1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



455 



In due time a queen hatched, and is now laying as good as any 

 others, but she is just like an Italian queen, a bright leather 

 (yellow) color almost to the tip of her tail, and all of her bees 

 are characterized with the five bands, a bright yellow color 

 just like some of my Italians. What is the second one — 

 black, hybrid or Italian? 



3. Why is it that the bees that work on foundation are so 

 long and slim, while those that are on the brood are so plump 

 and fat looking ? 



4. What is a " Holy-Land" bee ? Can they be bought in 

 this country ? J- B. D. 



Answers. — 1. I should be inclined to think that last year, 

 perhaps in the fall, a young queen had been reared, and had 

 mated with a yellow drone, thus making a hybrid colony from 

 which you might expect to find workers of various shades. 



2. Certainly it isn't black. And if all the workers are 

 yellow it's hard to call it hybrid. It's barely possible that a 

 young queen from some yellow colony flew into the hive and 

 was accepted, for virgin queens have a way of going to other 

 hives than their own. 



o. I don't know. I never noticed that difference. 



4. The Holy-Land bee comes from Syria, and is also 

 called Syrian. It is doubtful If you can, at the present time, 

 find any pure Holy-Lands in this country. Years ago they 

 were brought Into this country, but no one seems to have 

 cared enough for them to continue them in their purity. 



JLate Preparation of Bees for Winter. 



1. I can get a number of colonies of bees given to me by 

 people who keep them in box-hives, about Oct. 1, 1896. If I 

 transfer them into dovetailed hives on full sheets of founda- 

 tion, and feed them sugar syrup with a Miller feeder, will 

 they draw the cells during the months of October and Novem- 

 ber, and carry the syrup below ? 



2. How many pounds of syrup will each colony require to 

 winter them ? 



3. I have a new stone building with 18-inch walls; in- 

 side measurements are 5j^x5J^x63^ feet, pitch roof, under 

 side of rafters lathed and plastered, a vent hole 4x6 inches in 

 the east gable end ; doors '2}i\'o}^ feet, out aud inside, facing 

 the west, quite tight-fitting. Will this be all right to winter 

 30 colonies of bees in 8-frame dovetailed hives, tiered up ? 

 Would you advise the enamel cloth alone or chaff cushion ? 



4. Shall I use thick or thin syrup? P. O. 

 Northampton, N. Y. 



Answers. — 1. That depends on the weather. If it's 

 warm enough there will be no trouble about it, but if the 

 weather continues so cold that bees will not fly you can't get 

 them to work out their combs. In August or September it's 

 fun to see how nicely they'll fill and cap combs from founda- 

 tion, and if you can have weather warm enough in October 

 they may do just as well then. But you'll not always get the 

 weather. 



3. That depends somewhat on the size of the colony. 

 Fifteen pounds of granulated sugar may take a fair colony 

 through, but if they can be got to take 20 it will be better. 



3. Such a building will do finely under ground, but above 

 ground it will be pretty sure to prove a failure. The thick 

 walls will help to keep a steady temperature, but it will be 

 steadily cold, and a steady temperature of 30^ is worse than 

 to have it part of the time at 10^ and part of the time at 50°. 

 The enamel cloth alone, or a board cover alone, is all right if 

 the bees are in a cellar that is warm enough and have abun- 

 dant chance for ventilation below. But it ought to be pretty 

 warm for enamel cloth. It's just the least bit like a metal 

 surface, and the moisture from the bees condenses on it and 

 drops down on the bees. For a colder place the chaff cush- 

 ions would be safer. 



4. For feeding in October it will be probably necessary to 

 have the syrup thick, for if fed thin there will be too little 

 time for the bees to thicken it. And yet it seems to work bet- 

 ter toward working out combs if the syrup is fed thin. Very 

 likely, too, the bees will make some change in the character 



of the stores when fed thin that they cannot so well make 

 when fed thick. I suspect that thick syrup would have less 

 formic acid put in it than thin, and that stores made from 

 thin syrup in hot weather would be healthier for the bees than 

 thick syrup fed in cool weather. 



On the whole, it is somewhat doubtful if you can make a 

 great success of October-made colonies. I'll tell you what I 

 should do if I wanted to take bees in October to prepare for 

 winter : I'd commence to get ready for it as early as August, 

 and I'd have the combs of sealed stores all ready to put them 

 on in October. I'm taking it for granted that you have colo- 

 nies of bees in frame hives that can be used to get ready the 

 combs. If they are getting a flood of honey in August, well 

 and good, let them fill up and seal combs to be ready for Octo- 

 ber. But as soon as forage becomes scarce, put on your feed- 

 ers and set them to work, not on sugar syrup, but on sugar 

 and water, and plenty of water. 



You can use the crock-and-plate method that has been 

 described more than once in these columns, but as you have 

 Miller feeders you can use them, and except for the matter of 

 expense I much prefer the feeders. Stuff rags in the cracks 

 left for the passage of the syrup from one compartment to 

 another, so that grains of sugar cannot pass through, but not 

 so tight as to stop passage of water at least slowly. Put into 

 the feeder the sugar, then pour water on it. It isn't so par- 

 ticular what proportion of water you use. Better pour on 

 just a little at first, say a tenth as much water as sugar, and 

 let that stand a quarter or half an hour before putting in 

 more. If you put in a big lot of water at first, it will run 

 through clear before it has time to dissolve the sugar, and 

 there will be so little sweet in it that the bees will not take it. 

 But put in a little at first and that will get the sugar partly 

 dissolved, and then you can pour in more. If there is room 

 for it in the feeder, you may put in as much as a pint of water 

 for every pound of sugar, but it doesn't matter if you put in 

 less, for you can fill in more water as fast as the bees use it 

 out. 



With combs got ready in this way you may have a good 

 deal fairer prospect of success than to attempt to get combs 

 built in October. Of course, you will put your bees on these 

 combs, and you will do well to be sure to give them plenty. 



Orowing Too Fast— Queen-Rearing. 



This is my first year in bee-keeping, and I find it easy to 

 succeed. I have now 12 colonies, and I intend to increase to 

 100 for next year, partly by buying, and then go to queen- 

 rearing. Do you think that will be going too fast ? 



C. B. 



Answer. — Very decidedly I should say that as a rule no 

 one is likely to be able to run very successfully 100 colonies 

 in his second year. I don't say the thing can't be done. 

 It might be, but the chances are very much the other way. 

 Neither is any one likely to be a successful queen-breeder in 

 his second year. At least I'd rather not buy queens from him. 

 And there isn't such a bonanza in queen-rearing as some 

 think. The business is probably much overdone. Taking 

 into account the failures and perplexities connected with the 

 business, I'd rather stick to honey-production. 



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»-*-*■ 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 461. 



