Feb. 26, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



colony to give to a weak one. The frame of brood will do 

 more good in a strong colony than in a weak one, unless the 

 strong one lie very strong. 



2. You cannot wire lliom, but you can use them in the ex- 

 tractor without wiring. Thousands of combs were used in 

 extractors before wiring was known. 



2. There is much danger of it. Some practice giving four 

 or live frames with starters, and when these are about filled 

 giving the balance of the frames filled full of foundation. 



4. One frame of bro<id will do if you have bees enough 

 with it. If you mean to take only the bees adhering to the 

 one frame of brood, that would be a rather weak nucleus. 

 Two frames of brood with adhering bees would be a good 

 deal better. 



5. If you put a sheet of foundation right in the middle of 

 the brood-nest, with brood each side of it, there will be no 

 bulging where the brood is, and perhaps none at the upper 

 part if the honey is sealed there. If there is unsealed honey 

 in the upper part, there is likely to be bulging there, and vou 

 can remedy the matter by slicing off the bulged part. You 

 can also keep the frames of foundation at one side of the hive. 



Italianizing— Shaken Swarms-Stimulative Feeding- 

 Transferring. 



1. Wliat time ne.xt season would it be best to Italianize 

 my bees, to secure the most honey and pay me all around? 

 They are blacks, and rather poor workers (in 8-fr-inie hives). 



2. In practicing shaken swarms, should the super be put 

 on at once, or wait until the brood-chamber is nearly filled? 

 In shaking bees off combs would the queen be injured? And 

 would the remaining bees (say one-sixth) in the old hive, 

 with brood, rear a- good queen? Would you use starters or 

 full sheets of foundation in this plan? 



3. Would it pay to practice stimulating feeding next 

 spring? When should I eommence in this locality (Southern 

 Iowa), and how much a day should I feed? Tliis locality is 

 poor for spring bloom, and bees are rather light. 



4. I have some bees in a box-hive to transfer. Would you 

 transfer in fruit-bloom or wait until about swarming-time, 

 and use the forced-swarm method? ' Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. A little difficult to say. So far as concerns 

 getting in better stock, the sooner the change is made the 

 better ; but then the change is in danger of interfering some- 

 what with the progress of the colony. Besides it is easier to 

 get good queens later, so it may be well not to make the 

 change till the harvest is well under way. 



2. Supers may be put on at once if an excluder is used; 

 otherwise wait two or three days till the queen has a fair start 

 at haying below. The queen is not likely to be injured by being 

 shaken off the combs. I would not expect the very best queens 

 reared in the hive with only a few bees, and a good deal of 

 time would be lost if the start was made with a young larva. 

 Full sheets of foundations may be given, or else four or five 

 frames given with starters, and when these are filled give the 

 balance with full sheets. 



3. Unless you have a good deal of experience, you may do 

 more harm than good with stimulative feeding, but if you 

 want to try it better try it with part of your colonies and see 

 how they compare with the others. Do not begin till bees fly 

 every day, and then feed a poimd cr so every other evening. 



4. ^'ery likelj' it will be better to wait till swarming. 



Moving an Apiary a Short Distance. 



I have two small apiaries located about forty rods apart. 

 One apiary contains eight colonies. I moved them in a row, 

 placing them about four inches apart^ and packed them with 



chaff on all sidjs, excepting the front, which is south, and 

 placed a board before the entrance of each hive. They seem 

 to be doing well at this date. 



The other apiary contains twenty-one colonies, and is 

 packed in the same manner. In the spring I wish to move 

 them to a new location, together, about midway between their 

 present locations. What precautions should be taken in mov- 

 ing them, and when should it be done? Ohio. 



ANSWEii. — If it were not for the packing you could move 

 them any time now. But it is better not to disturb the pack- 

 ing until later, so you might postpone the moving until time 

 for spring flight. If you could move them just before their 

 first flight it would be well. When a day comes with the 

 temperature at 45 degrees or higher in the morning, and 

 rising all the time, with a bright sun and not windy, you may 

 be pretty sure of a good flight-day, and then will be a good 

 time to move them. Shut the bees in the hives, handle the 

 hives roughly in moving them, and when it gets warm enough 

 for them to fly freely — say 50 degrees or more — pound on the 

 hives well, and then open them. First, however, it will be a 

 good plan to make everything on the old locations look as 

 different as possible, so that they shall not look like home to 

 the bees. It would be no harm also to put boards in front 

 of the hive entrances. 



Forced Swarming. 



I wrote to you about one year ago asking advice concern- 

 ing a colony of bees that I had which I feared had foul brood. 

 I want to report now that I found later that the disease was 

 foul brood, and I found four other colonies with the disease, 

 all of which I treated on the ilcEvoy plan in June, with entire 

 success, at least I have not seen any symptoms of it since. I 

 examined them carefully several times, and made a special 

 examination when I fixed them for winter in October, and I 

 believe they are cured. 



Now, Doctor, I want to adopt the forced-swarm plan the 

 coming summer ; I do not want to increase. I have read what 

 has been written lately in the bee-papers on this subject, and 

 yet, when I think of doing the work on the plans suggested, 

 there are a few questions that arise in my mind. 



1. To have no increase I must make three drives, the sec- 

 ond one in 21 days. Will the second and third drive be ac- 

 cepted by the new colony without quarreling? And if not, 

 how shall I proceed to make them behave peaceably? 



2. May there not be a new queen in the old hive, and lay- 

 ing some time before the third drive, or should I cut out the 

 cells? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. The business is expected to be done at a 

 time when bees are gathering and not at all inclined to be 

 quarrelsome, so no precautions need be taken. 



2. When you make a shaken swarm you are expected to 

 shake the com'bs, and to shake them hard. That will destroy 

 all advanced cells, at least all sealed cells, at the first drive. 

 The same thing will occur at the second drive, leaving no 

 chance for a laying queen at the third drive. If a virgin 

 queen should be present, she can be left to the tender mercies 

 of the bees. 



Allow me to add that there is no lav? compelling you to 

 make a third drive, and, between you and me, I don't believe 

 I'd make any drive after the first. Y''ou can shake and brush 

 off all the bees at the first drive, and then you're done with 

 it so far as that colony is concerned. Then you can pile up 

 the beeless brood on some weak colony, piling it up till j'ou 

 have four, five, or six stories of brood, an excluder preventing 

 the queen from laying in the upper stories. Then when the 

 brood has hatched out, you can take away the combs, or leave 

 them to be filled with honey. If you are so unfortunate (?) 

 as to have no weak colony, you could use a strong one. 



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FROM MANY FIELDS. 

 (Continued from pa^e 130.) 



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