August, igio. 



American 'Ree Journal 



Dr. Miller's Question-Box 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Large Queens vs. Small Ones — Pickled Brood 



1. I have a young golden queen, the yellow- 

 est and the largest I think I have ever seen, 

 but she has not filled her hive nearly so well 

 as some queens I have. Is it always the case 

 that large queens are prolific, or will she be 

 likely to do better next year ? She has been 

 laying only about a month. 



2. Do you think pickled brood is conta- 

 gious ? It is so near like black brood that I 

 had to send some samples to Dr. Phillips to 

 find out the difference. But I can rear 

 queens and drones in the colony that has 

 had it. Arkansas. 



Answers.— I. She may do better next year, 

 but not likely. One of the smallest queens I 

 ever had was, I think, the most prolific. But 

 that was an exception. A queen of average 

 size is perhaps usually the best. 



2. Pickled brood is not considered conta- 

 gious. 



Honey-Dew Granulated in the Comb 



My bees have stored a quantity of honey- 

 dew that has granulated as fast as it was 

 stored. I run for extracted honey, and my 

 store-combs are full of it. I want to get my 

 bees to consume it. and rear brood from it 

 all they can during August for workers for 

 the honey-flow in October. Can I excite 

 the bees every day and get them to consume 

 some of it daily ? My bees stored a lot of it 

 some 20 years ago, before I had so many colo- 

 nies. I then soaked the combs, extracted, 

 and barreled it for vinegar. But it didn't 

 pay for the trouble. I now have 150 colonies 

 with store-combs on, and it would be a 

 laborious job to get them emptied that way. 

 South Carolina. 



Answer.— I'm not sure that you can do 

 very much toward getting the bees to con- 

 sume any more of the honey-dew for brood- 

 rearing in August than they will do of their 

 own accord, unless it should happen that at 

 that time there is a dearth, or partial dearth 

 of forage, in which case you can extract the 

 honey-dew and feed it daily. But if you 

 keep it in the combs you will probably find 

 that you can get a good many of such combs 

 used for brood-rearing next spring. Possi- 

 bly some of the large dealers might buy it 

 for mechanical purposes. 



Bees Killing Each Other 



I have a colony of bees that liave been kill- 

 ing each other for the last 6 weeks. lean 

 not account for the cause unless it is rats. 

 Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— With no particulars in the case 

 one can only guess. If it is drones they are 

 killing, that may be because of the dry 

 weather causing a dearth of pasturage. If 

 they are killing workers, it is possible that 

 the larva: of the bee-moth are so injuring the 

 young workers in their cells that their older 

 sisters drag them out. It is also possible 

 that it is a case of bee-paralysis, and the 

 healthy bees arc dragging out the sick ones. 

 If that is the case, the sick bees will look 

 black and shiny, and will make a tremulous 

 motion with their wings. As far north as 

 you are, paralysis is not a serious matter, 

 and disappears of itself. 



Queen that Seemed to Faint 



Has any one ever heard of a queen's faint- 

 ing? Last week I received a fine queen, 

 and after the bees had accepted her I con- 

 cluded to clip her wings. The clipping was 

 done with the gentlest of treatment, but to 

 my sorrow she dropped from my fingers— 75 

 cents apparently gone, because I was sure 

 she was dead. Instead of throwing her 

 away. I placed her on top of a brood-frame 

 with feet sticking straight up. where the 

 bees gathered around her and began a sort 

 of a massaging. I supposed at the time that 

 they were attempting to eject her dead body. 



The bees worked with her until they 

 shoved her off the top of the frame and she 

 fell to the bottom of the hive. Tiring of 

 watching at the entrance for them to bring 



out her dead body. I lifted out a frame in or- 

 der to see what had become of her. There 

 she was lying on her back, but her abdomen 

 was faintly beginning to throb. The throbs 

 became greater and greater (while my heart 

 beat a rat-a-tat-tat-tat' until finally the " lit- 

 tle lady of the hive" was placed upon her 

 feet by the bees around her. She then went 

 through motions with her whole body, much 

 like a dog vomiting. I concluded that it was 

 the dying act. After a few minutes, how- 

 ever, she crawled down on to the comb and 

 went about her duties of inspection. She 

 seems to have suffered no ill effects from 

 her swoon. Missouri. 



Answer .Yes, such cases have been re- 

 ported a number of times. 



Bees in a Gopher Hole 



I have a swarm of bees in a gopher hole, 

 which goes directly under and among the 

 roots of a large poplar tree. I would not 

 like to destroy the tree on account of its 

 shade. How may the bees be removed to a 

 stand? Idaho. 



Answer.— Perhaps you can drive them 

 out with smoke or gasoline, having a frame 

 of brood outside for them to cluster on. Or 

 you might arrange a bee-escape that would 

 allow the bees to come out but not to go 

 back in again. They would then settle in a 

 hive outside, the hive having a frame of 

 brood to hold them. Of course the queen 

 would not be with them, and so you would 

 have to furnish them a queen. Possibly you 

 might dig away enough earth without injur- 

 ing the tree, so that you could get out combs 

 and all. 



Vegetables in Bee-Cellar — Drones and Queenless 

 Colony — Large vs. Small Hive 



1. Do vegetables in cellars have any effect 

 on wintering bees in same ? 



2. The directions of Kretchmer's swarm- 

 guard say to trap drones and dispose of them 

 by drowning, and if a queenless colony shake 

 them out near the entrance. What effect 

 will the drones have on a queenless colony ? 



3. What effect has a large hive over a small 

 one, if any ? Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. Not if everything is kept 

 clean and sweet as it should be. If rotten 

 stuff is allowed to accumulate, it is bad for 

 the bees as well as for the people that live 

 over the cellar. 



