May, igio. 



American l^ee Journal 



edited in my old country, the Kingdom of 

 Saxony, and if 1 am not mistai^cn. tlie city of 

 Leipzig, thai I wonld like to tai<e if you can 

 tell me its address and subscription price. 



Mississii'i'i. 



Answers.— I've studied over your ques- 

 tions several times. and each time thefeeling 

 grows upon me tliat I don't knov\' very much 

 about bees. I might bunch the i questions 

 toeether and answer them by sayini; " I don't 

 know" (which would lie only the truth), but 

 you suggest "a rough guess," and surely I 

 can do so much as that, even if it be so 

 rough that viiu'll need a very coarse file to 

 smooth it. The great trouble is that there 

 are no fi.xed data to work on— only varying 

 quantities. The strength of the colonies 

 may vary greatly, there's nothing definite 

 abinit the amount you will drive each time, 

 nor for that matter as to just how strong the 

 driven lot should be. Something depends, 

 too. upon the time of day when you drive. 

 Perhaps it will be better to drive at a time 

 when a good force is out in the fields, and 

 then make a pretty clean driYe. 



But I'll undertake the guess, leaving the 

 way open for any one to make a better guess. 



1. About 3 weeks. 



2. About 30 days. 



^. About b weeks. , , . 



I don't know of any book that gives what 

 vou want about different races of bees any 

 better than the ones you have. 



I'm not so sure that you are right about 

 those " curtain "-builders beingof Caucasian 

 blood. The worst gluers ever I had were 

 the so-called Funics. 



I will try to give information either in this 

 or next number about the foreign journals 

 you mention, in which you may perhaps 

 learn about the bees in question. 



Black, Sticky Substance Around Hive-Entrance 



One of my colonies of Italian bees has a 

 black, gummy substance around the en- 

 trance, almost entirely closing it. I have to 

 clean it out every day; no other colonies 

 have this. Is there any danger of losing it:' 

 Being a novice I would like to know. 



Dei.aw.\re. 



Answer.— It is not likely that the colony is 

 in any serious danger from it. although 1 

 must confess I don't know what the trouble 

 is It may be the droppings of the bees, and 

 it is possible that a larger entrance would 

 be better, it the entrance is much less than 

 a square inch. If it were in the fall I should 

 guess bee-glue, but not in the spring. I never 

 (jefore heard of a case that would need at- 

 tention every other day. 



Splinting Comb Foundation— Uniting Weak Colonies 



1. What is the best way to support founda- 

 tion in the frames, with wire or with splints? 

 and how are splints fastened to the upper 

 and lower bar. or not at all? 



2. "What is the best way to unite weak 

 colonies? Shall I kill the queen, or will the 

 bees do that? 



,i Is it better to unite 2 swarms, and make 

 one big swarm out of 2? and will I get more 

 honey from one big swarm than I would get 

 from 2 small ones? 'Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. Splints are growing in favor. 

 They are better than wire for brood-frames, 

 but wiring is probably better for shallow ex- 

 tracting frames. Splints are pressed into 

 the foundation, and not fastened either to 

 lop or bottom bar. Kull instructions for 

 fastening are sent with the splints. 



2. The bees will destroy one of the queens, 

 but it may be better for the beekeeper to 

 attend to that job. There will be more 

 peaceful uniting if one colony has been 

 quecnless for 2 or 3 days. 



3 You will be more likely to get more 

 honev from uniting. In places where a 

 strong flow continues very late, more honey 

 may be had from the two kept separate. 



Laying Worker— Young Queens 



1. How early in the spring will a colony of 

 bees take a laying worker? I have ,■; colonies 

 I put out-of-doors about the first of March, 

 and the bees of one of the hives have died 

 terribly, only about 2 combs of bees left. I 

 ask about the bees taking a laying worker 

 because I expect to find one or more hives 

 without a queen when I look through them, 

 and would rather give them eggs than goto 

 llie expense of buying a queen lor them. 



2. VVillthev take a laying worker before 

 the queens of the other hives commence 



hiyiui,' 1 would rather give them eggs from 

 another hive to rear for themselves a queen. 



