86 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 8, 1900. 



DR. 



CONDUCTED BY 



O. O. MILLER, Marengo, ni. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Making Swarms Stay Hived. 



After my bees swarm I have trouble in getting tbem to stay 

 in the new hive. Can you give me any advice as to how this diffi- 

 culty can be overcome ? Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— It's a tolerably safe guess to say that the hive is too 

 hot and close for the swarm. Manage some way to have the hive 

 cool and airy for at least two or three days. Raise up the hive, or 

 leave the cover partly oflf, or both. Don't let the hive stand in the 

 sun. Sprinkling well with water will help. If you give the swarm 

 a comb of brood, they are nst likely to leave it. 



Getting All Worker-Comb from Starters. 



How do you manage to have combs built on starters by any 

 colony having a laying queen, and have worker-comb constructed? 



Illinois. 



Answer.— The surest way to have all worker-comb is to have 

 your " starters " fill the frame entirely, and many are of the opin- 

 ion that this is the most economical way. Yet with proper man- 

 agement you can have all worker combs and use only small start- 

 ers. Only it may cost you more in the long run. The knowledge 

 of a few basic principles will be serviceable in the case. Bees with 

 a young queen are less inclined to build drone-comb than those 

 with an old queen. The stronger the force of workers, other things 

 being equal, the more the danger of drone-comb. A newly-hived 

 swarm is not likely to build drone-comb the first few days after 

 being hived. Applying these principles, you will give the prefer- 

 ence as comb-builders to those colonies that have young queens. 

 When a swarm is hived, instead of allowing it to start on S or 10 

 frames, finishing the combs to the bottom only after a number of 

 days, confine the bees on 4 or 5 frames till these are entirely filled 

 with combs, then give drawn-out combs or frames filled with foun- 

 dation to fill the hive. If some combs are built with little patches 

 of drone comb in them, cut out the drone-comb and give the frames 

 to nuclei to complete. 



*-•-• 



What to Have Over the Sections. 



What is the best thing to use on sections in the hives— enam- 

 eled quilts, tin sheets, or nothing ? Alabama. 



Answer — A very light covering only aggravates the case, for 

 the bees will raise it up by thrusting bee-glue under, and then 

 thrust in more glue to fill up the space thus made. If the covering 

 be sufficiently heavy, there will be only a small distance into which 

 the bees can thrust the glue, but they will make desperate efforts 

 to 811 that small space, so that many think it is better to leave a 

 bee-space over the sections without any covering. 



Has the Bee an Extra Sense ? 



I see by Dr. C. C. Miller's answer to my second question, on 

 page 6, that he questions the truth of my statement. Now, if the 

 Doctor will come to my place, when it is time to hunt wild bees 

 next fall, I will convince him that bees will do just ax I stated, or 

 pay him .?100 for bis trouble, and pay his traveling expenses both 

 ways. Massachusetts. 



Answer — I did not understand you to say you had positive 

 testimony that bees would do as you said. It you have had posi- 

 tive proof, I'd rather take your word for it than to come and in- 

 ve.stigate. Still, I'd like to come and take a tramp with you after 

 wild bees, unless you'd go too fast and lose me in the woods. 



Hello, here comes another man to corroborate your statement, 

 at least part of it: 



FURTHER TESTIMONY ON THE SUBJECT. 



On page 6, "Massachusetts" askt why a bee taken from a 

 flower, we will say south of the hive or tree, and carried north and 

 beyond its home, when liberated goes north and away from its 

 home. In your reply you say you don't know, and before believ- 

 ing a bee will do this you should want reliable testimony. All that 

 you will wish for testimony will be to try it. As a bee-keeper of 

 more than 40 years, and a bee-hunter for nearly as many, I find it 

 true, that when we are hunting bees and catch them when out 



working on flowers, and carry them past their home, they invaria- 

 bly start and go out of sight the same direction they would have 

 done from the flower when gathering honey. 



As to the next time, as " Massachusetts" says, after filling its 

 honey-sac it goes direct home, my experience is that not one bee in 

 ten will ever come back to your bait again when carried to the op- 

 posite of its home when caught while out gathering honey. That 

 bees can get "turned round," as we say, I feel sure of, as once 

 when hunting them I caught a large number that were working on 

 a basswood tree, the tree standing a little more than half way up 

 a steep mountain, and on the east side of it. These I fed as usual, 

 and every one went east toward the hive. Just to see what they 

 would do, X filled my box and took a lot of bees from perhaps ten, 

 and carried them just over the top of the mountain, and down 

 part way on the west side, and to my surprise every one of them 

 went west. They circled as if they were not sure where they were, 

 but went down the mountain as before, only in just the opposite 

 direction. 



