June, 1916. 



American Hee Journal I 



209 



fa^sgfe^l 



4. About a day. 



5. It would seem hardly worth while, pro- 

 vided the cell you Kave was quite ripe. 



Instead of a ripe cell.it minhl be worth 

 while to try a virgin less than a day old 

 Such a one. I think, could be dropped in the 

 hive without catine. at the time you kill the 

 old queen. 



Alexander's Plan for Increase 



1. Would you advise me to use Alexan- 

 der's plan for increase in a small outapiary. 

 and is it a good way to make increase ? 



2. Can you tell the best way to introduce 

 a queen at an outapiary, when using this 

 plan for increase ? 



3. Are there many boys in the bee-busi- 

 ness; if so. why don't the American Bee 

 Journal have a page for the junior apiarists ? 



Maine. 

 Answers.— I. The plan is good, and would 

 work all right in an outapiary. But you will 

 most likely be sadly disappointed if you ex 

 pect as much as has been claimed for the 

 plan; for it has been claimed that you have 

 two good colonies in place of one to begin 

 the clover harvest, and that you will get 

 nearly twice as much surplus as you will by 

 not dividing. 



2. Any plan that is good in general will 

 work well here; indeed, there is not much 

 risk with any plan, for when the queen is 

 given the bees feel themselves hopelessly 

 Queenless. 



3. There are many boys engaged in bee- 

 keeping; but in connection with older bee- 

 keepers, generally their fathers. So few 

 boys are beekeepers on their own hook that 

 it is not at all likely enough of them could 

 be mustered to sustain a department of 

 their own. 



Wintering — Increase 



1. If I should remove a brood-frame from 

 each side of a iii-fram.e Danzenbaker hive 

 and substitute a solid board, and fill in the 

 space at the ends of the frameswith a board 

 of the proper thickness, would it be equal 

 for wintering to a hive with an outer case 

 packed in the usual way? 



2. Do you think it a good way to make in- 

 crease and build up. as in an article by 

 Hattie L. McManus. page 192. American Bee 

 Journal for June, 1915. Wisconsin. 



Answers.— I. My guess would be that it 

 would be nearly as good, but not quite. 



2. Not having tried that exact plan, my 

 opinion could not be very conclusive; but 

 the plan looks hopeful enough to warrant 

 that you would experience no great loss to 

 give it a trial. 



Increasing — Controlling Swarms 



I have 30 beehives and do not wish any 

 more than 30 colonies. Twenty-seven of the 

 hives have bees in them, nearly all Italians. 

 They have straight combs made on full 

 sheets of foundation and wired. The other 

 three hives lost their bees during the winter, 

 but have the full drawn combs; have a few 

 weak colonies. I use the precaution of 

 giving plenty of storage room and ventilation 

 to prevent swarming, and have been pretty 

 successful so far in keeping down too great 



number of swarms. I want to have a few 

 warms this season on account of the seem- 

 ing good prospects for a honey flow from 

 white clover and alsike. 



Of cours«. I expect to fill my empty hives 

 with my first swarms, but what shall I do 

 with any other swarms that I may have ? 

 Would it be practical to unite them with my 

 weaker colonies; if so, how would you unite 

 them? Please give your plan of uniting 

 with newspapers between colonies. How 

 many sheets of paper do you use ? When 

 uniting a swarm with a weak colony would 

 you kill either queen ? Kentucky. 



Answer. — Yes. you can unite swarms with 

 weaker colonies; but it may be as well or 

 better, in your case, to unite the weaker 

 colonies first. Uniting them by the news- 

 paper plan is very simple. I generally use a 

 Single thickness of newspaper, but have 



used two. Lay the newspaper over the top- 

 bars, set the other hive on that, of course 

 without its bottom board, and cover up. 

 That is all there is to it; the bees will do 

 the rest. There is no chance for a bee to 

 iret out of the upper hive until a hole is 

 gnawed through the paper, and then one bee 

 at a time will get through at first, and there 

 will be no fighting. 



If there be any choice of queens, kill the 

 poorer, and it will be as well to do this two 

 or three days previously, and then set the 

 queenless one on the other. But if you leave 

 it to the bees they will be likely to kill the 

 poorer.' 



After doubling the weak colonies you have 

 an increased number of empty hives, and 

 can now double up swarms. After having 

 the first swarm, when the next swarm comes, 

 instead of hiving it in an empty hive, hive it 

 in the same hive wiih the first swarm. Then 

 hive the third and the fourth in the same 

 hive, and so on. 



There's another way you can do to keep 

 down increase. When a colony sWarms, 

 return the swarm and kill or remove the 

 queen. It will be better if the queen be 

 clipped. Then a week later kill all cells 

 but one. A better way is to begin listening 

 with your ear to the hive about a week after 

 you returned the swarm. Go in the eve- 

 ning, after the bees have stopped flying and 

 you will hear better. When you hear the 

 young queen piping, go to the hive the next 

 morning and kill .?// the cells. That's all. 



