100 



American Hae Jonrnal 



March, 1914. 



ami tliebees would not KO up through the 

 queen-excluder I had under it. Of course, 

 the season was late, but I don't believe they 

 would carry honey up throush that unless it 

 was a very heavy flow. The next time I am 

 KOini; to try the super without the excluder. 

 Do you think the queen would t;o into the 

 sections- Pennsylvania. 



Answer.- Uon't you think you're asking a 

 Kood deal ? You want not only to increase 

 from 3 to 10 colonies, but to have them /«// 

 colonies by Auf. I in a place where there is 

 no flow until August. Of course you can 

 make up somewhat for the lack of a flow by 

 feeding, but feeding never seems to be quite 

 as good as the natural flow. There is a pos- 

 sibility, however, that there is more of a 

 How than you think earlier in the season. 

 Even if not enough for a surplus, if there is 

 just enough for the daily needs of the bees 

 they may build up just as well as with a 

 heavy How. Your idea of buying queens 

 will make quite a difference. Your plan 

 will be all right //' the bees do as you plan; 

 that is. if they fill two stories full of bees, 

 and then do it a second time. If you get lo 

 full colonies by Aug. i. you ought to get a 

 good deal more than one super from each 

 colony, seeing that your harvest comes after 

 that time. But if the colonies do not build 

 up until later. leaving you without surplus, 

 you ought not to complain bitterly. 



Instead of putting a second story over each 

 colony, it may be better to put it under, for 

 so early as May i an upper story might cool 

 off the bees too much. Besides, bees nat- 

 urally extend their brood downward rather 

 than upward. If I understand aright, the 

 new queen will be on the old stand, where 

 all the older bees will be. She will be re- 

 ceived more kindly if you put her in the 

 other hive. 



I think it was the lack of the flow and the 

 lateness of ihe season rather than the ex' 

 cluder that kept the bees from going up into 

 the super. But I never use an excluder un- 

 der sections, and have very little trouble 

 about the queen going up. 



Double-Walled Hives 



■What do you think of double-walled hives 

 for this locality? Bees cannot be Afintered 

 here in cellars as the climate is too change- 

 able. None of the old beekeepers here use 

 double-walled hives. They say there is no 

 need of extra expense, and bees do as well 

 in lo-frame single-walled hives. Neither do 

 they use any sort of winter cases, as they 

 say that if anything of the kind is used it 

 should be left on all the time, as in such a 

 changeable climate no one could tell when 

 to put it on or lake it off. 



Is the double-wall hive any advantage in 

 //<'/ weatherif the hives areproperly shaded? 



Of course the cost of double-walled hives 

 is much more than the single-walled, and 

 also much more trouble to handle, but if the 

 advantaiie of double-walled hives is greater, 

 I would be willing to pay the extra cost and 

 take the extra trouble. 



Southern Illinois. 



Answer.— As a a rule, it is wise to attach 

 weight to theexperience of others in a given 

 region, although something depends upon 

 their intelligence. At any rate, no farther 

 north than i8 degrees it is not at all likely 

 that double-walled hives are advisable 

 either for summer or winter. 



them into new hives about fruit-blossom 

 time. Am I right ? 



2. I bought 50 colonies for an out-yard, and 

 will want several queens. Will you tell me 

 the best or good way to manage an out-yard 

 to prevent swarming as much as possible, 

 and what is the most professional way to 

 make divisions so as not to hurt the honey 

 crop too much and yet have some increase ? 



3. How many sections 4'»X4'4 will one 

 pound of thin super foundation fill; full 

 sheets ? 



4. Do you advise full sheets to get better 

 filled sections? Does it pay? 



5. Do you advise spring feeding early to in- 

 duce brood-rearing? 



b. Would you advise one-pound packages 

 of bees rather than i. 2. 3 frame nucleus ? 

 South Dakota. 



