278 



American Vae -Journal 



Sepfcmbpr, 1912. 



The case puzzles me. The queen was an 

 old one. Will queens sometimes suspend 

 eeg-layinB until all brood is matured and 

 then begin laying again? My impression is 

 that the work going on in the hive now is 

 that of a young queen. What is true of this 

 colony is true of another treated in the same 

 way at the same time. The old queens were 

 not found, but zinc was left at the entrances 

 so they could not possibly go back into the 

 hives. I feel quite sure they had died be- 

 fore I attempted their removal. .Suppose 

 the old queens were dead, and that the bees 

 were hopelessly queenless. and that they 

 would not start queen-cells from brood 

 given them for the purpose, in such a case 

 how would you proceed to requeen ? 



ICWA. 



Answer.— Pity we haven't exact dates for 

 everything. Still it might not help. lean 

 only make a guess in the case, and any guess 

 that I make would likely occur to a sea- 

 soned beekeeper like yourself. The most 

 plausible guess that occurs to me is that a 

 young queen from some other hive returned 

 from her wedding-trip and entered the hive 

 in question. The thing sometimes happens, 

 and she might be kindly received In a queen- 

 less colony. But it is not entirely clear that 

 there was a free entrance for such a queen, 

 for at least part of the time you had ex- 

 cluder zinc at the entrance. 



Bees do strange things, but it is not very 

 likely that a queen takes a vacation at lay- 

 ing while honey is yielding. 



In case of a hopelessly queenless colony 

 that would not even start cells, I think I 

 should resort to the newspaper business. 

 Put a newspaper over the queenless colony, 

 and over that set a hive- body into which you 

 will put a nucleus with a queen. A mere 

 body-guard of bees with the queen might be 

 sufficient. As soon as the bees gnaw a pas- 

 sage through the paper, bees from below 

 will gradually join the queen, and in three 

 or four days queen and bees can be moved 

 to the lower story. 



Giving Up a Position of $100 a Month for Bee- 

 Keeping 



I have been trying to decide on a move for 

 several years; that is, in the keeping of 

 bees. I had a slight experience of 2 years 

 with bees, but just became greatly interest- 

 ed in them when I left the country to accept 

 a position in the Postal Department in New 

 York city. I still hold such a position, but 

 my desire and love for bees has increased 

 so much that I am contemplating a change 

 to the country. My hesitation comes from 

 the doubt whether I could make a good liv- 

 ing from them alone should 1 devote my en- 

 tire tune to them. What is your candid 

 opinion ? Would it be a wise and profitable 

 step to take, to give up my position of Sioo a 

 month to lurch into bee-keeping ^ 



I would not go in extensively at the start, 

 but try and feel my way as I advance. Will 

 you kindly give me the advice I seek as to 

 whether there is a profitable field in the 

 keeping of bees as a business proposition ? 



New York. 



Answer.— Your question is one that is ex- 

 ceedingly difhcult to answer. If it be a 

 mere matter of dollars and cents. I should 

 say that beekeeping is a good business to 

 let alone, for the same amount of brains and 

 energy that will make you a living at bee- 

 keeping will make more than a living at 

 almost any other business. But if you have 

 the great love for bee-keeping that some 

 men have, then if you can barely make 

 enough to warrant you a moderate living 

 during the remainder of your life, it may be 

 the part of wisdom for you to choose bee- 

 keeping in preference to any other business 

 that would net you ten times as much money. 

 Kor your true bee keeper doesn't have to 

 wait until he has made his pile before he 

 begins to enjoy life, but every day is a vaca- 

 tion day. and a day of enjoyment. But you 

 //«/.(/ have a living. Can you make a living at 

 bee-keeping? I don t know. There are a 

 few who make a living at bee-keeping alone. 

 There are probably a few who can. You 

 may be one of them, and you may not. 



It would not be advisable for you to cut 

 loose from everything else and start in at 

 bee-keeping with the idea of making a living 

 at it from the very start. If you have enough 

 ahead so that you can afford to do nothing 

 for a year or two. with a fair assurance that 

 you couUl again take up your old line of 

 work at the end of the year or two. if you 

 should so elect, then all right. I'or you 

 must count it among the possibilities that 

 the next two years maybe years of failure 

 in the honey harvest. 



