244 



July, 1914. 



American Hee Journal 



new colonies. If useii in tlie latter way 

 enouph bees must be left with lliem so the 

 brood will not be chilled, unless you live 

 where it is so hot that there is no danger of 

 chilling. The more bees, however, you can 

 leave with the swarm, the better work it 

 will do on surplus. 



2. I have never heard of trouble about 

 swarms staying in hives of redwood. It is 

 possible, however, that a rank smell of new 

 wood, even pine, might be unpleasant to 

 bees. It is more likely, however, that the 

 bees left the hive on account of heat. Kor 

 at least two or three days extra care should 

 be taken to keep the hive cool and well ven- 

 tilated. The cover can be left partly off. 

 the hive raised, and if not in the shade some 

 kind of protection should be given against 

 the sun. One way is to pile an armful of 

 long grass or hay on top of the hive, anchor- 

 ing it there with a stick or two of stovewood. 



Do Red and Alsike Clover Yield Pollen ? 



Does red or alsike clover bear pollen, or 

 is it an excessof nectar that blights the seed 

 when the bees do not gather it ? Idaho. 



Answer.— Red and alsike clover yield 

 both nectar and pollen; but hive-bees do not 

 often work on red clover. An excess of 

 nectar would do no harm; but if the clovers 

 are not visited by insects, especially bees, 

 there will be little or no fertilization, and so 

 no seed. Red clover is mainly dependent 

 on bumblebees for fertilization. 



What Becomes ol Old Queen In a Swarm?— The 

 Old Reliable 



About May i, in the height of fruit bloom, 

 my neighbor's bees swarmed, but as his 

 ciueen was clipped they returned to the hive. 

 On May 5. b. 7. and 8 the weather was cold, 

 cloudy and wet. but on the vth the weather 

 was tine, and the bees swarmed again and 

 again returned to the hive. It was an 8- 

 franie dovetailed hive, and just as full as it 

 could be of bees, brood and honey. I looked 

 tnrousih the hive very carefully lor the old 

 clipped Queen. but could not hnd her. I 

 found, however, six capped queen-cells 

 and one cell which had been very recently 

 vacated by a virgin. Owing to the congested 

 condition of the hive I could find neither 

 the old queen nor the virgin 



X'liinking that perhaps the old queen had 

 crawled away and had been lost from the 

 swarm that morning, and that the virgin had 

 come out of the cell immediately after the 

 swarm, as the bees had probably been hold.- 

 ing her for three or four days on account of 

 bad weather, I cut out all queen cells but 

 one, so as to be sure not to leave them 

 aueenless. and at the same time gave them 

 more room, putting on a deep super with full 

 sheets of foundation. 



1. Do you think the old queen crawled 

 away and was lost ? Do they ever find their 

 way back to the hive ? 



2 Did I do right in leaving one queen-cell 

 in the hive? What will happen when that 

 queen-cell hatches ? Is there any danger of 

 after-swarming ? Fruit bloom is now over. 



3. Do you know of any better avocation 

 than beekeeping for one who has about io6 

 degrees of bee-fever ? 



4. Do you know of any better bee-paper 

 than the "old reliable " American Bee Jour- 

 nal ? Indiana. 



Answers.— I. The rule is that when a 

 clipped queen issues with a swarm she finds 

 her way back to the hive. Yet exceptions are 

 unpleasantly numerous. The queen may 

 crawl away and be lost, but is more likely 

 to enter the wrong hive and be killed. In 

 your case, however, it is not unlikely that 

 theaueen was court inartialed by her own 

 bees. 



2. .Since you desired noswarming, it would 

 have been better to have killed ii// cells. 

 The fact that you didn't find the virgin was 

 no proof that she was not there. .She was 

 probably dodging around corners laughing 

 at you. Kven a veteran sometimes fails to 

 tind a virgin. "What will happen when that 



uueen-cell hatches.'" Nothing unusual. She 

 will simply assume her duties as reigning 

 monarch. But something will happen—no 

 doubt did happen— before the emergence 

 from tliat cell. For it's almost a certainty 

 that a day or so after you cut the cells the 

 free virgin issued with a swarm, and then 

 the other virgin emerged from her cell where 

 she had been held captive by the workers 

 until her rival was out of the way. 



3. No: unless it be to make it a vocation. 



4. Do you mean the American Bee Journal 

 of the present day ? Judging by the past I 

 should say it is not so good as the American 

 Bee Journal of the future, for it has kept 

 improving in the past, and that improve- 

 ment is likely to continue. Now. don't ask 

 me in what respect it will improve. I don't 

 know. 



Best Place for Colonies^Cause of Swarms Re- 

 turning to Old Hive 



1. Where is the best place to put colonies 

 in the spring when the honey crop is open- 

 ing, under the roof, under a shady tree, or 

 out in the hot sun ? 



2 I had a colony that swarmed twice. I 

 put them in an upto date hive, but each 

 lime they went back to the old hive. What 

 was the cause ? Te.\as. 



Answers.— I. Under a tree is fine for both 

 bees and beekeeper. 



2. The likelihood is that the queen did not 

 go with them, because of some defect. It is 

 also possible that the old queen had been 

 lost, and a young one reared, and that she 

 went out on her wedding journey, the bees 

 swarming out with her and then returning. 



