November, 1915. 



American l^ee Journal 



out of another hive and gave it to them. 

 They built up two other brood-combs. I 

 looked at them two weeks ago and found 

 that the brood was not capped, and when I 

 picked it out it was like thick clabber. On 

 Sept. II. I noticed that they were all excited 

 and acting as though they were going to 

 swarm. I smoked them and then sprayed 

 them with water and they quieted down. 



On Sept. 12. in the morning, the bees were 

 all gone and very little honey was left. In a 

 little while I noticed many bees going in. I 

 opened the hive and they were robbing it. 

 I stopped the entrance and they started to 

 rob another hive. It was a colony twice as 

 strong as they were. I threw grass over the 

 entrance and sprayed them, but they kept 

 on just the same, and at night I opened the 

 hive and there were not more than two 

 handfuls of bees. 



2. What can I do to keep out the moths :" I 

 have closed the entrance down to about two 

 inches, but they will get in just the same. I 

 had a small colony of about a gallon of bees. 

 I gave them five frames and put in adivision- 

 board, and today I opened the hive and the 

 moths were all through them. 



Nebraska. 



Answers.— I. It looks like a case of rob- 

 bing, aggravated by the fact that there was 

 perhaps a dearth of pasturage. 



a. You cannot keep the moth out, no mat- 

 ter what kind of hive nor what kind of en- 

 trance. Any entrance that admits a bee 

 will admit a moth. The only thing to keep 

 the moth out is the bees themselves. Have 

 the colonies strong enough and they'll take 

 care of the moth. Italians, however, are 

 much better in this respect than blacks. A 

 weak colony of blacks will give up to the 

 moth where a colony of Italians of the same 

 size will keep them at bay. 



Cleansing an Extractor 



I have a chance to buy a honey extractor 

 that has been used very little, and as there 

 is a chance for foulbrood. I would like to 

 know if I should buy it, if there is some way 

 to disinfect it so that there would be no 

 likelihood of carrying disease to my apiary 

 and at the same time leave no objectionable 

 odor that would ruin honey? Could it be 

 thoroughly disinfected with hot water or 

 steam ? Kentucky. 



Answer.— Washing thoroughly with water 

 — or with steam— should be all the disinfec- 

 tion needed. 



A CHICKEN KATING BEES 



(Probably drones.) 



Prevent Swarming — Good Beo Country 



I. Would it do to calcli a pound of bees 

 from a colony in the spring and put them in 

 a new hive wiilr nothing but the foundation 

 and a new queen ? 



2. Would it keep the other bees of the 

 parent hive from swarming ? 



3. Is southern Indiana good for bee rear- 

 ing? We have the smartweed. goldenrod. 

 honey locust, blackberries. Simpson weed 

 and clover. 



4. Are wild cherry blossoms good for 

 honey? There are a good many wild cherry 

 trees here. 



5. My brother's ambition and my own is to 

 own a thousand or more colonies of bees, 

 can we take care of them by ourselves ? 

 Could we make a living out of them? We 

 are not afraid of work. Indiana. 



Answers.— I. Yes. bat you would have to 

 imprison the beeS, for two or three days to 



prevent their going back to their old home. 



2. It might not prevent swarming, but it 

 would delay it. 



3. It is considered good. 



4. I don't know; but I suppose they are; 

 fruit trees in general are good. 



5. Too bad to throw cold water upon such 

 ambitions, but it is only fair to say that they 

 are seldom realized. Rightly managed, a 

 good deal less than a thousand colonies 

 should make a living for two. But it will 

 hump you to take care of them without help 



Reports And ^ Experiences 



Chicken Caught Eating Bees 



I am enclosing a picture of a chicken 

 caught in the act of eating bees from the 

 entrance of the hive. This may be of inter- 

 est to your readers. W. P. Kelly. 



Augusta. Wis . Oct. 3. 



