214 



.iiiiy, 1!'13. 



American Hee Journal j 



have only starters you will get more drone 

 comb than you want. 



It is liardly likely that foul brood had any- 

 thintto do with the bees swarmine. You 

 can make sure whether you have foul brood 

 by sendine a sample of the suspected comb 

 to Dr. K. K. Phillips. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Washington. D C. If SH)U write him in 

 advance he will send you a package in which 

 to send the sample. It will cost you nothing. 



'I'he 1 banded leather-colored Italians are 

 probably as good as any. Summer or fall is 

 a good time to reoueen. 



Bees Hanging Out — Black Bees in Hive 



1. My bees have been hanging from the 

 top of the hive to the ground. They fly 

 around the hive and then cluster. Only a 

 few seem to work. They have been doing 

 this for two weeks. Are they getting ready 

 to swarm ? 



2. 1 bought them last year for pure Ital- 

 ians, and now there are black ones in the 

 hive. Could they have been pure Italians? 

 This is iny first year with bees. Ohio. 



Answers. — I. I don't know enough about 

 the conditions to answer. If no nectar is to 

 he had. that may be a surticient reason for 

 their idleness. If there is a good flow of 

 nectar, hanging out might be a sign they 

 are getting ready to swarm, and yet they 

 would hardly keep that up for two weeks. 

 So, on the whole, it looks more as if there is 

 nothing for them to do, yet that may not be 

 thecase at all. Give them more room and 

 more ventilation. 



2. You do not say whether there were any 

 black bees in the hive last year. If the 

 workers were all properly marked last year, 

 it is possible that the queen was superseded 

 last fall or this spring, and that the new 

 queen is mismated If there are only a few 

 black bees in the hive, they may be from 

 other colonies: for bees do more in the way 

 of chunging from one hive to another then is 

 generally supposed. Look in the hive and 

 see whethei there are any black bees among 

 the downy little fellows that have just 

 hatched. If there are. then either the 

 queen has been changed or the queen you 

 bought was not pure. 



Swarming^Will Cutting Out Queen-Cells Effect a 

 Safe Cure? 



Here is a little bee-history and two ques 

 tions: On Nov. 12. igii. mercury 12 degrees 

 above zero. I put my 2 colonies of bees into 

 the cellar. These will be called No. i and 

 No. 2 from this on. They wintf red well, few 

 bees dying and falling on the floor during 

 their coiitinement, which lasted almost 5 

 months. I did something I never did before 

 and believe it worth reporting. I left the 

 bottom-boards on and the summer entrances 

 Hist as they were on the stands outside, and 

 to give Vietter ventilation I lifted the tops 

 and carried them back one inch. This gave 

 an abundance of air circulating through the 

 hive, and prevented dampness or mold in 

 the hives or on the combs. I mention this 

 procedure because the winter preceeding I 

 placed 4 colonies in the same cellar, turning 

 the entrances toward the wall, and gave no 

 ventilation save what they got from the 

 summer entrance. 1 lost almost all my bees, 

 and the hives were full of moisture and 

 mold. 



April 14. luii, temperature 70 degrees 

 above, I carried Nos. i and 2 out on the sum- 

 mer stands. No. i was rich in honey and 

 populous in bees, covering every frame in a 

 lo-frame dovetailed hive. No. 2 was not so 

 rich in bees nor honey, 



1 had some partly-filled sections from the 

 preceding season, these I fed from time to 

 time in the open, as the weather was damp 

 and cold. 



May IQ No. i sent out a good sized swarm 

 at 2 p.m. This No. <) was placed on the old 

 stand, and No. i was moved the width of it- 

 self east. Mav 21 the weather looked threat- 



the secondary swarm on the door. In this 

 way we had a good chance to watch for the 

 queen. We found 2 queens and killed one. 

 Since this experience No. i is seemingly 

 happy and is working. 



May 23 No. 2 sent out a medium-sized 

 prime swarm at 2 p.m. It was hived and 

 placed on the old stand, the parent colony 

 moved the width of itself, and each allowed 

 to remain there 8 days. This new swarm, as 

 you see. is No. 4. 



