506 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 6, 



CONDnCTED BY 

 DR. C. C MIT^T^ER. MARENGO, ILL. 



LQuestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.l 



Cage for Hatcliing Queens. 



Has there ever been anything in the way of a queen-cage 

 to hatch queens from the cells about four days before the time 

 for them to hatch, and keep them there until ready to be re- 

 moved ? If not, I have constructed one which is a success. If 

 it is of any benefit to bee-keepers, they are welcome to it. 

 Those that want to Italianize will find it very useful, and also 

 to queen-breeders. J. B. N. 



Answer. — Yes, such things have been in use for some 

 years. Some use compartments for the cells in the hive, each 

 cell being enclosed separately at any time after being sealed. 

 The queen-nursery is also used, the sealed cells being hatched 

 by artificial heat. 



Frame Crossbar Instead of Wiring. 



If a frame 12j^ inches square inside has a triangular 

 crossbar put through the center of it horizontally, would it be 

 a hindrance or impediment to the queen in laying ? The edge 

 only would come to the outside of the comb, the balance being 

 covered with comb. If this bar would not hinder the queen, 

 wouldn't it be an improvement on thatsizeof frame by stiffen- 

 ing it and holding the comb so there would be no necessity for 

 wiring ? L. J. C. 



Answer. — I doubt if it would make aty difference to the 

 queen. I think, however, I'd rather have the wire. A given 

 number of bees could cover just that much less brood with the 

 stick in the center, while the wire doesn't make any difference. 



L,}'sol as a Cure for Foul Brood. 



I saw in the Bee Journal something about lysol as a cure 

 for foul brood. How can I find out about the treatment ? and 

 where will I find it? J. B. 



Answer. — Lysol is one of the many things that have been 

 reported as successful in curing foul brood, but in this coun- 

 try drugs are not in favor as foul brood cures. Indeed, I think 

 the Roots and others who have had much experience with foul 

 brood, insist that no drug will effect a cure, any drug strong 

 enough to kill the bacilli being strong enough to kill the bee. 

 Lysol is a coal-tar product, and your druggist ought to be able 

 to get it for you. I think it is used mixed with the food given 

 to the bees, but I don't know the proportions. Some time ago 

 it was mentioned as a cure in the German bee-journals, but 

 lately I've seen nothing about it. 



Saving Bees from Brimstoning. 



My uncle is going to kill some of his colonies of bees for 

 their honey. Is there any way I can work my two colonies to 

 get extra stores to put some of his on ? No. 1 is a strong col- 

 ony, but is not in a dovetailed hive, but I can put a dovetailed 

 hive on top. No. 2 is in a dovetailed hive, but will store only 

 enough honey for their own use, if that. How would you do 

 under the same conditions ? No. 2 is the colony that I asked 

 about on page 295. They were queeuless. C. C. 



Belleville, Mich. 



Answer. — Yes, if honey is yielding so that bees are laying 

 up a surplus, there need be no difficulty in getting frames 

 filled ready to put in the bees from your uncle's hives. People 

 that kill bees in the fall to get the honey generally put it off 

 too long. Unless in a place where the fall yield is good, more 

 honey will be got by killing the bees now than by waiting till 



all the honey-plants are frozen up. Of course yon would have 

 a better chance to get the bees in good shape for winter — If 

 any one objects to the word "shape," please see definition 7 

 in Standard Dictionary — if you can have them early. If you 

 can get the bees to fill up some of the frames in the dovetail 

 hive, then you can keep them in readiness for the doomed 

 bees. If honey doesn't yield, you can still get the frames 

 tilled by feeding. Put the dovetail hive over your colony, use 

 the crock-and-plate method, and you can have the frames 

 nicely filled. Of course, if you want the best kind of combs 

 you'll use worker foundation in the frames. If you should get 

 the bees early enough you might get them to fill their own 

 frames by feeding, but it may be the safest thing to have 

 them ready in advance. By feeding you can also get the 

 weaker colony to help iu the work. 



Mollis — Clipped Queen — mustard Honey. 



1. I raise my hive from the bottom and block it up when 

 the bees are slow in going up into the supers. Now, would 

 not the moth have a better chance at this raised hive ? 



2. Suppose a colony is swarming, and the queen's wing is 

 clipped, and you don't watch it closely, wouldn't the queen be 

 liable to be lost ? 



3. Do the bees gather any honey from wild mustard, or 

 such as grows in the grain-fields? What flavor is it ? We 

 also get some honey from golden-rod when favorable. 



Canton, S. Dak. L. A. S. 



Answers. — 1. On the contrary, with a strong colony the 

 moth wouldn't have so good a chance to get in her work. 

 When the hive is down on the bottom-board, the moth has a 

 good chance to lay eggs in the cracks left under the hive, and 

 they also make a good hiding-place for the worms. If a colony 

 is weak enough, raising the hive might leave the lower edges 

 of the combs unprotected by bees, but such weak hives do not 

 generally have supers given them. 



2. Generally the queen will go back into the hive, but 

 part of them will be lost. But in a case where the swarm 

 would come out unobserved, and the queen be lost, if the 

 qneen were not clipped both queen and swarm would be lost. 



3. Yes, the bees get both honey and pollen from it. It's 

 much the same as rape, which is a great honey-plant in Eu- 

 rope, bee-keepers often taking their bees to the rape-fields. I 

 don't know the quality of the honey, but think it is dark and 

 not of the best quality. 



Position of Supers — IMaliing a Swarm Stay. 



1. When you put on the supers with enclosed sections, do 

 you set it directly on top of the brood-frames, or do you raise 

 it a little ? 



2. When you have a swarm do yon pull off the surplus 

 boxes, and get a frame of brood each and every time ? I may 

 be asking foolish questions, but I have been told that when I 

 have a swarm, that in order to be sure that they won't leave, 

 to take a frame of brood and then they won't leave. I had a 

 swarm issue this spring, and I hived them twice the day they 

 came out, and once the second day, and then the third day 

 they came out and went to the woods. Do you know what 

 made them leave ? I had them hived in a new chaff hive with 

 starters in the brood-frames. W. J. E. 



Answers. — 1. A space of one-fourth inch is left between 

 the top-bars and the sections. You can set the sections 

 directly on the top-bars, but in that case the bees will glue the 

 two together, and you will have trouble in getting off the sec- 

 tions as well as having them daubed with glue. 



2. I so seldom hive a natural swarm that my own practice 

 counts for little. A. I. Root says a frame of brood is a sure 

 preventive of desertion, and if I am correct G. M. Doolittle 

 says a frame of brood is pretty sure to make the swarm leave. 

 I don't know just how it is, but I suspect there is truth mixed 

 up on both sides, and that under some circumstances brood 

 will have a tendency to make bees leave. In the great ma- 

 jority of cases heat is probably to blame for the desertion of 

 swarms. If you hive a swarm in a hive standing in a shady 

 place, no surplus boxes on for two or three days, with the hive 

 well ventilated, you will stand a good chance of having the 

 swarm stay. Don't be satisfied with ordinary ventilation. 

 Besides seeing that the hive is open below, let it be partly un- 

 covered on top. 



See "Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 510. 



