SEPTEMBER 15, 1912 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Answers to Questions from a Beginner 



1. Are supers left on all winter? 



2. If the life of a bee is eight weeks, how 

 can they live all winter ? 



3. Will chickens eat bees? 



4. What are bees doing around water? 



5. Must all hives be fed a month before they 

 winter? When should this begin in the vicinity 

 of Philadelphia ? 



6. What is the best method for wintering bees 

 in double-walled (Buckeye) hives? 



7. Should only eight frames be left in a hive 

 of ten frames for winter? What should be done 

 with the remaining frames if they contain brood? 



Logan, Pa., July 9. Bj;ginxer. 



1. Supers should not be left on the hive during 

 the winter. Comb-honey supers especially should 

 be removed as soon as possible after the honey 

 is capped over. With extracting supers it does 

 not make so much difference; but they should all 

 be removed before cold weather sets in. 



2. Bees live longer than eight weeks when 

 they are not working. 



3. It has been said chickens will often eat bees, 

 but we have never seen them. In any evnt we are 

 convinced that they rarely do. A number have re- 

 ported that their chickens ate drones only. 



4. Bees require considerable water, especially 

 when rearing brood ; and if there is no water near 

 the apiary an artificial watering-place should be 

 provided. An old tub is satisfactory, although you 

 should use a float or chips to prevent drowning. 



5. It depends upon circumstances somewhat as 

 to whether colonies need feeding in the fall ; but 

 if there is no honey-flow in the late summer to 

 keep the queen laying so that there will be enough 

 young bees to go into winter quarters, feeding 

 should be resorted to. Some feed early in the 

 fall, while others wait and feed thick syrup just 

 before the cold weather comes on. A combination 

 of both plans is often to be recommended. 



6. It is impossible here to go into a full dis- 

 cussion of wintering, and we would refer you 

 therefore to our booklet, The Buckeye Beehive. 

 Make sure, however, to have good strong clusters 

 made up of young Ijees largely. Also make sure 

 that the stores are ample, and well arranged 

 in the hive. 



7. A very large colony might occupy the full 

 ten frames ; but it would be better to use a chafif 

 division-board and only eight frames if the colony 

 is not quite as strong as it should be. Late in 

 the fall there is very little or no brood, and you 

 can easily take out a couple of combs that contain 

 no brood and the least honey to make room for it. 

 — Ed.] 



Trouble with Twin Mating Nuclei; Why do the 

 Bees Ball their Queens ? 



You would oblige me greatly by giving me a 

 little advice in connection with operating the twin 

 nuclei. No doubt your men have found out by 

 experience when is the best time of day to work 

 with the little clusters. I find they are repeatedly 

 balling the queen when opened during the after- 

 noon ; and in accordance with advice in the A 

 B C book I made them up with bees from a black 

 colony from another yard. These same black 

 bees are most ferocious, and sting the hands and 

 wrists continually. I don't use the smoker; but 

 it is almost impossible to get along without some 

 smoke. They won't let your hands come near the 

 frames. Of course, as yet I liaven't had the feed- 

 ers in the hives, for I haven't had them. Perhaps 

 that will keep them more content. Gloves make 

 it almost impossible to handle such small frames 

 well. 



Are the ventilating holes supposed to be left 

 uncovered by the tin? The bees from the other 

 half of the hive are always poking into the next 

 compartment, and no doubt worry the inmates — 

 especially so with the extra strong nuclei. They 

 spend half their time outside the entrance, bunched. 



Kirk's Ferry, Qu" H. H. Selwyn. 



[Your difficulty, we think, is because you used 

 a bad strain of black bees. If you had used 

 gentle Italians or Carniolans you "ought not to 

 have had any trouble, providing you did not put 

 too many bees in each side. We aim to put 



about four ounces of bees in each side ; that is, 

 not much more than 1200 individuals. We should 

 judge from what you write that you are putting 

 too many bees on a side. We have no trouble, 

 or very little, any way, from bees balling the 

 queen, no matter what time of day they are 

 opened. 



The ventilating holes on the end covered with 

 metal are simply to give ventilation. Ordinarily 

 they should be kept closed, except in extremely 

 hot weather, and always when robbers are in- 

 clined to cause trouble. 



Another solution of your difficulty is that your 

 covers do not fit tightly on top of the nuclei. 

 If the bees can get from one side to the other 

 you will have balling, no matter what time of 

 day you open up the boxes of bees. W^e use 

 an" enamel cloth tacked to the center division 

 board in such a way that one side or the other 

 can be folded back and expose only the bees 

 of the one side. Of course, it sometimes hap- 

 pens that the one side is queenless and the other 

 has a laying queen, so that the bees of the queen- 

 less side will go over to the side that has a queen. 

 "You will generally find that the strength of one 

 side or the other will vary according to whether 

 it is queenless or has a queen that is laying. 



We do not find any instructions anywhere in 

 the ABC and X Y' Z of Bee Culture recommend- 

 ing the use of black bees for the mating nuclei. 

 You ought to use something that is pure stock — 

 either pure Italians of a gentle strain or pure 

 Carniolans that are equally gentle, or, possibly, 

 Caucasians. The ordinary black bees or hybrids 

 of this country are too cross for this purpose, and 

 we should judge the black bees you refer to must 

 be an exceptionally cross strain with some yellow 

 blood in them; for bees that sting as you describe 

 are not fit for twin mating nuclei. We would 

 brimstone them, and start with a fresh lot of 

 gentle bees ; for you never can succeed with bees 

 as cross as that. 



Y'ou can operate twin mating nuclei any time 

 of day when it is wai'm enough, when robbing is 

 not allowed to get started. When there is a dearth 

 of honey on we work them under cages. — Ed.] 



A Honey-bound Brood-nest; How to Let the Bees 

 into the Super 



The brood-cells of our colony are nearly filled 

 with honey, and it does not look as though there 

 were enough empty ones to accommodate very many 

 eggs. We presume this is due a good deal to the 

 fact that the hive was without a queen for some 

 time, and the bees have been filling all the cells 

 in the lower section. They have not started to 

 work at all in the super containing the small 

 sections. 



Cleveland, O. A. O. S. Allan. 



[The condition in the colony may work out all 

 right, although there is danger that your brood- 

 chamber may become honey-clogged ; that is, the 

 bees will get so in the habit of storing in the 

 brood-combs that they will keep on and on, and 

 the queen will be practically forced to quit laying. 

 At the same time, the bees will refuse to enter 

 the supers. To prevent the condition get some 

 partially filled sections of honey, and place in the 

 super as baits to entice the bees up. See reply to 

 Bigelow, next page. — Ed.] 



Swelling from Bee-sting 



Can you tell me what will prevent swelling from 

 a bee-sting ? 



•Jewett, N. Y. Roger P. Ro.se. 



[About the only thing to do in the case of a 

 sting is to remove it as soon as it is received, 

 taking precaution not to squeeze the poison-bag 

 at the time of doing it. The sooner it is removed, 

 the );etter. If it is allowed to remain in the 

 flesh the effects will be much more severe, because 

 the sting will gradually work itself into the flesh 

 until the contents of the entire poison-bag are 

 injected into the wound. Sometimes if the af- 

 fected part is ijlaced in the mouth, and the poison 

 sucked out, it helps somewhat, the same as is 

 done in the case of snake-bites in the West. 



As a general thing, there is not very much 

 that can be done to allay the effects of the 



