American Hee Journal 



Dr. Miller's Question-Box 



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



Dr. C. C. Mii.i.kh, Makknco. Ii.i.. 



He does not answer bee-lieepinsr questions by mail. 



More than One Queen in Colony — Too Many Bees 

 for Winter ? 



1. How did Alexander introduce and keep 

 more than one queen in a colony? I have 

 been unable to find out. 



2. I introduced a fine queen in August, and 

 no young bees showing up. I looked in Sat- 

 urday to see what the trouble was. I found 

 too many bees for the season, and the combs 

 so full of honey and only one little space 

 about an inch square for her to lay; she had 

 this full of unsealed brood. Will it do to 

 trust them this way, or should something be 

 done? She looks to be all right. I winter 

 my bees on the summer stands, but could 

 put them into the cellar. Ohio. 



ANsvyERS.— I. I can not give you particu- 

 lars. But I can tell you how I did it. I in- 

 troduced the new queen just as if no queen 

 were in the hive. But the original queen 

 must be old. that no fighting may occur. 



2. IDon't worry. In September or October 

 brood-rearing generally ceases, and if you 

 found plenty of bees and plenty of stores, 

 the absence of unsealed brood need not 

 trouble you. 



Producing Honey for Home Use 



I know very little about bee-culture, and 

 would appreciate your advice as to the best 

 manner of securing one or two colonies 

 from which to get honey for home use ? 



Georgia. 



Answer.— Most railroads will not ship 

 bees as freight, unless it be by car-load, and 

 express prices are so high as to be practi- 

 cally prohibitive, so the only thing left is to 

 buy a colony or two from some one near by. 

 Even if the bees are not of very good stock, 

 and not in the best kind of hives, vou can 

 in a short time change both bees and hives. 

 This IS true of bees as of no other kind of 

 stock. If you have a hundred scrub chick- 

 ens, and buy a trio of Buff Orpingtons, at the 

 end of 2 or 3 years you will have no more 

 pure Orpingtons than you would have had if 

 you had not had a single one of the scrubs. 

 But if you start with bees of the poorest 

 scrub sort you can pick up, all vou need to 

 do is to put in each hive an Italian queen, 

 and in 2 months or so every bee in your yard 

 will be of pure Italian stock. 



Still, it is no little trouble to transfer bees 

 into different hives and to change the stock, 

 and you may prefer to start in another way. 

 Send off to some one whose advertisement 

 you have seen, and buy a nucleus or two. 

 The express charges on a nucleus are light 

 compared with those on a full colony, and 

 the nucleus may be put into a full-sized 

 hive, where it will in a few weeks become a 

 full colony. The frames in the nucleus will 

 be of standard si-ze. and the stock will be 

 pure from the start. 



Whichever way you choose, the first thing 

 to do is to get a book of instruction upon 

 bee-keeping, and make something of a study 

 of it preparatory to making a start next 

 spring, for it will be better to wait till bees 

 Hy then before making your purchase. 



Helping Weak Colony Witli Bee-Tree Bees 



I have some colonies of bees that are 

 pretty weak. Can I take bees from a bee- 

 tree and put them into a weak colony? I 

 have found some bee-trees here. I would 

 like to hear from you as I want to cut the 

 trees, and don't like to let the bees die on 

 the mountain. Pennsvi.va.nia. 



