170 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ANSWERED BY 



TDT^. C. C IMIXjIjER,, 

 Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of suflBcient special interest to 

 require replies from the aO or more apiarists 

 who help to make "Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Honey-Board and Its Use. 



1. What in your opinion is the best 

 kind of honey-board to use— one made 

 of a full sheet of zinc, or one made of 

 wood slats with perforated zinc between? 

 By the " best " I mean with what kind 

 of a honey-board will bees store the 

 most honey ? 



2. Do you think it makes any differ- 

 ence whether the openings in the honey- 

 board come directly over the top-bars of 

 the frames, or whether they come direct- 

 ly between the top-bars ? S. D. C. 



Seattle, Wash. 



Answers. — 1. As you put the ques- 

 tion, I don't think there's any differ- 

 ence. Possibly it may be just a trifle 

 easier for a bee to go through a perfora- 

 tion when she can have the wooden 

 strip to help walk straight through the 

 hole, but I doubt if the difference would 

 perceptibly tell on the amount of honey 

 stored. 



But I think there is some difference 

 when your own time and convenience is 

 concerned. The full sheet is inclined to 

 sag down, so that you do not have it at a 

 uniform distance above the top-bars, 

 and as a result the bees will glue it to 

 the top-bars wherever it comes closer 

 than Ji inch. For this reason I prefer 

 the slatted excluder. 



2. I doubt if it does. 



Comb Between Frames and Super. 



I have been bothered considerably by 

 my bees building comb between the 

 brood-frames and the super; also build- 

 ing across spaces of brood-frames. Is 

 there any way to prevent them doing I 



so ? Your answer may be of use to 

 other beginners. W. A. G. C. 



Fremont, Nebr. 



Answeb.— That's one of the things 

 that has had a great deal of discussion 

 and experimenting. Have top-bars IJ^ 

 inches wide and % thick, then have 

 them at fixed distances like the Hoffman 

 frame, or else use Stephens' spacers, 

 and have only }4 of an inch between 

 top-bars and supers, and I think you'll 

 have very little trouble with burr-combs. 



If you want to go to the trouble, you 

 can probably make the frames you have 

 do. Very likely you have loose, hang- 

 ing frames like those mostly in use. 

 Suppose the top-bars are % of an inch 

 wide and % thick. Take pieces of 

 wooden separator % wide and Jg thick, 

 and nail on each side of the top-bar. If 

 your top-bars are 1 inch wide, then the 

 strips must be 1/16 thick. Now you 

 have a top-bar 1}£ wide and % thick. 

 Very likely there is a space of % be- 

 tween your top-bars and sections. In 

 that case nail little strips 3^ thick in the 

 rabbet, and that will make the space 

 between top-bar and super only i4 of an 

 inch. Then put little blocks about two 

 inches long on each side of the upper 

 end of the end-bars, these blocks having 

 such thickness that your frames will be 

 spaced 1% from center to center. Or, 

 better yet, get Stephens' spacers. 



Live or Dead Brood — Surplus Bees. 



1. How can you tell live from dead 

 brood when all are capped over ? I 

 took out the frames from 2 colonies 

 when looking for the queen, and I think 

 some of the brood chilled, yet I am not 

 sure. 



2. What can be done with the sur- 

 plus bees ? I have seven colonies — all 

 that I feel safe in keeping now — yet 

 they continue to swarm, and no sale for 

 bees here. What I wish to know is, 

 what am I to do with those in excess of 

 what I want to keep ? F. M. L. 



Langlois, Oreg. 



Answers. —1. If the brood is capped 

 over, some of it chilled and some not, I 

 don't think you can tell the two apart 

 without uncapping. Uncap it, and then 

 the dead brood will not have the bright, 

 plump, white appearance of the live. 

 Unless you've had a very queer streak 

 of weather, I, doubt if you've chilled 

 brood in July, especially in strong colo- 

 nies. At any rate, the bees will have no 

 trouble in taking care of chilled brood. 



2. You can do lots of things. The 



