118 



prove to be any great success. So we are practical- 

 ly right back where we were years ago. U you can 

 work out any scheme we shall be glad to hear from 

 you further. — Ed.] 



Profit from Forty Chickens. 



My bees will have to hustle to beat my hens. 

 Last January I had 56 hens : last June 35, with an 

 average for the first six months of about 45. I now 

 have 32. making an average for the year of about 40 

 birds. The last of November I was S71. 76 ahead of 

 expenses, and had raised 23 pullets, which have 

 laid 149 eggs this month. This is not taking into 

 c(nisideratlon the value of these pullets, although 

 the cost of raising them has been charged to the 

 hens. 



Eggs from hens from Jan. 1 to date. Dec. 25. S62.18; 

 eggs from hens and pullets, S63.80. Considering the 

 value of pullets and what eggs I get this month, 

 the profit from forty birds will be about SlOO. The 

 only care required is at night and in the morning, 

 before and after 6, with the exception of watering 

 them during the day, which my wife does, and 

 only lately have I fed them more than once each 

 day. 



Brewer. Me., Dec. 25. E. H. Bissell. 



Winter Treatment of Foul Brood. 



I sent a sample of brood from one of my neigh- 

 bors to Dr. E. F. Phillips, and found it to be affect- 

 ed with American foul brood. I do not know 

 whether it would be best merely to clean our hives 

 up and let them go, or to send for an inspector and 

 get rid of the box hives entirely. In the first place, 

 we do not know where the trouble came from, as 

 there have been no bees sent in nor queens bought 

 or sold. I have about 15 colonies, and my neighbor 

 has one. They are all together in my cellar. Will 

 the disease spread in the cellar? 



Vassar, Mich., Jan. 8. J. \V. Rowland. 



[There is not much you can do in the way of han- 

 dling foul brood during midwinter except to scald 

 out or burn out hives that are empty, and melt up 

 all combs of which you have any doubt. If the 

 disease during the past summer got any kind of 

 hold upon your bees or those of your neighbor, we 

 would advise you to melt up all the empty combs 

 you have, as a matter of precaution, boil the 

 frames, put in foundation, and start over again 

 next season. While some authorities think it is 

 not necessary to scald out or burn out the inside of 

 the hives, we believe it is very much safer to do so. 

 This is a recommendation of Dr. E. F. Phillips, of 

 the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, and many 

 of the inspectors of the country. 



Foul brood will not spread in the cellar nor dur- 

 ing cold weather, as it is only when brood-rearing 

 is going on that it can do so. You probably will 

 not have any trouble again until next spring when 

 the weather warms up and the queen begins to lay. 



We are not certain: but it is our opinion that the 

 foul-brood law of Michigan requires the transfer- 

 ring of all colonies in box hives. It would be well 

 for you to call for the Inspector, and we therefore 

 advise you to write to R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich. 

 —Ed.] 



Chickens Eating Bees. 



Regarding Mr. Scholl's article, " When Chickens 

 are a Nuisance," p. 186. Aug. 15. when a chicken be- 

 gins to eat bees, nothing will ever break it off. It 

 does not care for any other food, and rapidly loses 

 flesh. Old fowls rapidly follow the example after 

 seeing the chickens eating bees: but they rarely 

 siart of their own accord. I have seen a chicken 

 completely covered with bees trying to sting it as 

 it was catching its meal right on the alighting- 

 board. It just stood back, picked them all off, and 

 started on some more. Tiny chickens never start 

 on bees: but big chickens, fit to eat, do. Such 

 chickens can never be caught by the usual means. 

 Oram is no temptation to them. We either shoot 

 them or catch them somehow, and give them to 

 some of our neighbors who do not keep bees. To 

 remedy this nuisance we have raised our hives 

 about 18 inches from the ground. Since then we 

 have had very few cases. I should not like to be 

 w thout fowls in the bee-yard. They seem to keep 

 ants and other insects down. Turkeys and ducks 

 never eat bees: and if a small turkey swallows a bee 

 by mistake it invariably dies in great ag 'ny, turn- 

 ing and twisting its neck as if all the pain were 

 there. Stephen Anthony. 



