October, 1910. 



Amorican Hee Jonrnal 



Our Bee-Keeping Sisters 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson. Marengo. III. 



Worker-Combs for Extracting-Supers 



Deak Miss Wilson :—Kor tiie benefit of 

 those who have asked, and of those who 

 wish to know, what size cells our extracting 

 framesconsist of. I will give the information, 

 with your consent, through our beloved 

 Journal. 



They are worker-cells, mostly. The rea- 

 sons are many. The drone-combs have only 

 two virtues, to my way of thinking. /. e.. they 

 are so easy to sling the honey from, and the 

 cells are then clearer of honey than the 

 worker-combs. On the other hand, the 

 worker-combs have much in their favor to 

 off-set the drone-combs. 



Reason No. i.— By having all worker- 

 combs they can be interchanged when ex- 

 tracted, whether they are taken from the 

 top. middle, or bottom super, or brood- 

 chamber. 



Reason No. 2. — Supposing, for instance. 

 we have a frame of drone-comb which has a 

 little brood-comb in it. and among it we 

 have a very fine, sealed queen-cell which we 

 wish to give to a queenless colony; all that 

 drone-comb would be in the way. We 

 would have either to cut the drone-comb 

 out or place it just as it is in the hive, or 

 graft the queen-cell onto oneof their frames, 

 which lakes time, and is accompanied with 

 danger, unless managed by experienced 

 hands. 



As to the first method.it would just ruin 

 the comb and be a set-back to the already 

 weak colony, which, on rebuilding, would 

 most probably build drone-comb there 

 again. The empty space would be a 

 "draft" in their home. So we would have 

 to remove the frame anyway, unless, of 

 course, we were short on drone-comb, which 

 I must admit has never been the case with 

 us. so far. 



As to the second method, the frame would 

 have to be removed after the queen had 

 hatched, and more likely than not the ma- 

 nipulation would be neglected during the 

 press of other work, and the queen would 

 deposit drone-eggs there, whereas, had the 

 frame been of solid worker-comb, she would 

 have layed worker-eggs, and so havestrength- 

 enedthe colony so much, instead of setting 

 it back by producing " bums." 



If it was not neglected, and the frame was 

 removed before the queen had mated, ten 

 chances to one on opening the hive, or re- 

 moving the frame, the young queen might 

 leave and never return, or find her way 

 back. I have noticed that a young unmated 

 queen is generally "skittish." and is more 

 easily alarmed than an older one, and being 

 light of body she can and will fly. when a 

 laying queen can not. even if she has the im- 

 pulse. 



Then, again, we might go to the colony to 

 remove the frame while the queen was on 

 her wedding-trip. On her return from her 

 honey-moon she would most likely not rec- 

 ognize her domicile with the roof removed 

 and a giant or two standing dangerously 

 near. 



Reason No. 3 is because on the approach 

 of. or during the first part of the swarming 

 season, what would we do with so many 

 drone-comb frames in our method of keep- 

 ing down swarming, as I explained in March. 

 on page 73 ? 



Reason No. 4 is when we want to reinforce 

 a weak colony, we don't have to go through 

 half of the apiary hunting for a suitable 

 frame of all-worker comb. Any one will do 

 provided it has enough scaled brood to meet 

 the requirements of the colony we wish to 

 strengthen. 



;_ Reason No. 5.— If we wish to feed honey 

 to a starving colony, any frame we pick out 

 will answer. 



Reason .\o. 6.— If we wish toselect a pol- 

 len-laden frame to stimulate breeding, any 

 one will do. 



In the three last-mentioned reasons the 

 frames can be left in the colonies they are 

 placed in. as there is no fear of the queen 

 occupying (//(V/c-cells. Then the frames re- 

 moved from the weak or hungry colonies 

 being all-worker frames) can be placed 

 where the ones given to them were taken 

 from witliout having to place them else- 

 where, and again hunting worker-combs to 



put in place of those given to the needy 

 ones. 



In this matter of having worker-combs for 

 the extracting-supers, I am, probably, not 

 following the orthodox methods, but time 

 and again I have stumbled up against many 

 an annoying circumstance. In one instance 

 we had the brood-chamber full of beautiful 

 worker-combs, and a super of drone-comb 

 above. Well, the bees refused to store 

 honey in the super for some reason or other, 

 and put honey in cells of the brood-chamber 

 as fast as the brood emerged, and by so 

 doing forced the queen above. We then be- 

 headed all the drones and gave them a set of 

 worker-combs, and extracted the honey 

 from below. The drone-combs we placed 

 in other colonies not so"set"in their no- 

 tions about storing honey in them. There 

 was a decided change in their behavior. 