Now May 31. 8 days after No. 4 came out of 

 No. 2. No. 2 was moved 12 feet away. The 

 workers from No. 2 went to No. 4 and were 

 slaughtered by the thousand. 



1. Why did No. I swarm the second time ! 



2. Why did No. 4 kill the fielders from 

 No. 2 ? 



i. If a colony is rich in bees and honey, 

 and is apparently ready to swarm, is it a 

 safe or sure procedure to cut out all queen- 

 cells ? Illinois. 



Answers.— I. For the same reason that 

 any colony sends out a swarm; because 

 there were two or more young queens in the 

 hive, and enough bees in a prosperous con- 

 dition to afford to swarm. If you had left 

 them 4 days longer there would likely have 

 been no second swarm. Killing one of those 

 queens probably made no difference, for if 

 you had let them alone one would have 

 killed the other. But destroying the cells 

 probably did make a difference. 



2. I don't know. Can't make a guess. 

 Never heard such a case before. 



3. If you mean safe and sure to prevent 

 swarming, no. In some cases it may prevent 

 swarming entirely. In some cases it may 

 delay it a week or two. In some cases it 

 may delay it only a day or two. 



more to mo 



more to move on ine 4tn nay. wniie nyoig, 

 than to wait until the ath dav. when the 

 weather would probably be cold or rainy. 



May 31 No. i sent out a good sized second 

 ary swarm. Being away from home my 

 brother hived it in an « frame hive with full 

 foundation wired in When I got home in 

 the afternoon of the same day we opened 

 No. I and cut out all the queen-cells. We 

 then placed a loose door in front of No. i. 

 and picking up one frame at a time we shook 



Bait for Bee-Hunting— Swarms Killing Drones 



1. What is the best bait to use for hunting 

 bees ? 



2. One colony of my bees swarmed yester- 

 day and returned to the hive. What do you 

 think was the cause of it ? 



i. When bees fly off through the woods 

 how far can you look for them ? When they 

 get up above the trees how far can I look 

 for them ? 



4. Does it make any difference when I kill 

 the drones? 



5. .\bout how long do you think it will be 

 before that swarm comes out again ? 



Texas. 

 Answers.— 1. Honey is probably as good 

 as any. 



2. It may be that the queen was notable 

 to flv with them. It may be that it was an 

 after-swarm or a mother colony in which 

 there was a young queen which was making 

 her bridal trip, and a lot of her bees flew 

 out with her. 



3. If you mean how far it is worth while to 

 look for a swarm that has flown away. I 

 should say Itliat they might go any distance 

 inside of s miles, and possibly farther. I 

 don't know that getting above the trees 

 would make any difference. 



4 Yes. it will save something in the way of 

 feed. If you should kill them all. and if 

 there were no neighboring drones, your 

 young queens reared without any drones 

 would rear no worker-bees, only drones. 

 But you needn't be alarmed about getting 

 all killed off. When you have killed oft" all 

 you can. the likelihood is that plenty will be 

 left. 



5. If my first guess was correct, they might 

 come out again in a day or so. If my second 

 guess was correct, they would likely not 

 come out again. 



an inch or so in length, which are large in 

 comparison with little red ants. But if you 

 have the big wood ants that are :U of an inch 

 long, then that's another story. I've had no 

 little trouble with them, and they are hard 

 to combat. They get between the bottom- 

 board and the board on which it rests, and 

 honey-comb the bottom-board. Sometimes 

 there will be merely a shell left, so that you 

 will hardly notice anything wrong, yet a 

 little touch when hauling bees might break 

 through a hole to let the bees out. Carbolic 

 acid mav do something toward driving them 

 away. You may also poison them. Take 

 two pieces of section, or. perhaps, better 

 still, two thin boards 4 inches square, or 

 larger, fasten upon each end of one of them 

 a cleat's inch thick, and lay or fasten the 

 other on it. thus leaving a space of 'a inch 

 lietween the two boards. Mix arsenic in 

 honey and put between the boards. The 

 bees can not get into so small a space, but 

 the ants can. Or. put poison in a box cov- 

 ered with wire-cloth that will let the aiits in 

 but keep the bees out. 



