June, 1914. 



American l^ee Journal j 



2.1: 



contains mostly honey. The cage with 

 the new queen should be suspended 2 

 or 3 inches below the top-bar. A little 

 wire-loop with ends turned at right 

 angles to catch the top-bar will do this 

 very conveniently. The pasteboard 

 cover over the hole to the candy-supply 

 must be replaced by tin or a wooden 

 plug for two days, when this protection 

 may be removed and the bees allowed 

 to liberate the queen by gnawing out 

 the candy. At the same time all combs 

 of brood must be carefully examined, 



and all started queen-cells destroyed. 

 For the same purpose I examine every 

 hive daily, until the queen is accepted. 



Occasionally it happens that I find 

 a queen liberated and balled on the 

 third day. In this case I disperse the 

 troubling bees with a few puffs of 

 smoke and re-cage her for another 24 

 hours, after which she is generally ac- 

 cepted. My home-made wire cages are 

 more convenient for re-caging than 

 the mailing cages of the trade. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



Sections in the Four Stages— Photograph by G. C. Greiner. 



Dr.Miller*s ^ Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keepine questions by mail. 



Transferring— Increasing— Requeening 



1. I wish to transfer from old hives to 

 tood ones. When is the best time and what 

 is the best way to do tlie job ? 



2. Is this a eood time to feed bees, and how- 

 is the best way to do it ? , . , 



3 I have a double-walled hive, and wisti 

 to know the best way to stock it with bees 

 Shall I wait for a new swarm or take frames 



out of some of the hives I speak of that need 

 repairing ? 



4. Would it be best to buy a nucleus and a 

 queen or bees by the pound ? 



5. I have 13 colonies, and would like to 

 have them put off one swarm each for in- 

 crease. How can I govern them so as not 

 to have more than one ? 



0. Would it be safe to feed now with a 



Boardman entrance feeder without startin 

 robbing ? 



7. 1 have never introduced new queens, 

 but have the same ones 1 begun with two 

 or three years ago. Do you think I should 

 introduce new ones, and when ? ., _ - ^ 



8. Is it necessary for frames to be wired ? 

 „,„________ Indiana. 



Answers.— I. On any one day when bees 

 are flying freely it is a simple matter, sup- 

 posing lyour ;hives are all alike, to l ift the 

 frames successively out of a hive that needs 

 repairing and put them into another hive 

 that isiinlgood order. If you have not enough 

 hivesjn good order t® accommodate all. go 

 as far as^you can, then put in order the 

 hivei you have emptied and fill them on a 

 sncceeding clay, 



2. Any time is a good time to feed bees if 

 there is any danger of starving. It is also 

 well, even if there is no immediate danger 

 of starving, to see that they have abundance 

 to last until harvest and a little over. Of 

 course, it will not do to have the frames so 

 filled that the queen has no room to lay. but 

 there is not much danger of that, for when 

 brood-rearing gets well under way it is sur 

 prising how rapidly the honey is consumed 

 in preparing food for the babies. The very 

 best way to feed is to give frames of sealed 

 honey. Likely you haven't any, but now is 

 a good time to makela mental resolve that 

 you 2vi7/ have some in readiness for next 

 spring. The best way to feed these heavy 

 combs in early spring is to put one in each 

 hive under the bottom-bars. This is easily 

 done if you have bottom-boards with a 

 space 2 inches deep. If you have no such 

 deep bottom-board, then you must open the 

 hive and put in the frame of honey, then use 

 sugar syrup, half sugar and half water, feed- 

 ing it in a Doolittle, Miller, Boardman or 

 other feeder. 



3. If the frames are of the right size, 

 change the contents of one of the old hives 

 intothenew one: otherwise wait until you 

 can put a swarm in it. 



4. That will beall right if you want to in- 

 crease that much and want to stand the ex- 

 tra expense. 



5- When a colony swarms, hive the swarm 

 and set it in place of the old hive, putting 

 the old hive close beside it. both hives fac 

 ing the same way. About eight days later 

 move the old hive to a new stand 10 feet or 

 so away. That's all you have to do; the 

 bees will do the rest. When the old hive is 

 moved to a new place, the field bees that go 

 out to forage will go just the same as if they 

 had not been moved, but when they return 

 from the field, instead of returning to the 

 old /^-o/f they will return to the old/Va<cand 

 join the swarm. The mothei colony being 

 thus bereft of its fielders, and finding no 

 honey coming in. will feel so discouraged 

 that the first virgin emergingwill be allowed 

 todestroy all its rivals and there will be no 

 further swarming. . 



ij. There is not much danger if you avoid 

 spilling feed and feed in the evening after 

 bees have stopped flying. 



7. The likelihood is that you haven't a sin- 

 gle queen that you bought two or three years 

 ago Bees of their own accord generally 

 supersede their queens every two or three 

 years. So there is no need of introducing 

 new queens unless for the sake of having 

 better stock. 



8. Not absolutely necessary, but better, to 

 have the combs strengthened by being sup- 

 ported by wires or foundation splints. 



Transferring- Swarming 



» vVhat is the best way to transfer a 

 swarm of bees from an old box-hive which 



