March, 1914. 



American ^ee Journal 



T 



here would surely be an empty super un- 

 der, and very likely another on top. Neither 

 would I expect to res/err the storingimpulse. 

 for I would expect it to go right along while 

 cells were being built However, in general, 

 when cellsarefirst found they are destroyed, 

 and this may occur about once in lodays so 

 long as no cells are found well advanced; 

 but when found well advanced steps are 

 taken to stop the laying of the queen for 

 about 10 days, at the end of which time 

 either a new oueen or theold one is allowed 

 to begin laying. A full discussion of the 

 matter in "Fifty Years Among the Bees" 

 would no doubt interest you. 



Swarming Caused by Crowding 



I have noticed that the colony that keeps 

 its brood-nest free from honey is not apt to 

 swarm. Is this in line with your observa- 

 tions ? Missouri 



Answer.— I don't know; but you may be 

 right. Certainly we know that when the 

 queen is crowded for room it tends toward 

 swarming. The more honey crowds into, 

 or encroaches upon, the broodnest. the less 

 room the queen has for laying, and, it would 

 seem not unreasonable to argue, the greater 

 inclination to swarming. 



Brood Above Excluder 



1. Is there any danger of swarming when 

 the brood from a shaken swarm, with plenty 

 of bees to take care of it. is put in a new 

 location and allowed to rear a queen of its 

 own ? 



2. A shaken swarm is made by shaking the 

 bees on ten full sheets of foundation, and 

 the brood set on top with a queen-excluder 

 between the two hive-bodies. If the brood 

 is left two or threedays. will it hold the bees 

 as well as when one frame of brood is left 

 with the bees below ? 



3. When one frame of brood is put in with 

 a shaken swarm should it be left, or would 

 it be better to take it out in about three 

 days to lessen the danger of swarming ? 



I would make the manipulations as de- 

 scribed above, about the first of June or 

 swarming time. Illinois. 



Answers. — i. There would be consider- 

 able danger with a large body of brood if no 

 queen-cells were present at the time of 

 operating, for by the time the young queen — 

 or rather young queens -would mature, the 

 colony might easily be strong enough to send 

 out a swarm with the queen first emerging. 

 But if queen-cells were well advanced at 

 the time of operating, the danger would be 

 very remote, for at the time of the emer- 

 gence of the first queen there would be few 

 or no field-bees, and the young queen would 

 be allowed to destroy her rivals. 



2. I think it would hold them just as well. 



3. The general experience seems to be that 

 it is better to take it out. 



Using Splints 



I would like to ask your opinion, after 

 reading your book, entitled " Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees " On page 83 you give the 

 dimensions of your frames, and further on 

 you mention splints, which 1 think I would 

 like. How would it do to make the bottom- 

 bar the same thickness as the top-bar, and 

 instead of having two grooves, one for foun- 

 dation and one for wedge, have only one 

 grove in each bar; then by having a board 

 nearly the same size as inside of frame, and 

 thick enough to come to bottom of grooves. 

 the foundation by buckling a trifie could be 

 made to enter grooves .After boiling the 

 splints in wax. buckle them into place the 

 same as foundation. Then use hot wax 

 alongthe top and bottom bar to fasten it in. 

 This would reduce the size of frame, but 

 with the Hoffman frames I find it hard to 

 get the bees to build down to the bottom- 

 bar as they should, so lose some space there 

 anyway. Washington. 



Answer.— Your plan will work all right. 

 But you don't need to have any kerf in the 



bottom-bar. and then you won't need to 

 liaveitas thick as the top-bar. Indeed, if 

 you wax in the foundation, top and bottom, 

 you will not need kerfs either place. I have 

 some frames without the split bottom-bar. 

 and it works all right. You may say you 

 want the kerf to hold the splint. I never 

 yet put a splint in a kerf, and see no need of 

 it. Of course the top-bar must be thick, 

 kerf or no kerf. 



Too Early to Predict for 1914? 



Is it too early to predict what the white 

 clover crop will amount to next season ? It 

 seems to me that it looks thicker now than I 

 ever saw it at this season of the year. 



We have a soacre Held near our house 

 that was sown to blue grass two years ago. 

 There is now a good sprinkling of young 

 blue grass, but as a whole the field is almost 

 a perfect sod of white clover. I also notice 

 it is pretty thick in old blue-grass pastures. 

 Do you think this looks good for a harvest 

 next season or is it too early to count ? 



Kentucky. 



Answer.— You never can tell in advance 

 just what clover will do. Sometimes it 

 blooms abundantly and yet yields no honey. 

 But when you see the ground well covered 

 with the plants this time of year you may 

 count the chances at least 3 to i that it will 

 live through and give you a crop unless a 

 bad drouth occurs. 



Good or Bad Location ? 



1. In order to combine the heat can I make 

 and build into two strong colonies a twin 

 nucleus with laying queens by placing one 

 brood-chamber on top of another with wire 

 screen between ? 



2. Where shall I look for royal jelly ? How 

 shall I know it when I see it? Is it ever 

 stored in brood-combs? 



3. I live in a timbered region where the 

 country is about one-fourth cleared; the 

 cleared land is covered with blackberries, 

 asters, goldenrod. and a little white clover; 

 nearly every farm has a small orchard. The 

 forests are composed of a small growth of 

 linden, sourwood. poplar, chestnut, black 

 gum. hard and soft maple, alder, a little 

 willow, and some wild flowers. What kind 

 of a location do you think 1 have ? 