Answkr — Yes. you can make use of the 

 bees now in the trees to strengthen weak 

 colonies lust exactly how the minutiie 

 should be attended is not so easy to say 

 without being on the ground. Possibly you 

 may cut the tree so as to leave the combs 

 unbroken, cut ting off above and below where 

 the bees are, so as to iiaul home the whole 

 thing. In that case the part of the tree cut 

 off would serve as a hive. Take a board 

 large enough to cover the hive to which 

 you are to add the new bees. If yon haven't 

 a single board wide enough for this, cleat 

 togetiier two or more boards. Make a hole 

 in this board of any convenient size, 6 inches 



or more in diamcter.no matter whether a 

 square or round hole Take the cover off 

 the hive, lay a newspaper over it. and put 

 over the newspaper your board with the 

 hole in it. Over this put your log-hive, put a 

 cover on top. and plug up with rags or other- 

 wise any cracks there may be. so that no bee 

 can get out of the upper hive until the bees 

 eat a hole through the paper. When the 

 hole is first made it will be small, only one 

 bee at a time will get through, and by the 

 time much of a hole is made in the paper the 

 bees will be united peaceably. Two or three 

 days after bringing the bees home, or any 

 time later, you can drive the bees out of the 

 log. or cut the combs out and brush off the 

 bees, allowing them to enter the hive, and 

 your job is done. So late in the season it is 

 not likely there will be enough brood in the 

 log to bother with. 



It may be. however, that you will not keep 

 the combs in the log. but will cut them out 

 and bring home combs and bees. In that 

 case you will lay newspaper over your hive, 

 set an empty hive- body over it. and then put 

 in this empty body the bees and at least 

 some of the combs, proceeding as before. 



Plan for Prevention of Swarming 



Upon reading the September issue of your 

 paper. I again see that the bee-keepers are 

 still as much in the dark as ever as to the 

 prevention of swarming when running for 

 comb honey. 



As a natural born bacteriologist, and a 

 bee-keeper combined. I have for many years 

 made a special study of this question, and 

 for two years past— igoD and iqio — not a 

 swarm has issued from any of the yards 

 where this has been in practice. My own 

 few colonies, and my bee-keeper friends 

 who have had access to the use of this plan 

 (providing they keep it a secret! have re- 

 ceived in the 4 yards (all averaged together 

 for the year iqio) the amount of 140 pounds 

 of comb honey to the colony, not a swarm, 

 and not a colony weakened. 



Not wishing to print a book on this plan so 

 that the boys and masses of our country 

 will have to pay a big price to get a little 

 valuable information, how can I receive at 

 least a small compensation for my trouble 

 in writing out my plan in and illustrating for 

 the American Bee Journal during the winter 

 months so as to give plenty if time for bee- 

 keepers to study this plan and send me any 

 questions that they do not clearly under- 

 stand? New Jersey, 



Answer.— I don't know of any way to get 

 paid for valuable information unless it be 

 from some bee-paper. 



[Why not write out your plan and submit 

 it to one of the bee-papers, naming what 

 you consider a fair price for your work and 

 illustrations? None of the editors would 

 use or print your ideas until he had your 

 permission.— G. W. Y.] 



Changing Queens — Bee-Diseases 



1. I am a beginner in the beebusines. I 

 bought 8 colonies of bees from a man near 

 here and have lost every old colony that the 

 bees swarmed from. It seems as if the bees 

 have no life— don't work. I believe the 

 queens are no good— the breed has run out. 

 I have mixed bees. Italian and black. I want 

 to get at least i new queens when it is time, 

 but I don't know how to get rid of the old 

 ones, as in my colonies the queens are so 

 small I don't think I could iiick them out. 

 Can you instruct me along that line ? I will 

 do as you say. as my bees don't work and 

 they have a good field. I would like to have 

 your advice as to how I can catch the old 

 queens and put in the new ones. 



2. Is there a disease that causes bees to 

 (jutt work and dwindle away ? MissoiTKI. 



Answers.— I. The probability is that you 

 are mistaken about your queens being so 

 small that you would not recognize them. 

 Of course, however, you would be less cer- 

 tain of finding them than one with more ex- 

 perience. So if you want to avoid the hunt- 

 ing, you may sift them out. But a queen- 



excluder at the entrance. Lift out the 

 frames somewhat carefully, so as not to set 

 the bees to running, of course taking the 

 bees with the frames, and put them in an- 

 other hive close by. leaving the old hive 

 empty on the stand. Look in the old hive 

 and see whether the queen is among the few 

 bees that are left, although she is very un- 

 likely to be left there. Now take the frames, 

 one after another, brush all the bees from 

 them in front of the old hive, and put the 

 frames back in the old hive. The workers 

 will pass through the excluder zinc, but the 

 queen can not get through the perforations, 

 and will be left outside, where you may dis- 

 pose of her at your pleasure. 



