American l^ee Journal 



April, 1910. 



Dr. Miller's Question-Box 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller. Makknco, III. 



He does not answer bee-keepint; questions by mail. 



2. Safe enough; but can you do it? That 

 is, can you get from one colony so many 

 frames of brood with adhering bees as many 

 as 4 times in one season? 'Hardly, unless in 

 an extra season. 



Black Honey-Dew. 



1. What is black honey-dew? 



A HoosiER. 



Answer. — Honey-dew is that which is gath- 

 ered by the bees from the secretions of 

 aphids, or plant-lice, and varies in color. Some 

 of it is very dark, as dark as buckwheat honey, 

 or darker, and this is probably what is meant 

 by "black honey-dew." 



How to Know Drone-Comb. 



In reading the American Bee Journal, I see 

 drone-comb spoken of a great deal. Please 

 explain huw I may be able to know drone- 

 comb. Utah. 



Answer. — Lay a rule on the surface of the 

 comb. H the cells measure 5 to the inch they 

 are worker-cells. If they measure 4 to the 

 inch, they are drone-cells. 



If you buy a text-book on bee-keeping, 

 it will be worth to you many times its cost. 



Colony Mostly Drones — Extracting 

 Early Honey. 



1. We have 15 colonies, and store them in 

 a building. Why is it that some colonies are 

 all drones? We had a colony last season that 

 when we opened the hive had all drone-brood, 

 so we cut it out, and it seems it was due to 

 the queen. They had very few workers, so all 

 the honey the bees would gather they would 

 consume. We have both Banat and Italians. 

 The Banat is a very good bee. We have all 

 our queens clipped. 



2. Is it advisable to extract early honey 

 as soon as it is gathered? Is there any dan- 

 ger of it geting sour? 



Iowa. 



Answer. — 1. Either, as you suggest, the col- 

 ony nas a drone-laying queen, or else it is 

 queenless and has laying workers. 



2. It may be extracted early if it is sealed; 

 but neither early nor late honey should be ex- 

 tracted before sealing. It may sour, and the 

 flavor may be poor. 



Foul Brood and Stray Swarms — 

 Spring Management. 



1. Is it dangerous to take in tramp swarms 

 of bees, that is, swarms we find hanging on 

 the fence or trees in summer, apparently with- 

 out an owner? Is there danger of foul 

 brood? 



2. How will it do to put on the strong 

 colonies in spring a super of drawn-combs 

 for the queen to use for brood, then supers 

 above that for surplus? or would it be bet- 

 ter, when she gets that super full of brood, 

 to put her below, and put a queen-excludirig 

 honey-board between that super and the main 

 brood-nest ? Would I get stronger colonies ? 



Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. A colony of bpes in a tree may 

 have foul brood as well as one in a hive. 

 So may a swarm found hanging on a fence 

 or a tree, but there is not so much danger 

 in this case, for a colony badly affected with 

 foul brood is not so very likely to swarm. 



2. Very likely the plan is all right, but 

 you do not give the size of hive, nor say 

 whether comb honey or extracted is meant, 

 and something depends on this. 



Wax-Worms — Ripening Honey on 

 the Hive. 



1. I have been troubled with what, I think, 

 you would call wax-worms. They arc very, 

 very small, probably J^-inch long. They bore 

 into the sections, and bring out small batches 

 of borings, which resemble fine sawdust. They 

 are very difficult to see. I have also seen 

 where they were in my brood-combs. I have 

 searched Root's '"A B C and X Y Z of Bee 

 Culture," and all the bee-literature I can get, 

 but can't find anything more than merely a 

 mention of them. Can you suggest a remedy? 



2. How long is it necessary to let honey 

 (section or extracted) remain on the hive to 

 be properly ripened? I have been keeping 

 bees in a small way for several years. At 



present, I have only 6 colonies, but I expect 

 to increase to about 30 this year, by purchas- 

 ing some early swarms. * Missouri. 



Answer. — 1. You have nothing but the com- 

 mon wax-worms, which you will find treated 

 in the books under the head of bee-moth. 

 Only they do not treat very fully of the very 

 young larvae that you speak of, with their fine 

 sawdust, which is perhaps more like flour than 

 sawdust. It is simply the gnawings of the 

 little pest, dark in old combs and white in 

 white sections. Fumigate your sections lightly 

 with sulphur, or perhaps better still with car- 

 bon disulphide — bisulphide of carbon it has 

 usually been called. The preventive measure 

 is Italian blood. 



2. Generally it may be taken when sealed, 

 although the honey is better to be left on the 

 hive some time after being sealed. But white- 

 ness of comb requires that sections be taken 

 off before darkening of the comb begins, so 

 the rule is that the sooner sections are taken 

 off after being sealed the better. But I have 

 known it to be the case when honey was com- 

 ing in with a rush that sections were so 

 quickly sealed that the honey would easily be- 

 come watery after being taken off the hives, 

 unless very carefully kept. 



Rearing Brood in Winter — Other 

 Questions. 



1. Why do bees rear brood in December and 

 January? They had very little honey. 



2. I ordered 6 untested queens, and lost 3 

 of them, and the other 3 are hybrids. Do 

 you advise buying tested queens? 



3. Last summer I took a queen out of a 

 strong colony, and put her into a cage, and 

 put her in the shade for about 5 minutes; 

 when I looked at her she was dead. What 

 killed her? The day was very warm. 



4. How many pounds of honey ought bees 

 to have at this time — March? 



West Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. It is nothing unusual for bees 

 wintered outdoors to begin rearing brood in 

 February, especially as far south as Virgiiiia, 

 and not so very unusual in January. I think 

 December is unusual, and I don't know why 

 any of yours should begin so early. Possibly 

 there is some difference in the bees them- 

 selves, and possibly something in their condi- 

 tions. 



