1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



167 



6. Another thing : We are told to open the hives while 

 many of the bees are out in the fields, and keep in subjection 

 those that are at home, by smoking. But are not bees return- 

 ing all the time, and how will they behave when they find 

 some one meddling with their hive ? G. W. W. 



Oakland, Calif. 



Answers. — 1. If there is no one to watch for swarms, 

 perhaps you can't do better than to use the Heddon plan of 

 transferring. If convenient to watch for swarms, it may be 

 better to let them swarm uaturally, hive the swarm in the 

 new hive, setting it in place of the old hive after removing the 

 old hive to a new place, then 21 days later drive the bees, 

 either uniting with the swarm or putting in a separate hive. 

 If you are anxious for increase you can make two colonies in 

 this way, or in either way. If the colony is not very strong, 

 better keep it all in one. 



2. Probably extracted will be the best thing for you, but 

 I think you may be interested in getting a little comb honey, 

 if for nothing but the fun of it. 



3. Your hive is probably dovetail, which has a flat cover, 

 and makes no use of sheets or quilts. When supers are put 

 on the hive, the flat cover is put directly over the sections 

 without any sheet or quilt. Sheets or quilts are not used as 

 much now as in the past. 



4. A few bee-keepers prefer to have their hives set up 

 high enough to work at them standing without stooping over. 

 I'm like you, I don't like to stoop. More than that, I'm too 

 lazy to stand up when I can sit down, so I set my hives close 

 to the ground, and always have a seat to sit on wheu at work 

 at a hive. It is possible, however, that in some places it may 

 be better to have the hives elevated by way of protection from 

 some animal or insect that may be an enemy to the bees. 



5. Yes. I'll excuse you, /or ihepresent, for saying there are 

 too many words in the " A B C of Bee-Culture." Wait just a 

 little while, and you'll say there are not enough. Some things, 

 perhaps many things, in it are given in which yon feel no par- 

 ticular interest, and others are treated more fully than you 

 care for, but there are others who wouldn't miss those super- 

 abundant words for a good deal. 



6. A bee stings in defence of its life or its home. A 

 pinched bee stings iu defence of its life. A free bee only in 

 defence of its home. A bee that comes from the field has 

 nothing to do with the defence of its home, and I don't believe 

 you could get such a one to sting in any other way than by 

 catching and pinching it. But as a matter of actual practice, 

 handle the bees when it suits you, providing it isn't too cold. 

 You'll find times though, when they are so cross that it will 

 best suit you to let them alone, especially when there is a sud- 

 den check to the honey-flow. 



Combs With Old Dead Brood. 



Last fall, in taking frames out of the hives and replacing 

 with frames filled with honey for the bees to winter on, I found 

 4 or 5 frames that I took out contained a small amount of 

 brood. These frames are all nice worker-comb. I set them 

 away in the shop. Will this dead brood do any harm to give 

 to the bees this spring, or would I better melt the combs up '? 



Luce, Mich. W. C. 



Answer. — It is not at all likely that the dead brood will 

 do any harm, only it will be well not to give too much of it to 

 one colony at the same time. The bees will do wonders in the 

 way of cleaning up dirty combs, but it is possible to 

 give them so much nastiness that they will desert the hive 

 rather than undertake the job. If, however, the dead brood is 

 dry, as it probably is, there will hardly be any danger that 

 you will overdo the matter. 



Xiicleus-Box IMetliod of Makiiis j^iiclei. 



In Mr. Doolittle's work on "Queen-Rearing," he gives a 

 method of making nuclei by means of the nucleus-box, where 

 one has bees in an upper story and queen-excluder between the 

 two stories. I want to make some nuclei in nucleus-boxes for 

 the purpose of introducing some virgin queens, and perhaps 

 some valuable queens from a distance, but I do not want to 

 put on any upper stories. Would there be so much danger of 

 getting the queen as to deter one from shaking the bees from 

 the outside frames of any colony that could spare them, if you 

 wanted to make nucleus in this way ? E. B. 