-Requeen- 



Getting a Swarm irom Between Walls- 

 ing — Foulbrood 



1. Could a swarm of bees be taken from 

 the walls of a house with the aid of a bee- 

 escape, without tearing off the boards? If 

 it cannot, how would you get it out ? 



2. Would it be of any value to requeen 

 just before a honey flow ? I would like to 

 change my strain of bees to 3-banded Ital- 

 ians, and would like to do it early. 



3. Which is the best way to treat hives 

 where bees died of foulbrood several years 

 ago. and have never been used since ? 



Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. By means of an escape you 

 could get all bees that would fly out, but not 

 the queen. By injecting carbolic acid, or 

 something of the kind, you might get the 

 queen. 



2. Almost any time is a good time to re 

 queen if you requeen with better stock. If 

 you requeen just before the harvest, there 



may be a little break in brood rearing that 

 may affect the harvest more than requeen- 

 ing at the close of the harvest. On the other 

 hand, requeening with a young queen just 

 before harvest might stop the colony from 

 swarming, and so increase the crop, 



3. Some good authorities think that such a 

 hive should be scorched inside with a 

 painter's torch, or else have straw put in it 

 and burned; and that no matter whether it 

 has been freshly occupied by a diseased 

 colony or not for years. Others think there 

 is no need to give the hive any treatment 

 whatever. But all agree tliat the only treat- 

 ment tor the combs is to burn or melt them. 



Distances lor Proper Mating 



1. In mating queens does it make any ma- 

 terial difference if they are mated with 

 drones from the same queen mother; if so 

 what is the difference ? 



2. Also how far would one have to put his 

 mating nuclei away from other bees to in- 

 sure mating with proper drones. 



3. What would you consider a good test to 

 prove that bees were /■»« Italians ? 



Wisconsin. 

 Answers.— I. Like any other case of in- 

 breeding, there is danger of weakness and 

 deterioration. 



2. Some think a distance of half a mile is 

 pretty safe. A mile is better, although there 

 may be a A'.s.f/i^;7//r of trouble at a distance 

 of two miles or more. 



3. The orthodox test is the three yellow 

 bands on all the workers. But a few work- 

 ers off color should not condemn a colony, 

 for they may have come from another col- 

 ony, as bees do a good bit of straying. 



Returning Afterswarms 



In returning an afterswarm to the parent 

 colony, where the hive is some distance 

 above the ground; in fact, too high to per- 

 mit of conveniently hiving them at the en- 

 trance, would you advise shaking them in an 

 empty super placed on the parent hive ? 



Illinois. 



Answeb.— Yes, your plan of returning is 

 all right; but it would be better and easier 

 to avoid the trouble of returning by pre- 

 venting the afterswarm in the way that has 

 been given so many times. Afterswarms are 

 more ticklish things than prime swarms, 

 and sometimes when you try to hive an 

 afterswarm it takes into its head the foolish 

 notion to take its departure, leaving you 

 to gaze somewhat foolishly after it. 



Reports And ^ Experiences 



A Skunk and a Bee Tree 



One day last March I started to my traps, 

 and as I was walkingalong I saw a skunk 

 track. I followed it and it led me by an elm 

 stub 3/4 feet in diameter and 12 feet high. 

 The snow was packed down and I noticed a 

 lot of little black specks on it. When I 

 looked closer I saw they were bees' heads. 

 The skunks had eaten the bees, all but the 

 heads; also a small amount of broken comb 

 was on the ground. The hole in the stub 

 faced the east, and was about 12 inches in 

 height, and by looking in I could see comb. 



The skunk I was tracking had gone on. I 

 followed it and soon got it; it yielded me 

 $2 50. About a week later, as I was going by 

 the stub. I had my ax. so I chopped into the 

 tree to see if there was enough honey worth 

 bothering with, I did not cut the tree down, 

 but commenced chopping at the bottom a 

 strip about a foot wide, and kept chopping 

 until I had an opening as high as my head. 

 All I could see was honey. I went home. 



hitched the horse to the cutter, took a wash- 

 tub and boiler with me and filled them up; 

 drove home again, got another tub and tilled 

 that full of nice white honey. I also got a 

 potato crate full of empty combs which I 

 made into wax and shipped it to A. G. Wood- 

 man. I sold the honey, three pounds, for 25 

 cents, and it brought me over $15 beside 

 what I kept for my own use or gave away. I 

 have cut lots of trees, but not one ever had 

 as much honey as this one. 

 Riverside. Mich. Archie Kelley. 



Publicity for Honey 



It has been with much interest that I have 

 followed all that has been said in both the 

 American Bee Journal and other bee publi- 

 cations for some months past, about adver- 

 tising honey. The interest seems to be 

 growing, and from your issue of March i. it 

 seems that something definite may be done. 

 The article, "A National Publicity Cam- 

 paign for Honey, " is a fine one. 