4. How many colonies can I handle in one 

 apiary ? 



5. Should I run for comb or extracted 

 honey ? 



6. If I run for chunk comb honey what va- 

 riety or cross of bees should I use ? 



■Virginia. 

 Answers.— I. Yes, but you may like it 

 better to have the two nuclei side by side in 

 the same hive, with a thin division-board in 

 the center. 



2. You will never find royal jelly in the 

 hive until the bees start queen-cells; then 

 you can't miss finding it in these cells: a 

 milky looking paste. 



3. I should think bees might do well there. 



4. Perhaps 75 to 100 colonies. 



5. I can't tell you; depends upon your 

 market; like enough extracted. 



6. You will be pretty safe to choose Ital- 

 ians for any kind of honey. 



Sweet Clover — Artificial Pollen 



1. How would it work to give the mother 

 colony a laying queen as soon as it has cast 

 a prime swarm; remove all queen-cells and 

 move them to a new location in the same 

 yard. 



2. Recently it was stated in one of the 

 journals that a crop of hay and a crop of 

 honey could be secured from a field of 

 sweet clover in one year. Now that is 

 wrong, a crop of honey and a crop of seed 

 can be gotten in one year. But in order to 

 make good hay it must be cut sooner than if 

 it was allowed to grow to secure a crop of 

 honey out of it. 



3. Why is it that in your telling the use of 

 rye flour and pea meal for artificial pollen, 

 you never mention wheat flour. Why is 

 wheat flour never mentioned or recom- 

 mended ? 



4. Did you use artifical pollen for your 



bees in the spring of 1013 ? NEBRASKA. 



Answers.— I. I suppose you mean to set 

 the swarm on the old stand; it would work 

 all right. 



2. Yes; but why not cut for hay before 

 blooming? That would make the honey 

 crop later; and this would be of greater 

 value in a white-clover region where sweet 

 clover is likely to bloom during white clover 

 bloom. Cutting the sweet clover early 

 would allow it to bloom after white clover 

 was done, thus prolonging the season. 



3. It is probably a case of blindly follow- 

 ing tradition. My guess would be that wheat 

 is as good as rye; but I never tried either. I 

 know that ground corn and oats does well. 



4. No. 



Swarm on Stand of Parent Colony 



1. Will it prevent the mother colony from 

 swarming again it the prime swarm is put 

 on the stand of the old colony removed to 

 another stand without taking the super off ? 



2. How long must a colony be left queen- 

 less before introducing a queen ! 



3. How is the queen put in with the new 

 colony ? 



4. Will bees go up into the supers for 

 honey if they ran out of honey below when 

 in the cellar for winter? 



5. When returning an after-swarm to an 

 old colony is it necessary to kill the queen ? 



Minnesota- 

 Answers.— I. Sometimes, and sometimes 

 not. But the following plan may be counted 

 on in nearly all cases: Set the prime swarm 

 on the old stand with the old hive close be- 

 side it, facing the same way; a week later 

 move the old hive to a new stand lo feet or 

 more away. The super or supers should be 

 taken from the old hive and given to the 

 swarm as soon as the queen has made a 

 good start at laying, say within about three 

 days. 



2. Practice differs: some give the new 

 queen at the same time the old one is re- 

 moved and some wait three or four days. I 

 have had success by giving the queen at 

 time of removing the old One. but not al- 

 lowing the bees to liberate her until three 

 or four days later. 



3. Generally in an introducing-cage. 



4. Maybe, and maybe not. Unless pretty 

 warm and the colony strong, likely not. 



5. Not absolutely necessary; but if you 

 pay no attention to the queens you may have 

 to return the swarm several times. But if 

 you destroy all the queen-cells left in the 

 hive, once returning will answer. 



Increasing Where the Honey-Flow Comes in 

 August 



On April 26. I received three ;2-pound 

 packages of Italian bees with queens from 

 Alabama. I put them in new hives with full 

 sheets of foundation. When I packed them 

 for winter one hive had the ten frames full 

 of bees, honey and brood: the other two had 

 nine frames each of brood, bees and honey. 

 I am sure they will winter. They were bring- 

 ing in pollen today (Dec. 13I. By Aug. i. 1014. 

 I want ten full colonies. Tell me just how- 

 to proceed and when to start. One honey- 

 flow starts here in August. We have abun- 

 dant white clover in the spring, but bees do 

 not seem to store until August. Then the 

 honey is from goldenrod and a yellow daisy 

 growing in the swamps of our county. 



I was thinking of getting three more bodies 

 and placing them over each colony about 

 April 25 or May i with full sheets of founda- 

 tion; that should prevent swarming in May. 

 When the two bodies are full of bees then I 

 could divide for increase by taking five 

 frames of bees and brood from the upper 

 body and placing them in a hive with five 

 full sheets of foundation, and buying a 

 queen for them; place the new hive where 

 the old one stood, and remove the old one 

 to a newstand and replace the five frames 

 of brood and bees taken from it with five 

 frames of foundation, and when they fill up 

 do the same thing again. 

 I put a super on one of my hives Sept. i, 



