December, 1910. 



i^Amorican Hee Journal 



brood-chamber? I use the divisible brood- 

 chamber hives, and like them 



2 Do you know where Kditor York gets 

 his Queens ? 1 KOt aeeens from him and they 

 are first-class honey-natherors. and they are 

 irentle. I handle them without iisnis! the 

 Imoker. Ii.i.inois. 



Answers.-i. It will probably be better to 

 use the drawn combs, as there will be just 

 so much advance in the work. 



2 IdoiVt know where he gets them; but! 

 understand he has one or more reliable 

 queen-rearers to rear them for him. 



A Beginner's Questions 



1 Will you give me a list of the most essen- 

 tial supplies a beginner should have ? 



z How can honey stored in sections be 

 fed during the winter? ,1 „ u„^„ 



i After brood-rearing stops, do the bees 

 store honey for winter in the broodcham- 



4. Would 2 supers be enough to uct for each 



"s!Vhat size smoker is the best to use ? 

 6 In using a division-board feeder, would 

 it be all right to take out otie frame and 

 allow the feeder to remain until spring ? 



Answers. -J. The most essential things 

 for a beginner are very few. although there 

 are many things he wil want to add after- 

 ward. The things to be added will be not 

 always the sime for all bee-keepers; tor in- 

 stance, a man who never expects to produce 

 extracted honey will need no extractor, 

 while for many an extractor will be indis- 

 pensable. . ,- , , 



As perhaps deserving hrst p ace among 

 the most essential things for all beginners 

 is a bee-book, or book of instruction in bee- 

 keeping. And you have done a wise thing in 

 reading up before getting any bees. Of 

 course, the beginner must have bees and 

 hives for them. He will also want a veil, 

 smoker, and some kind of a hive-tool, it it 

 be only a screw-driver. With nhese few 

 items he is in a fair way to make a beginning, 

 adding other things as they are needed. 



2 If there is a 2-inch space under the bnt- 

 tom-bars. as there is in my hives, the sec- 

 tions may be slid under, lying llat. A wide- 

 frame, filled or partly filled with sections, 

 may be put in the hive near the cluster. It 

 you do not use wide-frames, a common 

 brood-frame may be used. To put 4 or 8 

 sections in a brood-frame, it will probably 

 be necessary to cut away a part of one or 

 more of the sections. If the arrangement 

 on top will admit of it. sections may be laid 

 Hat on top of the brood-frames, and covered 

 up warm. , _ , . 



1,. Maybe, and maybe not. Some colonies 

 stop breeding earlier than others. In some 

 places and in some seasons the honey-How 

 continues later than in others. But in no 

 case will you probably ever find it happen 

 that breeding suddenly stops while the hive 

 is full of brood, with practically no roorn 

 for honey, and then the bees hi up with 

 honey. Toward the close of the season 

 breeding gradually becomes less, and as the 

 combs become emptied of brood they are 

 filled up with honey, there being only a very 

 little brood in the hive when the queen stops 

 laying. , . - -.u 



4 You can get along, after a fashion, with 

 onlv one super, but it is very poor economy 

 to scrimp in the matter of supers. If you 

 mean extracting supers of the same size as 

 the brood-chamber. 3 would be better than 2. 

 Kor sections. I would not like to start in the 

 season with less than b supers of 24 sections 

 each for each colony. , , . 



5. I never saw a smoker too large, although 

 with only one or two colonies you can get 

 along with a small one. Sometimes you 

 want a bigger volume of smoke than a small 

 smoker will give, and you can use just as lit- 

 tle smoke as you like with a large smoker. 

 The large smoker holds fire better than the 

 small one. and you can more easily have 

 fuel to fit the large one. 



6. Ye-es, I Buess so. 



Fool-Broody Hives — Wintering Bees ~ Clipping 

 Queens— Requeening 



I. Last winter I purchased four i>4-story 

 hives at a public sale for 80 cents each. 

