American Vae Journal 



February, 1910. 



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Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or to 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Marengo. 111. 



Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Doolittle Division-Board Feeder. 



1. In Doolit tie's division-board feeder 

 ("Scientific Qae'^n Rearing," pat;cs OS and 

 69) are those part'tions running Icn^thwire to 

 keep the bees from di owning, as in the Sim- 

 plicilj' and Alexntl-.T feeders^ 



2. It' made wider thnn a frame (say 9 

 inches) vi uid such parti'ions be necessary' 



New York. 



Answers. — 1. No, the inner width of the 

 feeder is only 1 inch, so a bee can never have 

 to swing: more than half an inch to climb up 

 one wall or the other. 



2. I'm not sure, but I think 2 inches would 

 be pretty safe. However, you can make safe 

 for any width by putting in cork chips. 



Feeding Granulated Honey in Combs. 



Would combs in which honey was granulated 

 before being extracted, and not taken out by 

 the extractor, be all right for bees next sum- 

 mer, either for swarms or old colonies? 

 Would the bees clean them out, or would it be 

 an injury to them? WiscONSlM. 



Answer. — It will be all right so far as the 

 bees are concerned, and will do them no harm. 

 In giving such combs to the bees it will be 

 well, just before giving them, to spray them 

 with water. That will make it easier for the 

 bees to use up the honey, and will also save 

 some of it from being wasted, for bees are 

 likely to throw out some of the grains. But 

 you better not use the combs as they are in 

 extracting-supers. T he old honey may help 

 to candy the new. 



Colony Dwindling. 



I have one colony of black bees which hai 

 25 pounds of honey. The bees are dwindling 

 away in large numbers. Can you help me out? 



Georgia. 



Answer. — I don't know whether I can. You 

 see I don't know what the trouble is, or in- 

 deed whether there is any trouble. Foul 

 brood or some other disease may be present, 

 but that would hardly make the bees die off in 

 unusual numbers at this time of the year. The 

 colony may have been queenless for some time, 

 having only old bees, which have attained 

 such age that they are dying off rapidly, and 

 there is nothing to be done, unless it be to 

 to kill them so they will not waste any more 

 of their stores. There may be nothing wrong. 

 Bees are constantly dying off from old age, 

 and it would be nothing strange to have 100, 

 300, or more dying off daily in a strong colony. 



Queen-Rearing Question. 



I have now 100 colonies, and live in a good 

 locality — horsemint. In "Simplified Queen- 

 Rearing" (Swarthmore), I can not understand 

 the following; 



"If the pressed cups are first given to any 

 colony of bees long enough for them to be 

 polished on the inside, no failures in grafting 

 will occur. Used cups are to be cleaned in the 

 same manner, and new cups are first swabbed, 

 as previously explained." 



I have the Swarthmore series, but can not 

 find the word swabbed explained. What does 

 it mean, and how do I do it? My bees won't 

 polish cups if I put them inside the hives. 



I introduce fertile queens, virgins, and cells, 

 without any trouble, failure, or loss of brood. 

 I had no swarms, and had as fine a honey 

 crop as possible. Texas. 



Answer. — Unfortunately I have not before 

 me the text to which you refer, so as to find 

 the word *'as previously explained," but as the 



cups are given in advance to the bees to be 

 cleaned and polished, it is a pretty safe guess 

 that the swabbing is to induce the bees to 

 start the work of cleaning and polishing, and 

 my guess would be that the cups are "swab- 

 bed" by being brushed out or moistened with 

 honey or diluted honey. If that guess is cor- 

 rect, all you need to do is to daub with honey 

 the entire inside surface of the cup. 



Upward Hive-Ventilation. 



I am a beginner and have packed my bce» 

 this winter in piano-boxes, 8 colonies in a box. 

 They are packed very fine I think; sides, ends 

 and bottom having about 4 inches of packing, 

 the top having about 12 inches, with upward 

 ventilation. Did I do right in giving them 

 upper ventilation? New York. 



Answer. — Opinions are divided as to the 

 matter of upward ventilation, but with the 

 large amount of packing wisely given on top, 

 your bees ought to be all right. 



Why Entrance at Side of Hive? 



What is the reason for placing the entrance 

 at the end of the hive instead of the side? I 

 contemplate building tenement cases to hold 

 several colonies, and by setting the hives 

 lengthwise of the case the frames can be 

 handled much more easily, although it will 

 bring the entrance at the side of the hive. 



New York. 



Answer. — In Europe, hives are used with 

 frames running parallel with the entrance, 

 called the "warm arrangement," and also with 

 frames running at right angles to the en- 

 trance, called the "cold arrangement." I think 

 the warm arrangement is in more common use 

 there than the cold. In this country the cold 

 arrangement is used almost altogether. It al- 

 lows the bees more readily to reach each 

 frame, and allows a better chance for ventila- 

 tion. If any great gain were to be made by 

 having frames run the other way, I would not 

 hesitate to make the change. 



Spanish-Needle — Winter Hive - En- 

 trances — Do Bees Freeze? 



In the spring of 1907 I started with i 

 colonies, one of which was in a log from the 

 woods. Now I have 51 colonics, all in good 

 condition. I use the Langstroth hive. 



