l'\-ljniar\-. lOiJ. 



American l^ee Jlournal 



bee-kfcper who can so arouse liiniself, 

 or herself, tliat they will see the neces- 

 sity of having things " done decently 

 and in order," and the help and inspira- 

 tion which conies from so doing, will 

 not stop tliere. Those will adopt better 

 methods whenever such are seen and 

 fonnd, carefully scan the bee papers 

 and books for all such methods, and 

 get better implements, etc., when need- 



ed, to carry out these methods. 



I have been all the more free to write 

 as 1 have here, because for some years 

 of my first bee-keeping my apiary and 

 honey-hotise were of the " heart-ache " 

 kind ; but a visit to one who kept 

 everything up "in shape," and who 

 made bee-keeping a success in every 

 way, taught me a lesson which I have 

 never forgotten. Borodino, N. Y. 



Dr. Miller's 



Answers^ 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-l<eeping questions by mail. 



Keeping Queen Over Winter. 



An Italian Queen that I received last 

 summer I placed in an observation hive, 

 and the bees are all dead but a few. I like 

 the queen very much and would like to 

 keep her until spring. Could I put her in 

 a full colony of black bees with another 

 queen ? My bees are all in the cellar. 



M.MNE. 



Answer — If you put the queen into a 

 hive with another queen she will be killed. 

 If you kill the black queen, then two or 

 more days later you might pretty safely 

 put into the black colony the frame from 

 the observatory hive with all its bees 

 and queen. Still safer would it be to put 

 the queen into an introducing cage when 

 you put her into the black colony. 



Foul Brood in Trees, Houses, Etc. 



More than once in convention reports. 

 I have read where it was directly stated 

 or intimated that bees do not have foul 

 brood in trees, buildings, etc., and now 

 in the December number of American Bee 

 lournal, page ,371, A. W. Smyth, in an 

 xtract from Irish Bee Journal, says : "No 

 ne has found foul brood in bees .... in 

 .any home not purposely made for them." 

 I should like to know on what this com- 

 mon belief is founded. If this is the rule, 

 I know of at least one exception, as I took 

 a colony of bees from a house, which col- 

 ony had European foul brood, and I can- 

 not see any reason why such a home for 

 bees should be exempt from the disease. 

 Xew Jersey. 

 .\nswer — I do not think that the opin- 

 ion prevails on this side the water that 

 bees never have foul brood "in any home 

 not purposely made for them." Indeed 

 it has been urged that one reason why it 

 was so difficult to get rid of foul brood 

 was because of diseased wild colonies. 

 Why should not a wild colony be ex- 

 posed to precisely the same dangers as one 

 in a Langstroth hive ? Your one case is 

 enough to prove that bees may have foul 

 brood in a home not specially prepared 

 for them. 



Bees Dying on the Snow. 



I have no practical experience with 

 bees, and they are bothering not a little. 

 There is now about ten inches of snow on 

 the ground here, and my bees seem to be 

 flying in it and perishing more than com- 

 mon. Jan. 5th, when I came home from 

 school, the snow was dotted all arouna 

 in front of the hives where they had 

 flown out, and it was exceedingly cold, 

 down almost to zero, and no sunshine to 

 lure them out. On the morning of Jan. 



6th. I went out to scrape the snow off the 

 alighting-board. A few bees ffew out in 

 the snow and perished. There was no sun- 

 shine and the thermometer showed ten 

 degrees below zero. I thought that bees 

 were always dormant, or, in other words, 

 frozen too stiff to fly when that cold. 



Yesterday, Jan. 7lh, I went to look a/ 

 my bees and I counted fifty out on the 

 alighting-board frozen, besides what were 

 in the snow on the ground, the alighting- 

 board being covered with snow. They had 

 all come out that day, too, for I cleaned 

 them all oft the day before. Yesterday 

 evening the sun came out for a little 

 while, and though it didn't shine in the 

 entrance they came out more than ever, 

 perishing in the snow, it being down to o. 

 I have but four colonies, two of them are 

 packed with hay and leaves, a winter-case 

 being on the outside of them, and one of 

 the remaining being in a dove-tailed sin- 

 gle-walled hive without any packing ab- 

 sorbents on top, and the other in a large 

 box-hive. The first two named do not 

 seem to be acting so badly as the latter, 

 especially the box-hive colony, and I am 

 especially anxious for it to winter well as 

 I want to transfer it in the spring. The 

 bees do not need a flight' for they had a 

 good cleansing flight a week ago yesterday. 

 The box-hive bees keep up a sort of roar- 

 ing, buzzing sound like summer-time. It 

 is chock-full of bees. West Virginia. 