How to Tell Pure Honey 



In the May number, in "Questions and 

 Answers." is the question. " How do you tell 

 whether honey is pure?' That is what I 

 would like to know. Minnesota. 



Answer.— I don't know of anything to add 

 to the answer to which you refer, unless it 

 be to send a sample to an expert chemist 

 to decide. 



Where is Queen in a Cluster ? Swarm Controlling 

 — Kind ol Hives 



1. When bees swarm and cluster may the 

 queen be found on the outside of the clus- 

 ter, or do the workerscover her upentirely? 



2, What is the best method to control 

 swarming, when bees are run for comb 

 honey ? 



3.: Are single-walled hives suitable for this 

 climate? Michigan. 



Answers.— The queen may be on the 

 outer part of the swarm, in the center, or in 

 any part of it, 



2, I don't know. I wish I did. You'll find 

 several pages in my book. "Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees," telling the different things 

 I do to try to keep the bees from swarming, 

 but too often they beat me. One way you can 

 do is to shake a swarm. That, however, is 

 about the same as swarming, and so is some- 

 times called anticipatory swarming. If you 

 can give the colony a ycung laying queen 

 about the time swarming begins, the bees 

 having been queenless about todays before 

 receiving this queen, you may be practically 

 certain there will be no swarming until an- 

 other year. 



3, Sure. 



Finding Queen Requeening — Dividing — Feeder — 

 Uniting 



1. What is the best metliotl of finding the 

 queen, with a queen and drone-trap, or 

 where can 1 tind her on the brood nest ? I 

 have looked nn the frames, but I have never 

 seen the tuieen, 



2. What time is the best to reqiieen my 

 colonies with Italian queens ? 



3. When forming a single or twin nucleus 



which is best to use. a ripe queen-cell or a 

 virgin queen ? 



4. Which stock is best to order, the " 3- 

 bandor 5-band ?" 



5- Give me some information on the terms 

 breeder, untested and tested 



6, When makinga division is it best to con- 

 fine the bees, how long, the best time, and 

 how strong should they be when divided ? 



7, What is the best feeder to use for any 

 amount of feed ' 



8, My bees are strong, but they will not 

 work in the supers; they want to store 

 honey in the brood-nests, I use the Hoffman 

 extracting frames. Are they better and 

 cheaper than the sections ? I can sell chunk 

 honey here as well as the sections. 



•I. What is the best way to put in full 

 sheets of foundation ? 



10. How can I keep worms out of comb ? 



11. I took off some honey that seemed to 

 be ripe, and it candied. 



12. Is it a good investment to buy a swarm 

 of only half strength for a dollar and put 

 two swarms together and let the queens 

 fight it out ? 



13. When hiving two swarms should I 

 sprinkle or smoke them to make them go in 

 the entrance? Kentucky. 



Answers.— I. This spring my assistant 

 found each queen in my apiary, and didn't 

 count it much of a job She is an expert at 

 finding queens, but I don't think she has any 

 rule about it unless it be to use as little 

 smoke'as possible. More than once I have 

 heard her say to a cross colony, " Now you'l 1 

 catch ill" and 1 knew by that she had just 

 found the queen, and was giving a good blast 

 of smoke, which she had refrained from 

 giving until the queen was found. It is pos- 

 sible you have failed to find your queens be- 

 cause you gave so ranch smoke as to start 

 the bees to running, and when that takes 

 place it is good-by to finding a queen. You 

 can use a trap, as you suggest, but if you ex- 

 pect to do much in the way of finding 

 queens, you had better patiently continue 

 to look over the frames that have brood in 

 tnem until you become proficient. After you 

 have looked the brood over two or three 

 times, you may as well give it up until an 

 hour or more later, or until another day. 

 After a certain time of looking the queen 

 seems to hide, and I never yet could learn 

 the secret of her hiding. Since 



the foregoing was written Miss Wilson has 

 suggested that it is important to handle the 

 frames as gently as possible, so as to give no 

 jar whatever to hive or frames. 



2. That depends. If you want to introduce 

 a new queen so as to rear young queens 

 from her, and want those queens as soon as 

 possible, then you better get her as soon as 

 possible. But it is still better to get her in 

 advance for use the following season, get' 

 ting her in July or later. Queens reared 

 then are likely to be of the best, and you 

 can buy cheaper than very early. If yon 

 want to requeen your whole apiary by buy- 

 ing queens for each colony, then you better 

 wait until the harvest is well along, or to- 

 ward its close. 



3. There is little to choose. If a cell is 

 given, the young queen is more sure of kind 

 treatment than when a virgin is introduced. 

 On the other hand, it sometimes happens 

 that the virgin in the cell has imperfect 

 wings, and she may even be dead, and when 

 you give a virgin that has left her cell you 

 know just what you are giving. 



4. Some prefer those with more than three 

 bands, but probably most prefer those 

 which have three bands, like the pure stock 

 that comes from Italy. 



,";, A queen rearer raises a young queen 

 from an Italian mother, and as soon as she 

 begins to lay he sells her as an unlested 

 iiueen. If he keeps her until her progeny 

 emerge from their cells, and the number of 

 bands on these young workers show that the 



