310 



October, 1912. 



American Vae Journal 



f 



freely into the entrance of the hive, as] 

 the bees will at once begin to fill them 

 selves with honey from their stores ;; 

 at the same time light drumming on 

 the hive will add to their alarm. In' 

 10 minutes they will have loaded them-' 

 selves with honey, and when in this 

 condition they never act on the offen-' 

 sive, but are in the passive state, acting' 

 on the defensive only, and can be han-'. 

 died without danger of being stung,' 

 except as they are pinched or hurt, 

 when they will defend themselves. | 



Those who handle bees on Fair 

 grounds should explain how they sub- 

 due them in preparing them 'to be' 

 handled; without this explanation such' 

 exhibitions are not in any way instruc-t- 



tive, but rather a deception, as the by- 

 standers are left with the impression 

 that the operator possesses a hypnotic 

 or mesmeric influence over bees', which 

 they think but very few persons pos- 

 sess. Such exhibitions are frauds, and 

 should not only be condemned, but 

 should be excluded from all Fairs. 

 ' As standard authorities upon the 

 habits and general care of bees, I will 

 recommend the works of the late Rev. 

 L. L. Langstroth, and of Prof. A. j. 

 Cook, of California. There are other 

 works of merit, but none better for the 

 beginner in bee-keeping, and there is 

 no better hive for general use than the 

 Langstroth 10 frame hive. 

 Lyons, Kan. 



Dr. Miller's M> Answers* 



Send Questions either to the offic 



'^r,»°r- r-°''if''''^ 'he American Bee Journal or direct to 

 UK. c. C. JMiLLER. Marengo, III. 

 He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Bisposing of Capping Washings 



I. Is there any chemical or other article 

 which can be mixud with the washings of 

 wax or capDings to be thrown out that will 

 not attract the bees? 



2 How can I dispose of water which is a 

 itt e sweet so as not to have the bees 

 bother? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. Carbolic acid would, no 

 doubt, be effective. 



i. I have never paid any attention to it. 

 lor it It IS thrown into a drain or upon the 

 ground it is so diluted that it disappears be- 

 tore the bees pay any attention to it. If you 

 hnd the bees trouble in that wav, you could 

 add more water to it before throwing it 

 away, so as to make the sweetness very 

 slight, and then if each time you throw it 

 on a new new place on the ground. I think 

 you will have no trouble. The reason for 

 extreme caution in the matter is the fear 

 that there might be foul brood in the honey 

 You niight make a sure thing of it by having 

 a pit dug. into which you would throw the 

 washings, and have the pit covered well. 



find that Caucasians need no treatment dif- 

 ferent from other bees. You will find bees 

 other than Caucasians that will keep lo 

 fiames filled with brood, and you are not 

 likely to find that all Caucasians will do it. 

 A colony that will keep more than one story 

 filled with brood early in the season, 

 whether Caucasian or any other, should 

 have a second story given, unless you want 

 to draw brood from it to give to weaker col- 

 onies. Then when harvest time comes it 

 should be reduced to one story, any surplus 

 frames of brood to be distributed where 

 they will do the most good. 



In the fall you will likely find that of their 

 own accord they will reduce the brood-nest 

 so that one story will satisfy them. 



How to Keep Moth Out 



How can I clear a colony of bees of moth 

 and then keep them out ? California. 



ANSWER.-Prevention is better than cure. 

 I he best preventive is a big lot of bees in the 

 hive. Italians are better than blacks to keep 

 moth at bay. and if your bees are very much 

 inclined to black, you will do well to intro- 

 duce Italian blood. Even a weak colony of 

 Italians will keep down the moth, A queen- 

 less colony is likely to be troubled by the 

 moth. With strong colonies of Italians and 

 no Queenless colonies you can whistle at 

 the moth. Rut if you have a colony where 

 the worms," as the larv.e of the moth are 

 called, are pretty bad, you may do a little 

 to help. You will see the gallery of the mis- 

 creant running along the surface of the 

 comb. Take a pin or a wire nail and prick 

 into one end of the gallery. Then prick into 

 the other tiid and tear open thu gallery, and 

 thus drive the worm toward the other end 

 where he will come out, and you can dis- 

 patch him. Don't allow (lieces of comb 

 or combs in hives without bees to be lying 

 aroung as breeding places for the moth. 



Handling Caucasian Bees 



I desire to make enquiry lo the best method 

 of han<iling Caucasian hues in New York 

 State. I have read in the American Bee 

 Journal that they will fill up as much as m 

 frames in a hive body with brood. In this 

 case, how would yon manage this in the 

 spring? In the fall would you advise win- 

 tering tliem in one or two stories ? 



New York. 



Answer.— The probability is that you will 



Supersedure of Queens — Miscellaneous Questions 



1. What causes supersedure when every- 

 thing apparently looks in good condition. 

 Sept. 2 I had a swarm go out. and upon ex- 

 amination of the hive I found that they had 

 superseded their queen (which was of this 

 year's stock, and therewere also four other 

 virgins in the hive, I knew it was too late 

 for a profitable swarm, so I pinched the 

 heads off of all but one queen, destroyed all 

 remaining cells, and then out the swarm 

 back in the same hive. Was this right ? 

 Everything is going along smoothly at this 

 date Sept. 15). and the new queen is laying. 



2. (Jne of our neighbor's is complaining 

 that the bees destroy her grapes and sting 

 her peaches. What solution would you give 

 her ? If I explain to her that bees do not de- 

 stroy sound fruit, etc , no doubt I will not 

 be believed, because I am the owner of the 

 bees. Would you refer her to the State En- 

 tomologist ? 