[We believe that chicken is eating drones 

 and not worker bees. We have often seen 



ANOTHER VIEW OF THE 

 BEE-EATER j_: 



CHICKEN 



chickens do that. We have never heard of 

 their eating worker bees — Editor. 1 



Fastening Sheets of Foundation 



I notice on page 2117. in the June number of 

 the Americin Bee Journal for IQ15, the ques- 

 tion asked how to fasten sheets of founda- 

 tion to the top-bars of shallow frames with- 

 out grooves or wedges. 



I should like to suggest my way : It is sim- 

 ple, and there is not the inconvenience of 

 using melted wax and rosin as suggested in 

 the answer on page 2<i7. 1 lake a knife and 

 slash in about J-i of an inch every 3 or 4 

 inches along the upiier edge, and at each 

 end of the foundation or at the upper edge, 

 and one end of the the foundation should 

 be shorter than the frame. 



I lay the sheet of foundation on a flat sur- 

 face with a square edge, a board or square 

 edge table, or the edgeof a frame will do. I 

 let the foundation project the distance of 

 slash over board and bend down every other 

 one. Then turn over and bend the remain 

 ingones the opposite way. Now it is ready 

 to fasten in frames or sections. Heat a 

 knife by the light of a lamp, and place foun- 

 dation in frames; hrst sear down to top-bar 



the spaces turned over on one side; then 

 turn frame around and fasten down the 

 other side. Next proceed with the ends. I 

 sear down only about H depth of the V\ inch 

 turned down. Even though you should use 

 full sheets it is not necessary to fasten to 

 bottom-bar. While fastening comb-founda- 

 tion I turn the top bar down, then the ends 

 until all are fastend. 



I have used this method of fastening foun- 

 dation with best results, even when I have 

 had to haul my new swarmsquiteadistance. 

 I am ig years old. Chas. B. Saunders. 



Merom. Ind . Oct. 11. 



Good Prospects 



During this season I have increased my 

 apiary from 24 colonies to 42. and they have 

 averaged me about qs pounds of fine comb 

 honey, spring count. 



With an abundance of rain this fall the 

 prospects are very good for ipib. 



Glenn S. Platner. 



Center Junction. Iowa, Sept. 27. 



Poor Year 



This has been one of the poorest years for 

 bees we have ever had. We had so much 

 rain and cold weather we had no,. honey 

 until heartsease bloom, and that honey is 

 so strong that I am feeding it back to the 

 bees. H. F. Hillebrandt. 



Osborne, Kans. 



Exhibit at the Kansas State Fair 



I am sending under separate cover a pho- 

 tograph of our honey and bee exhibit at the 

 Kansas State Fair of 1015. 1 believe it was 

 the best show that we ever had. We had 

 three large exhibits. 



J. A. Nininiger. with about 200D pounds of 

 honey with bees. 



J. P. Lucas, of Topeka. with 7no pounds of 

 honey, beekeepers' supplies and demonstra- 

 tion with bees. 



W. I. Measer. a fine exhibit of about Suo 

 pounds of honey, a full colony of bees witli 

 fruit of different varieties to show the effect 

 of bees on fruit. 



The honey crop was light this year. 



W. I. Measer. 



Hutchinson. Kan.. Sept. 28. 



Good Increase 



I had io<) colonies in the spring, which in- 

 creased to 180. The yield in honey was 35no 

 pounds. 100.1 pounds ol extracted and 2500 

 pounds in comb honey. 



I find the American Bee Journal of much 

 value in my work with bees, and would not 

 think of getting along without it. 



Chas. J. Miller. 



Long Prairie, Minn., Oct. 1. 



Good Year 



Take it in all this has been a very good 

 year here in Crawford county. lU^es came 

 through the winter with some stores. The 

 weather in early spring was ideal, and my 

 colonies almost filled the first stories from 

 fruit bloom, which was heavy, for we had 

 about two weeks of fine warm weather dur- 



