202 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 26, 1903. 



Bees " that I don't like tlie Manum swarm catcher. That hardly gives 

 the correct situation. If I should follow natural swarming, especially 

 with undipped queens, I should want to use it. But I don't lilie 

 natural swarming, nor anything connected with it, and would probably 

 succeed in making a failure of any sort of a swarm catcher. 



Rendering Combs into Wax— Spring Feeding. 



1. Give a good plan for melting up some wax when I have no solar 

 wax-extractor. I do not have wax enough to pay to buy a solar 

 machine. 



2. Will a brass or copper vessel injure the quality of the wax ? 



3. Would you mix syrup with honey fed this spring ? 



Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Take an old dripping-pan (a new one will do as 

 well), split open one corner, and put in the pan your old combs or 

 whatever is to be rendered. Put the pan in the oven of a cook-stove 

 with the split corner projecting outside, of course leaving the door of 

 the oven open. Put something under the inside corner of the pan, 

 making it an inch or so higher than the split corner, so that when the 

 wax melts it will run out. Set under the split corner a dish to catch 

 the dripping wax, and there you are. 



2. I don't know; I think not. Iron will darken it. 



'S. For spring feeding it will be a little better to have pure honey, 

 but syrup will do very well. 



Why Didn't the Queens Hatch ] 



Why did my queen-cells not hatch last summer? I practiced the 

 Doolitlle plan of making queen-cells. I used a common wooden rake- 

 tooth to shape the cells. All the queens would live until about three 

 days before hatching, and then die. I am a beginner, and ask for 

 information. Maine. 



Answer. — I don't know. Just now I think of only two things as 

 most likely. One is. that the young queens may have been put where 

 they chilled. The other is, that they may have been shaken. 



Transferring Crisscross Combs. 



I have some hives with comb all crosswise of the brood-frames, 

 and would like to ask how to transfer the bees to another hive, with- 

 out hurting the bees. Colorado. 



Answer. — You can transfer them just as your text-book instructs 

 you to transfer from a box-hive, or you may take the easier plan of 

 turning the hive upside down, and with a handsaw cut loose any 

 attachmenis of combs to the sides of the hive, and then lift the body 

 of the hive off the combs Then you can easily get at the combs to 

 deal with them as you please. If you wait till three weeks after the 

 colony has cast a swarm, there will be no worker-brood in the way. 



If the case is not very bad, and some of the combs are straight in 

 the frames, lift out the straight combs, then cut enough to get out 

 the others, and then straighten them in their frames. 



Early Pollen-Gathering— Wiring Frames Making Hives 

 —Foot-Power Saw. 



1. About 3 o'clock, p.m., Feb. 15, I went out to look at my bees. 

 The sun was shining brightly, but the wind was blowing cold (in the 

 morning it was 16 degrees below freezing), and I found them working 

 quite freely, and some carrying in pollen. What is the reason they 

 carried in pollen so early ? Other years I saw the first pollen about 

 the middle of March. 



3. If I wire the shallow 6-inch frames, can I use extra-thin sur- 

 plus foundation in them' How many wires ought I to put in, and 

 where should they be < 



3. Which is the best way to do, to have enough extracting-supers 

 to last the whole season through and extract all at once, or put on one 

 super and let the bees fill it almost full, then raise it up and put 

 another under it, and then extract when it is full, and so on? 



4. How many feet of lumber will it take to make 100 bee-hives, 10 

 frames, with four 6'4-inch extracting-super frames and all complete? 



5. What do you know or think about the Barnes combined 

 machines? I would buy one as soon as possible if I knew it would 

 not run too hard. Can it be run with the foot to satisfaction? 



6. Have you one, or do you make your bee-hives? 



7. If it is too hard to run it with the foot, could I get a little pul- 

 ley, and put it on the axle (as it might be called) of the big wheel, 

 and put on some water-power? Would the pulley or belt be in the 

 way? 



8. If it can not be run with the foot, what are they made for' 



9. There is a little ditch in front of my shop and bees, and there is 

 running water there about a foot wide. How many horse-power is this 

 equal to, running through a trough about :S0 feet long, 4 feet lower at 

 the bottom than at the top? Would it be better to have it incline 

 about a foot, and let it fall about 3 feet on the water-wheel ? 



Oregon. 

 Answers. — 1. There was no unusual reason for their carrying in 

 pollen on that date. Bees will always carry in pollen when it is warm 

 enough for them to fly, it there is pollen to be had. But there must 



be something wrong with your thermometer if it marked 16 degrees 

 below the freezing point when the bees were flying. 



