154 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 5, 1903. 



queen-cell to the part removed. If you have to let the bees ilo the 

 whole work of rearing their own queen, you will be more sure of a 

 good queen by this plan : Remove the <iueen to the new stand, leaving 

 most of the brood on the old stand ; about a week later make the hives 

 exchange places. You will see that by this means you will have your 

 queen-cells reared in a colony with a strong force of workers, and then 

 when you make the change the old queen on the old stand will have 

 the fleld-foree and a chance to lay all she wants. 



Location for Bees— Transferring. 



I am a beginner with bees, but have read a good deal on the man- 

 agement of them. 



1. I will give the location that I am in, and would like you to tell 

 me what you think I can obtain from each colony. I am about one 

 mile from a creek bottom, having almost all kinds of growth, such as 

 pine, sweet-gum, red-oak, maple, linden, elm, etc. We have lots of 

 wild flowers, li., acres in peach orchard, a farming country, and no 

 bees except mine. I have 6 colonies, and want to increase to 25. Do 

 you think that will be too many for my location ? I am going to run 

 for comb honey, and I can get 12'.j cents per pound. 



2, 1 notice that a writer advises transferring in time of fruit- 

 bloom or about l.i days after swarming. Why should I wait 1.5 days i 

 I have 3 colonies to transfer. My bees are in very good shape, I guess, 

 for they have some honey, and are watering to-day (Feb. 8). I don't 

 put them in a cellar, but leave them out in the yard. Texas. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know enough to guess within a long ways 

 of what you will get per colony. After you have harvested the honey 

 crops of live years you may be able to tell a little about it, but the suc- 

 ceeding live years may not be at all the same. But I would have no 

 great fear about 25 colonies being too many for your location. Very 

 likely it will support three times as many. 



2. Don't you mean 21 days instead of 15 1 The reason for waiting 

 21 days is that at the end of 21 days all the worker-brood will be 

 hatched out, leaving no brood to bother about. 



Hives Where Bees Died witti Poul-Brood. 



I have '25 8-frame Langstroth hives in which the bees died with 

 foul-brood. I have burned the frames and combs. Can I prepare and 

 safely use the hives next spring i Utah. 



Answer.— Good authorities say it is safe to use the hives without 

 doing anything to them. As an extra precaution you can wet the in- 

 side with kerosene, and burn it out. 



Feeding Bees in the Cellar. 



I have 85 colonies of bees, piled 5 high in a small cellar, with the 

 bottom-board off and the cover on. They are short of feed, some hav- 

 ing starved to death already. I do not see how I can feed them all 

 candy on top of the frames, so I can get the cover back on, and so I 

 can pile them again, as they eat it so slowly. 



How would it do to feed them honey through the pepper-box 

 feeder over the top of the frames (say 3 or 4 pounds), then replace the 

 the covers and repile them as fast as they can be fed, a few at a time '. 



Minnesota. 



Your plan will answer. At the same time you are using the pep- 

 per-box feeders, and in order to expedite matters, are not the hives so 

 placed that you can feed some of the colonies from below '. Of course 

 that will be only colonies so strong that the bees are down to the bot- 

 tom-bars, in which case either honey or candy could be fed. You 

 could also put candy over them, so far as room in the cellar would ad- 

 rait. By making a shallow frame to cover each hive, you could give 

 the candy to each colony, put the frame over the hive, and then put 

 on the cover. That would perhaps be the quickest way, if you do not 

 care for the expense of the frames. A frame an inch or two deep 

 would answer. 



to lift out the first frame. More likely, however, you have lixed-dis- 

 tance frames. Pel haps there is a dummy, but so much propolis is 

 crowded in between the frames that it is harder to lift out the dummy 

 than it is to lift out one of the frames, in that case clean out the 

 propolis from the parts that come in contact, thus making room 

 enough to get the dummy out. 



It may be that there is no dummy, but self-spacing frames that 

 crowd the hive full. Ifso I am sorry for you. But don't be clear dis- 

 couraged. Goto work and scrape the bee-glue off the parts that come 

 in contact with each other, and if then you haven't room to get the 

 dummy in beside the frames, use one frame less and put in a dummy 

 at one side. But if the dimensions are all right there ought to be 

 plenty of room for eight frames spaced r*^ inches from center to cen- 

 ter and a dummy 5-lC or -'^ beside. Tiie inside width of the hive 

 should be 12',^ inches. It may be you are in a place where propolis is 

 bad. and your frames are bad for it. If so, change to frames spaced 

 with staples, or with nails like the Miller frames would be a great re- 

 reliof to you. 



If, now, I haven't hit your case, be sure to coms again and give 

 me more particulars. 



-*-•-*' 



Sowing Sweet Clover. 



