you may give any number more up 

 to the full capacity of the hive. 



Comb or Extracted Honey ? Mixing of Races of 

 Bees 



1. Would vou advise a beginner to start in 

 with extracted or comb honey ? 



2. Will a queen mate in the air with a 

 drone from other colonies? It they do it 

 would it be hard to keep pure-bred bees ? 

 Mine are getting black; they mixed with my 

 neighbor's bees, as one of them kept black 

 bees. Michigan. 



Answers.— I. That's a difficult question, 

 the matter depending so much on your mar- 

 ket, your bee-forage, and other things, so 

 that no one can decide the question so well 

 as yourself. For a beginner it is easier to 

 run for extracted, and you get more of it. 

 probably a half more, and some good au- 

 thorities say even double. If you have light- 

 colored honey, and can sell sections for 

 twice as much as extracted, or even possi- 

 bly a half more, then comb honey may be 

 the thing for you; if you are in a location 

 where extracted will sell for nearly as much 

 as comb, then by all means extract. 



2. You thought exactly right; they do mix 

 at a distance of two miles, more or less, 

 and it's not an easy thing to prevent such 

 mixing. 



Hiving a Swarm 



Last August a swarm of bees took posses- 

 sion of the piazza, going through a knothole 

 under the clapboards. Would it be possible 



to get them into a hive ? 



New Jersey. 



Answer.— Leave them until the fruit trees 

 are in bloom. Then cut away one or more 

 of the boards so as to expose the bees and 

 combs, using enough smoke to keep the 

 bees subdued. Set a hive close by, cut out 

 the combs, fastening at least some of them 

 in the frames and put them in the hive, 

 brush and smoke the bees out of captivity, 

 close up the boards and the knot-hole, keep- 



