218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 2, 1903. 



need pay no attention to the queens when uniting, as the bees will 

 look out for that, but if you have any preference for queens kill the 

 poorer of the two to be united. Indeed, there is some advantage in 

 any case in killing one of the queens a day or two before uniting. 



Painting Hives— Section Starters— Clovers— Size of Hive. 



1. Would you prefer hives painted or not! 

 3. What size starters in the sections? 



3. What kind of clover would you have for quality and quantity, 

 alsike or the white for honey ! 



4. What size hive, 8 or 10 frame dovetailed, for comb honey i 



Minnesota. 

 Answers. — 1. I prefer unpainted hives, but don't like their looks. 



2. I use for 4j4'x4i-4 sections a top starter 3% wide and 3>4 deep, 

 and a bottom starter 3';, wide and % deep. 



3. I hardly know; perhaps 8-frame if very close attention can be 

 given to the business; certainly 10-frame if the bees can have much 

 attention. 



Transferring— Extracting to Give Room— Artificial 

 Pollen. 



I am a beginner with bees, but have read a good deal about their 

 management. I have 25 colonies, the most of them in Langstroth 

 hives, but some in box-hives, and I want to transfer them as early as 

 possible. 



1. When is the best time to transfer? 



2. The most of my bees are long-tongue Italians, and they have a 

 good deal of brood at present, but I don't think they have room 

 enough, as they started in the winter with 10 Langstroth frames full 

 of honey. Would you advise extracting part of the frames? 



3. The bees have been carrying in sawdust from the mill, and 

 gathering pollen from the cedar-trees. I gave them about two quarts 

 of wheat flour, and they carried it into the hives in about three hours. 

 Is that good for them? or should they have rye flour? 



Kentucky. 

 Answers. — 1. At the time of fruit-bloom is a good time to trans- 

 fer, but the tendency nowadays is toward waiting till the colony 

 swarms and then transferring 21 days after swarming. 



2. Go a little slow about extracting to give room. Bees are using 

 up honey very rapidly in rearing brood, and very likely they will 

 empty out the honey fast enough. However, you can Inspect the 

 combs, and if you find no empty cells, but all filled with either brood 

 or honey, and a large proportion of it honey, then it may be advisable 

 to make room. There is more likelihood that the queen will be 

 crowded with honey much later in the season. 



3. I don't suppose there is any material difference between wheat 

 and rve flour. It may be not so well to give fine flour as to give bran 

 and all. 



Taking Bees from the Cellar. 



I have been keeping bees for five years, and have been a Mose 

 reader of bee-literature, but 1 do not remember ever seeing anything 

 in the papers as to the different methods used by bee-keepers in taking 

 their bees from the cellar in the spring. 



Perhaps none of them have the trouble I do, that of the bees fly- 

 ing before I can get them from the cellar-door to the stand in the 

 yard— about 4 rods. I have put an old piece of carpet over the front 

 of the hive, but they will crawl on it, and when I shake them off they 

 do not know where they belong. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — If you are going to take out all the bees on the same 

 day, smoke each colony a little before taking them out. That'll fix 

 'em. But don't smoke in the cellar unless you're going to take all 

 out. You can. however, smoke them just as soon as you get them 

 outside the cellar-door. Or take a bi// rag, dip it in cold water and 

 don't wring it out, but lay it dripping against the entrance so that no 

 bee can get out. They'll not take the trouble to crawl on the rag 

 when it is wet. 



< ■ » 



Using ComDs on Wlilcli Bees Died. 



1. 1 bought 3 colonies of bees, and lostone. What is the best thing 

 to do with the old comb; Would I better takeout the comb and 

 scald the frames, or would it be all right to put another colony in the 

 old hive and let the bees clean it out to suit themselves? 



2. How is the best way to hive a swarm * 



3. Would it be all right to make a building 4x4x7 feet, and put a 

 swarm into it? Would the bees swarm in the spring, or would it keep 

 increasing and not swarm at all? And would they be more likely to 

 rob small colonies? 



4. Why do you shake the supers during the flow of honey ; Why 

 not shake the bees down? 



5. How cap you tell when a colony is going to swarm? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— 1. Give it to the swarm just as it is. If badly daubed 

 with diarrhea scrape off the worst. 



