GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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Hive Numbers Printed on White Enameled Metal 

 Tags 



On page 296 Mr. Scholl asks for a hive number 

 which is satisfactory besides being cheap and dura- 

 ble. I have for some time been using a number of 

 my own make which calls for a very little outlay 

 of either time or money, and which has given entire 

 satisfaction. I got a piece of heavy galvanized tin, 

 and with a pair of tin shears I cut it into rectangu- 

 lar pieces about 2i/ix3i/^ in. (though for numbers 

 of more than two figures the tags would have to be 

 longer). I rounded off the sharp corners; then with 

 a large nail (about 16 penny) I punched a hole in 

 the middle of one of the long sides about Vi inch 

 from the edge. I then dipped them in white enamel 

 paint and laid them on a board to di-y, with the 

 rough edge of the holes up. The numbers should go 

 on that side, as the tags will then lie flat against 

 the front of the hive. When the enamel is dry, but 

 before it gets hard, paint the numbers in black 

 with a small marking-brush. A little practice on a 

 board or a paper before beginning on the tags will 

 result in better figures. 



To hang on the hive, select small wire nails, the 

 heads of which will just pass smoothly through the 

 holes in the tags. Drive the nails into the hive 

 fronts so that about % inch projects. The rough 

 edge of the hole in the tag prevents the latter from 

 jarring or blowing off, yet the tags can be slipped 

 off or on by the apiarist in a moment. 



Louisville, Ky., May 28. J. B. Chrisleb. 



Hiving a Swarm Quickly 



Seeing an account of hiving a swarm by an ex- 

 pert, in the May 1st number of Gleanings leads 

 me to write an account of the quickest work in hiv- 

 ing I have ever done. On May 4, this year, I was 

 called on the telephone and informed that a large 

 swarm had settled in the rear of a friend's resi- 

 dence about three city blocks from my home, and 

 that the bees, being strays, were mine if I would 

 ii!\e them. I had an enga2:pni?nt 'n !e;-s th.nn a;i 

 hour, so my first idea was to decline the offered 

 bees because the time was so short ; but the bee 

 fever was too strong to be overcome, though I have 

 had it for more than forty years, so I rushed home 

 from my office, quickly secured a frame of unsealed 

 brood, laid it flat on the bottom of a very light box 

 having a hinged lid on it, walked rapidly to the 

 scene of action, where I found the swarm clustered 

 on a small branch of a chinaberry tree, in easy 

 reach. Without veil or smoker I quickly cut off the 

 limb without jarring off a single bee; laid the clus- 

 ter in the box still on the limb, closed the lid, and 

 away I went with my prize. Arriving home I se- 

 cured a single story, filled with empty combs; 

 placed the limb over the frames, after having in- 

 serted the frame of unsealed brood ; gave them a 

 slight shake, and after some of the bees had begun 

 entering thus from the top, and when they got 

 well to going, I shook the remainder off the china- 

 berry limbs, and they were in the hive almost in- 

 stantly. There remained nothing but to put on the 

 top and rush to the meeting, where I arrived with 

 five minutes to spare. 



It is well worth while to emphasize the use of a 

 light box, made of tough wood, and hardly as thick 

 as pasteboard to catch and carry to the proper place 

 a swarm, and also the great advantage of a frame 

 of unsealed brood laid flat on the bottom. I just 

 happened to have this box, and it had never occur- 

 red to me to use it this way until this occasion 

 arose. 



Carrollton, Ga., May 14. L. K. Smith. 