2. Depends on circumstances. Usually I 

 should advise buying untested. I think your 

 experience was unusual. That the half that 

 lived would prove hybrids looks a little as if 

 the whole might be hybrids, and probably you 

 would do well to ordtr elsewhere next time. 



3. I don't know. In the shade she would 

 have lived all day, unless she starved. The 

 only thing I can guess is that she may have 

 been injured when caught. 



4. Hard to say in exact figures. At a guess, 

 I should say there might be danger of short- 

 age with 10 pounds, and twice that would do 

 no hurt. 



Making Increase — Italianizing. 



1. Is it safe to make increase by taking 4 

 frames of brood from a strong colony with 

 the bees, place them about one hundred feet 

 from the old stand, give them a good queen, 

 feed them until bees are gathering honey and 

 pollen, then add full sheets of foundation from 

 time to time, as much as the bees can cover? 

 About how long will it take till they will have 

 from 7 to 8 frames of brood, under ordinary 

 circumstances? 



2. I have 2 colonies of 3-banded Italians. 

 I intend to run one for extracted honey for 

 my own use. and would like to increase the 

 other to fi. Do you consider it safe to do so 

 on the above-mentioned plan ? I am going 

 to buy my queens. I am a beginner, have 

 4 colonies, but have 2 of them with my father 

 on the farm; those 2 arc hybrids. I intend 

 requeening them, and get the 3-banded Ital- 

 ians. Illinois. 



Answer. — The plan is safe, unless you 

 should operate at a time when no honey is 

 coming in, as in that case there might be 

 danger of robbing. They might build up 

 in about a month. 



Italianizing Bees. 



1. I have only black bees in Danzenbaker 

 hives, except 2 in box-hives. How would it 

 work to put an Italian queen on the top of 

 the frames in a new hive filled with full 

 sheets of foundation — place it on the old 

 stand and move the old hive to a new stand — 

 what would be the best time of day to move J^ 

 the old hive, and if moved at night, would ^' 

 not most of the bees return to the new hive 



on the old stand? 



2. In case of box-hives what would be the 

 result if I should place them on top of new 

 hives with full sheets of foundation, and the 

 queen in a cage on top of the frames, with an 

 escape-board between the hives so the bees 

 could pass down in the new hive; leave them 

 24 hours and then remove the box-hive to a 

 new stand — would the queens be released and 

 accepted in these cases if it is done in spring 

 when they are strong and nearly ready to 

 swarm? 



3. After moving the hives in the first ques- 

 tion, suppose I should open the old hive, kill 

 the black queen and put a queen in the cage 

 on top of the frames, would not the young 

 bees release and accept her? and wouldn't she 

 take care of any queen-cells in the hive 

 weakened by taking away practically all of the 

 worker force? 



Answer. — If you make the move at night, 

 you might find an empty hive with no queen 

 the next morning. The field-bees will re- 

 turn to the old stand, no matter what time of 

 day or night you make the move. The thing 

 is to have them stay there. It should be at 

 a time when a large number are returning 

 from the fields, so that both bees and queen 

 will feel encouraged to remain. The best time 

 is when the most bees are afield, and when 

 the young bees are in the midst of a play- 

 spell. I tried it once successfully with empty 

 combs; I would hardly expect it to do so well 

 with foundation. A frame of brood would 

 make it all right, and for safety the queen 

 should be caged. 



2. Yes; of course understanding that the 

 cages are provisioned so that the bees will eat 

 out the candy and release the queen. 



3. Yes. 



Management to Prevent Swarming. 



1. There is nothing I am more anxious 

 about than the swarming problem, as I have 

 nearly SOO colonies. I have just read about 

 shaving off the heads of all capped brood to 

 stop swarming. I think this may stop it, but 

 I do not like the wav. as there is a loss in 

 some cases. I would like to try the plan, 

 or a modification of the plan, I tried last sum- 

 mer, and would like suggestions from you. 

 My bees were run for extracted honey at one 

 yard, and were in 2-story, 10-frame hives. 

 When they were quite well filled with brood 

 and honey, and a good many had queen-cells 

 under way, I placed a hive of empty combs 

 under the 2-story hive on the bottom-board; 

 into this hive of empty combs I put one frame 

 of brood and the queen, and confined her 

 there for the rest of the season. The two 

 upper stories contained the brood, all but the 

 one frame, and the lower story had enough 

 empty combs to keep her busy for some time. 

 Up to this time the entrance was at the bot- 

 tom-board; I now changed it, by making an 

 entrance at he top of the lower hive and over 

 the queen-excluder, which covered the lower 

 liive. This entrance was made by raising up 



the front of the second story, and putting in a J 

 block. The lower entrance was now closed. L 

 The bees in the lower story with the queen 

 had to pass through the excluder in going and 

 coming from the field. As the brood hatched 

 from the two upper stories, the combs were 

 filled with honey, and there was no excluder 

 to bother the upper bees. 



Now. I will tell how the plan worked. The 

 bees swarmed well, and made a good crop of 

 honey; a 70 percent increase, and about 25 

 percent of this came from the mating of 

 voung (|Uicns above the excluder, making two 

 colonics on one stand. How could you have 

 managed differently, so there would have been 

 no swarming? Would breaking off the qucen- 

 cclla from brood-combs above the excluder 

 have done it. or all but one cell? 



2. Would both queens try to fly out from 

 the same stand, one above the excluder and 

 the other below, in case of swarming? 



3. By keeping nil queen-cells broken off, 

 after putting the brood above the excluder, 



