1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



99 



was opened and the old queen was still in 

 the hive. During the fall they tried to super- 

 sede her attain, but with the same result. 

 What was the cause of this ? 



Nova Scotia. 



Answers.— I. The bees beine hopelessly 

 queenless. and further disheartened by 

 their journey, they should not offer any an- 

 taEonism to the queen or workers of the 

 little colony to whicii they are given, and as 

 they will be well gorged they should be 

 kindly received. However, if you want to 

 take extra precaution, you can unite by the 

 newspaper plan of uniting colonies. Put a 

 single sheet of newspaper over the top-bars 

 of the weak colony, set over this a hive-body 

 containing a few combs with some honey, 

 dump in the new bees and cover up bee- 

 tight. The bees will gnaw a hole in the 

 paper, and gradually unite peaceably. 



2. I think I would take the full colonies. 



3. Are you sure they were trying to super- 

 sede her or trying to swarm? Anyway, was 

 there anything unusual about it if they were 

 trying to supersede her? Don't you know 

 that in the natural course of events every 

 laying queen is superseded by the bees? 

 Always, always. As to the cause of the 

 superseding. I suppose the bees think the 

 queen is not as good as she ought to be, gen- 

 erally on account of her age. although I have 

 known a poor queen to be superseded when 

 less than a month old. 



Wire Imbedder— Clover 



1. Could you give me instructions for mak- 

 ing the electric wire imbedder shown on 

 page 342 of the American Bee Journal for 

 October. igi6. Fig. 4 ? 



2. I have a hive of bees whose honey drips 

 on the bottom of the hive. I examined them 

 but could not find the comb molested. It 

 puzzles me. Here in lanuary mice could 

 not get in the hive. 



3. Would alsike clover make good bee 

 pasture if sown in a shaded orchard, and 

 would it grow ? , . „ 



4. Would you advise planting sunflowers 

 in convenient places for the bees or would 

 it make honey dark? 



5. What is the best time of the year for 

 sowing sweet clover, and how long after 

 sowing untilit should bloom? Iowa. 



Answers.— I, This appliance has since 

 been patented. It sells for $i.oo without bat- 

 teries. Any supply house should be able to 

 supply you. 



2. I wonder if it wasn't water instead of 

 honey. It is not an uncommon thing for the 

 moisture from the bees to condense on the 

 walls of the hive and run out at the entrance. 

 (If much of their honey is unsealed, it may 

 have gathered humidity enough to more than 

 fill the cells. -Editor.) 



3. Yes. it would grow and yield, but the 

 less shade the better. 



4. From my experience in trying it on a 

 small scale. I don't believe you would find 

 it would amount to much unless you should 

 plant several acres. 



5. You can sow it as soon as the seed is 

 ripe in the fall, or you can sow it in spring 

 at the usual time of sowing other clovers in 

 your locality. Seed sown in the fall of I9i6 

 or the spring of 1917 will bring bloom in the 

 summer of 1Q18. 



Artificial Swarming— Getting a Good Start— 

 Queen-Rearing 



1. What is meant by artificial swarming? 



2. What is meant by divided brood cham- 



3. What is the best way to get a good start 

 in the bee business ? 



4. Will you kindly tell me about rearing 

 queens from a selected colony ? 



5. What is the season for swarming here 

 in Minnesota ? , , c. « 



6. What is the yield and profit from one 

 good colony in one month ? Minnesota. 



Answers.-i. The term "artificial swarm- 

 ing" is loosely used for " artificial increase," 



and refers to any manner of increasojother 

 ttian by natural swarming. 



3. A divided brood-chamber is one in 

 which the brood is contained in more than 

 one story, usually in only two. Generally 

 each story is shallower than the depth of/i 

 Langstroth hive, although it is not impossi- 

 ble to have a divided brood-chamber with 

 deeper hive-bodies. 



3. The best way to make the right start Is 

 to get a good book on beekeeping, such as 

 Dadant's-Langstroth. The book will suggest 

 further steps. 



4. A whole book might be written in reply 

 to that question. In fact, an excellent book 

 on queen-rearing has been written by that 

 eminent authority. G. M. Doolittle. So you 

 will see that the answer hardly belongs in 

 this department. I may say briefly, how- 

 ever, that I rear queens from my best queen 

 by allowing the colony to be rather weak, 

 giving it an empty frame in which to build 

 new icomb, then when the frame is partly 

 filled with comb I give it to a strong colony 

 made queenless. and get fine cells. You will 

 find full particulars of the plan in the book. 

 " Fifty Years Among the Bees." 



5. I think it usually begins somewhere 

 about the first of June, with little swarming 

 after the middle of July. 



6. That varies greatly, for the best month 

 in the year ranging from less than nothing 

 up to $25 or more, according to pasturage or 

 locality, kind of bees, season, or manage- 

 ment. 



Granulated Honey for Feed 



I have several frames of granulated honey 

 taken from a hive. I would like to know if 

 it could be fed to bees without causing them 

 any harm ? Washington. 



Answer.— It will do the bees na harm, but 

 they are likely to waste the granules. Uncap 

 any that is sealed, spray the combs with 

 water, preferably warm, and give to the 

 bees. It may be well to repeat the spraying 

 every two or three days until the combs are 

 emptied. 



