42 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



necessary, and if kept in a moth-tight 

 place they are all right. Or they may 

 do well, with occasional watching, by 

 being put in a cool, airy place, the combs 

 an inch or two apart. 



The very best thing, however, both to. 

 get the worms out and to keep them out, 

 is to give the combs into the care of the 

 bees. Even a weak colony can take care 

 of a good many combs. Put extra stories 

 under the story containing the colony. 

 A strong colony can have two or three 

 stories under it, and two over it, but of 

 course you couldn't have them working 

 on sections at the same time. For ex- 

 tracting they would be all right. A 

 colony having only two or three frames 

 of brood can have two stories of combs 

 under them. Italians make better work 

 than blacks at keeping out worms. 



2. A poor harvest, plenty of room, or 

 a young queen would help to prevent 

 preparations for swarming, but some- 

 times you may be so fortunate as to 

 have a colony that doesn't seem to care 

 about swarming when all others in the 

 same condition are crazy to swarm. If 

 you have a non-swarming strain of bees, 

 you have a bonanza. 



3. Queen-cells may be found within 

 24 hours after removal of the queen, 

 but sometimes you may not find them 

 until the third day. It is nothing very 

 unusual for bees to start queen-cells 

 after the introduction of a queen, and it 

 looks a little ominous, but often no harm 

 comes of it. I should rather have the 

 cells destroyed. 



Transferring and Italianizing. 



Does Dr. Miller think I will make a 

 success of the following operation ? 



I have a colony of black bees in a 

 dovetailed hive with Hoffman frames. 

 The colony is not strong enough to store 

 any surplus if let alone. The bees have 

 built their combs across the frames, 

 fastening them all solidly together. I 

 want to transfer and Italianize at the 

 same time, and have an idea that, the 

 two things may be accomplished in the 

 following manner : 



First, make a one or two frame nu- 

 cleus from another colony ; give it an 

 Italian queen, fill up the hive with 

 frames of foundation, invert the hive 

 containing the blacks, and set the hive 

 with the nucleus on top of it, with queen- 

 excluding zinc between. What will 

 likely be the result? E. B. 



Leon, Iowa, June 25. 



Answer. — The result may be all right 

 with some modifications. You say noth- 



ing about destroying the black queen in 

 the crooked-building colony. If left 

 where she is I should expect her to re- 

 main in possession, the queen of the 

 nucleus being killed. Drum out the col- 

 ony, kill the black queen, letting the 

 bees return, then in a day or so you may 

 find it safe to put the nucleus over the 

 hive with excluder between. But I 

 hardly see any need of turning the hive 

 upside down. 



For safety, I think I should allow the 

 nucleus to have an entrance of its own, 

 without obliging the bees to go down 

 through the other hive, and I would 

 have very little communication between 

 the hives at first. Besides the excluder 

 a heavy sheet of paper might be given, 

 with room for only one bee to pass 

 through, and the bees will gnaw it away 

 in a few days. 



If honey is yielding at the time, it will 

 make it safer for the queen. 



Swarming Questions. 



1. What would be the result if I 

 should hive a swarm with a colony that 

 had cast a swarm two days previous ? 

 Would they swarm out the next day, or 

 be content with their new quarters and 

 go to work ? 



2. I have a colony that cast a swarm 

 on May 23rd. I examined them three 

 weeks later, and could find no brood or 

 sign of queen in the hive. The bees are 

 working nicely, and filling up the brood- 

 frames with honey. Would you give 

 them another queen, or let them finish 

 filling up with honey, and then give the 

 bees to some other colony. 



3. I hived a swarm in a new hive, 

 placed an Alley trap at the entrance to 

 prevent tbem leaving, and faced the old 

 hive to the rear. This was about 10 

 o'clock a.ni.; at 4 o'clock p.m., I dis- 

 covered the bees leaving the hive 

 quietly, crawling around to the entrance 

 of the old hive and going in. In a short 

 while all the bees had returned to the 

 old home. I could not find the queen. 

 What was the matter '? 



4. If late in the season a colony 

 swarms, and I keep it from leaving the 

 hive by means of a trap, would they 

 gather surplus in the interval of swarm- 

 ing, or would it be better to let them 

 swarm ? F. T. B. 



Brookewood, Va., June 16. 



Answers. — 1. They would probably 

 stay content. This is one of the plans 

 for preventing increase that has been 

 spoken of with favor for years. But it 



