July 9, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



443 



having- it, but I went home that night />ara/y-ed. I retained 

 sense enough, though, to remove the upper body from No. 1 

 to a position on the ground in front and between the two 

 hives, and the emigrants began to move into it. The next 

 morning I moved it from the ground to a stand 22 feet away 

 with a good supply of bees. But all three hives contain 

 black and yellow bees in about equal proportions. 



In the morning there was a cluster on the front of No. 1, 

 and in it 1 found a black queen which I caged with a small 

 number of bees, which appeared determined to hug her to 

 death. I opened the cage to rescue her, and she darted out 

 and over my rig^/ii shoulder, and that is all I know of her. 

 This caused me to have a spell of shaking palsy as well as 

 paralysis. I have suflficiently recovered to conclude that the 

 more I find out the less I know about bees. Now, what I 

 wish to ask is : 



1. What became of my 2S-cent swarm ? 



2. Did I do the best thing in the matter ? 



Georgia. 



AxswEKS. — 1. If you're going to hold me responsible 

 for the whereabouts of that swarm it might be better for 

 me to pay the 25 cents and let it go, but in order to save the 

 payment of so large a sum I'll make at least a guess in the 

 case. Perhaps the safest guess is to say that it went into 

 No. 2. There would be nothing very unusual in that, for it 

 is a common thing for a swarm to enter wherever there is un- 

 usual excitement, and there seems to have been excitement 

 at No. 2. Possibly you may say there was more excitement 

 at No. 1, and ask why they did not enter No. 1 where there 

 was as much or more excitement. I should have said they 

 w^ould, only for your testimony that black bees were taking 

 possession of No. 2. 



2. So far as I can see your course was all right except 

 in the matter of the caged queen. It might have been bet- 

 ter to have saved her in the cage till you were sure you 

 didn't need her in either hive, and you might have taken 

 more pains in caging her not to have allowed any workers 

 in the cage. Likely that was not easy to do. 



Moving Bees to an Out-Yard— Dividing Colonies. 



1. Does moving bees have any effect on them just be- 

 fore a honey-flow ? I have moved some of mine ten 

 miles. They seem to be in good condition, but they are 

 storing all their honey in the brood-chamber, and do not 

 seem to go into the super. Some of them were moved with 

 a super on top of the brood-chamber, as the brood-chamber 

 would not hold the bees. 



2. I would like to increase my bees. When would be a 

 good time to divide them ? I do not want to interfere with 

 the honey crop. Ai,abama. 



Answers. 1. The moving would have no effect on them 

 unless they were smothered or otherwise injured. Put a 

 bait-section in the super, and see if that doesn't hurry them 

 up. 



2. It will probably interfere with the honey crop as little 

 as any other way if you shake a swarm from each colony 

 about the time of natural swarming, or a little before it. 

 The shaken swarms would give you the crop, and the brood 

 with a few bees would easily build up into a good colony. 



Rearing Queens— Putting on Supers— Red Clover Bees- 

 Preventing Sugar Syrup from Granulating- 

 Feeding the aueen. 



1. As I wish to rear a number of good queens next sea- 

 son, I want to know whether I should purchase one of those 

 high-priced queens for a breeder, or can as good ones be 

 reared from common stock ? 



2. When a super has been filled with honey should an 

 empty one be placed under or over it ? 



3. Do you know whether any strain of bees can work 

 on red clover ? and, if so, who has them ? 



4. How can we prevent sugar syrup from becoming 

 hard and crusty in the cells 7 I fed my bees last year, and 

 the sugar syrup became candy, or, what is worse, it became 

 hard like rock-candy. 



5. Can a queen eat as other bees, or do the bees have to 

 feed her ? It is said that the bees feed the queen, 



Kentuck\ . 



Answers. — 1. Queens reared from the best of stock are 

 none too good. It is possible, however, to get good stock at 



low prices by buying untested queens. A tested queen sold 

 for a high price was at one time an untested queen, and if 

 it had been sold at that time it would have been sold at 

 the lower price of an untested queen. But in buying an 

 untested queen you take the risk. 



2. You will get your honey finished up sooner, and have 

 it more fully sealed out to the wood if you put the empty 

 super on top, and some say that there should never be more 

 than two supers on at a time. I doubt, however, that you 

 will get as much honey in this way. My own practice is to 

 put the empty super under in all cases until it comes near 

 the close of the harvest, when it is hard to decide whether 

 another super should be given or not ; in that case I put the 

 empty super on top. Indeed, when a heavy flow is on and 

 the bees have a good deal of room, I sometimes put an 

 empty super on top for fear there may be a little crowding 

 before I get around to them again. 



3. Yes, there have been, one time and another, many 

 bees that worked more or less on red clover ; possibly some 

 of your bees may do so. You will find advertisements of 

 bees that are recommended for that purpose. 



4. If you use an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid to 

 every 20 pounds of sugar you will probably have no trouble. 

 A better way, however, is to feed in such a way that the 

 bees will have a chance to make it all right. Feed early, 

 say in August or September, and give equal parts of sugar 

 and water. Don't need to heat it — the bees will make it all 

 right. 



5. A queen can eat as other bees, as you can easily de- 

 termine by caging one for a short time and then ofllering 

 her a little honey. During the time of year when she is 

 not laying she may help herself like other bees, but in the 

 season of busy laying the bees feed her with food that is no 

 longer undigested. If she were obliged to digest all the 

 food she takes during heavy laying, I'm afraid the daily 

 quota of eggs would decline very suddenly. 



What is a flood Honey Crop?— Rearing Queens for 

 Next Season. 



1. What do you consider a good crop of honey for three 

 colonies of bees ? Do you think ISO pounds in six weeks a 

 good deal ? 



2. Do you think it would be a good plan to rear queens 

 this summer and give them a few bees in a very small hive, 

 and next spring give them to a strong nucleus ? 



Mississippi. 



Answers. — 1. That's a little like asking the size of a 

 piece of coal. All pieces of coal are not of the same size. 

 Crops of honey vary much. There are seasons of utter 

 failure, and there are seasons when honey seems to come in 

 a flood. The character of the bees, as well as the manage- 

 ment, has also a bearing. If I could average, one year with 

 another, 50 pounds in six weeks to each colony, I should call 

 it a good deal. 



2. Yes, if you can winter them safely. 



Getting Rid of the Ant Nuisance. 



1. I have been bothered with ants in my apiary. They 

 will catch a bee when it falls to the ground and overpower 

 and kill it, and also bother in the hives. Please tell me if 

 there is any drug that will act on them as cobalt does on 

 flies, and whether I could use it without danger of harming 

 the bees. Coal-tar seems to do no good. Californi.a. 



Answer. — Find their nests, make a hole into it with a 

 crowbar, pour bisulphide of carbon into it, and cover up the 

 hole. But don't bring a light near, or you may get blown 

 up. You may also poison them with poison such as Paris- 

 green, strychnine, arsenic, etc. Mix the poison in honey 

 or molasses, with enough flour or corn-meal mixed in so it 

 will not run, and place it in convenient reach of the ants. 

 Of course, it must be arranged so the bees cannot get it. It 

 may be in plates covered with wire-cloth of such mesh as to 

 keep the bees out but admit the ants, in which case it is not 

 necessary to thicken with flour. It may be put on little 

 boards. Take a board four to eight inches each way, and 

 fasten on each corner a piece of section ; put the thicken 

 poison on the board, and then cover with a similar board. 

 The thickness of the section is such that no bee can enter, 

 but the ants can enter freely unless you have a giant breed 

 of ants. 



