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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1919 



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GLEANED BY ASKING 



lona Fowk 



QUESTIONS. — 

 (1) I would 

 be obliged if 

 you will tell 

 me whether any 

 one of the follow- 

 ing is considered a 

 sign of either Amer- 

 ican or European 

 foul brood: Queen 

 of a hive being 



missing, queen larvre diseased, drone larvw diseased. 

 (2) Is the drone whose mother was not mated con- 

 sidered a capable male and as good as a mated 

 queen's drones in all respects? (3) Are the germs 

 of foul-brood diseases carried on the bodies of the 

 bees? Fred E. White.. 



British Columbia. 



Answers. — (1) In neither the European 

 nor American foul brood have we found the 

 queen apt to be missing. In both European 

 and American foul brood the queen larvae 

 as well as drone larvfe may be affected. We 

 believe, however, that it is rare for queen 

 larvae to be affected in case of American 

 foul brood. Drone larvae are more apt to be 

 affected in European than in American foul 

 brood. (2) We believe the drone whose 

 mother was not mated is capable of ferti- 

 lizing a queen; but because of the dwarf 

 size of such drones, caused by being reared 

 in worker cells, we would greatly prefer a 

 drone raised in the ordinary way. (3) We 

 have never seen anything to indicate that 

 the germs of either kind of foul brood are 

 spread by being carried on the bodies of 

 the bees. There is very much on this subject 

 which is not definitely understood at present. 

 Contaminated honey is, however, the means 

 of spreading both diseases, and European 

 doubtless is often spread from cell to cell 

 of an affected colonj^ by the nurse bees car- 

 rying juices from diseased larvae. This an- 

 swer will probably not entirely satisfy you. 

 It doesn 't us. 



Question. — (1) In keeping bees with chickens, 

 Mon't the chickens eat the bees? (2) Will bees 

 hurt pigs? W. Toppin. 



New Jersey. 



Answers. — (1) A few have reported chick- 

 ens eating bees but we believe you will have 

 no such trouble. Many people keep hives 

 right in the chicken yard. (2) If pigs are 

 allowed in an apiary they will get stung, 

 and then probably rub against the hives, 

 thus enraging the bees, and possibly upset- 

 ting the hives; but, if pigs are near the 

 bees, yet shut out of the apiary, we believe 

 there will be no trouble even tho the pigs 

 should receive an occasional sting. 



Questions. — (1) Why don't all of those people 

 that want to stop swarming have a brood-chamber 

 so big that the queen cannot get it full of brood at 

 once? (2) I would like to know if palo verde, a 

 tree that covers the Southwestern States' hills, yields 

 a surplus. (3) Where could I obtain some sting- 

 less bees? (4) Why haven't we a law so that a 

 man can take up a bee claim on a piece of land to 

 prevent crowding? Burns Wood. 



Arizona. 



Answers. — (1) If the swarming problem 

 could be solved by giving plenty of room, it 

 would not be such a troublesome factor in 



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beekeeping. We 

 have known a 

 colony to swarm 

 when hanging 

 from the limb of 

 a tree with all 

 outdoors for 

 room. There is 

 doubtless a great 

 deal yet to be 

 learned on the whole subject, but we feel 

 certain that the size of a suitable hive de- 

 pends greatly on the season and locality. 

 (2) Palo verde, altho it yields some honey, 

 could not be counted on for surplus. (3) 

 From South America, but tho they are 

 rather interesting as a curiosity, they would 

 not pay financially. (4) There are many 

 points to be considered in formulating a law 

 to i^revent encroaching on another's terri- 

 tory. Such a law would need to specify the 

 proper distance between apiaries, which of 

 course differs with the locality and even 

 varies from year to year as the forage grad- 

 ually changes. More than this, priority 

 might give a man the apparent right to a 

 location, yet he perhaps be a renter and a 

 poor beekeeper at that. Later a man might 

 buy a home in the same locality and wish to 

 keep bees. It would be manifestly unfair 

 to deprive him of this privilege. There are 

 many other puzzles that will naturally occur 

 to one in this connection, but the puzzles arc 

 surely worth solving. 



Questions. — (1) Can bees use' old odds and ends 

 of wa.N to draw out foundation? (2) I have a plan 

 to keep tees with very little manipulating. I would 

 have a regular Buckeye hive, but instead of resting 

 it on the bottom-board I would have a shallow ex- 

 tracting super with full sheets of foundation for it 

 to rest on. Under this, of course, would be the 

 bottom-board. In the spring and fall it would keep 

 the brood farther from chilling winds. Also, I do 

 not think they would swarm with the foundation 

 IjcIow. What do you think of the plan ? 



Massachusetts. C. L. Stone. 



Answers. — (1) Bees use bits of wax from 

 adjoining combs and when placed in the en- 

 trance they do sometimes take it, but I do 

 not think you could get the colony to draw 

 out foundation by simply feeding them bits 

 of wax. (2) On page 367 of the June issue 

 of Gleanings, under the heading, ' ' Another 

 Swarm Prevention," you will find something 

 similar. The editors of Gleanings tried this 

 out this summer, using shallow supers un- 

 der the brood-chambers; some with starters, 

 others with full sheets of foundation, and 

 still others with combs. Of course, in our 

 locality this season did not result in many 

 swarms anyway, but we rather think the 

 plan of thus using starters may be of value, 

 and intend trying it again next year. 



Questions. — (1) How could I find a colony of 

 bees? (2) When bees are gone only 10 minutes, 

 ulout how far would you look for them? 



Arkan.sas. W. H. Lassiter. 



Answers. — (1) A good way of locating a 

 colony in a tree is to capture a .few of the 

 bees that are at work in the field, placing 

 them in a box containing a little diluted 



