October, 1912. 



Sll 



American IBae Journal 



h=^^^ ^ I 



entrances o( No. i and No. 6 were toward 

 the back end of the hive at Ihetol'. just a hole 

 *.' or ^4 inch. I'"or No j and No. 5 a hole was 

 made in the bottom and a passage channeled 

 out to emerge at the side of the hive, at the 

 bottom, near the front end. No. 3 had an 

 opening at the usual place for the entrance 

 in front No 4 has its entrance at the back. 



After I changed to 8-frame hives. I used 3 

 nuclei in a hive, a t-frame nucleus in the 

 renter with an entrance at the back, and at 

 each side a nucleus of 2 frames, sometimes 

 3. with entrances in front, at each end. But 

 of late I have mostly used a full hive for each 

 nucleus, generally having 3 frames in a hive, 

 although someiicnes 2. and sometimes 4 or 

 more. 'I'hat made it easier to build up each 

 one into a full colony than to have more 

 than one nucleus in a hive. 



I think bee-keepers generally use their 

 regular hives for nuclei, except those who 

 make a business of rearingqueens to sell. 



You will find it easier to get your combs 

 built out in good shape for cells if you have 

 them built in nuclei rather than strong 

 colonics. Still, you can get just as good cells 

 with combs built as yours were. 



The Foul-Brood Law 



Is it a fact that one of the greatest aims of 

 the present foul-brood law is to get rid of 

 the farmer bee keeper and have bee-keeping 

 go into the hands of specialists and raise the 

 price of honey ? Illinois. 



Answer.— I think 1 am quite familiar with 

 all the arguments that have been used in 

 favor of securing foul-brood laws, both in 

 this country and other countries, and in no 

 single instance have I ever heard it suggested 

 that a foul brood law would get rid of the 

 farmer bee-keeper. I have heard it sug- 

 gested that supply dealers wanted a foul- 

 brood law so that hives of diseased colonies 

 would be destroyed and new hives might be 

 bought. I need not tell you what a foolish 

 idea that is. It certainly cannot keep com- 

 pany with the idea that foul-brood laws 

 drive farmers out of bee-keeping; for if they 

 have that effect it would simply be destroy- 

 ing just so many customers for hives. 



The aim of the foul-brood law is to re- 

 strict and to overcome as much as possible 

 the ravages of foul brood. How would it 

 drive a farmer, or any one else, out of the 

 busine-s? Suppose a careless bee-keeper 

 with a few colonies lias foul brood. If he 

 lets the disease alone, as he is likely to do. 

 it's a dead-sure thing that it will not be a 

 very long time until his bees will be wiped 

 out. Now suppose a foul-brood inspector 

 comes along and obliges him to clean up the 

 disease. Isn't that the only thing likely to 

 make him continue in the business ? Here's 

 the way it looks to me: The foul-brood . //.*■ 

 f,;c,. left to itself, is sure to drive the care- 

 less bee-keeper out of the business; the 

 foul-brood law is the only thing to keep him 

 in business. 



Rearing Queens — Who is Inspector ? 



Next spring I intend to rear a few queens 

 for sale, but I saw an article in the Bee 

 Journal stating that any queen-breeder 

 must have a certificate from a bee-inspec- 

 tor. I have kept bees here for quite a num- 

 ber of years, and a bee-inspector has never 

 called and inspected my apiary. I do not 

 know whether there is any inspector in 

 Oregon. Where could I find out about such 

 bee-inspector, and is this inspector paid by 

 the State or is the apiarist to pay such cost ? 



Oregon 



WKfc,UO.> 



Answer.— My impression is that there is 

 no inspector in Oregon, but 1 may be mis- 



c^l. — n I» ^ .-^wt 1 ; n I I- 1 1^ -i \\'\r w "^ r /\ t /-I T- £1 1-1 1 1 i r- o 



Larger Hives for Carniolans 



I have some Carniolan bees in 8-frame 

 hives. If I had them in a larger hive would 

 they swarm less ? Can I get surplus honey 

 in a bigger hive; that is. if I have a bigger 

 brood-chamber ? I like the Carniolan bees; 

 they stand the severest winter and breed 

 up faster in the spring. They gave me a nice 

 surplus of honey early in the season, two 

 supers to each colony. With all the swarm- 

 ing I had, and with 8-frame hives. I sold the 

 honey as No, i. and got a good price for it. I 

 have some colonies that will give j supers, 

 and this is not the best honey year for Illi- 

 nois, either, Illinois, 



Answer.— Yes, a large hive will reduce 



the probability of swarming, since a crowd- 

 ed condition of the brood-nest is one of the 

 chief factors in producing the swarming 

 fever. Neither will a larger hive take away 

 your chances for getting surplus. Formerly 

 I used lo-frame hives, and changed to 8- 

 frame hives chiefiy because it was the fash- 

 ion. If I were to start in afresh I would 

 study some time before I would decide to 

 adopt the smaller hive. With the largei 

 hive I got fine crops of beautiful sections, 

 and you can do the same. 



