April, 1S14. 



American Hee Journal 



foul brood, as there was no odor, and the 

 cell caps did not turn dark and sink as in 

 European foul brood; and it could not liave 

 been fwr want of room, as the hives were not 

 near full of brood and honey. 



West Virginia. 

 Answer.— It looks like a pretty plain case 

 of starvation. You say thei'C was plenty of 

 room, the fiives were " not near full of 

 brood and honey." and my guess is that they 

 ran out of honey altogetlicr. and the bees 

 dragged out of the hives the while skins of 

 the larv:e after sucking out the juices. You 

 say the most of the brood wou d be alive 

 when dragged out. There would hardly be 

 any young workers that would show sii;ns 

 of life, for the bees woukl suck out the 

 iuices before tliey were old enough for that; 

 but they would tear open the drone-cells 

 .Hid drag out young drones tliat could crawl. 



Snow— Swarming— Cellar Feeding 



1. Is it necessary to keep snow and ice 

 swept away from the entrance of hive ? 



2. Is it a good plan to have the queens' 

 w iugsclipped to prevent loss of swarms ? 



t- What time do bees generally swarm ? 



4. What can one do to stop mice from en- 

 tering the hives in the winter time ? 



5. What time can bees be fed that are 

 wintered in the cellar ? New York. 



Answers.— I. As long as it remains dry 

 and hard, a little snow at the entrance is 

 not likely to do any harm. But if it becomes 

 wet and soft, filling the entrance and then 

 freezing, it may do harm, so it should be 

 clfeared away before it has a chance to 

 freeze. Not that there is special harm from 

 the freezing, only that it allows the entrance 

 to remain closed. 



2 Yes, excellent. 



3. In your vicinity the most of the swarm- 

 ing is likely to occur in ,]une. 



? A good way is to close the entrance 

 with wirecloth having three meshes to the 

 inch. That allows the bees free passage 

 but bars the mice. 



5. Any time rather than have them swarm ; 

 but the feeding should all be done before 

 putting in cellar. 



p Uniting— Shake Swarming— Bee Trees 



1. In the American Bee Journal for Feb- 

 ruary, on page d2. you state in your answer 

 to"Slaine," that a safe way to unite two 

 colonies is to place one on top of the other 

 with paper between them. Can I do this 

 without killing one of the queens? 



2. If there is a queen in each colony, do 

 they live together ? 



\. What is meant by a shake swarm ? 



4. My bees are coming in from the fields 

 with their legs loaded with pollen, and there 

 is nothing in bloom here but red elm and a 

 few little wild Howers. Do you think they 

 will work on red elm ? 



s. I have a bee tree near my house con- 

 taining a large swarm of pure Italian bees 

 that got awiy from me last May; the tree is 

 of no value. How should I proceed to save 

 the bees and when should I cut the tree ? 



6. When is the proper time to sow white 

 and sweet clover seed ? Oklaho.ma. 



Answers— I. Yes, if you have no choice 

 as to queens you can leave it to the bees to 

 settle the matter. 



2. No; one or other of the queens will 

 be killed. 



3. When the bees are shaken or brushed 

 from their combs, and all the combs, or all 

 but one of them, are taken away, that is 

 called shaking a swarm, and the bees left in 

 the hive are called a shaken swarm. 



4. I think bees work on any of the elms. 

 They may also be working on something else 

 that you know nothing about. Bees can beat 

 ushamansa long way at finding nectar or 

 pollen. 



5. If the tree stands out. away from other 

 trees, you will cut it down same as any tree, 

 and take your chance of the combs bein«i 



mashed to pieces. If other trees are near, 

 perhaps you can fell it against one of them 

 in such a way as to break the fall. Or, pos 

 sibly you can by means of ropes attached to 

 other trees soften the fall. Then you can 

 saw or chop off the tree above and below 

 where the bees are, and take the loghive 

 home, or you can split open the tree and cut 



out the combs and fasten them in the 

 frames of a proper hive. The best time to 

 operate was last fall as soon as the bees 

 stopped storing As it is too late for that 

 now, wait for warm weather in the spring 

 when bees Hy freely. 