When cutting out comb honey for our 

 bulk-comb honey trade. I am glad indeed 

 when we come to drone-comb frames. That 

 many less incumbrances! 



If I had my way about it I wouldn't Iiave 

 any drone-comb in the apiary, except, of 

 course, in two or three of my very best colo- 

 nies to produce the very best drones to 

 mate with young queens. 



(Mrs.) M. E. Pruitt. 



Drone-comb is bad enough in ex- 

 tracting-supers, but it is still worse in 

 section-supers. Where drone-comb is 

 limited in the brood-chamber the bees 

 are quite insistent on having it in the 

 super, and are pretty sure to build it 

 there if there is any chance for it ; and 

 then the queen goes up and makes 

 trouble, unless one goes to the trouble 

 and expense of using excluders. The 

 wise thing is to have sections entirely 

 filled with worker foundation, and then 

 the queen so seldom goes up that ex- 

 cluders are not needed. 



The Honey-Stealer 



[From Theocritus. ] 



Dear little Cupid, thievish boy. 



Rifling a honey-bees's hive. 

 Suffered the price of a sting, alas! 



Pricited on his finger-tips. five. 

 Leaping and dancing in keenest pain. 



Swiftly he scampered away. 

 Hasting to Venus, his dear mamma. 



Crying. "Oh, mother. I pray 

 Tell me. O. tell me why the bee. 



Charmingly tiny fay, 

 Dealeth a wound so deep and sore. 



Tell me, O, mother, I pray!" 

 Venus then laughingly answered, "Ah. 



Cupid, you thievish elf. 

 You are a match for the wicked bee 



Your own little, naughty self. 

 You are a tiny, tiny boy. 



Charmingly tiny, although. 

 Deep and great are the wounds you deal, 



.As gods and mortals well know. 



Effie Haines, 

 in Chicago Record-Herald. 



Bee-Hive Like a Rotten Potato 



This ought to appeal to women — it's 

 a sample of man's boasted logic. It 

 comes from Philadelphia, where every- 

 thing is done in a logical manner: 



A number of men who were assem- 

 bled in the offices of a brokerage com- 

 pany watching the ticker were discuss- 

 ing non-business matters between ticks. 

 The conversation turned to logic. Up 

 spoke one of the brokers : 



" I can prove logically. " he said, 

 "that a bee-hive is the same as a rotten 

 potato." His associates laughed. Per- 



haps they recalled certain occasions in 

 the past when this same broker had 

 convinced them that a hole in the 

 ground was a gold-mine — but that was 

 ancient history. 



" Fire away," said one of the brokers 

 who desired to avoid committing him- 

 self one way or the other. 



" But I can really do it," the first 

 broker insisted. 



"It's absurd," replied a serious-mind- 

 ed listener. 



" Perhaps," said the broker, " but it's 

 logical just the same. Here's the proof: 

 A bee-hive is a bee-holder, and a be- 

 holder is a spectator (specked tater). 

 See ?" — Woman's Xationul Dailv. 



Not Honey Letters 



Three bees that give no honey — 

 Brag, Boast and Bluster. — Xezu York 

 Life. 



Fastening Brood-Combs 



When a frame of brood-comb hap- 

 pens to get broken out of the frame 

 which is not wired. I use wooden tooth- 

 picks to fasten it in, pushing them 

 through the holes in the frames made 

 for the wires. I read to use nails, but 

 the toothpicks are much better, I think. 

 You can also fasten chunks of brood- 

 comb together, then fasten in frames. 



Ima. 



Bees Don't Like " John " 



I noticed one day a guinea-hen pick- 

 ing at a stalk of grass blossoms within 

 6 inches of the hive-entrance. The bees 

 did not seem to notice her, but let 

 "John " come within 3 rods of the hive, 

 and they soon take notice of him. As 

 for me, I often take off the top of the 

 hive without gloves, veil or smoke. It 

 seems they like me, also the old guinea- 

 hen, but not "John." 



Ohio Bee-Woman. 



House-Apiary of Princess tMatilda 



The Deutsche Illustrierte Bienenzei- 

 tung takes pritle in giving a picture of 

 her Roval Highness, Princess Matilda, 



Princess Matilda's House-Apiarv. 



