^.pril, 1912. 



American Hee Journal 



with the poultry can be done early in 

 the morning, before the bee-work be- 

 gins, and later in the evening when the 

 work with the bees is ended, the two 

 harmonize nicely. 



We related our poultry experience 

 step by step to show that it can be fol- 

 lowed either on the smallest scale or 

 very extensively, according to the sit- 

 uation or the ability of the bee-keeper 

 to take care of the two lines of work. 

 This depends much upon the time that 

 may be spent in this direction without 

 interfering with the bees, as neglect 

 of the main bread-bringing business 

 should not be tolerated. 



At this point the argument to keep 

 more bees and devote your entire time 

 to them instead of mixing in the chick- 

 ens, would be a good one. And the 

 writer is a strong advocate of not only 

 keeping more bees, but "keeping more 

 better bees better." However, it must 

 be borne in mind that not every bee- 

 keeper is so situated that more bees 

 can be kept, or more apiaries estab- 

 lished. Of course, these may adopt the 

 motto in part, and " keep better bees 

 better," but beyond this it is impossible 

 for them to go. 



It is in such instances that poultry 



will mix well with " better bees kept 

 better," and poultry can be added with- 

 out being required to look for more 

 and new pasturage as becomes neces- 

 sary if more bees are added. Thus the 

 bee-keeper who can not spread out 

 more in bee-keeping can add to his in- 

 come with poultry. 



But there is another side to this sub- 

 ject of combining bees with poultry, 

 and that is keeping poultry as a " hob- 

 by," to take one's mind from extensive 

 business. The fact that poultry 

 combines so well with bee-keeping is 

 but one of the strongest reasons why it 

 should be chosen as a "hobby" to 

 "ride "for a change when a change 

 from business cares is needed. And 

 since it is one hobby that can be made 

 to pay at the same time, as it affords 

 recreation and pleastire to the "rider," 

 the reason for adopting it is only 

 strengthened. 



From our own experience we have 

 learned to love and enjoy our " hobby " 

 — our poultry — and although we are 

 "keeping more better bees better" in 

 extending our apiaries from year to 

 year, we find time for our poultry busi- 

 ness as well. The change from one to 

 the other does us good. 



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-keeping questions by mail. 



Drones in Woker-Cells, and Vice 

 Versa 



We bee-keepers sometimes get together 

 and talk about bees. Some funny ques- 

 tions arise. Some one asked if we could 

 transfer a worker-larva under 3 days, 

 placing it in a drone-cell, and rear a 

 drone ; or a drone-egg in a worker-cell 

 and get a worker-bee. I said I never 

 tried, but would inquire of you. Iow.\. 



-Answer. — The matter is very easily 

 tried by any one. I have never trans- 

 ferred a worker-larva into a drone-cell, 

 nor a drone-larva into a worker-cell, but 

 with hundeds of others I have often 

 transferred larvae from worker-cells into 

 queen-cells. They have invariably turned 

 out queens, and if I should transfer 

 a larva from a queen-cell into 

 a worker-cell, I should confidently 

 expect it to turn out a worker. That 

 looks as if the kind of cell determines 

 the kind of bee, doesn't it? But to ar- 

 gue from that that a worker-larva put 

 into a drone-cell would produce a drone, 

 or vice versa, would be carrj-ing the ar- 

 gument too far. There are two kinds of 

 eggs laid by the queen — fertilized, or fe- 

 male, and imfertilized, or male. The 

 female egg may produce a queen or a 

 worker. It is a matter of development, 

 the kind of food deciding the develop- 

 ment, and the kind of cell in which a 

 larva. is found seems to decide how the 

 larva shall be fed. But to change the 

 sex is another matter, and the bees "have 

 no power to produce such a change. 



I said I had never tried changing a 

 lar\-a of one sex into a cell belonging to 

 the other sex. But I have known of 

 many cases in which, without any inter- 

 ference on my part, male eggs were placed 



in male cells. The likelihood is that you 

 have known of them, too, when you come 

 to think of it. In the case of laying 

 workers or played-out queens, I have 

 known of thousands of male eggs being 

 placed in worker-cells. I have known 

 such eggs also to be placed in queen-cells. 

 In either case only drones resulted. 