6. When farmers in your vicinity sow red 

 clover, aisike. or alfalfa. 



Report from Tennessee 



Bees are wintering nicely so far. 1 have 

 28 colonies. Last year we had a dry season 

 and pasture was short until sourwood came 

 in bloom. My crop of honey was light, about 

 40 pounds to the colony, I use 8-frame hives. 



Athens. Tenn. J. W Carter. 



Hauling Bees With Entrances Open 



I have about loo colonies of bees, but as I 

 am afraid to risk more than 20 or 25 colonies 

 in one place for fear of overstocking the 

 range, I have a considerable amount of haul- 

 ing to do in locating out-apiaries in the 

 spring and bringing the bees in to winter. 

 Almost all men advocate the idea of stop- 

 ping the bees' entrances so they cannot get 

 out, I have been hauling bees for 8 years, 

 and I never stop the entrances up, and I 

 always haul in the day time if I am not 

 crowded with some other work. 



I generally load my bees at night or after 

 a shower of rain, in order not to lose the 

 field bees, but in both instances I smoke the 

 bees good before I start out on my journey, 

 and I never have had any trouble. If I make 

 a stop it is necessary to smoke the bees be- 

 fore starting again Of course you can't 

 stop very long or your bees will come out 

 and go to work. 



I bought 6 colonies in box hives from a 

 man who lives about 18 miles away, and 

 when I went after them they were at work 

 on the elm buds, so I smoked them, loaded 

 tfiem. and got home safely, though I had lost 

 the top from two of the hives 1 don't think 

 that I ever saw a quieter bunch of bees. 



Wingate, Tex. L. L. Allen. 



Giving Bees Water 



I have received so much help from read- 

 ing good articles contributed by many bee- 

 keepers that I wish to offer what I can in 

 return. 



We lose many bees by drowning while 

 they take water from ponds and water 



tanks, and the drier and hotter the weather 

 the more water the bees must have. In 

 times of drouth they become a nuisance 

 around the stock tanks. Most water tanks 

 are now made of steel and with vertical 

 sides, making a death trap for the bees by 

 drowning. We dislike to see so many of 

 them drown, or to have them bother our 

 neighbors. I finally hit on the following 

 watering device; 



1 took an oak barrel and sawed it in two 

 in the center. The half barrel made my 

 watering device. I tacked burlap sacking 

 material all over the tub. allowing it to hang 

 inside loosely, so when the tub was empty 

 the burlap covering hung almost to the bot- 

 tom of the tub. Just before 1 finished tack- 

 ing on the covering. I put a sealed Mason 

 jar inside the tub and under the burlap for 

 a float to keep the burlap on the surface of 

 the water. 



The bees began to use water from the tub 

 at once, and ceased to bother our stock 

 tank. They liked this watering device so 

 well that it was just like a swarm at all 

 times. They took away probably 20 gallons 

 every day during the hot dry summer. The 

 tub was located about 100 yards from an api- 

 ary of 225 colonies. Not a bee was drowned 

 at this tub. and they also quit bothering my 

 neighbors' water tanks. H. C. Gadberry. 



Miami. Mo. 



Trying Hand's Method 



I made up a couple of hives according to 

 Mr. Hand's latest, and put them to work in 

 the hope that they will solve my wintering 

 problem in this province. A local bee-man 

 told me a few days ago that 20 years ago a 

 Scotsman called Robertson, now long dead, 

 worked out the same scheme for "Victoria, 

 and swore by it. I will report how it be- 

 haves with me. F. Dundas Todd. 



Victoria. B. C. Feb. 25. 



Note from British Columbia 



I imagine I see some of the veteran bee* 

 men smiling at the rapid increase a begin- 



\i iV if 



Snow-bound Apiary of H. C. Gadberry, at Miami, 

 Honey-house in the back-ground. 



Mo. 



