314 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 14. 1903. 



ear. Is that really so, or do our imaginations get in their 

 work there? I have sometimes thankfully wondered why a 

 cantankerous bee kept away from my eyes so well. In re- 

 gard to the ear perhaps I had better own up. (But then, 

 consider the size of the territory in some of our cases 1) As 

 a hostile bee spends much of the time just behind one's 

 head, the ear is the tirst exposed territory met with, on 

 screwing up courage to the sticking point and coining to 

 the front. Page 222. 



I Questions and Answers, i 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. IkULLBR, Afareng-o, Ul, 



(The QHestlons maj be mailed to the Bee Jonrual office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers bT mall. — Editor.1 



Questions on Queen-Rearins;. 



1. I am frank to confess that I am as green as grass on queen- 

 rearing, and want to know more, and I do not understand some of the 

 expressions used in the American Bee Journal, and also " A B C of 

 Bee Culture." I take the American Bee .lournal and Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, have also " A B C of Bee Culture," still I am thick- 

 headed. In " A B C in Bee Culture," under queen-rearing, page 358, 

 is a cut of a Doolittle cell-cup, and from the cut it looks as if the cells 

 are put on the hultum of a stick to be put in a brood-frame, and cells 

 appear to hang straight down. If so, what prevents eggs or larv* 

 Irom falling out when grafted? 



2. What is meant under the same head, pages 260 and 261 of " A 

 B C of Bee Culture," when it says, " When properly done the strips of 

 comb will have cells slanting toward the bottom-board? " In other 

 words, I want to know whether these artiticia! cell-cups and these 

 strips of worker-comb cells point or hang perpendicular, or stand 

 straight out like worker-comb as built by the bees in brood-frames, or 

 point down at about an angle of 4.5 degrees. I know after bees take 

 possession of the prepared queen-cells they build them out and down. 

 But what is their position when man leaves them '. From the cut, 

 page 2.5S, it looks as it man leaves them hanging straight down. 



3. ()n pages 260 and 261, "ABC of Bee-Culture," it says, " shave 

 one side of strips of comb." What becomes of the other side, and 

 how treated, by man and bees? If as per instructions under queen- 

 rearing. I put 2 frames of brood in the upper .story, is there any danger 

 of bees leaving it uncared for, and the brood and cell-cup dying from 

 neglect ' 



h. Should cell-cups be put in the upper story when the frames of 

 brood are put in, or wait a day or so to see it the bees are attending to 

 and keeping the brood warm ? 



6. Will this queen-rearing in upper story in any way hinder stor- 

 ing? and should full sheets of foundation be furnished on either side 

 of the brood for storing? 



7. How soon after putting in these artificial queen-cells before I 

 can tell whether the bees are working on them? 



3. The Alley plan, as described on pages 260 and 261, would be 

 less trouble, I think, to me. Do you think it as good, for one who 

 knows nothing about queen-rearing, as the Doolittle cell-cup plan? 



Kentucky. 



Answers.— 1. Tour supposition is correct: the cells are mouth 

 down, just as the bees always build cells when preparing to swarm. 

 Dip your linger in water, and a drop of water will be found hanging 

 on the tip after your finger is taken out of the water — held there by 

 cohesive attraction, the same that holds the contents of the cell in 

 place. 



2. In an edition of " A B C of Bee Culture" before me, I find, not 

 "slanting toward bottom-board," but " pointing toward the bottom- 



bar." The cells point straight down, first and last. The only time 

 when you will find queen-cells any other way is when the bees build 

 emergency-cells from worker-brood, or in a very few rare eases in 

 which the place is too cramped for the cells to be built straight down. 



3. The side shaved down is the one on which the cells are started ; 

 the other side, not cut, is dipped into melted wax and then glued on 

 the bar. 



4. If one or more frames of brood are put in an upper story over a 

 strong colony, there is no danger that the brood will be uncared for, 

 but there is always some danger, anywhere and everywhere, that not 

 all of the queen-cells will be properly cared for. 



5. It will be generally safe to give the cells at the same time as 

 the brood, although there may be an occasional case in which the bees 

 are a little slow about occupying the brood. 



6. It will not hinder storing, and foundation or drawn combs may 

 fill out the story the same as if no queen-rearing were going on. 



7. Generally within 24 hours. 



8. An utter novice would probably find it easier to manage the 

 Alley plan, and either plan produces good results. 



Prevention of Swarmlng-Uniting Colonies. 