 After getting them home I found the combs 

 chock-full of foul brood. Of course, that 

 taught me a lesson not to buy secondhand 

 hives; but what am I to do with them ? All 

 the frames and inside pieces were burned, 

 and the inside of the hives have been thor- 

 oughly scorched with a kerosene torch. 

 Most of my hives are lo-frame. but these are 



8. Do you ihink it would be safe to put bees 

 into them next summer, or would you advise 

 me to make kindling wood of them ? 



2. Do you lliiiik it is necessary to havean 

 empty super containing leaves or chaff over 

 the brood-nest for wintering ? 



3. My hive-covers consist of a ^4-inch inner 

 cover just above the bees, then 3 ^-inch air- 

 space, then a sheet of straw-board which is 

 covered with galvanized-iron; then I have 

 about a foot of straw over and around the 

 hives. Is that surticient protection ? 



4. Would it not be better for a busy farmer 

 to risk a few absconding swarms than to 

 clip the Queen's wings ? 



5. I have 8 colonies which stored So to 75 

 pounds of honey while others stored 100. 

 Would you advise me to requeen the 8? If 

 so, what would be the cheapest and simplest 

 way to do so ? I have but 12 colonies, and am 

 a beginner. If I must requeen 1 would like 

 to do it before they increase. 



6. I have 6 colonies of bees on half sheets 

 of comb foundation, and the result is the 

 lower half of the combs are mostly drone- 

 comb. Now if I simply cut this out next 

 spring, will they build drone-comb again? 

 Or how can I fasten foundation in the lower 

 half of the frame ? 



7. There are foul-broody hives iH miles on 

 either side of me. Is there danger of my 

 bees getting it at that distance ? 



Nebraska. 

 Answers,— I. Being thoroughly scorched 

 with the torch, they are safe to use again. 

 Indeed, many use them again without any- 

 thing being done to the hives at all. 



2. No, there is no need of a super, only so 

 the hive is well packed, especially over the 

 top. 



3. It ought to be. 



4. A busy farmer is the very one who 

 should have his queens clipped. It is a very 

 small matter to clip a queen, and when a 

 swarm issues it is much less trouble to hive 

 it with a clipped queen. .411 you have to do 

 is to catch the clipped queen as she hops 

 over the ground, set the old hive off the 

 stand, put the empty hive on the stand, and 

 then when the swarm comes back and be- 

 gins to enter the hive, to let the queen run 

 in with the bees. No matter if the swarm 

 settles on a tall tree; just wait till it is 

 ready, and it will be sure to come back to 

 the hive. 



5. Probably the easiest way for you is to 

 use the plan recommended to " Iowa " in 

 this number. 



6. If you let the bees build it in again, they 

 will likely fill the vacancy with drone-comb. 

 Cut the drone-comb in all. Then cut the 

 worker-comb out of one frame and fill out 

 another frame with it. 



7. There is danger, but not so much as if 

 the distance was less. 



Cellar-Wintering of Bees — Rearing and Introducing 

 Queens 



1. I have a few colonies of bees that I have 

 put intoa cellar wherethereis no fire. Do 

 you think it would be all right if it should 

 get too cold there any time this winter, to 

 move them into a cellar where there is a 

 fire ? 



2. Does noise bother bees when they are in 

 the cellar? 



3. I have one colony of bees which I think 

 are much better workers than my other 

 colonies, and I would like to get some 

 queens from that colonyand put in with the 

 others so as to get better workers. I would 

 like to get at least one queen for a colony of 

 black bees. How can I rear a queen from 

 this colony ? 



4. When is the best time to introduce a 

 queen to a colony of bees ? 



5. Can more than one queen be reared 

 from a colony in one year ? 



6. Can you tell when there is more than 

 one queen in a hive? If so. how? lowA. 



Answers.— I. Yes. only be sure you do not 

 have the cellar too warm and close. But 

 with plenty of fresh air coming into the cel- 

 lar, my bees do not seem much troubled by 

 having the temperature go up to 50 degrees 

 or higher. If a fire is such that it shines in 

 the cellar, there is danger that the bees will 

 fly into it. 



2. Noise seems to have little effect upon 

 them. 