If you can not take such a risk, perhaps 



you can grow into quite a business with 

 bees while still continuing at your present 

 business. Indeed, that might be the best 

 way. In a suburban home you could prob- 

 ably care for 25 or 50 colonies mornings and 

 evenings. Or. you might have a roof apiarv 

 m the city. The profit from them would be 

 all the while bringing you nearer to the point 

 when you could cut loose from everything 

 else. Afterayear or two you could judge 

 better than any one else whether it would 

 be feasible and advisable to try bee-keeping 

 alone. 



Cross Bees— Swarms— Stingless Bees— Miscella- 

 neous Questions 



1. I have a colony of bees that are very 

 cross. I took a super of honey from them, 

 and in the operation killed a number of bees, 

 and now they seem to be worse than ever 

 What shall I do for it ? 



2. A few days ago one of my colonies 

 svi-armed. and was hived in the usual way. 

 About an hour afterward another colony 

 swarmed, and before I could get my veil on 

 they began clustering on the hive in which 1 

 had hived a swarm before. (Nearly all of 

 them being about the entrance.) I brushed 

 them off as quickly as possible on the ground, 

 thinking they would cluster in a tree, and 

 set the hive about a rod away to prevent 

 them from going into it. I then took my 

 smoker and tried to find the queen, but 

 failed. 1 then found that they had discov- 

 ered the hive, and were goine into it I 

 tried to find the queen as she was going in. 

 but failed. I took an empty hive and set it 

 in front of this one. thinking they would go 

 into it. Some of them did. I then thought I 

 could do nothing more with them, so I went 

 off and left them. When I returned in an 

 hour or so both swarms were gone. The 

 question is. why did this swarm cluster on 

 and go into this hive ? 



3. One of my colonies has built three 

 combs in the back part of the hive cross- 

 wise of the frames instead of lengthwise I 

 would like to get them straight. When is 

 the best time of theyear to do this, and how 

 shall I do it ? 



4. Will bees eat candied honey? Is it all 

 right to feed it to them ? 



5. Is there any difference betsveen an Ital- 

 ian queen, golden Italian, and red clover 

 Italian ? If there is. what is it ? 



6 Have honey-bees ever been known to 

 work on red clover ? 



7. I have read somewhereabout a stingless 

 bee. Is there such a bee ? 



Washington. 



Answers.— I. Sometimes a colony will be 

 cross with apparently no sufficient excuse 

 for it, and then a little later appear all right. 

 In such a case give them careful treatment, 

 using smoke judiciously, and do as little as 

 possible to anger them. Do not use smoke 

 more than needed, but be sure to use when 

 needed, or a little before needed. Give them 

 a little to start with, and if they show fight 

 give them more afterward But if a colony 

 is chronically ill-tempered, the only remedy 

 is to pinch the queen's head and give them 

 a queen of better-natured stock. 



2. Not much guessing is needed. When a 

 swarm is in the air it is a common thing for 

 them to be attracted by the call that is made 

 at any hive where another swarm has just 

 been entering, and it is wonderful how they 

 will follow that call. Once when a swarm 

 was thus entering a wrong hive. I put the 

 hive on the wheelbarrow and started travel- 

 ing with it. So long as I kept on the move 

 all was well, but the minute I stopped, no 

 matter where I was. the bees heard the call 

 and promptly assembled in response to it. 

 I don't remember how it came out. 



3. A good time is in the spring when not 

 much honey is in the hive. Not too early, 

 for they do not build comb and make repairs 

 so early, but after they start well at brood- 

 rearing, before they begin storing. Since 

 only three combs have gone wrong, vou can 

 lift out thcotlier frames until you come to 

 them. Then cut away any attachments 

 necessary to get out the faulty combs. If 

 they are bent only a little out of place, vou 

 may be able to force them into their proper 

 frames, and if too straight across you must 

 cut them out and then you may be able to 

 patch them into the frames, tying strings 

 around them, which strings the bees will in 

 time gnaw away if you do not take them out 

 yourself. 



4. Yes, only sometimes they waste it by 

 throwing out the grains if you do not 

 moisten it. 



5. Yes. there is the difference indicated by 

 the names. Goldens are those which have 

 been bred by selection in this country until 

 tlicy are yellow to the tip, or nearly so. 



