282 



August, 1916. 



American ^ec Jonrnajj 



brood from other colonies, and the process 

 repeated. If you don't care to repeat it. 

 then you will do well, instead of dividing 

 No. I into two eaual parts, to take only two 

 frames of brood and bees with the queen, in 

 the first place, to put in No 8. 



If you have extra Queen-cells. you can 

 make additional nuclei for them if you wish. 

 A week after making No. i queenless count 

 the cells started in it. and if you find you 

 will need extra nuclei, start them at that 

 time, so they will be ready to accept cells 

 three days later. [Do not close the colonies 

 or nuclei if the weather is very hot. Put 

 them in the cellar a day or two instead — 

 Editor.) 



Bottling Honey 



Are drugs used in bottling extracted 

 honey, or do they use the heating process 

 to keep it from granulating? Missouri. 



Answer.— I know of no one who puts into 

 bottled honey anything but pure honey. 

 Some heat the honey to I30 to i6o degrees. 

 I'll tell you the way I do in selling a small 

 quantity of extracted honey in my home 

 market. It is put in 5-pound pails, each pail 

 bearing a label that says the honey will 

 candy or granulate, and instructions are 

 given for reliquefying. When the consumer 

 buys a pail at the grocery he knows what to 

 expect, and I've never heard a word of com- 

 plaint Nothing original about it; I am only 

 following the track of hundreds of others. 



with a crowbar, pour into it half a pint or 

 more of kerosene and plug up the hole with 

 dirt. If the nest be very large it may be 

 well to make several holes. 



2. At so short a distance as 5imile it will 

 not be well to bring the bees home until 

 they have ceased daily flights in the fall, 

 unless you take the precaution to leave in 

 the place of the hiv« another hive in which 

 is an empty comb. Many of the tield-bees 

 will return and be found on this comb in the 

 evening of the second or third day. when 

 you can shake them in front of the hive at 

 your home. After you have repeated this a 

 very few times the bees will stay where you 

 want them. . 



Swarming 



1. I had all queens clipped, and when they 

 swarmed I expected to catch the queen in 

 front of the hive. In putting them in a hive 

 I found a young queen. What had they done 

 with the old queen ? I have had several 

 that way. They did not swarm out. as I 

 have been here to look after them and noth- 

 ing grows on the land where a queen could 



. get lost. Have only had a few days favor- 

 able for them to swarm, as the weather has 

 been cold and backward. 



2. I have one swarm that was working in 

 the super in May with lotsof brood I looked 

 at them in June and found no queen and no 

 brood. Why did they not rear another 

 queen ? 



3 One swarm came out June ti The 14th 

 it swarmed again, and as I couldn't find a 

 queen I ran them back. They came out 

 again in the afternoon with a queen, so I 



Selling of Swarms 



1. Why is it that bees of a swarm after be- 

 ing hived do not do much outdoor work the 

 first day? 



2. I had a swarm issue from a hive and 

 alight and cluster on two separate branches 

 of the same tree. Why is it that they did 

 this way ? 



3. Will the old bees of a swarm ever go 

 back to the old stand after being hived on a 

 new stand ? 



4. Is it advisable to use shallow extracting 

 frames for comb honey ? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. The first thing needed in 

 the new home of a swarm is an outfit of 

 combs. In preparation for this the bees 

 have loaded up with honey, a good many 

 bees hang idly, secreting wax. there is work 

 to do fitting up the new home, and this 

 should account for less bees afield. 



2. I don't know why. Quite often they do 

 so. Let me ask you in turn, why do the bees 

 of a swarm generally settle in a single clus- 

 ter ? It will not do to say that it is because 

 the bees want to settle where the queen is, 

 for I have seen many a swarm settle in a 

 cluster when their clipped queen was not 

 with them. Generally however, such a 

 swarm returns without settling. 



5 I don't know that any bee. old or young, 

 that issues with a swarm, ever deserts the 

 swarm, but it is possible that there may be 

 exceptions. 



4. It may be, in some cases, for a home 

 market; and is always advisable for bulk 

 honey, that is where combs are cutout, put 

 in a container, and the container then filled 

 up with extracted honey. 



Ants 



I. About a week ago I caught a swarm of 

 bees. Now the hive is full of black ants and 

 eggs. What can I do to keep the ants out of 

 the hive? 2 Can I move the bees to the 

 house before fall ? Illinois. 



Answers.— I. It is not likely that ants will 

 do a great deal of harm in your region, the 

 bees being able to take care of themselves; 

 although in some parts of the South they 

 »re very destructive. If you can trace the 

 ants to their nest you can punch a hole in it 



ably so bad that there was no chance for 

 swarming until time for the old queen to be 

 put out of the way. 



2. They may have reared a young queen 

 which may have been lost on her wedding 

 flight. 



3. Bees sometimes swarm out with a queen 

 on her wedding flight, and when the first 

 flight is not successful it will be repealed. 

 More likely, however, a plurality of virgins 

 were in the hive, all but one in their cells 

 and when the first one came out with the 

 swarm and you hived the swarm, a second 

 virgin was liberated from its cell. The two 

 virgins had a Ifight to the finish, and the vie 

 tor then issued with a swarm, which you 

 hived separately. Then during the night, 

 the old colony being reduced, the bees gave 

 up thought of further swarming, allowing 

 the free virgin to kill the others in their 

 cells, or else all were allowed to emerge 

 from their cells and fight it out until only 

 one was left. Then when you returned the 

 swarm next morning, the two virgins had 

 their bout, and the incident was considered 

 closed. 



4. The clipping of the wings had nothing 

 to do in preventing the queen from issuing 

 with a swarm, for a clipped queen comes 

 out with a swarm the same as any other, 

 only she cannot go off with the swarm. The 

 likelihood is that when the swarm issued 

 the first time the queen returned with them. 



MY FIRST BEE DREAM 



'/i/JM 



kept them in a hive until morning and put 

 them back. Now they stay. Why did they 

 swarm ? 



4. I had one swarm come out and return. 

 They came out the next morning I placed 

 an empty hive on the old stand. When they 

 returned they would not go into the new 

 hive, but went into two other hives near, so I 

 placed the old hive back, and now the most 

 of them are at home They had several 

 queen-cells. . 



Why did they persist in swarming with no 

 queen, or would she not come out because 

 her wings were clioped ? There were no 

 eggs in the comb. They stay now and are 

 working in the super. British Columbia. 



Answers.— 1. If from any cause the old 

 queen does not issue with a prime swarm at 

 the proper time, she is put out of the way 

 and a young queen is allowed to take her 

 place. In this case the weather was prob- 



but was lost the second time, and the bees 

 would not stay in an empty hive without a 

 queen, but were willing to accept the old 

 hive when given to them. 



Miscellaneous Questions 



I On page i36of the American Bee Journal 

 for IQ16. you said that with the use of en- 

 trafice guards to prevent swarming, when a 

 colony does swarm and possibly unites with 

 another swarm, after a time there will be 

 only a young queen in the hive. Now what 

 has become of the old queen if she could 

 not leave the hive? Do the bees destroy 

 her? 



2. Can bees store as much honey in worker 

 comb as in drone or surplus comb ? 



3 Do bees sleep any at night or any other 

 time except in winter ? 



4. What are bur-combs? . 



5. I have read a lot about honey being so 



