September, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



escape from house when I would be taking 

 honey from supers. The balance of the 

 house I could use for work and storeroom. 

 My hives would then be in the dry at all 

 times, no damage from rain or hot sunshine, 

 and honey and all under lock and key Be- 

 sides. 1 would have a nice and clean house 

 for all things pertaining to beekeeping, a 1 

 sealed up bee tight. Would a house built 

 this way be practicable, and could I have a 

 row of hives on the north side of the house 

 the same as south side ? I would prefer 

 them kept out in the shady grove but for 

 robbers. Could have plenty of light froni 

 windows in east end and on north side of 

 house. , J u ■ 



1 have some cypress timber and there is a 

 sawmill near at hand I aim to have enough 

 timbers sawed into plank suitable for mak- 

 ing brood-chambers and supers. 



Don't suppose there is more than 250 or 

 300 colonies in this county. After this year 

 I aim to buy queens. Will you tell me about 

 cypress lumber for hives and supers, and 

 give sizes of hives and supers inside and 

 outside measurements, or would it be best 

 for me to buy one eight frame hive and one 

 ten-frame hive ? I have eight-frame hives. 



What length should I have saw stocks cut 

 at stump, so I would have no loss, or the 

 least loss from cutting sides and ends ? 



Ignoramus. 



Answer.— Yes. you can keep your bees in 

 a house as you propose, the entrances being 

 so arranged that through them the bees can 

 get into the hives from outdoors, but can 

 never get into the house except when the 

 hives are opened. I am afraid, however, that 

 you would change your mind about such a 

 house being nice and cool in a hot summer 

 day. A good many years ago such houses 

 were advocated quite strongly, and some 

 still advocate them, but most have given 

 them up. 



You seem to want a house to keep your 

 hives safe from thieves, and! cannot help 

 wondering why you do not keep them close 

 to your house instead of 150 steps away, for 

 that distance would cut no figure with the 

 bees, and it would be inconvenient for you 

 to go that distance. 



Cypress lumber is all right for hives, but I 

 am afraid I don't know enough to answer 

 your questions as to measurements. Al- 

 though I have put together a great many 

 hives. I know little about measurements, 

 having bought the stuff from the factories 

 as a matter of economy. You will do well to 

 have at least one hive as a model to pattern 

 after. 



Pollen 



When a frame is full of pollen and the 

 bees have no use for it. what should be done 

 with it i" Vermont. 



Answer.— Generally the best thing is to 

 leave it in the brood-chamber for the bees 

 to use out as they want it. I don't know, but 

 I think that when bees have a stock of pol- 

 len on hand they gather less. I have known 

 pollen to be cleaned out of combs put in 

 the extracting chamber. It is possible that 

 there are places where the bees store more 

 than they can use. and then there maybe 

 nothingbetter than to melt up the combs 



perhaps, when you say thatat the end of the 

 time vou put the old queen in the new hive. 

 If the old queen was in the old hive all that 

 time.it is no wonder the bees clung to it, 

 the only wonder being that any bees at all 

 would stay in the new hive. Ordinarily the 

 old queen would be with the swarm at the 

 time of hiving, and I don't understand how 



you managed to leave her in the old hive. 

 Also the brood would ordinarily be all 

 hatched out at the end of three weeks, but 

 you found brood present, a thing not at all 

 strange if the old queen remained in the old 

 hive. The likelihood is that the queen will 

 be with the swarm in your future experi- 

 ence when all will be straight. 



Reports Affo ^ Experiences 



Poor Crop 



The honey crop in this section of the State 

 is a complete failure, and some are having 

 to feed. Elzie L. Bee. 



Cowen. W. Va.. July 2=. 



Crop Poor 



The honey crop is short in this part of the 

 State, owing to dry weather and cool nights. 

 No late rains to keep the flowers going. 

 There were lots of flowers, but they did not 

 seem to have the nectar, and the weather 

 was too cool for bees to work good. We 

 hope for better conditions next year. 



Otay, Calif. \V. A. Bales. 



Foundation in Full Sheets 



The first article in July American Bee 

 Journal on "FullSheets of Foundation." has 

 been read, re-read, and read again. The ad- 

 vice is good, not only for the brood-frames 

 but for the sections as well. 



Tests are made for the benefit of the 

 State Board of Agriculture of Connecticut 

 for at least eight seasons and by 20 or more 

 beekeepers. The question was asked at one 

 of the State Board meetings; What is the 



Hiving a Swarm 



As per instructions you gave me in the 

 .April number of the American Bee Journal, 

 I have transferred the first colony that 

 swarmed. , . . , , 



During the three weeks waiting for the 

 brood to hatch, none of the bees seemed to 

 goto the new hive, all remaining with the 

 old one. Yesterday I drove them out into 

 the new hive, putting the queen in, too; to- 

 day they are quiet. The old hive had quite 

 a lot of young brood, but not much honey. 



Did 1 do anything wrong ? Arkansas. 



Answer— I am a bit puzzled to under- 

 stand the case. You say the bees remained 

 with the old hive during the three weeks 

 waiting— something unusual. It is explained. 



one-fourth of the space. We agreed that an 

 average of 40 pounds might be expected per 

 hive, at 16 cents per pound or $6,40 per hive. 

 One-fourth of that or the crop of one colony ! 

 in four is lost by this excess of drones. 

 With this amount you canreadily buy sheets 

 of brood foundation at 10 cents each for 64 

 frames, or enough for 6)2 hives. This argu- 

 ment made an impression at first sight. 



The following year, at least 20 beekeepers 

 reported having tried it on half of their 

 swarms Those colonies on full sheets aver- 

 aged one super full of honey, over the hives 

 hived on i!4-inch starters. That was the 

 first year. 



At least 20 beekeepers tried this from 1883 

 till 1B54. One man stated, at the end of the 

 fourth season, that each full sheet of foun- 

 dation he used saved him 50 cents in value 

 of product increase. 



Some of the readers may say that there is 

 another side to this question. Well, ask the 

 bees to answer for you. They will answer it 

 readily and truly. In Dr. Miller's hives. I 

 am sure the deficiency of drone cells counts 

 something in his big yields. All rhis matter 

 may be proven by the bees themselves. 



Woodbury. Conn. Henry L. Jeffrey. 



[It is necessary that we should correct a 

 slight error in the foregoing letter. As the 

 cells of the bees are hexagon, the number of 



HIVES AND EXTRACTING HOUSE OF F, A. WICKLEIN. AT PERCY, ILL. 



most profitable size of foundation starter in 

 either brood-frames or sections ? 



My answer was: A starter is too expen- 

 sive I cannot afford to use less than full 

 sheets. I was asked to prove it. My reply 

 was that four drone-cells to the inch make 16 

 to the square inch; five worker-cells to the 

 inch make 23 to the square inch. Every 32 

 drone-cells may be displaced by 50 workers. 

 Thirty two consumers rob the apiarist of 50 

 producers. Often the drone-comb occupies 



cells to the square inch is greater than the 

 square of 4 or the square of 5- Drone-cells 

 in reality number about 18 on each of the 

 comb, for each square inch. Worker-cells 

 number a trifle over 27 on each side or nearly 

 55 for both sides of a square inch of comb. 

 This does not diminish in any way the argu- 

 ment of friend Jeffrey. It rather emphasizes 



