June, nil 5. 



207 



American l^ee Journal 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



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



Dr. C. C. Mii.ler. Marengo. III. 



He does not answer beekeeping questions by mail. 



Minimum Strength to Figlil 



In ireatinn colonies with European foul- 

 brood by deuneenini; or cagint; the queen, 

 all agree the first thing lo do is to make the 

 colony strong. I find ideas differ on this 

 matter of strong colonies. What is the 

 minimum strength with which you would 

 expect success ? New Jersey. 



Answer.— You have struck a new ques- 

 tion, yet now that it is asked the wonder is 

 that it was never asked before Without 

 being dogmatic about it, I should say that 

 the colony should be strong enough to have 

 six Langstroth frames well filled with brood 

 — to be more specific about it. each frame 

 being three fourths filled. I don't know, but 

 I t/iini- it also important that there be a 

 good force of voiim; bees, and without this it 

 would not be likely that six frames would 

 be well filled with brood. Old bees that 

 have begun work a-field are not the ones 

 that do house-cleaning, and it may well be 

 questioned whether doubling up such bees 

 to any extent would answer the purpose. 



Bee Paralyiis — Keeping Queen in Upper Story 



1. I have 16 colonies of bees all in 8-frame 

 Langstroth hives, and one of my colonies 

 shows signs of great restlessness at the en- 

 trance. (The queen is doing excellent work 

 in both lower and upper stories, so they are 

 extra strong in bees. The alighting-board 

 is covered all the time with bees running 

 here and there in very much disorder and 

 constantly pulling at one another, pulling 

 bees out of the hive and dropping them in 

 front of the entrance. What is the cause of 

 this disturbance? 



2. 1 read that it takes a working bee 2r 

 days to hatch, but a queenless colony will 

 rear a queen in i? or i6 days, or even lo days. 

 Why will the queen hatch sooner than the 

 worker? 



i. I put a full depth super on top of one of 

 my colonies, and an examination afterwards 

 showed the queen was rearing brood very 

 extensively in the upper story, and later on 

 I examined the lower story and found that 

 she had deserted it altogether, and the cells 

 were all full of pollen. Could you tell how 

 this could be avoided ? Texas. 



Answers.— I. Looks like bee paralysis. In 

 the North this disease is not likely to 

 amount to anything; but as far south as 

 Texas it may be quite serious. 



2. I can t tell you. any more than I can tell 

 why it is that a queen will live several times 

 as long as a worker. Possibly because in 

 both cases the queen is much more impor- 

 tant than a worker for the continuance of 

 the colony. 



3. A queen-excluder of perforated zinc 

 will prevent the queen from going up. 



Fastening Foundation Sheets— When to Buy 

 Bees Feeders 



1. How do you fasten foundation sheets to 

 the top-bars of shallow frames with no 

 grooves and wedges ? 



2. Would medium brood foundation be all 

 right used in shallow frames for chunk 

 honey ? 



3. What time of the year is best to pur- 

 chase bees ? 



4. What do you think of the Boardman 

 feeder ? Iowa 



Answers.— I. With melted wax. Some 

 use two parts wax to one of rosin. Make a 

 board large enough to fit a bit loosely inside 



the frame, nail stops on the ends so as to let 

 the frame eo down half way. put frame over, 

 then the foundation in t>lace, and pour the 

 melted wax from a spoon with its point 

 bent together, or else with a special drop- 

 per The wax is likely to stick unpleasantly 

 to the board unless yc-u wet the board or 

 else put newspaper over it. A brush may 

 also be used to put on the wax. 



2. Too heavy. 



3. In the spring; although in some places 

 you can buy more cheaply at swarming 

 time, 



4. Good: but when heavy feeding is to be 

 done you would expect me to prefer the 

 Miller. 



Swarming— Color of Bees— Shade 



1. I have three colonies and should like to 

 increase and also try Caucasians. Could I 

 take one or two frames from each colony, 

 unite them and then introduce a Caucasian 

 queen? W^ill it prevent the mother colo- 

 nies from swarming? Can you suggest a 

 better plan if mine isn't practicable ? 



2. What causes such a great diversity in 

 color among the individual bees and also 

 among the colonies in general whose queens 

 are a mother and. her daughters ? What are 

 the typical markings of a leather-colored 

 Italian ? 



3. Is it very necessary that a colony have 

 shade during the heal of the day ? 



Washington. 



Answers.— I. Yes. your plan is feasible. 

 But taking away only one or two frames of 

 brood from each colony is not likely to 

 prevent swarming, although it will delay. 

 and in a few cases prevent it. To fulfill 

 your desire you will do well to follow what 

 is called the Alexander plan, varied a trifle. 

