120 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTU11E. 



Mar. 



Friend Root: — In reading friend Smith's article, 

 JaD. No., page 27, it occurred to me that he might 

 have made ;i mistake, and had a young queen raised, 

 if he gave the swarm no brood until July 20th. A 

 young queen generally commences to lay within 8 or 

 10 days after swarming. They had time to get a 

 queen hatched by August 1st, and fertilized by the 

 10th. I suggest that a young queen might have 

 hatched and killed the other. 



Your suggestion is an idea I had not 

 thought of; when we take into consideration 

 the great difficulty of telling one queen from 

 another, especially when they are unfertile, 

 I am inclined, too. to think that friend S. 

 was deceived, and that a live queen had 

 come from one of those torn down cells, and 

 killed the other. 



DO QUEENS EVER LAV IN A FINISHED QUEEN CELL? 



In the summer of '78, I had a box hive with a 10x12 

 glass in one end, to which the ends of the combs 

 were fastened. When about to swarm, the year be- 

 fore, the bees had built cells within an inch of the 

 glass. Early in June, '78, the bees enlarged the old 

 cell cups to about half the size of queen cells. I 

 watched closely, but could see nothing until at least 

 a week after the cells were enlarged; then I saw 

 eery small larvie. Now the queen either laid in the 

 cell after it was enlarged, or the bees moved the egg. 



I have always supposed that queens would 

 lay, during swarming time, in a queen cell 

 built out, but it may be that the bees put the 

 eggs there, 



FDN. WITH SQUARE CELLS. 



Have you any reports of fdn. made by sawing 

 squares in a block of wood for an impression? The 

 cells are started square, and gradually assume the 

 hexagonal form, and are drawn into regular comb. 

 I think the bees make the base of the cells thinner, 

 than they do the other kind of fdn., as they make 

 the base the same as other comb. I tried it in quite 

 a number of boxes, in eool weather. J. B. Cask. 



Baptisttown, N. J., Jan. 20, lssO. 



We had three reports last season from cells 

 built on square fdn. (see pages 227, 239, 

 and 273), but, as there is, to me, something 

 very difficult to understand, about bees mak- 

 ing comb from square cells, unless they tear 

 it all down and build it entirely new, I have 

 sent to friend P. for a piece of comb built 

 from such fdn. Will you also send me a 

 piece in a box, by mail? The idea seems to 

 throw light on our project of being able to 

 dip fdn. witli walls on both sides. It seems 

 that any sort of an outline, to guide the bees 

 in making cells of the proper size, is all that 

 is needed. Friend Abbott, of the Jlriiish 

 Ike Journal, for some months past, has been 

 talking of fdn. made by plates or rolls of 

 wood, with round headed tacks or nails driv- 

 en into them. The same idea was given in 

 Gleanings several years ago, and fdn. that 

 the bees would use was made by the plan, 

 long before he mentioned it. It takes too 

 much wax is all the trouble. 



AN A I! (' SCHOLAR IN TKOUBLE; QUEENLESS HIVES 

 IN THE SPRING. 



My bees are bringing in pollen, and I lind brood in 

 one hive only. 1 have 15 stands, 5 in the Simplicity 

 one in the L. hive, and the remainder in box hives. 

 I examined the Simplicities yesterday and found 

 brood in only one, and could not lind the queen in 



any of the others. I took one frame of brood, and 

 put it in one of the other hives: was that right? I 

 put the frame from the other hive in the place of 

 the one I took out; was that right? My bees have 

 plenty of stores. From one stand, on which I had 

 left the second story, I took out yesterday frames 

 of sealed honey, and put in their place the same 

 number of frames with fdn. The lower story was 

 well supplied with stores, and the colony was strong, 

 but there was no brood. I will examine again in a 

 few days, if the weather keeps warm, for I still think 

 the others have queens, and, if I can't And brood or 

 the lady herself, I will take another frame from the 

 one hive which has brood. I suppose that they will 

 rear a queen from brood or eggs from another colony. 

 Two of the colonies are not working, or are working 

 very indifferently, while the others are busy. 

 Early Branch, S. C, Jan. 29, '80. T. L. Davidson. 



I fear, my friend, from the tone of your 

 letter, that you have about 13 colonies too 

 many. How came you with PI colonies, and 

 ?o little knowledge of bees? As you have 

 them, perhaps you will pull through. It 

 would be very singular indeed if you should 

 have 4 out of 5 of your stocks 'queenless. 

 From your description, 1 am inclined to 

 think your stocks have queens, and brood 

 too, but your inexperienced eyes did not see 

 it. If, after several days, you do not lind 

 either queens or eggs (hold the combs up so 

 the sun will shine clear to the bottoms of the 

 cells, and then make the bees get away, 

 while you take a good look right where they 

 seem inclined to cluster thickest, and see if 

 there are no eggs there), something must be 

 done. If they are strong in bees, it may do 

 to give them some brood and let them raise a 

 queen; but taking a full frame of brood from 

 a colony, at this time of the year, would be 

 pretty sure to injure it seriously, and even 

 should you select a frame at one side, con- 

 taining' but little brood, as it would contain 

 much of their pollen, it would be rather a 

 set back to them. I f your colonies that are 

 queenless are weak. I should prefer uniting 

 them with other weak ones, rather than to 

 set them to raising a queen. I presume you 

 shook off all the bees from your combs be- 

 fore making these changes; if you did not, 

 there is great danger of your having made 

 more mischief. As a general thing, I can- 

 not favor very much the plan of taking 

 combs of brood so early in the season, to 

 build up weaker ones. Better unite them. 

 Leaving an upper story on all winter is rath- 

 er a careless and wasteful way of doing, and 

 I shouldn't expect to lind brood in a hive 

 thus poorly protected. May this not be why 

 so many of your colonies have so little or no 

 broodV The colonies that are not working 

 may be queenless. 



HANDLING 1SEES l.\ WINTER, DEAL) BEES IN THE HIVE, 

 ETC. 



How warm should the weather be for the con- 

 venient handling of bees? Why do they not carry 

 out their dead? and why do we find more dead in 

 one hive than another? P. W. Winters. 



( tnondaga, Mich. 



You can handle bees almost any day in the 

 year if necessary, but I prefer to have it 

 warm enough to melt snow slightly. A good 

 strong colony, in good health, should carry 

 out the dead Iters at every thaw. If the col- 

 ony is weak, or suffering from any other 

 cause, they will lie likely to neglect carrying 

 out the dead bees, thus leaving them to ac- 

 cumulate. 