A Quick Way of Killing a Surplus of Drones 



I have read in the bee journals a description of a 

 queen-sieve and its uses, but never saw a drone- 

 sieve described, although the occasion for its use 

 may arise in every apiary sometimes. Here is one 

 that I have been using with good results. I nail a 

 queen-excluder to ihe bottom of an empty hive body, 

 and set it on top of another empty hive body close 

 to the hive to be operated on, and shake into this 

 sieve bees and drones from every comb except the 

 queen, and cover it as quickly as possible. After 

 replacing the combe I put a Porter bee-escape on 



top, and on this the sieve with the drones, after 

 having brushed off the bees that have clustered on 

 the under side of the sieve. Next morning you find 

 all the bees that remained with the drones have 

 passed down the escape, and the drones on their 

 backs kicking the bucket. To shorten the agony of 

 death I put the sieve over a teaspoonful of burning 

 sulphur, and in a minute it's all over. 



Monterey, Cal., May 14. Wm. A. Seddino. 



Queens Caged in a Hive 



1. Is it safe to keep ten or fifteen untested queens 

 in an upper story (caged) separated from the old 

 queen by an excluder for, say, a week or ten days, 

 until convenient to make nuclei ? 2. Is there any 

 preventive or cure for white diarrhea in young 

 chickens ? 



Slate River, Ont., May 15. J. M. Mtjneo. 



[The longer you keep queens caged, the worse it 

 is for them. Sometimes they will die in less than a 

 week, and again they will live a month or so. It 

 depends a good deal upon the bees of the hive, and 

 also upon the vitality of queens themselves. - 



The poultry journals for a year or two past have 

 been full of remedies for the white diarrhea, but I 

 believe the general decision has been that prevention 

 is better than cure. I have never had any experi- 

 ence with it, and my impression is that if the chick- 

 ens are put often enough on new ground, not too 

 many in one lot, and kept out in the open air 

 and in the sunshine as much as possible, there will 

 be no such trouble. Filthy quarters and rearing 

 large numbers of chickens on the same ground are 

 pretty sure to start diseases of this sort. — A. I. B.] 



Dual Introduction 



Please give the plan of dual queen introduction as 

 invented by Mr. Alexander, and printed a few years 

 ago in Gleanings. Joseph Braun. 



New York, June 30. 



[Briefly, the dual plan of introduction is as fol- 

 lows : You introduce a virgin queen by the usual 

 cage plan, and at the same time cage another virgin 

 in the hive with a piece of tin over the candy. 

 When the first virgin has been released, and is lay- 

 ing, remove her, and at the same time remove the 

 tin from the candy of the other cage. Then cage a 

 third virgin in the hive with tin over the candy, etc. 



If you have reference to the plural-queen plan, as 

 mentioned by Mr. Alexander in his book, we may 

 say that this is quite a complicated method; and, 

 although it has been tried out by a good many bee- 

 keepers for several years, there is practically no one 

 in the country who is following it at the present 

 time, the reason being that in almost every case the 

 surplus queens will be killed after the honey-flow. 

 — Ed.] 



A Stubborn Colony that Will Not Accept an Intro- 

 duced Queen 



I have a colony of bees that are kind and gentle. 

 They never seem inclined to sting, but they simply 

 won't have an Italian queen with them. Last year 

 I purchased three tested Italian queens and intro- 

 duced them according to directions on the cage, and 

 a few days after they released them we would find 

 them carried out dead in the drone-trap. 



Last fall I purchased one of your ABC books 

 and went according to directions. This spring I got 

 a tested Italian queen. About two months ago they 

 let her stay with them about four weeks, then I 

 found her carried out dead. As I am anxious to 

 get a colony of Italians, two weeks ago to-day I 

 received another queen, and all seemed well until to- 

 day, when they carried her out ; but I happened to 

 be there, and rescued her all but dead. Now I write 

 to you for advice. There is no queen in the hive, as 

 I looked them over several times. Before they killed 

 the first one this spring they started nine queen- 

 cells. Some of them were sealed over when she died. 

 They are a good quality of hybrids. 



Marietta, Ohio, July 2. George Amann. 



[Once in a great while we run across a colony like 

 the one you describe, that seems determined to kill 

 every introduced queen within a short time after she 

 gets to laying. We recall we once had such a col- 