Where a drone-egg is put in a queen- 

 cell, it is reasonable to believe that the 

 bees are verj' anxious to have it turned 

 out a queen, and would use every effort 

 in their power to have it so turn out. 

 But it is beyond their power to change 

 the sex. On the other hand, I have 

 known a good many female eggs to be 

 placed in drone-cells. It happens perhaps 

 oftener than you would think, that when 

 a prosperous colony with a vigorous queen 

 has a bit of drone-comb in its brood-nest 

 at a time when drones are desired, the 

 bees contract the mouth of each drone- 

 cell, the queen lays a worker-egg in it, 

 and there results a worker reared in a 

 drone-cell. 



So you see that a female egg produces 

 only a female, either a worker or a 

 queen, and a male egg produces only a 

 drone, and no changing from one cell to 

 another can change the sex. 



Using Combs Where Bees Died — 



Getting Increase — Building Up 



Weak Colonies — Feeding 



Combs of Granulated 



Honey 



I. Last autumn I had a colony of bees 



suffering from bee-paralysis. They were 



in an odd-sized hive, and I wished to 



transfer them to a Langstroth hive. An 



old bee-keeper advised me to fill the 



Langstroth hive with combs, shake the 

 bees from the old hive into this, place 

 a queen-excluder over it, and put the old 

 hive full of stores on top, and the bees 

 would carry the honey down into the new 

 Iiive and it would cure the disease. Shortly 

 after this I was called away from home 

 for some time, and on my return I found 

 that the bees had carried none of the 

 stores down, but had starved to death in 

 the lower hive. There are many dead 

 bees in the cells of these combs. Will it 

 be safe to use these combs this spring, 

 and, if so, will the bees clean the combs 

 from the dead bees, or should I take 

 them out of the cells before giving them 

 to the bees? 



2, What is the easiest and quickest 

 method of increasing the number of my 

 colonies? 



,1. How can weak colonies be built up 

 quickly in the spring? 



4. Can combs containing granulated 

 honey be fed to the bees in the spring? 

 If not, what can I do with them? 



Idaho. 



Answer. — i. I think it will be safe to use 

 the combs. The bees will clean out the 

 dead bees. But you may be able to help 

 them. Let the combs be left for a few 

 days where it is dry and warm, so the 

 dead bees will dry and shrink; then if 

 you hold the comb flatwise you may be 

 able to shake some of the dead bees from 

 the underside. 



2. I don't know. Quite possibly it may 

 be by natural swarming. Possibly it may 

 be by one of the plans of artificial in- 

 crease. If I knew all about your experi- 

 ence, ability, and locality, I might suggest 

 which one. But I don't know that, if 

 you will study up all that is given in the 

 bee-books you may be better able than 

 any one else to make the decision. The 

 book "Fifty Years among the Bees" is 

 probably fuller than any other book on 

 the subject of artificial increase. 



3. By giving them sealed brood or 

 young bees from stronger colonies. But 

 judgment must be used, or you will do 

 more harm than good. Very early, when 

 no colony has more than 3 or 4 frames 

 of brood, if you take from one with 4 

 frames of brood to give to one with only 

 I frame of brood, you will do more harm 

 to the stronger than good to the weaker. 

 Wait till the stronger has frames of 5 

 brood or more, and then it will stand to 

 have one of its brood taken away. Be 

 careful, however, not to give the weak- 

 ling more brood than its bees can cover. 

 One way is to take from the weakling 

 a frame mostly filled with eggs and un- 

 sealed brood, and exchange it for the 

 ripest sealed brood you can find in the 

 strong colony. 



4. You can give them to the bees, but 

 unless some precaution is taken they will 

 throw out the granules and waste them. 

 Sprinkle them with water, then give them 

 to the bees, and as often as they lick 

 them up dry sprinkle them again. 



Delicious But Deceptive Honey 



I am a bee-keeper of several years' 

 experience. While I and my customers 

 are very fond of our best and most deli- 

 cious honey, yet there is an irreconcil- 

 able hostility on the part of this high 

 grade and delicious honey against my 

 health and my customers' health, even 

 though eaten in very small quantities. It 

 invariably weakens the internal organs of 

 urination so much, that I am contem- 

 plating the idea of abandoning the bee- 

 business owing to this honey. I wonder 

 what advice you could give me, or what 

 could be the matter with the honey that 

 is so delicious, yet so deceptive? I 