.\nswi;r — Bees do not become entirely 

 dormant, although nearly so. The chief 

 trouble in your case is the excessive cold, 

 and the noise you hear in the one hive 

 is the regular thing when bees are very 

 cold. The bees are exercising to keep 

 warm. It will help matters if you will 

 pack something over and around the bees 

 to keep them warmer. Old coverings of 

 any kind will answer, or even corn-stalks. 

 You might try putting a board up in front 

 of the hive to prevent the light shining 

 in, but as you say they come out when the 

 sun is not shining, it may not do much 

 .good. But there must be nothing left to 

 hinder the free flight of the bees when it 

 comes a good day for them to fly. 



Dampness Over Bees — Moldy Combs. 



I. Please let me know the cause of 

 dampness, and how to keep it dry over the 

 bees. My bees are wintered outdoors on 

 the summer stands, 6 inches off the ground 

 on skids with a few winter-cases on some, 

 and tar-paper and boards over the covers 

 of the others. They are on s and 10 Hoff- 

 man frames, in dovetailed hives, and pro- 

 tected on top so there will be no leak. 

 .-MI is tight at the top. The entrances are 

 from .)8 by 2 to ^ by 6 inches. This line 



of hives runs east and west, facing south 

 where the sun shines on them from all 

 sides ; no shade trees. During December, 

 the weather being mild, I looked over them 

 and the burlap in the supers was damp. 

 .•Ml burlap is washed so it is clean when 

 it goes over the bees. I put in as much 

 burlap as the supers will hold, but a few 

 are not quite as full, so that they are as 

 damp as the full ones. 



2. Will moldy combs be cleaned up in 

 the spring by the bees that have been in 

 the brood-nest, through this dampness I 

 have spoken of? New York. 



.\nswer — The moisture in the hives is 

 from the breath of the bees. So you see 

 there is no way to prevent it. the only 

 question being the best way to get rid 

 of it. Sometimes it condenses on the 

 side-walls of the hives and runs out of the 

 entrance of the hive. In your case it' has 

 settled in the packing 'above the bees, 

 which is not such a very bad way, and 

 a good deal better than to have is settle 

 on some solid surface above them, so as 

 to fall in drops upon the cluster of bees. 

 When the packing becomes wet, it is a 

 good plan, when a warm day comes, to 

 dry it out in the sun or by the fire. 'Very 

 likely there is no more dampness in your 

 hives than there should be, but it may be 

 well to mention that having the entrance 

 too small may apparently increase the 

 dampness, for a good-sized entrance al- 

 lows at least some of the moisture to es- 

 cape in that direction. 



2. Yes. the bees will clean up such 

 combs nicely. They may be given one at 

 a time in the brood-chamber, for too many 

 at once is rather discouraging to the bees, 

 especially if very mouldy. A good way, 

 also, is to put mouldy combs in a brood- 

 chamber and put it under a strong colony, 

 so that the bees will pass through it in 

 going and coming. 



Leonard System of Curing Foul 

 Brood. 



I have recently made the discovery tha. 

 there is American foul brood in one of 

 my yards of 113 colonies. Would you con- 

 sider it safe to try to eradicate it on the 

 plan spoken of on page 63 of the proceed- 

 ings of the last National Convention, 

 called the "Dr. Leonard System?'* If not 

 asking too much I should like to know 

 your opinion of this method, very briefly 

 stated. "Texas. 



.\nswer. — Dr. Leonard's plan is a vari- 

 ation of the Baldridge plan, I have never 

 seen many reports of it, but I know no 

 reason why it might not be successful if 

 carefully carried out. The theory is that 

 when a bee leaves a hive it goes empty, so 

 does not carry any of the infected honey 

 with it, and then when it returns from the 

 field the Porter escape prevents it from 

 entering the old hive and obliges it to en- 

 ter the clean one. 



Hives in "Shook" Swarming. 



Will you state to what extent it is im- 

 portant, or well-nigh indispensable in 

 "shook" swarming, tliat the hive into 

 which the bees are to be shaken is "ex- 

 actly" like the old one ? As when one 

 wants to practice this without increase, 

 the one hive is of temporary need only— 

 not over a month — it would seem de- 

 sirable to use a home-made box for a 

 hive which would save expense : espec- 

 ially when having double-walled hives, one 

 would have to have a duplif ite set of the 

 most costly hives manufactured for reg- 

 ular sale. Pennsylvania. 



Answer — When a hive is exchanged for 

 another, the bees will notice the change 

 if there be much difference in the size or 