3. Will they take eggs and start a queen 

 after they choose a laying worker? If I un- 

 derstand what a queen of the current year 

 is. it is the queen that is hatched this 

 summer. I saw in Dr. Miller's bee-book that 

 a queen seldom swarms of the current 

 year's hatching. 



4. How can a colony swarm the second time 

 without the young queen swarming with 

 them' and if the queen of the current year 

 doesn't swarm, how soon in the spring can 

 one go to overhauling the hives? 



Illinois. 



Answers.— I. Perhaps 2 or 3 weeks after 

 beginning to fly nearly every day. 



2. They may rear a queen from eggs or 

 young brood given them, but it doesn't pay. 

 When laying workers appear on the scene 

 'it may be well to mention that instead of 

 there being a single laying worker as you 

 suppose, a whole lot of them go at the 

 wretched business', all the workers in the 

 hive are pretty old. and most of them will 

 have died off before any young brood can 

 appear to take their places. Indeed, whether 

 there are laying workers or not. it is a poor 

 plan to let a queenless colony rear its own 

 queen in the spring. Generally the queens 

 are very poor. The best thing is to unite 

 the queenless colony with another having a 

 laying queen. 



^. In the case of a second swarm, or any 

 afterswarm, a virgin queen goes with the 

 swarm, and of course she is of the current 

 year's rearing. But a laving- queen of the 

 current year, if left in the hive where she 

 was reared, is almost certain not to swarm. 



4. As soon as bees are gathering freely, 

 and the weather is warm enough for them to 

 fly well. 



Requeening Colonies — Comb or Extracted Honey? 



1. Which is the best way to tell whether a 

 colony is queenless. and needs requeening? 



2. Tell me how to go at it in an easy way 

 to requeen colonies? 



3. "What month wonld be the best to re- 

 queen colonies? I have 21 colonies, and I 

 would like to requeen part of them this 

 spring or summer. 



4. Which is the best plan, to run for comb 

 or extracted honey 



5. Which makes most work, to produce 

 comb honey or extracted honey? I guess ex- 

 tracted makes less work for the bees. 



Minnesota. 

 Answers.— I. Look and see whether there 

 are eggs and brood present. If not, there is 

 no /(/i7'//,r queen present, but there maybe 

 a virgin queen. Give a frame with young 

 brood, and if no virgin is present queen-cells 

 will be started. Yet sometimes cells will be 

 started even when a virgin is present. 



2. There is probably no easier way than 

 the one generally given as instruction that 

 accompanies queens sent by mail. I'hat is, 

 to remove the old queen and put in the cage 

 containing the new one, allowing the bees to 

 liberate the queen by eating out the plug of 

 candy. A safer way is not to let the bees at 

 the candy for 2 or 3 days after the cage is in 

 the hive. 



3. June is a good month. 



4. For some, comb is best; for others, ex- 

 tracted. You will have to find out which is 

 best for you. 



5. Comb honey is generally considered to 

 take more work. 



Yon would find it of great profit to get a 

 bee-book. 



Bees Robbing — Using Combs on Which Bees Died 

 — Drone-Comb 



1. Since you said that the hives I have need 

 little packing, I unpacked them yesterday. 

 Everything went all right, and I finished my 

 work about o'clock. I took no notice of 

 the bees until after dinner. Then I hap- 

 pened to look at the bees. when, behold! 

 they were robbing one of the hives. They 

 were pouring in and out of the entrance, 

 trying to push into cracks, etc. I shut the 

 hive up. but noticed as I did so a heap of 

 dead bees lying at the entrance of the next 

 hive. At night, or rather towards night, 

 when the bees were all in I opened the hive 

 and found every bee in it dead. They had 

 already begun to rear brood and had it in all 

 ages. Now did the robbers kill the bees, or 

 did they, after their hive was robbed, en- 

 deavor to enter the next hive and were 

 stung to death? 



2. What caused the bees to rob? I did not 

 scatter any honey or comb, and I removed 

 everything I had used as soon as I had fin- 

 ished. 