^. I am purchasing ^00 pounds of extracted 

 honey to be put up in one-pound glass jars 

 and =;-pound pails. Should the pails, iars 

 and honey be lieated the same as if the iirod- 

 uct came from myown extractor ? The idea 

 is to keep it from candying. 



4. In requeening an apiary would you ad- 

 vise introducing the new queen {that is cag- 

 ing her in the hive to be reqiieened) imme- 

 diately after killing the old one. or would 

 you kill the old (iiiecn and then wait ,^ or 4 

 days to allow the bees time to start queen- 

 cells, then go over the frames and cut out 

 the cells ? If a cage containing the new 

 queen is [nit into the hive immediately after 

 killing the old queen, isn't there danger of 

 the bees buildingqueen-cells, and then when 

 they release the new queen ball her and 

 continue with their cells ? 

 ' 5 What time of year is best to rcqueen ? 

 New Iersev. 



Answers.— 1. You ask what causes super 

 sediire when everything apparently looks 

 all right. Th,at "apparently " is probably 

 the answer, A queen may he in some way 

 at fault, whether a few days or a few years 

 old. and you may see nothing wrong, but 

 some way the Jbees know about it. It is not 



entirely clear, however, from what you say 

 whether this was not a case of regular 

 swarming rather than supersedure. In any 

 case you did well to do as you did. 



2. Yes. she would no doubt be more ready 

 to believe an entomologist than an interested 

 bee-keeper. 



i. Of course, the treatment will be all the 

 same whether your bees or the bees of 

 others produce the honey. But heating the 

 honey will keep it from candying only tem- 

 porarily, unless the honey be sealed, and 

 sealing is not commonly practiced. You will 

 do well to inform your customers how to 

 liquefy the honey when it candies, and it is 

 well to have labels that give that informa- 

 tion. Very rich, well ripened honey gives 

 less trouble about candying than that 

 which is taken too soon from the hives. 



4. Opinions differ. Some think it better to 

 get the new queen in immediately upon the 

 removal of the old one. Others think it bet- 

 ter to let the bees continue queenless for 

 some time. My own experience has been 

 that it is desirable to have the new queen 

 forsonie time caged in the care of the bees 

 before she is freed. Perhaps it is because 

 this allows the new queen to acquire the 

 hive-odor. In Europe it is more or less the 

 practice to cage the old queen in the hive 

 for a day or so before removing her. and 

 then to put the new queen in the .v.jwc cage. 

 Some prefer to cage the new queen in the 

 hive 2 or 3 days before removing the old one. 

 then allowing the bees to get at the candy to 

 release the new queen. 



,s. That depends. If you ask the question 

 now. I would answer that the present is an 

 excellent time. But if you should ask me 

 next spring I would not advise you to wait 

 until fall. If your object is to introduce a 

 queen of new stock, so as to improve your 

 stock— and that is quite generally the ob- 

 ject—you will gain by introducing her this 

 fall ; for in the spring she will be established 

 in her colony, ready for you to breed from 

 her as soon as condition! will allow. If you 

 are introducing a queen of your own rear- 

 ing, merely to replace one of less value, 

 there is no better time than toward the 

 close of the honey-flow. That is the time 

 when most of the superseding is done bv the 

 bees, and interferes with storing less than 

 at other times. 



Keeping Nuclei Always on Hand for Replacing 

 Poor Queens 



1 have noticed Doolitlle saying that one 

 ought to have nuclei growing most all the 

 time in order to supply queens, or better 

 queens whenever necessary. It seems 

 awkward to have so many hives as lots of 

 nuclei would require: they might grow to 

 full colonies. Seemingly a person would re- 

 quire many special colonies for nuclei. Do 

 bee-keepers, while using Hoffman frames, 

 have three and five-frame hives for nuclei ? 

 What I want to do is to see the way clearer 

 for the most expeditious supply of queens 

 to inferior colonies, as could be practiced 

 by always having a few nuclei 011 hand. I 

 tried to rear queens as per issue of August. 

 1012. I put frames with 4 V-pieces of foun- 

 dation into 10 fine colonies, but in 4 days 

 they had these frames so filled that I could 

 scarcely tell them from the rest. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answer. —Doolittle is quite right that we 

 should have on hand queens to replace 

 those that are not up to the average; and 

 tlie only wav we can do that is to have them 

 in nuclei. That does require, as you say. a 

 good many hives and stands. But you can- 

 not have anything of much value as a rule, 

 without its costing yon something. They 

 will, as you say. grow into full colonies; but 

 that is quite commonly what we want. 

 It is easy lo keep down their strength. 

 If you have half a dozen nuclei that are 

 stronger than >'oii want, all you need do is to 

 build one of them up into a full colony by 

 taking bees and brood from the others. 



One way to avoid having so many nuclei — or 

 rather to have nuclei in so many hives — is 

 to have more than one nucleus in a hive. At 

 one time I praclicetl qiiiti- successfully hav- 

 ing 6 nuclei in one lo-frame hive, h'ach nu- 

 cleus had only one comb, and as the parti- 

 tions were only about five-sixteenths thick 

 that allowed a pretty wide space for each 

 comb. When a nucleus became pretty 

 strong it would build comb at the sides, 

 which I would have to cut out. But this is 

 better than to have a narrower siiace, for 

 bees did not swarm <iut of these nuclei, and 

 when I afterward gavi- a narrower space for 

 the combs they swiirmed out luiite too often. 

 The entrances lo llu' '• comiiarlments were 

 arranged so that there was little danger of 

 a queen entering the wrong entrance. The 