Perhaps Bulged or Crooked Combs. 



I am in the bee-business on a small scale, having about 30 colonies, 

 and am buying all I can get a hold of, that are in old boxes, kegs, etc. 

 I hope to increase to 100 by fall. What bothers me is this: When I 

 attempt to examine a colony, I find that when I raise the brood-frames 

 out of the hive I break them, that is, as one is raised out it rubs against 

 the sides of the adjoining ones and tears great, ugly patches in the 

 comb. I used the Heddon-Langstroth hive, and the Langstroth 

 frames, 8 to the hive, for comb honey only. Where is the trouble ? I 

 can't have the heart to cause my bees so much work, and I must look 

 after them. I am particular in leveling up my hives each spring. 

 Would it be better for me to use 7 frames instead of 8 ? 



California. 



Answer. — I'm not entirely sure whether your frames are built 

 crooked in the frames or not. Of course, if they are built crooked, 

 the crooked part should be cut where necessary and straightened in 

 the frames. I think, however, that you mean the combs are straight 

 in the frames, only they are so crowded together that when you try to 

 lift one out it is rubbed, as you say, against the next comb. I wish I 

 could see your combs; then I could tell better. It they are loose- 

 hanging frames, and there is no dummy in the hive, then you must 

 crowd together a number of the frames so as to make room to lift 

 one out. If there is a dummy, lift that out first, so as to make room 



As a further contribution to the subject I heartily endorse the fol- 

 lowing from Herman Betke, of St. Louis Co., Mo. : 



" I have seen in the American Bee Journal that there are some in- 

 quiries as to the best way to sow sweet clover, and you advise to sow 

 on hard ground, and let live-stock tramp it in. Now this is very good, 

 but one may not have the live-stock, or it may not be convenient to 

 have stock tramp in the seed, so I thought I would give you my way 

 of sowing sweet clover. 



"I sow on hard ground, and after sowing give the land a good 

 scratching with a harrow. This will cover some of the seed, and a 

 good rain will wash the loose soil over most of the rest. When the 

 ground is very hard it may be advisable to run the harrow over the 

 ground before sowing, and, of course, after sowing." 



Granulated Honey in Extracting-Combs. 



A great many of my extracting-combs were about half tilled with 

 honey, last fall, and I delayed extracting until the latter part of No- 

 vember, when I found it had granulated badly, and the extracting was 

 very unsatisfactory, leaving the combs heavy with white granulated 

 honey. What should I do with them before putting them on for the 

 spring flow ? South Carolina. 



Answer. — You can melt up the whole business, and then when it 

 gets cold pour out the honey, or take oft' the cake of wax. But that 

 would ruin the combs, and is hardly advisable if the combs are good. 

 Perhaps the best thing is to let the bees clean them out as soon as the 

 weather allows frequent (lights. Spray the combs with warm or hot 

 water as often as the bees lick them dry. The combs may be put in 

 the hives with the bees, but the work will be easier and more rapid if 

 the combs be put out some distance from the apiary. If there is a 

 time after bees can fly freely when there is nothing for them to work 

 on, you will find that feeding these combs will be just the thing to 

 boom brood-rearing. 



Feeding Candy in the Cellar. 



I don't know whether it is mere bad luck or through ignorance on 

 my part, as a beginner, but my 34 colonies of bees, in the cellar, seem 

 nearly destitute of stores. I have started to teed some of them Vial- 

 Ion candy. They stored honey in the sections until a short time before 

 putting them into the cellar, Nov. 1; and just before putting them in 

 the cellar I fed them until it got too cold. The temperature in the 

 cellar ranges from 38 to .50 degrees, with no sudden changes. 



1. How much candy would it take to feed 34 colonies of bees from 

 now until the middle of April ; 



2. Would it do to set 2 hives on top of each other, with the cover 

 off of the one, and the bottom olf of the other, and feed them that 

 way ? That would be the same as IT colonies. Would that be any 

 cheaper ? Would they Hght and kill each other * 



3. When I put the candy in upon the frames, that leaves the cover 

 open about an inch all around. Is that all right ? or what should I 

 do ? • Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. The amount of candy consumed by a colony of bees 

 in the cellar from the first of March to thS middle of April is very vari- 

 able. Better give each one not less than 5 or 6 pounds. Some of them 

 may not need a third of it, and some of them may need all. It will 

 not be a waste it you give them more than they need, for they can use 

 it later. 



2. Don't think of doing anything of the kind unless you wish to 

 unite and have only 17 colonies remaining. The bees may not fight, 

 liut. one of the queens will most likely be killed. 



3. It may do, but it is leaving the hive pretty open, and it will be 

 better to cover over with old carpet, gunny-sack, or something of the 

 kind. 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. 'Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The reg^ular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long- as they last. 



