September, 1915. 



317 



American liee Journal 



Ihe neighbor beekeepers told me that they 

 liave too much honey and no brood; that the 

 workers fill the combs with honey as fast as 

 they are made, and the queen has nowhere 

 to lay eggs. He told me they would die this 

 winter. 



4 As I have no cellar, how can I winter 

 my bees safely out-of-doors ? Subscriker. 



Answers." I. One way of preventing too 

 much increase is to do as you did in one 

 case, that is to return the swarm as often as 

 one issues. But that may be more trouble 

 than you like. Here's an easy way to pre- 

 vent afterswarming: When the prime 

 swarm is hived, set It on the stand of the 

 old colony, settini; the old hive close beside 

 it. facing the same way A week later move 

 the old hive to a new stand lo feet or more 

 away. That's all. the bees will o the rest. 

 For when the hive is moved to a new stand 

 the bees will tro to the fields just the same as 

 if they had not been moved, but when they 

 return, instead of going to their own hive 

 they will return to the old stand and join the 

 swarm. This will so weaken the mother 

 colony that all thoughts of swarming will be 

 given up. especially as no honey will be 

 brought in for a day or two after the change 

 of place. If you want to prevent .7// swarm- 

 ing, that's a more dirticult matter. Inform 

 yourself thoroughly by means of such a 

 book as Dadant's Lanystroth. and you will 

 be in better position to know what plan is 

 best for you. My book. " Fifty Years Among 

 the Bees," is especially full as to the matter 

 of hindering swarming. But I must confess 

 that I have not been able to prevent all 

 swarming to my entire satisfaction. It may 

 be some help to say that if you succeed in 

 getting a young queen to be reared in a col- 

 ony and get to laying, that colony is prac- 

 tically certain not to swarm the same sea- 

 son. 



2. Nature generally makes bountiful pro- 

 vision against danger of failure. Take an 

 apple tree, one that is thoroughly filled with 

 blossoms. What if every blossom should 

 produce an apple ? If there's one apple for 

 every ten blossoms there will be a heavy 

 crop. But if there should be merely enough 

 blossoms for each expected apple, some- 

 thing might happen to a good many of them, 

 and then there would be a shortage in the 

 crop. Same way with the bees. Hundreds 

 of drones are reared for every one needed, 

 so there shall be no lack, and a number of 

 extra young queens are also reared. At the 

 last there may be a duel to settle which 

 one of these young queens shall reign, and 

 that gives you a chance to have the most 

 vigorous one left. 



3. If there's a good queen in the hive, don t 

 you worry about there being no brood. But 

 you can easily lift out the frames and see 

 for yourself whether there is brood or not. 



i. Every beekeeper needs a good book, 

 such as Dadant s Langstroth. to teach him 

 the principles of beekeeeping. This de- 

 partment is not intended to take the place 

 of such a book, but to supplement it. for 

 after you have studied your book carefully 

 there will still be plenty of questions to 

 which you would like answers. All the 

 time there are new members entering the 

 family of the American Bee Journal, and if 

 each of these depended upon getting all his 

 information from these pages, there would 

 be little chance for anything new. For in- 

 stance, one of the questions pretty sure to 

 come up in the mind of every beginner is 

 whether the old or the young queen goes 

 with the swarm. If all beginners were to 

 depend entirely for their information upon 

 thisLdepartment. without any bee-book, 

 then that question might happen in nearly 

 every number, and it would become some- 



what monotonous. After getting from your 

 book ,ill the information you can about win- 

 tering outdoors, any further questions aris- 

 ing upon the subject I shall be glad to an- 

 swer in this department // I know enough. 

 At the same time it may be well to say that 

 if you can find some one in your neighbor- 

 hood who winters successfullyoutdoors.it 

 will be a safe thing to follow his plan. 



Caucasians or llaiians ? 



1. I have five colonies of black bees 

 which I would like to Italianize. Which 

 would be the best, the golden or leather- 

 colored Italians ? 



2. Could I keep Italians successfully if 

 black bees are three miles from me. without 

 crossing the two ? 



H. Which is the best bee. the Italian or the 

 Caucasian ? 



4. Which winters the best and which 

 gatliers the most honey ? Which swarms the 

 most and first, and which is the best con- 

 trolledand gentlest? 



5. Is there any book printed that answers 

 any of the above questions ? Illinois. 



Answers.— I Generally the leather-col 

 ored are preferred. 



2 There would be likely to be crossing, 

 but with care you can keep the Italian blood 

 predominant. 



3. Most beekeepers prefer the Italian. 

 But Italians are not all alike and neither are 

 Caucasians. 



4 I don't know that there's much differ- 

 ence as to wintering; some Italians store 

 more than the average Caucasian, and some 

 Caucasians store more than the average 

 Italian; on the whole. Italians are sup- 

 posed by most beekeepers to be the better 

 storers; the swarming is a mixed affair, and 

 so is gentleness. Some Caucasians have 

 been reported the most gentle bees in exis- 

 tence, while others have been reported 

 vicious. 