2. Foul brood or paralysis would have the 

 effect you mention. But if either of these 

 diseases were in your colonies they would 

 tiardly be strong enough to have swarmed. 

 It happens quite often that after a colony 

 has swarmed the young queen in the old 

 hive is lost on her wedding trip, and of 

 course the colony must then perish. One 

 would hardly think so many of yours would 

 go in that way. but still such a thing might 

 happen. 



Honey from Oats!— What Next? 



What do you think of the following' A 

 man told me to feed bees on threshed oats. 

 He said. " Moisten it and then put the oats 

 near them, and they will gather the finest 

 honey out of it." I think it more of a joke 

 than anything else. Illinois. 



Answer.— I'd like to look in the face of the 

 man who tells that, before trying to make a 

 guess whether he is joking or in earnest. It 

 hardly seems that any one could believe 

 such a thing, and yet things have been be- 

 lieved about bees that are just as foolish. 



Threshed oats" are specified. It would 

 be interesting to know what would be the 

 difference in the quality of the honey if the 

 oats were fed in the sheaf. And would the 

 honey be extra-fancy if " rolled " oats were 

 fed ?— (Or might not the *f« be milder man- 

 nered, or less warlike, if fed on " Oiiiiier 

 oats?"-G. W. Y.l 



Starting With Bees— Sweet Clover— 10-Frame Hive 



1. I want to go into the bee-business here 

 in Massachusetts, and would like to know 

 how many colonies lean keep and get an 

 average of 30 pounds, both extracted and 

 comb honey. 



2. The land here is waste land with stones 

 and stumps, and is covered with goldenrod 

 and wild flowers, lotsof wild blackberry and 

 raspberry, but basswood and sweet clover 

 are unknown here: but I will sow some 

 sweet clover seed on such waste land that is 

 a mile or two away. Which is better, white 

 or yellow ? 



3. Which is the better hive to buy, the 8 or 

 the 10 frame; deep or shallow ? 



4. If I hive a swarm and give them all 

 worker-comb, will they tear some apart to 

 make place for drone-cells? 



Massachusetts. 

 Answers— I. I don't know. Depends upon 

 the pasture. If there are only the honey- 

 plants you mention, and these not very 

 plenty. 20 colonies might be enough. But if 

 they are plenty, and a reasonable amount of 

 white clover besides. 100 might be nearer 

 the number. 



2. The yellow blooms from 2 to 4 weeks 

 earlier than the white. It comes mostly in 

 the season of white clover, and the white 

 sweet clover comes about the close of white 

 clover. So if you have a good yield of white 

 clover, the white sweet clover will be of 

 more value. If you have no white clover, 

 then the yellow variety is better; and still 

 better t .lave both kinds. 



3. Like enough the lo-frame hive will be 

 better for you. .As you can use the same 

 frames in each, it will be a good plan to try 

 both before you get stocked up with a large 

 number. Most bee-keepers prefer a frame 

 of medium depth, the Langstroth, which is 

 gJ'B inches deep, outside measure. 



An Interesting Lot of Questions 



I. I have kept brcs ever since I was 10 

 years old. I am now ^z. I was born a few 

 miles from where v<ni live, at Cherry Valley, 

 but father moved lui e when I was 4 years 

 old. I can not get ';o pounds of comb honey 

 to the colony here in Ohio. I am greatly 

 surprised at the quantity of honey you get 

 from your bees, and wonder if it is due to 

 your superior ability in management, or 

 whether it is due to locality. If due to man- 

 agement, perhaps I could get 100 pounds to 