6. Oh. yes. I ve seen them. Sometimes 

 the corollas of the blossoms are shorter than 

 usual, and at such times the ordinary bee 

 can reach the nectar. 



7. Stingless bees are found in South Amer- 

 ica, but are of no value commercially. 



Bees Hanging Out- Remedy 



This is what we call a dry year here. I am 

 in the southeastern part of Alameda Co.. 

 Calif. Last summer I observed something 

 that puzzled me. As I was walking among 

 the bees I discovered a colony hanging out- 

 quite a big bunch. I looked in the super' 

 and there was hardly a bee in it. I got some 

 blocks and raised the hive up all around 

 about half an inch, and concluded I would 

 give them a super the next dav with an 

 abundance of unfinished bait. Well when I 

 came the next day with my extra super, to 

 my astonishment every section was full of 

 bees, and along the center of the super the 

 sections were half drawn out. Why did 

 they not go into the super before I raised 

 "'em up? California. 



Answer. -It looks as if you made the 

 right guess yourself, when you raised the 

 hive on blocks. The bees had been driven 

 out by the heat, and when sufficiently cooled 

 off they went back into the super. 



Queen Oeformed When Hatched 



Can you give me the cause for a young Ital- 

 ian queen hatching with only a part of a 

 ™ing' Te.xas. 



Answer. -Insuflicient nourishment or a 

 slight chilling, which may occur in a weak 

 colony. Even in a strong colony a cell on 

 the lower edge of a comb might be chilled 

 on a very cold night. It has been said that 

 letting a queen-cell fall, or shaking it might 

 result in crippled legs or wings. 



Is Not the Life of a Bee More than Six Weelis 

 During the Honey-Flow? 



Are you sure that the life of a bee is only 

 SIX weeks during the honey-How? I have a 

 case in point that proves to me that the life 

 of a bee must be much longer. June 13 one 

 of my best colonies cast a swarm froni a •>- 

 story hive (lb Hoffman frames), and I hived 

 the bees on the old stand in an 8-frame hive 

 of old combs, with an excluder and 4 comb 

 supers on top. 



The ninth day they swarmed out and I re- 

 turned them. Thinking perhaps more room 

 was needed. I put on 2 more supers, making 

 6 in all. 1 hey again swarmed out and I le- 

 tnrned them, only to have the performance 

 repeated, until June 27 uust 14 days) they had 

 swarmedand been returned five times By 

 this time the queen had (> frames well filled 

 with brood, and as they had some very fine 

 queen-cells started, I removed the hive- 

 body and returned the bees to the same 

 place in another hive of empty combs 



Now you will please note that this was 14 

 days after the first swarming, and if the 

 queen commenced laying the same day it 

 would be 35 days from the first date, )une 13 

 before there could possibly be a single 

 young bee, but as they swarmed out again 

 June 2a, I assume that the queen had not yet 

 commenced to lay. 1 immediately returned 

 them and I think they were completely 

 cured, as they have remained in the hive up 

 to the present. 



Today (July 22; is 3') days since the swarm 

 first issued, and granting that a portion of 

 the bees that had lust hatched that day were 

 in theswarm, the rvvr iv««i',-.>/ of then' would 

 be 3« days old today, while the vast majority 

 would necessarily have to be from several 

 days to several weeks older. 



.\'i'!e, tOil:v. those beesareworkingwithout 

 any apparent decrease in numbers or efti- 

 ciency. and those 6 supers are full with the 

 excetition of a very few sections which still 

 lack the finishing touches. Now. according 

 to our best authorities, this colony should be 

 reduced to practically nothing, and in \ 

 more days should be completely dead, bar- 

 ring the young brood which is supposed to 

 be hatching now. ,iihI only a few of which 

 would be old enough to fiy bv that time. Do 

 some queens produce longer-lived bees than 

 others ? 



We are having quite a good How from 

 clover this year, and the honey is as white 

 and fine as any I ever saw in my life. Bass- 

 wood bloomed i-rrv iirof usely. but the bees 

 did not work on it much. Indiana. 



Answer —Beginning at the 

 your letter, I suppose there is 



tail-end of 

 no doubt 



J 