The bee hunter that has not had much experience often " gets 

 left," as we say, by carrying bees beyond the tree he lines in, as 

 every one, if thus carried, will go in the same direction it would 

 from the flower when caught unless carried over a mountain, as 

 mentioned. Geo. S. Wheeler. 



Hillsboro Co., N. H. 



Probably a Queenless Colony. 



On Sept. 22, 1899, I introduced to colony No. 9, a select breed- 

 ing queen purchast for $2.00 from an Arkansas breeder. Of course, 

 I had previously disposed of the hybrid mother. This Italian queen 

 was accepted and commenced laying. There was no honey coming 

 in, but I was feeding up the colony, as they were somewhat short 

 of stores. Dec. 23 was a warm, pleasant day. and the bees were 

 out for a flight in the afternoon. Dec. 25 I found a dead queen on 

 the alighting-board of No. 9. Jan. 6 and 7 were warm days, and 

 the bees were out in the afternoon. Jan. 19. 20 and 21 were also 

 warm, and during the afternoon of the 20th I noticed that the bees 

 in No. 9 were uneasy, and I strongly suspected from their actions 

 that they were queenless. This afternoon (21st) I noticed that 

 No. 9 was having quite a time with robbers, which appeared to be 

 all coming from hive No. 3, about 25 feet away. 



Now, I would like your opinion as to the queenless (or other- 

 wise) condition of No. 9. Do you imagine that the queen I bought 

 was old and nearly played out at the time I introduced her ? What 

 can I do, now, with No. 9 in order to save it ? I think the bees have 

 enough honey, tho I have not opened the hive as they are well 

 packt on all sides but the front, with straw; they are on the sum- 

 mer stands. I can put No. 9 above a strong colony with a queen. 

 Can I unite in this way at this time of the year ? I have no cellar 

 where I could put this No. 9 colony until spring opens. Iowa. 



Answer. — The testimony points pretty strongly to queenless- 

 ness on the part of No. 9. The queen may have been at fault, and 

 she may havB been all right. Sometimes such things happen with 

 a good queen. 



The probability is that the colony is quite weak, and in that 

 case the best thing may be to let things entirely alone, letting the 

 bees rob out the honey that is in No. 9, for it will not be wasted ; 

 and 11 you go to making changes you may start robbing in some 

 other direction. If, however. No. 9 is strong in bees, it might be 

 worth while to try putting it on top of a strong colony. With not 

 too free ci mmunication between the two, the chances are in favor 

 of peaceable uniting; but if you leave the least chance for an en- 

 trance from the outside to the upper hive, look out for a bad case 

 of robbing. 



*"•*♦ 



Top Hive-Ventilation— German Bee-Paper. 



1. Last spring I bought a colony of bees which I divided, and 

 both swarmed, one of which flew away, which left me 3 colonies. 

 I bought 2 Italian queens, and after uniting 2 of the colonies, I 

 Italianized them in September. In October I put tbem into a 

 house, one hive on top of the other. In December I lookt at them 

 and found one hive wet inside. I then moved them around and 

 left them. January 7 was a fine day, about 43" above zero. I took 

 the bees out for a cleansing flight, and many froze to death. I then 

 put the hives back again, and the next day lookt at them and 

 found water running out of one of the hives. I then ventilated the 

 hives on top, and put a 2inch piece of wood under one end. They 

 appeared to be strong, with plenty of honey. Is the top-ventila- 

 tion right ? 



2. I would like to know what honidug or thaa is. I had 

 lots of bees in Denmark, but kept them out-doors the year around, 

 and never lost a colony. 



3. I am a German and don't understand much English. Is 

 there any German bee-paper publisht in America ? III. \ 



Answers. — 1. If your bees are set in a house, as seems to be 

 the case, that is not considered good practice, that is, if they are 

 entirely enclosed. If they are in a house as is practiced in Ger- 

 many, the front of the hive being free, that is all right. The ven- 

 tilation you have given may be all right, but it might be better to 

 have cushions or cloths on top that would allow the air to pass 

 slowly thru, and still keep the bees warm. 



2. What you inquire about as " honidug or thaa " is probably 

 bonigthau, which is German for honey-dew, which some think to 

 be in all cases the sweetish liquid thrown out by aphides or plant- 

 lice, while others think it also is produced in some cases as a direct 