The season of i8q8 I sent for 7 Italian 

 queens, and last year Italianized all my bees; 

 I find it quite a task to get queens purely 

 mated, on account of my neighbors* black 

 bees. But on the queens I sent away for, I 

 certainly got "stung," Out of the 7 I got only 

 4 good ones. The best of them all was the 

 queen I received in a clubbing offer. I take 

 the American Bee Journal, and could not, nor 

 would not, think of doing without it while in 

 the bee-business. 



1. What kind of a flower is it that growi 

 here in Southern Illinois? It starts blooming 

 about September 1, and lasts until frost. The 

 plant grows from 2 to ^ feet high every- 

 where in the fields, and every plant will have 

 from 20 to 30 yellow flowers about the size 

 of a half-dollar and larger. When in full 

 bloom the fields look like a sheet of gold. 

 When the seeds get ripe they stick to one'* 

 clothes, and arc very annoying. We call 

 them "bootjacks," as they resemble a boot- 

 jack more than anything else. The leaf of 

 the plant resembles the leaf of ragweed very 

 much. We call it "Spanish-needle," but I 

 don't think that is the proper name, for I 

 never see it spoken of in the paper. If^ it 

 were not for this plant, bees could not live 



here, as it is a great honey-producer. 



2. Are drones produced by a drone-laying 

 queen or a drone-laying worker, capable of 

 fertilizing a queen ? 



3. How old does a young queen hawe to 

 be before she will turn to a drone-layer, if 

 she is not mated? 



4. What is the cause of ice gathering at 

 the top of the frames just under the cloth? 



5. I winter my bees on the summer stands. 

 What size entrance do you advise for this 

 locality ? We don't often have any weather 

 colder than zero. 



6. Would too small an entrance have any- 

 thing to do with the ice accumulating? 



7. Do bees often freeze to death with plenty 

 of stores? Illinois. 



Answers.— 1. I hardly know how it has 

 happened that you have seen no mention of 

 Spanish-needle as a honey-plant. I'm afraid 

 you haven't a bee-book. You cannot afford 

 to be without one. Much has been written 

 and said about Spanish-needle, which is also 

 called boot-jack and golden coreopsis. In 

 Root^s "A B C and X Y Z of Bee Cul- 

 ture," J. M. Hambaugh reports that an apiary 

 of 43 colonies averaged in 8 days 47 pounds 

 each of Spanish-needle honey. 



2. Yes, either of them. But I don't be- 

 lieve I would want them for best stock. 



3. Three weeks or more. 



4. The moisture from the breath of the 

 bees. You probably need more or warmer 

 packing on top of your bees. It should be 

 warmer on top than at the sides. Moisture 

 condensing on the sides of a hive does no par- 

 ticular harm, but on top it docs. When it 

 thaws it drops down on the cluster of bees. 



5. An entrance 4^-inch deep is good. The 

 width depends upon the strength of the col- 

 ony, perhaps an inch for each frame that is 

 occupied by bees. 



6. It might; for too small an entrance 

 might prevent the escape of moisture. 



7. No; unless the colony is too weak or 1 

 small cluster of bees get caught in a cold 

 Spell away from the main cluster. 



Light Brood Foundation — Spring 



Requeening Queenless Colony — 



Queen-Excluders. 



1. Do you consider light brood foundation 

 sufficiently heavy to be used with your splintt 

 in regular Langstroth frames? 



2. Is it possible, and advisable, to requcen 

 a queenless colony in the spring by keeping 

 them in the cellar longer than other colonies, 

 and giving them a frame containing eggs from 

 a colony which has started brood- rearing? 



S. In your "Forty Years Among the Bees," 

 you do not consider queen-excluders of much 

 value to you. Would you consider them neces- 

 sary if you were trying the method advocated 

 in "A Year's Work in an Out-Apiary?" 



Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, only in place of 5 splints, 

 as with medium, 7 splints must be used with 

 the light brood foundation. At least I did 

 not feel safe to do with less than 7, and had 

 good results. 



2. Possible, but not advisable. It is not ad- 

 visable to let a queenless colony rear a queen 

 before ther.e is a honey-flow, as the queen is 

 likely to be very poor, and it would be still 

 worse if the queen were reared in the cellar. 



3. Yes, I think they are necessary in that. 

 In some cases I think very highly of excluders, 

 but they are not necessary to keep queens 

 from going up into section-supers if the sec- 

 tions are filled with worker-foundation. 



What Ailed the Bees? 



I received my first copy of the American 

 Bee Journal in 1879, and am still taking it. 

 I kept my first bees in that year. I have 29 

 colonies in my door-yard, and some in other 

 yards 3 miles away. I live in town on a lot 

 100 feet in front and 220 feet back. I secured 

 about one-fourth of a honey crop this year 

 (1909), of that black honey-dew. I sold it all 

 at a fair price. I am expecting a good honey- 

 flow next month (September) from heartsease 

 or smart weed. My town is located on Big 

 Raccoon, 18 miles north and east of Tcrre 

 Haute, where heartsease grows abundantlj. 

 August has been very hot and dry. Last week 

 it turned cool without any rain. We had t 

 or 4 cool nights — very cool, but no frost. I 

 noticed those cool mornings that my bees were 

 dying very fast. Some of the hive-entrancea 

 would be filled full of dead bees, some of them 

 very young, white brood taken from the comb. 

 What is killing my bees? Is it the black 

 honey-dew or foul brood? I thought they were 