Answer. — If I understand correctly, the risk would be too 

 great. I suppose you're perhaps counting that the queen 

 would not be likely to be on one of the outside combs. Of 



course she is, or has been, wherever there is brood, and when- 

 ever you find a frame outside the brood that has bees enough 

 on it to make it worth while to take, the queen may think it 

 worth while to be there. 



If you're going into the business of making nuclei, let me 

 tell you an item that perhaps you don't know: A queenless 

 colony is ever so much better than a colony having a queen, if 

 you want to take away bees for a nucleus. Take the frames 

 with adhering bees from a colony having a queen, put each 

 frame separately in a nucleus hive, and so many of the bees 

 will return to the old colony that enough will not be left to 

 take care of the brood. But take the frames in the same way 

 from a queenless colony, and the bees will pretty much all 

 stay just where they're put. At least that has been my ex- 

 perience in a number of cases. 



If I wanted to make nuclei, and didn't want to look for 

 a queen, I think I'd do something like this : Divide the brood 

 and bees of a colony into two equal parts, putting them in 

 two hives side by side on the old stand. Four days later lift 

 out the frames with bees and put them where you want them, 

 taking them from the hive that contains no eggs. 



Wood-Veneer Foundation. 



What about the wood-veneer foundation mentioned some- 

 time ago. Is it in any way superior to all-wax brood-founda- 

 tion ? H. B. 



Answer. — I don't know. I never saw any of it, and was 



not prepossessed in its favor, because at one time foundation 



with a tinfoil base was lauded, and failed on trial. But some 



who have tried the foundation you mention say they have 



found it a success. It will be in order for any, or all, who 



have tried it, to say with what result, whether successful or 



not. 



■ — ■ ^ 



Laying of the Queen — A Boy's Question. 



1. As far as I have learned, the queen lays her egg in the 

 empty cell. Now, is the cell filled with honey after the egg is 

 put in, or is the cell capped over without anything in but the 

 egg? As I am a young beginner, I would like to learn all I 

 can about bees. W. L. Z. 



Answer. — I remember in one instance to see an egg in a 

 cell with pollen in a hive with a normal laying queen, but I 

 never yet saw an egg in a cell with honey. The egg is laid in 

 a clean, empty cell, hatches out into a little grub in about 

 three days, then for about five days the nurse-bees feed it, and 

 then it is sealed over. No honey is put into a cell that contains 

 an egg or a larva. It would be a good plan for you to get a 

 text-book on bees, that would inform you about this and many 

 other things. 



Producing Extracted 



tiie Out-Apiary- 



Sheets of 



Honey — Cointe Honey in 

 -Separators or Full 

 Foundation 'i 



1. In working for extracted honey, would you use full- 

 size or half-depth frames above the brood-chamber ? 



2. Would you use a queen-bar between the brood-chamber 

 and extracting-supers? 



3. Can I run an out-apiary for comb honey, if I have the 

 queens' clipped, without having some one to watch for 

 swarms? 



4. If X use separators, do I need to use full sheets of 

 foundation in sections ? Or is it more profitable to use full 

 sheets, anyway? H. H. P. 



Baraboo, Wis. 



Answers. — 1. If I didn't care anything for expense, I'd 

 use half-depth. The full-depth have the advantage that they 

 can be used interchangeably in the brood-chamber. But some 

 think that the honey is affected by being in combs that have 

 contained brood, so that, all things considered, the weight of 

 argument may be in favor of the shallow frames for surplus 

 honey. Dadant says the queen is not so likely to go into shal- 

 low frames where no excluders are used. 



2. With deep frames I should want excluders. If shallow 

 frames are used in the super it is possible that excluders might 

 not be needed. 



3. I don't know. I've done it for some years, but it might 

 be more satisfactory than it is. 



4. Although there isn't much difference, you'll probably 

 get along better with full sheets than starters when you don't 

 use separators, but so far I have thought it advisable to use 

 both fnll sheets and separators. 