2. Your letter is dated May 20. and at that 

 time it is very unlikely that the bees were 

 getting enough to work in the supers. Cer- 

 tainly they were not here, and I am farther 

 south than you. Don't expect your bees to 

 do anything in the supers until there is 

 enough coming in to fill up all empty cells in 

 the brood-chamber I'ime enough to store 

 honey for you after they have stored all they 

 can for themselves. 



Trouble With Ants— Bees Not Working in Supers 



1. I have () colonies of bees. The smaller 

 ones are bothered with large, black ants. Is 

 there anv way of stopping them ? 



2. What is the reason that bees will not 

 work in the supers ? I put 2 sections of comb 

 in the middle of each supfr before putting 

 them on. but the bees work in the body of 

 the hive. Wisconsin. 



Answers. — I. On page 11.7. under the head 

 of " Timely Hints for lune." you will find an 

 answer to your question. As mentioned 

 there, ants annoy the bee-keeper rather 

 than the bees. It is decidedly annoying to 

 have them crawling over the hands and 

 biting. Yet it may be well to add that there 

 are ants and ants. Go far enough .South and 

 you may find ants that will destroy a colony 

 sometimes in short order. Even in the 

 North there is a kind to be dreaded. You 

 say yours are "large, black ants." Most 

 likely that means ants that are a quarter of 



-Do Swarms Ever 



Getting Bees from a Chimney- 

 Return 



1. Do you know of any way in which I can 

 get bees from the chimney of a house ? 



2. Will a swarm that once leaves ever 

 come back to the same hive ? 



New Jersey. 



Answers— I. I don't know of any very 

 good way. If any one else does, perhaps he 

 will tell us. I've had such bees offered me 

 if I'd take them, and never thought they 

 were worth the trouble. 



2. It is the regular thing for a swarm to re- 

 turn to its hive in a short lime after leaving, 

 if its queen is not with the swarm, either 

 because she is clipped or for any other rea- 

 son. Even if hived, if its queen should be 

 accidentally killed within a day or so I think 

 the swarm might return. If you mean that 

 the swarm leaves by flying off entirely. I 

 don't suppose there's one chance in a thou- 

 sand for such a swarm to return. 



Chilling of Brood—Danger of Poisoning Bees 



1. On May 12 a swarm issuedand was hi\ed 

 in the usual way. the new hive being placed 

 on the old stand, and frames given with full 

 sheets of foundation The foundation has 

 been drawn out anti the brood capped. 

 Yesterday. June 8. 1 looked at the colony and 

 the brood is only partly covered with 

 bees, and is dead. lam of the opinion that 

 the change in the weather we have had 

 a sudden change from warm to cool weather) 

 has caused the bees to cluster over certain 

 Dortions of the brood to keep it warm, and 

 in doing so they have had to leave some of 

 the other frames of brood, and consequently 

 they have become chilled. This couldn't 

 be a case of foul brood with new frames 

 and new foundation, etc. could it ? The 

 larvie which I pulled out of the cells were 

 white and abuost matured, but were not 

 ropy or sticky like a case of foul brood 

 would be. 



2. What I want to know now is. will the 

 bees clean out these frames, or would it be 

 advisable to shake some bees in front of the 

 hive from another colony, so as to give the 

 iiive more bees ^ 



3. The swarm wasn't a very large one, 

 although the queen keeps on laying. What 

 is the use of it if the brood can not be kept 

 so it will properly mature-' I have never 

 had a case like it before. 



4. lu order to keep the weeds from grow- 

 ing in front of the hi\es. I have sprinkled 

 salt water around, and it has had a good 

 effect. Last year it was done quite often, 

 and the weeds were keiit down. This year 

 they all came up again, ami salt is dear if 

 much is used. A friend of mine, who is a 

 cliemist. told me he would make up some- 

 thing that 1 could put in water and use it 

 with a watering-pot. and he said it would 

 kill grass, weeds, or any other stuff where it 

 is put on: but there is acid in it. Now. 

 what I want to know is. whether the bees 

 aligiiting on the ground would drink any of 

 the stufT and die - I have been afraid to try 

 it without consulting you. for fear of killing 