Dark and Ligh 



Honey from Cappings as Feed 

 Cappings 



1. Is the honey left in the cappings good 

 feed for the bees after it is heated in the 

 solar wax-extractor? Will it cause dysen- 

 tery ? 



2. Why is an old. dark comb always sealed 

 dark when the one at the side, if new or 

 light, will be sealed light ? 



I think a great deal of your columns in the 

 American Bee Journal. Iowa. 



Answers. — I. Yes. unless heated so as to 

 be actually burned— a thing not likely to 

 happen— it ought to be wholesome food for 

 them. 



2. You will find that not only is the dark 

 comb sealed dark, but the light comb beside 

 it is likely to have its sealing darkened to 

 some extent. Years ago I used wide frames 

 for sections, the wide frames holding 8 sec- 



filled with empty combs, less one of the cen- 

 ter ones. Next, a comb containing a patch 

 of unsealed brood about as large as the 

 hand is selected from the colony, and 

 placed in the vacant place in the new hive; 

 a nueen-excluder is put on this lower story, 

 and about this a super of empty combs, this 

 one having an escape hole for drones; and, 

 on top of all, an empty super A cloth is 

 then nicely placed in front of this new hive, 

 on which the bees and queen are shaken 

 from the combs of the parent hive, and the 

 hird story is filled with the combs of sealed 

 bruodand brood too old to produce queens, 

 and allowed to remain there and hatch, re- 

 turning to the working force. 



This is really the Demaree plan, wh^ch 

 1 nis lb .CO., , ,. _ yearsago..by 



put all the brood in .■•- .■,-i;j- -,>;„„'•( know 

 Mr. Allen puts it in the third. 1 don t Know 



which is better 



s filled 



Interior View of Japanese Bee-Meeting— (See front page.l 



tions, so that they were the same size as 

 brood frames. As a bait to induce the bees 

 to begin work promptly in the super. I prac- 

 ticed taking a frame of brood from the 

 brood-chamber and putting it in the super, 

 a frame of sections facing it on each side. 

 It was effective in starting work promptly 

 in the sections, but if at any time I left it 

 until the bees began to seal the sections 

 they weresure to seal them dark. The ex- 

 planation is that the bees are in the habit of 

 carrying bits from the old combs to help in 

 the sealing. That explains why it is best to 

 have sections at some little distance above 

 the top-bars. Y'ou will find that sections 

 built over top-bars }k inch thick will be 

 darker than if built over top-bars V» thick. 



Allen's System of Swarm Prevention 



Will you please explain .Mr. Allen's sys- 

 tem of swarm prevention, as he says in the 

 August number of the ."American Bee Jour- 

 nal for I0I2, that he gave it to the readers of 

 the Bee Journal two years ago. If it really 

 has any merit, will you kindly reproduce it 

 in the journal. Canada. 



.\ns\ver — If you will turn to page g4 of the 

 American Bee Journal for loio, you will find 

 the plan as given by A. C. Allen, which is as 

 follows;' 



' When the honey-flow is well started I go 

 to each strong colony, regardless of whether 

 the bees desire to swarm or not, and remove 

 it from its stand, putting in its place a hive 



most of the combs would have at least some 

 very young brood. 



The plan is a good one for extracted 

 honey, but not available for comb. 



"Slaughter of the Innocents" 



Why do some of my colonies throw out a 

 lot of young bees in all stages of develop- 

 ment, some dead and some alive i' Yester- 

 day I could have picked up a handful_ in 

 front of a hive belonging to a neighbor. W hy 

 should they "slaughter the innocents? 

 The writer has much more enthusiasm than 

 experience in bee-culture, but finds it very 

 interesting; your department of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal especially so. Iowa. 



Answer.— "The slaughter of the inno- 

 cents ' no doubt occurred because the in- 

 nocents were "no account ' innocents; 

 that is, they were drones. When the har- 

 vest is over, or when there comes a serious 

 break in the harvest, the bees seem to con- 

 clude that they can hardly afford to support 

 a lot of gentry who do nothing to earn their 

 own livelihood, so the poor drones have to 

 go. It is common to say that at such times 

 the workers kill the drones, stinging them 

 to death. I think such an opinion is the re- 

 sult of superficial observation. I never saw 

 a worker sting a drone. It is possible that 

 such a thing may happen, but I think it must 

 be a very rare occurrence. Many, many 

 times I have seen workers driving drones, 

 seeming to be biting them and trying to sting 