Is Maple-Tree Juice Harmful ? 



In my locality, even in mid-winter. I fre- 

 quently notice my bees busily engaged in 

 gathering, on warm days, the juice of the 

 maples which have been tapped by the 

 woodpeckers The next two or three days 

 will probably be too cold for the trees to run 

 or the bees to fly. Do you think under such 

 conditions the juice will have any harmful 

 effect upon them ? Kentucky. 



Answer.— I don't believe it will do harm 

 to amount to anything. All the less danger 

 because as far south as you are the bees are 

 never confined very long without a flight. 



Caucasian vs. Carniolan — Bee-Tree Taken in 

 Winter 



1. Is a Caucasian or Carniolan queen just 

 as good as the Italian in every respect, win- 

 tering good, honey gatherers, immune to 

 bee-diseases and gentle? Would you rec- 

 ommend them just as good or better ? What 

 are their bad points ? 



2. I cut a bee tree for logs Jan, i, and in the 

 top of it was a large swarm of Italian bees. 

 I took them out, brought them home and put 

 them in the cellar with my other bees. I 

 gave them about eight pounds of honey and 

 wired it in empty frames so I could hang it 

 in the hive. My cellar runs about 35 to 50 

 degrees. I will have to open the hive to 

 feed the bees this winter. Do you think I 

 can get them through until spring, or will 

 they die or have diarrhea in the spring or 

 spring dwindling ? Michigan. 



Answers— I. Caucasians have been 

 claimed as the best-natured bees in exis- 

 tence, but some have been reported quite 

 vicious. Carniolans are so much like the 

 blacks in appearance that it is hard to dis- 

 tinguish them. They have the reputation 

 of being excessive swarmers. I don't know 



as to their powers In resisting diseast, bu 

 have never heard either of the two kinds 

 recommended as being better than Italians, 

 if as good. Some prefer Caucasians to all 

 others, and the same may be said of Carnio- 

 lans. but in general Italians are preferred 

 to either. 



2. If they are disturbed no more than is 

 necessary to furnish them sufficient food, 

 they may pull through all right; but no one 

 can be sure of the right answer before 

 spring. 



Bees Dying— When to Remove Packing 7— Hives 

 are Damp 



1. I have three colonies in Massie hives, 

 which I got last Julv and August. I fed them 

 some in the fall and protected the top and 

 sides with 6 inchesof dry leaves. On exam- 

 ining them last week I found a great many 

 dead bees on the floor of the hives, and using 

 a wire raked out over a pint from one hive. 

 Is this natural ? 



2. Bees were flying yesterday (Jan. 2): tem- 

 perature only 50 degrees. How early in the 

 spring should packing be removed ? 



3. The hives seem very damp inside. What 

 IS the remedy for this? Kansas. 



A N s w E R s.— I. There may be nothing 

 wrong. In a strong colony it might be that 

 by the end of December as many as a pint 

 of bees had become old enough to die. and 

 that the weather was such that they could 

 not leave the hive to die. 



2. They will be the better for the packing 

 until it becomes warm enough so that they 

 fly about every day. 



3, Possibly the entrance is too small; pos- 

 sibly the colony is too weak. 



Alfalfa Honey — Queenless Colony 



1. What effect does alfalfa have on the 

 honey ? Is there a tobacco flavor to it ? 



On Dec. 6 I saw numerous drones going 

 out and in a hive. What is the cause so late 

 in the fall ? A Reader. 



Answers. — I. Alfalfa gives to honey its 

 own peculiar flavor, just as each honey-plant 

 does. I never detected any tobacco flavor 

 in alfalfa honey. 



2. There may be nothing wrong possibly, 

 but it is much to be feared that the colony 

 is queenless, 



A Beginner 



1. How long does a queen live ? 



2. How long does a woi ker-bee live ? 



3. How long does a drone live? 



4. How long does it take a queen to hatch ? 



5. A worker to hatch ? 



6. A drone to hatch ? 



7. How do the queens mate with drones? 



8. Do workers lay eggs ? 

 «. Do drones lay eggs ? 



10. How many times does the queen mate 

 with the drone ? 



11. Please send me about 150 questions 

 already answered. Arkansas. 



Answers.— I. Occasionally less than a 

 month, occasionally more than five rears; 

 generally two or three years. 



2. A worker born iust before the busy sea- 

 son may live about six weeks. Born in the 

 fall, she may live six months. 



3. A drone generally lives until the work- 

 ers decide they can't afford to board him 

 any longer. In a queenless colony he may 

 live six months. 



4. A queen emerges from her cell in 15 days 

 or a little more from the time the egg was 

 laid. 



5. Twenty-one days 



6. Twenty-four days. 



7. The queen meets the drone outside the 

 hive, high up in the air. 



8. Workers do not lay eggs except in a few 

 cases when a colony becomes hopelessly 

 queenless. and then laying workers appear, 

 but their eggs produce only drones. 



0. Drones, like roosters, lay no eggs. 

 JO. As a rule the queen mates once for life. 



