280 



August, 1916. 



American Hee Joarnaij 



tom-board "and full half exposure to the 

 Soulh This last winter did not show up 

 well: there was considerable evidence of 

 mice haviner gotten in between the outside 

 of the hive and inner side of box or boxes. 

 Mice or any such animal could not get inside 

 of the hive, the back of the latter being all 

 closed, and the entrances being provided 

 with grating. The queer thing was that ail 

 such colonies at tirst examination had 

 queens, and almost all of them had ample 

 stores left, but number of bees rather small. 

 Do you see any way mice. etc.. might have 

 gotten at the bees, or how can you account 

 for the low state of the colonies ? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— I. So many factors enter into 

 the problem that a definite answer can 

 hardly be given. The difference in bees, 

 seasons, and management have special bear- 

 ing. Speaking in very general terms— and 

 at that only a guess— I should say that with 

 such a queen the prospect for no swarming 

 might be three times as good as with a 

 queen three months to a year older. But I 

 would guess that the prospect would be five 

 times better still with a queen of the cur • 

 rent year's rearing. 



2. That would depend upon the season. A 

 good queen could be reared from an egg laid 

 eight days before theclose of thehoney flow 

 provided that conditions would still allow 

 the flight of drones until the queen was a 

 week old. 



3 I didn't mean that the plans mentioned 

 were the best for an outapiary. and that 

 some other might be belter for a home- 

 apiary. What I meant was. that the plans 

 were given for a homeapiary. and "I don't 

 know of any better way in an outapi- 

 ary." As to preference. I gave that when 

 saying, "More likelv than any olher way. 

 the dequeening treatment will be used." 

 and II may here add. especially if a queen 

 can be given that has lately begun laying. 

 As to the order of preference of the others, 

 it would be hard to say: "Circumstances 

 alter cases'" But it's all the same for home- 

 apiary and outapiary. 



4. It there was no chance for the mice to 

 get inside the hive itself. I don't see how 

 they could do any harm by being between 

 the hive-walls and the outside box. unless it 

 be by their jarring and noise. One would 

 hardly think that would amount to much. 



Uniting by the Newspaper Plan 



1. When uniting colonies by the news- 

 paper plan, how longshould I leave the new 

 swarm separate, if I leave it for the bees to 

 kill the queen ? 



2. How long should I let the paper remain 

 in the hive ? . , , , ,, j 



3 Do bees winter better in double-walled 

 or single-walled hives? .Pennsylvania. 



Answers— I. It doesn't matter greatly: 

 you may leave them for weeks untouched, 

 but it is generally better to get the brood- 

 combs all together in one story as soon as 

 the bees have united, say in three to six 

 days. 



2. 'Vou may leave it for the bees to clean 

 out at their convenience, but it is better to 

 take it away when you put the brood all in 

 one story. 



3. Some have better success with double 

 walls, and some with single. 



A Beginner 



1. Is a hive with ten Hoffman frames large 

 enough for the average queen ? 



2. Why do they make the Hoffman frame 

 so shallow? . , , , 



3. In clipping queens wings how much of 

 the wing do you clip ? 



i. If you only clip one wing is that enough 

 to prevent her from going with a swarm ? 



5. Does a man make anything by using 

 foundation in full sheets, or is it just an ad- 

 vertising scheme to get you to buy lots of 

 foundailon? 



6. 1 hey say it takes lo pounds of honey to 



make one pound of wax, and the way it is 

 made it is only about one-third wax That 

 way a pound of wax would go quite a ways. 

 If that is true, I believe a person does not 

 save anything by using full sheets of founda- 

 tion ? 



7. Do bees need salt ? 



8. Do bees fill all their frames with brood 

 in thespring. or it being cold and no honey 

 coming in. has it anything to do with brood- 

 rearing ? 



Q. Does every frame in a hive have to be 

 filled with brood before they swarm ? 



10 Do the field bees ever change with the 

 bees that work in the hive, and can the bees 

 in the hive gather honey and pollen ? 



Minnesota. 



Answers —I. That isn't easy to say; but I 

 suspect that in the height of the laying sea- 

 son the average queen would use more room 

 if she had it. 



2. Perhaps the greatest reason is because 

 it allows a larger surface on top than would 

 a deeper frame. 



3. All that can conveniently be clipped of 

 the two wings on one side, say half or more. 



4- Plenty. 



5. Figure it out for yourself. Yoa can get 

 .along with so little foundation that you can 



practically save the cost of it, say 8o cents 

 per colony. Then you will have drone cells 

 in about a fifth of your combs. That means 

 a fourth more worker-cells in your combs 

 built upon fullsheelsof foundation, a fourth 

 more workers raised, and a fourth more 

 honey produced. If the colony without 

 foundation yields you $j 20. the one with 

 foundation should yield a fourth more, and a 

 fourth of J? 2ois 80 cents. So it just comes 

 out even, doesn't it? You have saved 80 

 cents on foundation and lost 80 cents on 

 honev. But that is not the end of it. Those 

 combs ought to be good for 30 years or more, 

 but say 25. If you lose Bo cents every year 

 for 25 years, it will make J20 in all. So vour 

 saving of 80 cents has cost you a loss of $20. 

 making you $iy.2o out of the whole dicker 

 Then something more should be added for 

 the rearing and feeding of the extra drones. 