1. Please give a description of L. Stachelhausen's invention to pre- 

 vent swarming. 



2. In M. R Kuehne's plan to prevent swarming, after the queen 

 is laying, does he take out the entire board or just the wire-cloth and 

 let them unite? West Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. Mr. Stachelhausen prevents swarming by the 

 shaken-swarm plan. You will find that fully given in back numbers, 

 with Mr. Stachelhausen's comments also on page 245. 



2. Take out the entire board, I suppose. 



Colonies on Crooked or Bulged Combs. 



1. I have about 20 colonies of bees, purchased, last fall; they are 

 in 10-frame Simplicity hives, and about 6 combs in each brood-cham- 

 ber are bulged or crooked. I have sent for Hoffman self-spacing 

 frames, and sufficient brood foundation for these hives, foundation to 

 be wired in, in full sheets. I wish to run part of these hives for ex- 

 tracted and part for comb honey. How can I best change the old, 

 buldged brood-frames to new brood-frames of foundation. 



2. How would it do at about the beginning of the honey harvest 

 to put a second story or brood-chamber (for extracted honey) with the 

 frames of foundation, and a queen-excluder between ; then every 3 or 

 4 days exchange a frame or two of brood for a new frame or two of 

 foundation from the second story ? Then when the brood has hatched 

 out they will fill these combs with honey. Will this honey be damaged 

 any by being stored in these old combs? and will these old combs 

 make good beeswax? 



3. What way would be better for extracted or comb honey in sec- 

 tions? Or would I better not try to produce honey in sections from 

 any of the6e''colonies this year? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. If I understand you correctly, there are about four 

 straight combs in each hive. Lift out these four combs and put them 

 in another hive-body, looking to see whether you get the queen. If 

 you get the queen, leave her with the four combs, and fill up each 

 hive with the new frames filled with foundation. Take the old hive 

 off the stand and put the new hive in Us place. Put an excluder over 

 this, and set the old hive over the excluder. Twenty-one days later 

 there will be no brood in the upper story unless it be some drone- 

 brood. Then you can extract the crooked coml:>s, melt them up, or do 

 what you please with them. If you do not find the queen on the 

 four combs, and if the other combs are so fastened together that you 

 cannot lift them out, then after you have put the four frames in the 

 new hive, set the old hive on top of it with no excluder between, and 

 drum the bees up, so as to get the queen above. Then put the new 

 hive, as before directed, on the stand with the old hive on top and an 

 excluder between. The queen must be in the lower hive. 



2. The honey and the wax will be all right, but you will make a 

 quicker job of it as already directed. 



3. Necessarily you will have the old hive-body filled with extracted 

 honey, but after that is pretty well filled you may let the bees do the 

 rest of their storing in sections by adding supers of sections under 

 the upper story. 



ONLYA FEW DAYS 



M-IIH I.I 



at fii 



nd JIa 



ry pr 



Larnesfl eurprlsts. This 

 SPLIT niCKOUY »At\ 



On 80 Dujb' Trio 

 Trial. Write at once. 



OhioCarriage Mfg. Co. 

 Siatioo 6 Cincinnati.O. 



«et our 128-paBe 

 ■LIT IIM KOUY 



li n'h V.I- >t-ll direct 

 I send for it by all 

 of buggy and 



Please mention Bee Journal 

 when writing advertisers. 



I FROM MANY FIELDS | 



Wintering Bees. 



The past winter was very favorable for bees. 

 Colonies that had plenty of stores came 

 through in almost perfect condition. We have 

 lost 7 colonies, due to lack of stores and 

 queenlessness. 



In preparing for winter we used different 

 plans; Packing above frames, sealed covers 

 without packing, and sealed covers with 

 super on. The conditions being the same, the 

 result seemed to be in favor of the first two 

 plans, and I believe I would use packing had 



«^^N|i|i|ii|||||||i,,,ii.i|ii||||„||i|ii||],|||||||iniiiilllliiiilili|illllllliiilliilllij 

 Good Bye 



old whitewash i.nish with your bald work 

 and waste uf time. 



The Hardie Whitewashing Machine 



nut only worlcs much faster but forces the 

 liquid into every crack aud destroys insect 

 life which a brush would pass over 



Send $7-50 for the complete machine, ex- 

 press prepaid, if you o 



HARDIE SPRAY PUMP 

 MFC CO. 



"lETROIT, MICH. 

 WINDSOR.OHT. 