3. From the colony with your best queen 

 take two frames with adhering bees and the 

 queen, and put them in an empty hive on a 

 new stand. In 10 days you ought to find a 

 number of sealed queen-cells that maybe 

 used wherever you like, and after the cells 

 have been taken the queen may be returned. 

 Kill the black queen 8 days after requeening 

 your best colony, and then 2 days later give 

 to the black colony one of the sealed cells. 



Another way may suit you: Take from 

 your best colony the frames that have little 

 room in them, and exchange for frames 

 from other colonies well filled with scaled 

 brood. This will make your best colony 

 strong, in the hope it may swarm first. Now 

 suppose A is your best colony, B is the 

 strongest of the remaining colonies, and then 

 come in the order of their strength. C. I). K. 

 and so on. When A swarms, set the swarm 

 on the stand where A stood, and set A on the 

 stand of B. putting B on a new stand. .All the 

 held-beesof B will join A. making it quite 

 strong again. In something like 8 days it 

 will swarm again. Set the swarm in place 

 of A. set A in place of C. and set C on a new 

 stand. Perhaps 2 days later. A will again 

 swarm. Set the swarm in place of A. set A 

 in place of D. and set D on a new stand. If 

 A swarms a day or so later, set it in place of 

 E. and so on. Kvery one of those swarms 

 will have a young queen of your best stock, 

 and if the swarming gives you more colonies 

 than you desire, you can break up one or 

 more of them to strengthen your swarms 

 that have queens of the best stock. 



4. That depends. If you w-ant to introduce 

 a new queen for the sake of rearing better 

 stock from her. it will be better to do it 

 somewhat early next year. Other things be- 

 ing equal, there is no better time tlian about 

 the close of the honey-flow. 



5. Yes. hundrds of them. 



6. You can not easily tell. Look through 

 the hive, taking the frames out one by one, 

 and if 2 queens are in the hive you may see 

 them. But if you see only one. you can not 

 be at all certain that there is not another 

 queen in the hive. If you want to make cer- 

 tain about it. remove the queen for 3 days, 

 and if you then find plenty of eggs present, 

 you may know that another queen is still in 

 the hive. If you have removed the only 

 queen, you will find in 3 days that queen- 

 cells are started and that no eggs are in the 

 hive. 



Had a Good Honey Crop 



I have had a good honey crop. I fed my 

 bees last winter and early in the spring. My 

 neighbors' bees nearly all died last winter; 

 out of 150 colonies only g went through the 

 winter. I lay all my success to the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal and " Forty Years Among 

 the Bees." Good luck tothe "Old Reliable." 



Fortuna. Mo.. Oct. 31. L. M. JOHN.SON. 



An Amateur's Good Report 



I am an amateur in the business. I have 

 12 colonies, and their production has ex- 

 ceeded 100 pounds of extracted honey per 

 colony. I sold nearly all of it at 10 cents per 

 pound. 



I wish the American Bee Journal success. 

 No bee-keeper can do without it. 



Corinth, Ky.. Nov. i. J. C. Ham,. 



Good Crop — Fighting Foul Brood 



I think the American Bee Journal Is one 

 of the best bee-papers published. It has 

 helped me to a good crop of honey this year. 

 From 70 colonies I have taken to. 000 pounds 

 of honey. 



I have had lots of fun fighting foul brood 

 in this vicinity. I think I have had as much 

 fun as Dr. C. C. Miller had with this disease. 

 T. L. Shawler. 



Silver City. Iowa, Nov. i. 



Bee-Keeping in Missouri 



There was a big show of farm products 

 held at Moberly, Mo., in September under 

 the auspices of the Missouri Immigration 

 Board, and products from most of the coun- 

 ties of Missouri were shown. I was there; 

 and while the program was full for speakers 

 on that occasion, yet when the committee 

 found that I would talk on bees. I was given 

 a place. My address was well received. 

 Just before the address a noted fruit grower 

 read a paper, and he stated among other 

 things that they had tried fruit-growing out 

 in Colorado, and had met with poor success 

 until they secured bees there, when they 