3. I don't know, but I fear you could not use extra-thin without 

 four or five wires. You could probably use thin surplus foundation 

 with two horizontal wires, one 2 inches below the top-bar and the 

 other 13 5 to 2 inches lower. 



3. Dadant ifc Son are away up in producing extracted honey, and 

 they have enough frames so they do not extract till the close of the 

 season. 



4. I don't know; I have never cut any bee-hives from the lumber 

 since I gave up using box-hives. Any one, however, who can cut 

 them out can figure up the amount of lumber. It will vary somewhat 

 according to the boards used, some lengths making more waste than 

 others. The work can be done to so much greater advantage at the 

 factories where they are made by the thousand that I can not allord to 

 do any of the work except to nail them together. 



5 and 6. As already said, I do not make my own hives, and have 

 never had any of the Barnes machines, but their reputation I know to 

 lie excellent. 



7. I have had no experience in the matter, but there is little doubt 

 that they could be rigged to run by any kind of power. 



8. Those that are made for that purpose can be run by foot- 

 power, and for some may be all right, as where no great amount of 

 work Is to be done, and extra help can easily be had; but unless a 

 man has extra strength he will hardly want to run one alone all day 

 long, if I am rightly informed. 



9. I don't know. Any one who is entirely at home in such mat- 

 ters can have the floor. 



Feeding Granulated Corn-Sugar. 



What about granulated sugar made from corn ? Would it do to 

 make into syrup to feed bees in the spring, when they can fly every 

 few days? Illinois. 



Answer. — I never saw granulated sugar that was made from 

 corn, but I have seen it in solid cakes, and there is probably not much 

 difference. I think you need not fear any harm from feeding it to the 

 bees in the spriny when they fly every few days. But I wouldn't like 

 to warrant that it will do any good, for it is somewhat doubtful 

 whether the bees will take it. 



Bees Rushing Out of Hives When Uncellared. 



We have had trouble about our bees rushing out lively when taken 

 from the caves and cellars, all getting mixed apparently, and when 

 returning fill some of the hives full of bees and leave others badly 

 weakened, so as to make it detrimental to the depopulated hives. 

 W'ould a wet rag stuffed in the entrance be good, leaving only room 

 for a few bees to pass in and out at once ! or would simply closing 

 the entrance almost entirely answer ? Iowa. 



Answer. — I confess to you that there are things connected with 

 your question that I don't understand. Every j'ear, for mahy years, 

 I have taken out my bees with a rush, taking them out so that all 

 could have a flight that first day. Others say that when they do that 

 the bees swarm out and make lots of trouble, but I have never had 

 any serious trouble. Some say to take out a few each day. That 

 would work badly here, for when it comes time to take bees out of the 

 cellar there may not be two days in succession fit to take them out. 

 Indeed, the two good days may be several days apart. Possibly one 

 reason for the difference lies in the condition of the bees. The night 

 before mine are taken out, doors and windows are open to the widest, 

 and all night long they have fresh air. So, when they are taken out 

 they do not feel the change of air, and often they do not fly out of the 

 liive at all for some minutes after being put on the stands. If taken 

 out of the close air of a cellar when they are very uneasy, they may 

 get so excited that they will swarm out. 



A biy rag made wry wrt is one of the best things to lay against the 

 entrance when you want to keep bees in temporarily, but I doubt that 

 it would help any in the case under consideration. I would rather 

 have the bees so quiet that there is no need to fasten them in. Try 

 giving them a tremendous airing the night before taking out, and 

 please report results. 



* ■ » 



Keeping Bees in a City. 



1. If I kept a few colonies of bees on the roof of a barn in the 

 city, would they be apt to sting or bother people passing by on the 

 street? The barn is about 60 feet from the street. 



2. Is a bee-keeper liable for damages if some one is stung in his 

 vicinity ? 



3. As a rule, do bee-keepers in cities have much trouble with their 

 neighbors about their bees? 



4. Would the bees attack a horse in passing in and out of the 

 barn? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. No, there would be scarcely a possibility of any 

 trouble. 



3. That's a question for lawyers to answer, each one for his own 

 State, but under ordinary circumstances he would probably not be 

 held accountable. 



3. Very little, so far as I know ; but, of course, they are generally 

 careful. 



4. Not likely, the flight of the bees being above where the horse 