AvswERS. — I. As I understand it. you will 

 drum the bees up into the new hive, and 

 leave it three weeks over the old hive, an 

 excluder between, then three weeks later 

 still you will divide. That would make the 

 division six weeks after the drumming, or. 

 to put it the other way, you would drum six 

 weeks before dividing, or six weeks before 

 fruit bloom, since your plan to divide in 

 fruit bloom. Six weeks before fruit bloom 

 the weather will be unfavorable, there will 

 be little or nothingfor the bees to gather; 

 they will probably not be very strong yet. 

 and if you drive them from their combs and 

 ask them to draw out foundation you will 

 probably knock things endways for the sea- 

 son. Better wait until the bees have built 

 up strong, even if you have to wait until 

 after fruit is in bloom. Indeed, even if they 

 are strong, it will be well to wait until after 

 a very few days before fruit bloom, say four 

 or five. Then drum your bees up into the 

 new hive, and set the new hive under the old 

 one. with excluder between. (Bees extend 

 their brood-nest downward rather than up- 

 ward.) Ten days after the drumming, take 

 away t"he old hive, bees, brood, and all, and 

 set it on a new stand. Then 11 days later, or 

 21 days after the drumming, drive the bees 

 from the old hive into a new one furnished 

 with full sheets of foundation. It may be 

 the bees have reared a queen; if not you 

 must give them one. 



2. Perhaps the most popular way is to 

 shake a swarm as soon as colonies first be- 

 gin to swarm, which may be called anticipa- 

 tory swarming. If you do not care for much 

 increase, you can double up the brood- 

 combs from two or more colonies 



3. About ion. 



4. Yes. indeed; I could hardly be hired to 



Transferring, Increase, Etc. 



I. I bought 8 colonies this last summer; 6 

 of them 1 will transfer in the spring into 

 new hives. 1 will put a new hive with wired 

 frames on top of the old stand, drive the 

 bees into it and put an excluder between 

 them, and leave them for 21 days, and drive 

 the balance of the bees into the new hive, 

 then I want to divide them. Then I figure 

 that in three weeks from the time I make 

 the change I can divide them. I will put 



use less. 



5. I do not practice it; so could hardly ad- 

 vise it. Harm may be done by feeding when 

 too cold. If the bees have abundance of 

 food— not merely enough but abundance— 

 and have all the comb they can cover, what 

 more can you ask ? There are places, how- 

 ever, where early in the season, but after it 

 is warm enough for bees to fly freely every 

 day. there is so long a dearth of forage that 

 the queen soon stops laying. In such a case 

 it is important to feed every day. or every 

 other day. enough to keep up laying. 



6. The same number of bees will of course 

 be worth more with frames of brood than 

 without; but considering the expense of ex- 

 pressage on combs, it is likely that a given 

 amount of money put in bees without combs 

 will be better than the same money put in 

 nuclei. 



Wants Best Advice on Getting a Crop 



I put into winter quarters 21 colonies of 

 bees; all in good shape as far as I could see. 

 Those that 1 had any doubt about having 

 plenty of stores to winter and carry them 

 /.;/f in the spring. I fed. 



Almost all of them are in double-walled 

 hives. 10 frames. .Metirly all have young 

 queens. 1 have an additional protection 

 around them; they are boxed wiih lumber, 

 and covered so that no snow or rain gets on 

 the hives; a space of d or 8 inches between 

 the hives and protection boards; but it is 

 not packed with anything. I have boards in 

 front. 1 let them down when it is warm 

 enough for them to fly. They had a flight 

 three days last week. I saw someot my bees 

 >4 mile from home. They flew -cry stroiis 

 from each hive, like in summer time, and I 

 carried out lots of dead bees; they "ap- 

 peared '* to be in good condition. 



1 can have $40 or S50 to put on them next 

 summer, and 1 want to make them do the 

 f,vi' A,-.v/ possible in the way of honey pro- 

 duction. My pasture is principally white 

 clover, a good amount of alsike and red 

 clover. Sugar maples are abundant, as are 

 apple and peach .trees, etc. There are not 

 many bees here, and no disease. 



I would like some advice as to manage- 

 ment in order to make the most out of them. 

 I have two supers or more per hive. I use 

 generous sized starters of foundalion in the 

 sections, I will want to or 15 new hives, but 

 not enough swarms to interfere with the 

 honey crop. Ohio. 



Ansv\'er.— I have written out in full de- 

 tail the very best advice I know- how to give 

 to one who desires, as you do, to get the bees 

 to do their level best, and you will find it all 

 in the book that you have. "Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees." By following the plans 

 there laid down, last season I secured an 



Apiary of D. M. Bryant at Ethelfei.ts. 'Va.. Prepared for Winter. 

 The hives are wrapped in newspapers and building paper. 