3. I have several hives now empty which 



had bees in. but they died during the winter. 

 Now-. I would like to know, since one of 

 them contains two frames of honey-dew. can 

 I put a swarm in it just as it is? Another 

 has some candied honey in it. Can I put a 

 swarm in this as it is? 



4. If I can. would it be worth while to cut 

 out the dronecombr The reason I ask this 

 last question is this: I have read that one 

 should never give a swarm a number of 

 already-built combs, for they are sure to 

 build drone-comb in the rest or remaining 

 space. Now if I cut it out won't they build 

 drone-comb again in the same place? 



New Jersey. 



Ansv\^ers.--i. I don't know; but robbers 

 are not likely to kill the bees that are being 

 robbed. 



2. I don't know what caused the robbing in 

 this particular case, but in general the fault 

 lies with the robbed rather than with the 

 robbers. In most cases, especially in the 

 spring, the colony that is robbed is queen- 

 less. Likely this was not the case in the 

 present instance, as you say there was 

 brood in all stages. It may be the colony 

 was too weak to defend itself. 



3. It would be all right incase the honey- 

 dew and the candied honey should be used 

 up before winter. But there is some danger 

 that this would not be the case: so it is bet- 

 ter to have the combs emptied out before 

 using them for swarms. Let the bees rob 

 them out before the time of swarming, so 

 the honey-dew will be worked into brood. 

 Spray the combs of candied honey with 

 water as often as the bees lick them dry. 



4. It is worth while to cut out drone-comb 

 if you patch the holes left with worker-comb 

 or foundation. Otherwise the bees will be 

 pretty sure to fill in drone-comb again. 



Sundry Questions 



1. W^hatarethe latest editions of " Lang- 

 stroth on the Honey-Bee " and " Forty Years 

 Among the Bees?" 



2. How much do you suppose they would 

 charge for >2-pound and i-pound packages to 

 ship bees? How much a piece without bees 

 in them? 



3. Whit kind of a drone-guard gives the 

 best ventilation, zinc or wire? 



4. How would this kind of hive be for the 

 production of comb honey. Frame i5Hxo%, 

 8 in a hive: just one body used for a brood- 

 chamber? 



5. How would you like a wood-and-wire 

 honey-board, with just M as many slats, and 

 wire to take the place of slats to give more 

 ventilation in the upper story? 



Arkansas. 

 Answers.— I. The latest edition of Da- 

 dant's Langstroth is igo«: of "Forty Years 

 Among the Bees." 1006. I don't know about 

 the others you name in your letter. 



2. I don't know; I don't find them listed in 

 the catalogs. You can find out by writing to 

 the manufacturers. 



3. I think the wire. 



The other things you ask about I have no 

 practical acquaintance with. 



4. The capacity of such a hive would be 72 

 percent of that of an B-frame Langstroth. 

 That would be quite too small. 



5. Other things being equal, there would 

 be an advantage in the greater openness. 



Plans to Prevent Swarming 



1. Do you think this is a good plan to pre- 

 vent swarming? By fastening the young 

 queen in the hive, by putting a queen-ex- 

 cluder between the bottom-board and the 

 hive. It you don't get the right understand- 

 ing of this, please look on page 171), "Forty 

 Years Among the Bees." 



2. I also enclose a clipping from a farm 

 paper of a plan to prevent swarming. Do 

 you think it is a good one to follow? 



.Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. If you will read on 2 pages 

 further in " Forty "Years Among the Bees." 

 you will see that the plan didn't work well 

 with me. and I wouldn't advise you to try it. 

 I think it would be all right if one had only a 

 single colony, and it might work fairly well 

 in a small apiary; but in a large apiary there 

 is too much swarming and mixing. 



2. The plan given in the clipping ought to 

 work successfully; although what works for 

 one is not always sure to work for anotJier. 

 The clipping is this: 



"Method OF Handlinc; Bees.— Every bee- 

 keeper of this locality should attend to his 

 bees ill the siiring. Such is our way so that 

 when the honey season begins, in each of 

 his hives will be a powerful, strong colony. 