2. The very best way I know of is to have your queen clipped, 

 and when the swarm issues take away the old hive and set the empty 

 one in its place. Then the returning bees will hive themselves, aud 

 you can let the clipped queen run in with them. If you see the 



queen when the swarm issues, catch her and drop her among the bees 

 when they have started into the hive. 



3. Don't try it. They would not be likely to swarm, but it would 

 not be entirely reliable as a preventive. A colony in an ordinarily 

 large hive would be just as sure not to swarm, and it would grow just 

 as large. But there would be no special danger of the bees robbing 

 other colonies. 



4. Probably more bee-keepers smoke than shake. But if you can 

 succeed in shaking out all the bees it's a good thing, for it's a very 

 diflicult thing to smoke them all down. 



5. Look for queen-cells, and expect a swarm when the first queen- 

 cell is sealed. If there is a second swarm it pill be somewhere about 

 eight days after the first. When you're uncertain about a second 

 swarm, put your ear to the hive in the evening, and if you hear the 

 young queen piping look for a swarm the next day. 



Is Carrying Pollen Indication of aueen's Presence? 



Is it a sure indication that a colony has a queen when the workers 

 are carrying in pollen and working nicely ? I think it is. Am 1 right? 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — I would hardly call it a sure indication. A colony may 

 continue to carry in pollen for some time after the loss of the queen, 

 as evidenced by the unusual amount of pollen in a queenless colony, 

 but, as a general rule, you need have little anxiety about a colony 

 hard at work and carrying in large loads of pollen. 



Wiring Shallow Frames. 



How many wires should there be in those 6-inch shallow frames? 

 and where should they be? Oregon. 



Answer. — Put in two wires at equal distances from top and bot- 

 tom bars and from each other. 



Spring Feeding- Blacks vs. Italians. 



I have a few colonies of black bees and some Italians in dove- 

 tailed hives. I use self-spacing Hoffman frames. 



1. If I remove the division-board and divide the space up among 

 the frames, would the bees build between the frames? The combs are 

 good and straight. 



2. I am feeding my strong colonies once a day. Will I profit by it? 



3. I work my apiary for comb honey, and I think the black bees 

 finish a section closer, smoother, and the wax looks whiter than that 

 of the Italians. Is it imagination or a fact? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. I'm not sure whether I understand you. There 

 ought to be no division-board in the hive, but very likely you mean 

 the dummy which should be in one side of the hive. If you take that 

 out and then equalize the spacing, the bees will build out the cells 

 sufficiently to fill up all the extra space given to them. What do you 

 want to take the dummy out fori 



2. Maybe, and maybe not. If you feed them on days that will not 

 permit them to fly, when they are not lacking in stores, you're likely 

 to do mischief. 



3. It is very likely a fact, so far as whiteness is concerned. There 

 are Italians which fill out the honey so close to the cappings that it 

 doesn't look as white as where there is a good air-space left. Theu 

 there are other Italians that make very white work. 



Pounds of Honey to One of Wax. 



How many pounds of honey will a colony of bees consume in 

 making one pound of wax? Utah. 



Answer. — For a long time it was generally accepted that it takes 

 20 pounds of honey to make one of wax. Of late there has been much 

 discussion regarding it, some estimates being as low as two or three 

 pounds of honey for one of wax, with perhaps a more general gravi- 

 tating toward five to seven. 



Buying Italian Bees— Formalin Gas for Foul Brood- 

 Feeding In Spring. 



1. Where can I purchase a Langstroth 4-frame nucleus, with a 

 laying Italian queen? 



2. Where can I get formalin gas ! aud how must I use it for foul 

 brood? 



3. Can I feed sugar syrup to bees as soon as they can fly out in 

 the spring? If so, in what quantity? 



4. I have just melted up some brood-combs with honey and pollen 

 all together. 1 took off the wax when it was melted — can I feed that 

 honey to the bees this spring? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. I think the publishers of this Journal can serve 

 you, unless you find something nearer home in the advertising 

 columns. 



2 Get it through your druggist. I know nothing about its use 

 from actual experience, but I believe the drug is placed in a box hav- 

 ing an opening through which the fumes escape into a hive-body 

 placed over, the combs to be operated on being in this hive. 



3. Yes, when bees fly freely you can feed any quantity you like. 



4. Yes. 



