March, 1912. 



American Hee Journal 



Dr.Miller*s ^Answers- 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marenuo. [ll. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Management for Increase. 



1. To increase in spring would the 

 following be a good plan : Take from a 

 populous colony that you think will swarm 

 the coming season, one frame of brood 

 with bees and queen adhering, and place 

 this frame in a hive-body filled with empty 

 frames or foundation, placing it under- 

 neath the original body with screening 

 between the two ; supply the old brood- 

 body on top with a new queen in a cage, 

 so arranged that the bees will release her 

 in 3 or 4 days. The top body should 

 have an opening for egress and ingress. 



By this means I should think that nearly 

 all the fjeld-ibees would go in the new 

 body underneath, and the remaining bees 

 and brood in the top story should readily 

 accept the new queen, and the two com- 

 bined by their mutual heat would rapidly 

 develop. In 3 or 4 weeks the top colony 

 could be removed to a new stand, thus 

 adding more strength to the bottom col- 

 ony. I think it would also be well to 

 place the Alexander feeder under the 

 bottom colony and by thus feeding stimu- 

 late and help rapid increase. 



2. If feasible, would you advise that 

 the opening to the top section should be 

 on the same side, or opposite to the 

 lower section? Missourl 



Answers. — i. The plan ought to work 

 all right, only there is a possibility of 

 -snags. If you operate early in the sea- 

 son, the colony will not be very strong 

 and the weather not very warm, and the 

 division of forces will retard rather than 

 advance progress. As a rule it is not 

 wise to think of dividing before about the 

 time of harvest, and at that time you will 

 have supers in the way. Better not try 

 it on a very large scale. 



2. Let both openings face the same 

 way. Then when you take away the 

 upper story the field-bees that return from 

 it will the more readily find the entrance 

 of the lower story. 



Queen-Cells and Re-queening with 

 Cells, Etc. 



1. What do you consider the best 

 method of getting choice cells built? I 

 will say that I have always removed the 

 •queen and brood from a strong colony 

 and fed them 3 days before giving cells. 

 What I wished to know was whether 

 there is a method of producing better celli 

 than the above will. 



2. When requeening with cells in a 

 ■cell-protectnr, is it safe to place the ceu 

 in the hive at the time the queen is re- 

 moved ? 



3. I want to thank you for the ques- 

 tions you have answered for me. I have 

 troubled you a number of times. I have 

 learned muoh from your question-box. 



Ohio. 

 .Answers. — i. I don't know. All 

 things considered. I think I would prefer 

 the plan given in "Fifty Years Among 

 the Bees." Briefly it is this : Give to 

 your best queen a frame with small start- 

 ers of foundation. In a week or less the 

 frame will be partly tilled with comb and 

 this will be filled with eggs and young 

 larva. (If the colony be very strong. 



there is danger of too much drone-como 

 in your frame. In that case it is well 

 to givf- 2 or 3 such frames.) Trim off 

 the edge of the comib so as to leave very 

 few or no eggs. Put this comb in the 

 center of a strong colony from which you 

 have just taken the queen and one frame 

 of brood. You have left all the old 

 frames of brood but one, and of course the 

 bees can build cells on all those old combs 

 if they want to. But they won't want to. 

 That tender virgin comb suits their taste 

 so well that cells will be built upon it 

 entirely, or almost entirely. Of course 

 you don't need to use any wild cells. 

 With their hive left full of brood I fancy 

 the bees may be in a little better heart 

 than if all brood be taken away. At any 

 rate I don't believe it is possible to get 

 better cells by any other way, and the 

 trouble is very little. 



2. The cell is supposed to be safe at 

 any time, queen or no queen. It is cov- 

 ered except at the extremitv. and bees 

 tear into cells at the side and not at the 

 end. 



3- If others think the same as you 

 about the answers. I suppose we ought 

 to thank you for sending in the questions, 

 for without the questions there would be 

 no answers, .'\llee samee, the kind words 

 of appreciation I get from you and others 

 do me a wihole lot of good, and make me 

 try to make the answers just a shade 

 better in the future than they have been 

 in the past. So send along your ques- 

 tions. 



Finding Queens with Carbolic Acid— 

 Virgin-Queen Management. 



1. In the January number of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, I have read with much 

 interest the item of Mr. Geo. H. Redford, 

 on how to find the queen with carbolic 

 acid. If this works all right without in- 

 juring any bees, what a blessing for the 

 bee-men, as it is sometimes impossible 

 to find the queen when the colony is very 

 strong. What a blessing for the men that 

 need bees by the pound. Now, I would 

 like to know how strong roust be the 

 carbolic acid — is 10 percent all right? 