 But I don't want to be hard on you: a loss of 

 $ig 20 is bad enough. 



I want to save all I can. and I have always 

 felt I couldn't afford to do with less than 

 full sheets. 



6. 1 don't know whether it takes more or 

 less than 10 pounds of honey for a pound of 

 wax, and you are away off if you think there 

 is anything but pure wax in a new comb (you 

 may get less than a third of wax from old 

 comb, but that's nothing to the point), but I 

 didn't figure anything for the cost of the 

 wax, and in any case more wax must be used 

 if there is no foundation, so the only differ- 

 ence is to add something more to that $10.20, 

 if you insist upon it. 



7. I don't know: but from the way I've 

 seen them about a salt barrel I suspect they 

 do. 



8. Yes. the cold lessens brood-rearing, and 

 if no honev comes in for a sufficiently long 

 time it will stop brood-rearing altogether. 



g. Not necessarily: but when a swarm 

 issues you will generally find all the cells in 

 the brood-chamber filled with brood or 

 stores. 



10 In a pinch field bees may do house 

 work, and it's the regular thing for nurse- 

 bees to become field bees, but I don't be- 

 lieve there's ever a swap, field-bees becom- 

 ing nurse-bees so that nurses can take the 

 places of the field-bees. In other words. I 

 don't believe field-bees ever becom ■ nurse- 

 bees so long as there are plenty of young 

 bees in the hive. 



It. Yes. 



Facts About Alfalfa Honey 



I am writing a few facts about alfalfa 

 honey suggested by Dr. Miller's reply to a 



question in American Bee Journal. In Col- 

 orado we produced both comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, and it frequently granulated 

 in the combs, but one spring a neighbor 

 brought us about 100 supers of comb honey 

 that had been kept in the loft of a barn cov- 

 ered with hay all winter. There was not a 

 granulation in the lot. This was largely 

 alfalfa honey, with moreor less sweetclover 

 honey mixed in 



In our first season here in Montana our 

 comb honey showed granulation in October, 

 but since then we have had it keep in good 

 condition all winter. One store has five 

 cases left as clear as when gathered. We 

 had half a case not sold: it stood in the 

 shop where there was no fire all winter, and 

 the temperature was down to about 60 de- 

 grees Kahr. below, and to 30 degrees below 

 zero several times, and for a month zero 

 weather was considered a "warm spell." I 

 doubt if it was much warmer inside than 

 out. Yet today the honey does not show 

 any granulation. It is alfalfa honey mostly, 

 with some sweet clover, no doubt. 



Our extracted honey usually granulates 

 quite early, but when speaking of comb 

 honey I doubt if alfalfa honey will granulate 

 any sooner than white clover, under same 

 conditions. 



I do not know why alfalfa honey should 

 have such a bad reputation, but probably 

 the weather conditions have much todo with 

 its keeping liquid. 



1 always read answers to questions in 

 American Bee Tournal and other places 

 with much profit, even if once in a while Dr. 

 Miller says " I don't know. " Montana. 



Answer —This is very interesting, but 

 leaves one wondering why in the same cli- 

 mate alfalfa honey should sometimes granu- 

 late in October, when no self-respecting 

 clover honey would ever think of granulat- 

 ing, and at other times remain liquid 

 through a winter so cold thatordinary white- 

 clover honey would make no attempt to 

 keep liquid. 



Width of Entrance— Crosses— Small Swarm, Etc. 



1. What do you think of a ^-inch entrance 

 in an 8 frame hive ? 



2 Are the crosses of Italian and black 

 bees any good as honey gatherers ? 



3. Today, June 4. I hived a small swarm 

 with a hatfull of bees in it. Do you think 

 they will make a strong colony by autumn 

 and store enough for winter ? 



4. Did you ever use a Parker foundation 

 fastener ? I got one but it was not good. 



5. I see no bees working on white clover. 

 Do you think there is any nectar ? 



6 Does it cost more to produce comb 

 honey than extracted ? loWA. 



Answers.— 1. In winter, outdoors, it's too 

 large: in summer, too small. 



2. Yes. the first cross may be as good gath- 

 erers as pure Italians, but after that they 

 are likely to deteriorate. 



3. If the season is good, yes, 



4. Years ago I used one and made quite 

 good work with it. 



5. There may. and there may not be. You 

 can tell better later in the season. You will 

 see very few bees on clover where it is 

 plenty and not many colonies of bees. 



6. Oh. my! Yes, 



Miscellaneous Questions 



1. It is recommended when bees swarm to 

 set the new colony on the old stand, moving 

 the old hive back first on one side then on 

 the other, so that most of the flying bees 

 will go with the new colony. If one does not 

 wish to increase, would it not be better to 

 shake most of the bees from the old frames 

 in front of the new colony, giving the brood 

 to weaker colonies, thus finishing the job at 

 once ? 



2. When a colony has died and many of the 

 workers are in the cells, will the bees re- 

 move them if placed in or over a strong 

 colony ? 



3. When there are patches of white mold 

 on comb from which bees have died, will 

 bees remove this if placed over or in a 

 strong colony ? 



4. When a queen is removed from the hive 

 for any purpose such as the curing of Euro- 

 pean foulbrood. and it is desired to return 

 her later, should she be caged in her own 

 hive or some other, or put m a nucleus ? 



5. Are the coiled wire cages similar to 