W aitete, Amodeo Bay, Auckland, N. '/., Sept. 25. 



G'eanings in Bee Culture 



Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket. 



I believe there is nothing that fits in better with 

 bee-keeping than poultry. Poultry can be attend- 

 ed to early in the morning and again in the eve- 

 ning, while bees should not be disturbed before 9 

 A.M., and not much later than 4 p.m. 



Another argument in favor of the combination is 

 that both bee-keeping and poultry-raising can be 

 carried on in a small area. Besides, a man who 

 makes a success of bee-keeping should do well at 

 poultry-keeping, for both occupations require close 

 attention to details. Then, too, where there is a 

 city market near, the product of both the bee and 

 the hen can be sold at the same time. 



I don't like to disagree with such eminent men 

 as G. M. Doolittle, the late E. W. Alexander, and 

 W. Z. Hutchinson: but regarding the slogan, " Keep 

 more bees." I must plead locality, and (all back on 

 the old adage, " Don't put all your eggs in one bas- 

 ket." In fact, I have known them to fit in so well 

 together that a deserted hen egg hatched Into a 

 fine healthy chicken over a strong colony of bees. 

 However, I didn't give it to the bees to mother. 



BLACK CHICKS STUNG WHILE WHITE ONES ARE UN- 

 HURT. 



Just here let me give warning not to allow the 

 poultry to run among the hives, as I lost a fine 

 flock of chickens last spring, which were stung to 

 death by the bees. One sting is fatal to a young 

 chicken. 1 lost 30 out of one hatch, and, strange to 

 say, the black ones were attacked while the white 

 chicks were unmolested. Bees certainly draw the 

 color line, so bee-keepers will find it to their ad- 

 vantage to keep white hens. 



Slate River, Ont., Jan. 14. James M. Munro. 



[There has been quite a stir in the newspapers, 

 several times, over the possibility of hatching 

 chickens on a large scale in supers over colonies of 

 bees; but except in hot suminer weather we believe 

 the plan is not successful. And even then, incuba- 

 tors are cheaper and better.— Ed.] 



The Trickey Method of Treating Foul Brood. 



In treatment of foul brood, p. 710, 1911, 1. what is 

 done with combs first removed? 



2. At what time of day should this be done ? 



3. Would the result be the same if the old hive 

 were moved in the middle of the day. then brushed 

 at night, the new hive -being first supplied with a 

 small piece of unsealed or sealed brood ? 



Bradshaw, Neb.. Jan. 8. C. B. Palmer. 



[1. They should be extracted If they contain hon- 

 ey, and melted up. Frames should be boiled be- 

 fore being put back in the hive with foundation. 



2. Usually In the middle of the day when bees ai e 

 flying tlie thickest. This will avoid any disturb- 

 ance, for the bees in the field will return to tlie 

 new hive. 



3. Not quite: because in so short a time the bees 

 would hardly have gotten over their first disturb- 

 ance. — Ed] 



One-fourth of the Potatoes in Northern IVlichigan 

 Frozen. 



It is pretty cold here now. I believe that one- 

 fourth, if not more, of the potatoes through North- 

 ern Michigan have been frozen during the past two 

 weeks. 



Our bees are wintering finely, however, fcr I can 

 keep the temperature right during a cold winter 

 better than I can during a warm one or one where 

 the weather is changing all the time. The bees are 

 so quiet that I can hold a candle almost close 

 enough to burn them, and not even a buzz comes 

 from them. 



Pioneer, Mich., Jan. 20. Elmer Hutchinson. 



[That certainly indicates that all conditions are 

 normal, and that the bees should come out strong. 

 —ED.] 



Brood in Caucasian Colony in January. 



Last September I introduced a Caucasian queen 

 to a small colony. I gave them three frames of 

 honey, and left them for the winter. We had very 

 little rain here last year, and it has been warm and 

 cold in succession. Yesterday, Jan. 14. the temper- 

 ature was 72. "^ On looking into the Caucasian hive 

 I found a patch of brood and eggs the size of my 

 hand on both sides of a frame. I was unable to 

 find a sign of an egg nor of any brood in my Italian 

 colonies. 



Highland. Cal. J. R. L.\Follette. 