 Wait until the time comes when there is 

 danger of swarming. Then put all brood 

 but one in a second story, leaving in the 

 lower story the one brood and the queen, 

 filling out with drawn combs or frames filled 

 with foundation, and pay no attention to 

 where the bees are. Put a frame of comb or 

 foundation in the second story to fill out the 

 vacancy. Have a queen-excluder between 

 the first and second story. A week or ten 

 days later, lift off the second story and set 

 it on a new stand, destroying all queen-cells 

 if there are any. Twenty-four hours later 

 give to this new colony a laying queen, a 

 virgin, or a queen-cell. 



2. If you have a pure Italian queen, her 

 worker progeny all having the same mark- 

 ings, and from her rear a young queen, and 

 this young queen mates with a pure Italian 

 drone, you may expect to find the same 

 markings in the worker progeny of the 

 young queen as are found in the worker 

 progeny of her mother. But if this young 

 queen mates with a black drone, then you 

 will find the worker progeny different, some 

 of it looking like black workers and some 

 like Italian, and perhaps intermediate mark- 

 ings. The distinctive markings of leather- 

 colored Italians are the three yellow bands. 



3. Different views are held as to the desir- 

 ability of shade for bees, some even saying 

 that they are better without it. No doubt 

 there is in this respecta difference in locali- 

 ties. In my own locality I think they are 



better off with some shade, but it is more 

 important for the beekeeper than for the 

 bees. 



What Hives Fill Best with Bees— Sections — 

 Separators 



1. 1 want to get new hives. What hive shall 

 I select, principally for extracted honey? 

 The hive I have been using is a trifle smaller 

 than the Langstroth. Can I gel the same 

 enormous population by using two Lang- 

 stroth bodies on top of each other as a 

 brood-chamber, up to the lime of the main 

 How. or can I get the same results by using a 

 12 frame hive ? 



2. Could you tell me which kind of section 

 stands ship[)ing better, the plain or the bee- 

 way, or is there no difference ? 



2. Which section super do you prefer, and 

 would yon advise plain or beeway sections, 

 and which kind of separator ? Holland. 



Answers— I. I don't know enough to an- 

 swer very positively your questions, but 

 gladly give my opinion, as far as I know. On 

 the face of il. I should suppose that a queen 

 would be very much bothered about going 

 up and down from one story to another, and 

 so would have a larger force of bees in a 

 single story of the same capacity. I must 

 say that an experience of years has not 

 proven this to be true. So far as I have 

 had any actual proof. I should say that if 

 there is any difference at all between the 

 queen's work in two stories and a single 

 story of the same capacity, it must be very 

 slight. At the same time there are. in other 

 respects, advantages in favor of the single 

 story. 



2. .'\s to the matter of shipping, I don't 

 know but one kind is as safe as the other, 

 but before the sections get into the ship- 

 ping case the plain section is more likely to 

 come to grief. 



3. After a good deal of experience with 

 different supers. I prefer the T super. A 

 considerable experience with different 

 kinds of sections makes me prefer the bee- 

 way. 4!4x4'ixi?''8. In handling the plain sec- 

 tions, one has to be more careful lest the 

 fingers be thrust in them, and more careful 

 lest they tumble over. A loose, plain wood 

 separator serves well, is inexpensive, and 

 easy to clean. 



Moths— Siwarming — Demaree Plan 



1. Can you recommend any way in which 

 moths can be prevented from entering 

 hives? I lost three swarms last year with 

 moths. 



2. Do you think it best to use drone-traps 

 and swarm-guards to prevent swarming ? 



3 What is the Demaree plan ? Iowa. 



Answers — i. There is no way of prevent- 

 ing the entrance of the moth without pre- 

 venting the entrance of the bees; the moth 

 is smaller than the bee. Get good Italian 

 stock, keep your colonies strong, and you 

 need pay no attention to the moth. The bees 

 will see to them. 



2. They do not prevent swarming. All they 

 can do is to catch the queen when the bees 

 swarm. 



3. The Demaree plan of preventingswarm- 

 ing is this: Put all but one brood in an 

 upper story over an excluder, leaving the 

 Queen with the brood below. 



Prevent Swarming Strengthening Colonies- 

 Caging Queen — Requeening 



I. I have four colonies in a house apiary. 

 I want to prevent swarming. Would it do 

 to add a hive body with wired foundation 

 below, as soon as the queen needs the room, 

 then about three weeks before clover, or 

 about May 20. put the queen below, then an 

 excluder, then a super of shallow extracting 

 frames, and over all the old hive body witti 

 brood, and about June to remove the old 

 hive body from the top and put a comb- 

 honey super between the extracting super 