5. Dadant's Langstroth will meet your 

 needs; so will Root's ABC and X Y Z 



Preventing Swarms— Entrance Guards 



1. Do you use ventilation under supers or 

 open at the top through summer ? 



2 Do you like to destroy all queen-cells 

 but one or clip the queens' wings for the 

 prevention of swarming ? 



3 Why not destroy all queen-cells instead 

 of destroying all but one "' 



4, I tried to put on some supers with 

 started sections, including three or four 

 sections filled with honey in early spring 

 to prevent swarming; but some swarms 

 issued. Why ? 



5. Is it dangerous to put entrance guards 

 at the bee entrance with ventilation at the 

 top for preventing swarms ? 



6 Will bees carry lots of honey when bee 

 guards are used at the entrance with venti- 

 lation at the top ? Indiana, 



Answers —I. Generally, with section su- 

 pers, I have ventilation at the back end be- 

 tween the hive and lower super, and some- 

 times in the cover of the hive as well. In a 

 cool time, however, it is better to have the 

 ventilation closed, for sections at that part 

 are not finished so soon 



2. To prevent a prime swarm, neither one 

 will answer. Destroying not merely all but 

 one. but ,1// cells will generally delay swarm- 

 ing, and sometimes prevent it. but too often 

 the bees will swarm in spite of cell killing. 

 Clipping the queen doesn't have the slight- 

 est effect in preventing swarming All it 

 does is to prevent the queen flying with the 

 swarm, and then when the bees find the 

 queen is not with them they return to the 

 hive. But if the beekeeper does not inter 

 fere, the bees will swarm just as soon as a 

 young queen is reared. 



3. You do destroy all cells when trying to 

 delay or prevent a prime swarm. But when 

 a prime swarm has issued, and you want to 



prevent an aflerswarm by killing cells, you 

 must leave one for a new queen; otherwise 

 the colony would be left entirely queenless. 



4. Giving bait sections will generally start 

 work sooner in sections; but that doesn't 

 prevent swarming; only it helps just a little 

 toward prevention. 



5. If opening for ventilation is large enough 

 for bees to pass through, entrance guards 

 will have no effect whatever. Neither will 

 entrance guards have any effect in prevent- 

 ing swarming; all they do is to catch the 

 queen when the bees swarm. Of course, 

 when the queen is caught in the guard the 

 swarm will return; but there will be trou- 

 ble later. 



6. It will make no difference as to their 

 carrying in honey. 



Swarms Leaving 



.^fter being in the hive all right for iH 

 days each, two swarms of mine flew away. I 

 had put them on intended permanent stands 

 and soon after they seemed quiet in the 

 hives. Is that wrong? Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— Better set the swarm on its 

 permanent stand just as soon as it is hived. 

 For a few days give it ahioiJant ventilation 

 by raising the cover or shoving it forward, 

 raising the hive by blocks under the corner, 

 or in some way making abundant opening 

 below, shading the hive if not in shade. Its 

 dollars to doughnuts that your bees were 

 too close and warm. 



Wintering on Super Combs— Feeding in Fall 



1. I ran short of bee-hives and have about 

 five swarms which I hived in a shallow su- 

 per used for extracted honey. They have 

 10 shallow frames 1 wish to know what 

 you would do with them; unite them with 

 other swarms or let them winter in these 

 supers, and in the spring put them in the 

 regular hive. 



2 How would you go about it to put them 

 in the regular lo-frame hive ? 



3. I use the lo-frame hive, and my bees 

 seem to have plenty of honey every winter. 

 Would you advise me to extract some of the 

 honey and put the empty combs back, or is 

 it best to let them have all the honey ? 



4. Why is it a good plan to feed the bees in 

 the fall when their hives seem so full of 

 honey ? lowA. 



Answers— I. Unless they are weak and 

 you want to unite them with other weak- 

 lings, better leave them to winter as they 

 are. 



2. In the spring set the shallow story over 

 the regular hive, which should have frames 

 tilled with foundation. When brood ap- 

 pears in the lower story, put a queen ex- 

 cluder between the two stories, making sure 

 that the queen is in the lower story. Eight 

 or ten days later kill any queen-cells that 

 may be in the upper story. 



i Much better leave all the honey. You'll 

 get it back with interest in the harvest. 

 4. I don t believe it is a good plan. 



Bee Martins 



Do martins seriously bother bees? If so. 

 would they prove a handicap to a person 

 who is just starting beekeeping in a com- 

 munity where there are a great many of 

 those birds '' Illinois. 



Answer.— I have never heard that martins 

 were seriously troublesome to bees. 



A Swarm— Italian Marking 



Onjuneija medium-sized swarm was hived 

 for me. On the uth 1 moved it to its perma- 

 nent location. My books say that the supers 

 should always be taken from the old hive 

 and be given to the swarm, as the working 

 force is always there Not being there when 

 the bees swarmed, and not being the owner 

 of the parent colony, 1 couldn't do this. On 

 June 2^. 1 opened the hive and found the 