2. I don't know of any effect except to eat 

 up victuals. 



3. Not sure I know just what you mean; 

 but a large hive put over a small one has no 

 special effect except that it would be a bad 

 fit, and you would have to close up any open- 

 ing between the two. 



A Beginner's Questions 



1. I don't know anything about bees, but I 

 have 7 colonies. Are queen-cells all at the 

 end or at the bottom of the combs ? 



2. I have one colony of bees which is a 

 small bunch; they don't make comb very 

 fast, and store but little honey. The cells 

 that have no eggs in them have young bees. 

 I thought they were queenless. What is 

 the matter with them ? Don't they do any- 

 thing? Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— I. Bees generally build queen- 

 cells along the lower edges of the combs. 

 But if there is a hole, or some irregularity 

 of surface in a comb, thus making room for 

 a queen-cell, the bees do not despise the 

 opportunity. In rare cases they will even 

 build a cell separate from the comb on one 

 of the bars of a frame. If a colony becomes 

 suddenly queenless. they build cells over 

 young worker-larvas, converting them into 

 youngqueens, and these cells are often built 

 right in the center of a brood-comb where 

 there is no hole or irregularity of surface. 



5. WitluMit knowing more about the case, 

 it is not easy to say what is the trouble. 

 Very likely, however, the colony has a t;>oor 

 queen, producing liees that are too weak or 

 too lazy to work. The remedy in such a 

 case is to give them a queen of better stock. 



Swarming Oul^From Egg to Bee— Queen-Cells 



1. July mth I had 2 swarms tocoiue out and 

 settle together. I hived them in an 8-frame 

 dovetailed hive with one super on and a 

 queen-excluder between. July 27th they 

 swarmed out and left. The hive was full of 

 honey and comb. Why did they leave ? 



2. After the above swarms left there were 

 several bees that came back to the hive. I 

 suppose they were out when the others left. 

 Do you suppose they could rear a qneen. or 

 would I have to introduce one ? 



3. How long is it from an egg to a bee ? I 

 mean how long after the egg is laid till it is a 

 full-grown bee ? 



4. Are queen-cells always built before the 

 eggs are laid, or do the bees build the cells 

 over the eggs? Tennessee. 



Answers.— L I am sorry to say I don't 

 know. It was certainly a very unusual oc- 

 currence. The thing that makes it hard to 

 make a guess is their staying in the hive 8 

 days before absconding. If the super giveo 

 to them had been on the hive some time be- 

 fore swarming, there is a possibility that 

 there was brood in it and oneor more queen- 

 cells, which might induce swarming; but 

 even in that case one would not expect such 

 wholesale desertion. 



2. If there was young brood in the hive the 

 bees might rear a queen. 



3. For a queen, 15 or lb days; for a worker. 

 21 days; for a drone, 24 days. 



4. When bees contemplate swarming or 

 superseding, the cell is first built, or at least 

 the cup, and the egg placed in it; but if the 

 queen is by any means lost when no queen- 

 cells are already occupied in the hive, then 

 the bees build a queen-cell over a young 

 larva. 



■you are standing in your own light to try 

 to get along without a bee-book. "The read- 

 ing of one might save several times its cost 

 in one season. 



Queens and Queen-Mating 



1. How long after a queen-cell is capped 

 does the virgin hatch ? 



2. Would a colony be likely to swarm if a 

 queen-cell nearly ready to hatch was intro- 

 duced and accepted ? 



3. I have a colony of very cross bees, but 

 fine honey-gatherers; they have 1 decided 

 bands. What kind are they? Would the 

 mating of a queen of mild temperament with 

 a drone of a cross colony, but good honey- 

 gatherers, likely prove successful ? 



4. How does a queen-breeder mate a 

 queen? Nebraska. 



Answers.— I. Cowan says the grub hatches 

 from the egg in 3 days, is fed 5 days before it 

 is capped, and in 7 days after being capped 

 the young queen emerges from her cell. I 

 think, however, that the time of sealing 

 varies somewhat, as I have opened sealed 

 cells which contained rather small larv^. 



2. I think it might; indeed, I remember 

 seeing it advised, many years ago, to put a 

 sealed cell in a hive to induce the colony to 

 swarm. 



3. I don't know; it might be successful and 

 it might not. 



4. Just the same as you do; lets the young 

 queens fly out at their own sweet will. But 

 if he is up to his business, he will do every- 

 thing possible to allow only desirable drones 

 to fly in his neighborhood. Some remove 

 their young queens to isolated locations 

 where only the right drones are to be found. 



Bees Carrying Pollen — Forming Nuclei 



1. How longwill bees carry pollen after the 

 death or removal of their queen ? 



2. In forming a nucleus, is it best to re- 

 move the queen fiom the old hive to the 

 new location of the nucleus, or let the nu- 

 cleus rear its own queen? Bee-keepers 

 seem to differ on this question. 



3. In forming a nucleus in a lo-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive, by using 3 to 4 frames of brood 

 and honey, would yon fill the balance of the 

 nucleus hive with frames with full sheets at 

 once, or say give 4 or 5 at transfer, and bal- 

 ance when these are filled ? Missouri. 



Answers— I. I don't know, but for a con- 

 siderable time, as you will find the combs of 

 a queenless colony usually pretty well filled 

 with pollen. 



2. In no case is it advisable to let a nucleus 

 rear its own queen. Nothing less than a full 

 colony is good enough for such important 

 business as rearing a queen, .\ftcr a queen 

 has emerged from its cell, or when the cell 

 is ripe enough for the queen to be within a 

 day or two of emerging, then it may do well 

 enough to use a nucleus. As to the matter 