2. What becomes of the drones when 

 all the bees are in the screen box? Will 

 they assimilate with the queen below ? 



3. I would also like to know how long 

 11 virgin queen can be Kept in a Ranch- 

 fuss cage without injuring her welfare 

 as a breeder, — virgin to be kept in the 

 upper story ot a hive, queen-excluder be- 

 tween the two bodies, and reigning queen 

 down below. 



4. I have in my mind a plan that 

 would be like this: June ist I would 

 insert a frame with full foundation in 

 my best breeding hive; then 3 days later 



1 would put another colony on top, put 



2 brood-frames with brood and bees, and 

 the 3-day old foundation comb between 

 the brood, and separate the 2 bodies vrith 

 a queen-excluder, and keep the queen be- 

 low. I suppose th.at the bees will go right 

 at it and build quccn-cells on that comb 

 foimdation. In about 10 days the queen- 

 cells should be capped (June 13th). Now 

 I would cut all the ripe queen-cells, put 

 them in Rauchfuss cell protectors (with 

 candy in the hole, so that when queens 



emerge they have something to eat), and 

 hang the cells in Rauchfuss cage in a 

 Hoffman frame in the same hive-body for 

 further use. After all the queens emerged, 

 sometimes by June 15th. the white clover 

 will be blooming, and now will be my 

 time to shake all my colonies for the 

 comb-honey harvest, the usual way, * to 

 put a new hive with full foundation on 

 the old stand, and the beeless brood on 

 a new stand. 



Now I would requeen all my colonies 

 by killing all the queens, and in the even- 

 ing of the same day, let a virgin run in 

 each of these queenless hives where there 

 is no brood, only supers on top The 

 rest of my virgins I would put in each 

 of these beelessjbrood hives I have shaken 

 off, and if I have any virgins to spare, 

 I would keep and feed them in Rauchfufj 

 cages until I am sure that every queen 

 is safely introduced, and is also laying 

 after she is mated. Do you think thif 

 will work all right, or will it reduce my 

 honey crop? 



Or do you think to do the same plan 

 I have mentioned after the honey-flow is 

 over, the end of July or the first part of 

 August ? But I have heard that the best 

 queens are reared in the honey season, 

 so I would prefer the first plan if pos- 

 sible. 



5. To put the virgins in these (brood- 

 lessj) beeless hives, but full of brood that 

 I have shaken off. must I leave some bees 

 in the hives for the virgins, or will bees 

 hatch out fast enough to take care of 

 the virgins? I intend to put those vir- 

 gins directly in without a cage. 



6. When shaking a colony into a hive 

 with new foundation, is it necessary to 

 put in one frame of brood with queen to 

 hold the bees, or will it work just as well 

 to put in only foundation and no brood 

 at all? Wisconsin. 



Answ'ers. — I. I think it is a fair sup 

 position that Mr. Redford uses the acid 

 undiluted. He puts 3 or 4 drops on top 

 of the fuel in his smoker. So few drops 

 as that would hardly have enough driv- 

 ing power if he used a 10 percent solu- 

 tion. A 10 percent solution might do to 

 moisten a cloth with which to drive bees, 

 but 3 or 4 drops in a smoker is quite a 

 different thing. 



2. The drones will be caught with the 

 queen. If very many in number, they 

 will of course make some trouble as to 

 seeing the queen. 



3. I should say the shorter the time 

 of such confinement the better. Still I've 

 had a virgin confined 2 or 3 weeks with- 

 out seeming to be hurt by it. At other 

 times I've found her dead in less than 

 that time. 



4. You can tell best how a plan will 

 work out by putting it actually to the 

 test ; but it may be well to mention some 

 things in which there may be variation 

 from the program you have laid out. 

 June I you put a frame of foundatioB 

 in your best colony, and you expect to 

 find it filled with eg.gs 3 days later. You 

 may not be disappointed, and again you 

 may. The queen may lay in that frame 

 in less than 24 hours, and she may not 

 lay in it until a week or more has passed. 

 I remember putting in such frames and 

 in some cases the bees plumped them full 

 of honey, just as if they supposed they 

 had been put in for surplus honey. But 

 suppose the queen begins to lay in that 

 found.Ttion within an hour after you have 

 put it in the hive, although such a thing 

 is exceedingly unlikely. Then 3 days 

 later, which will be June 4 (not June 3), 

 you put that frame of found;ition with its 

 eggs into an upper story over an excluder, 

 and you suppose the bees will go right 

 at.it to start queen-cells in it. Very un- 



