April 12, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOUFNAL 



231 



to ask, Is the cause of no brood the lack of pollen ? If so, 

 what is your opinion in rejrard to a substitute, that is, what 

 is best to use ? My other ID colonies came thru in fair con- 

 dition, with plenty of honey. Michigan. 



Answer. — The absence of pollen is sufficient to account 

 for the absence of brood. Very likely by this time the bees 

 have g'athered enough pollen to start brood-rearing. If not, 

 you may be able to give frames of pollen from other hives ; 

 or, give them a feed of oats and corn ground together. 

 Put it in a shallow box, say 6 inches deep. Put a stone 

 under one end of the box so as to tip it up facing the sun ; 

 when the bees have dug it down level, turn the box end for 

 end. When the fine portion is all taken out by the bees', the 

 rest can be fed to four-legged stock. If more convenient, 

 ground corn, bran, or Graham flour may be used. Set the 

 box in the open air in a sunny place. A few drops of honey 

 may be used to start the bees to work. If they get natural 

 pollen, )'ou can't get them to take the substitute. 



Queens with Clipt Wings— Swarming. 



I dipt my queens' wings early last spring, so as to be 

 sure to get the first swarms. As I am not always at home 

 I thought this to be a sure plan. I have since been told that 

 queens did not do so well with dipt wings. What do you think 

 about it ? Photographer. 



Answer. — So long as a queen stays in a hive, it doesn't 

 make a particle of difference whether she is clipt or not. 

 The difference comes when she attempts to go with a 

 swarm. But clipping a queen is far from making sure that 

 bees will not leave if they have no attention. If the queen 

 is clipt the swarm will return, but in 8 or 10 days a young 

 queen will come out with the swarm, and will be more likely 

 to take French leave than an old queen with wings. 



Those Divisible Brood-Chamber Box-Hives. 



I was very much interested in Mr. Davenport's article 

 on page 179, as I have just made 9 hives for an experiment 

 that almost coincide with his. My top-bars are 1% inches 

 wide. The)' make lath here 1 "i inches, and that would leave 

 a bee-space and give 1}4 inches between centers, if I figure 

 correctly. I had intended to put in inch starters, but I don't 

 see why full width could not be used with little danger, the 

 same as in frames not wired. Do you think drone-comb 

 would be apt to be a factor if starters were used ? I was 

 much pleased to note that the bees did not fasten the combs 

 to the box below when the hives were tiered, for that was 

 what seemed natural to me to expect. Penn. 



Answer. — Mr. Davenport no doubt gets lath the same 

 width as you, but of course planes them down to the right 

 width. 



It is quite possible that foundation full depth might be 

 used, especially if the foundation is heavy or of such char- 

 acter as to stretch little. Drone-comb will undoubtedly be 

 a factor if starters only are used. Yet you can accomplish 

 a good deal by management. A swarm newly hived builds 

 mostly worker-comb for the first 10 days or more. Give one 

 of these shallow stories to a swarm, and it would be nearly 

 or quite filled with comb before drone-comb would be com- 

 menced. Then a second story could be given with combs 

 fully built. 



*-•-• 



Renewing Brood-Combs, Cleaning Supers, Etc. 



1. How often do you change the frames in the brood- 

 chamber, or do the bees, while strong, keep it clean ? We 

 have a few bees, and I can not find anything about this ques- 

 tion in my paper or books. 



2. Please tell a good way to clean bee-glue from supers, 

 lam using salsoda arid Jiot water. With a knife I scrape 

 them all clean. I am cleaning 6 old hives and 9 supers. 

 It takes time, but they look nice afterward. Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. In this country bee-keepers do not renew 

 the brood-combs, no matter how old. Some of mine are 30 

 years old and older, and for aught I know are good for an- 

 other 30 years. The bees do all that is necessary toward 

 keeping them clean. 



2. For cleaning bee-glue from anything of tin, such as 

 T tins, probably nothing is better than to put them in a hot 

 solution of concentrated lye. I have tried the same thing 

 on wood, but it is not so satisfactory. I simply use a com- 



'mon hatchet, scraping back and forth with a sidewise mo- 

 tion. No washing of any kind is needed. You will proba- 

 bly find that you can .scrape a super in much less time with 

 a hatchet than with a knife. 



A Queen Question. 



A queen was killed and brought out of the hive March 

 25 by the bees. The hive was examined the 26th and I 

 found two queen-cells about half finisht, with larvji; about 

 3 or 4 days old. There is brood in all stages in the hive 

 from 2 to 3 days old to hatching out. What I want to know 

 is, will this colony come out all right this time of the year 

 with the young queen it is rearing, or should the colony 

 have an old queen ? There are no eggs in the hive. 



Tennessee. 



Answer. — The main question is whether the young 

 queen will be fertilized. As far .south as Tennessee the 

 chances ought to be fair, especially if the sea.son be early. 

 As a matter of precaution it may be well to give the colony 

 young brood 2 or 3 weeks after the date of the death of the 

 queen. 



Basswood— Introducing New Blood— Anti-Swarming 

 Management. 



1. I have in my pasture about 20 acres of brushland un- 

 fit for cultivation, which I want to clear and leave the bass- 

 wood for the bees. The trees stand in bunches from 5 to IS 

 in a bunch, and are about 30 feet high. How many would 

 you leave in a bunch ? I intend to leave nothing but the 

 basswood. 



2. How often would you advise introducing new blood 

 in an apiary when your neighbor bee-keepers neglect 

 the same ? 



3. Would there be any swarming from an 8-frame, 2- 

 story hive run for extracted honey with a queen-excluder 

 and 3 stories added at the beginning of the honey-flow, and 

 a fourth story added if needed ? 



I am thinking of starting an out-yard and running it in 

 that way, and can be there but once a week. Wis. 



Answers. — 1. It depends on how far apart the trees are. 

 Probably 30 feet apart will be a good distance for trees of 

 that height. 



2. If your neighbors have bees in all directions about 

 you, there is less need to introduce fresh blood to avoid in- 

 and-in breeding than if your apiarj' contained the only bees 

 within 10 miles. But if you are trying to keep Italian blood 

 in your apiary, and black bees are all about you, a fresh 

 Italian queen every 2 or 3 years would be a good thing. 



3. You would probably have very little or no swarming 

 i/a. large entrance is open to each story. You might make 

 the matter still more sure by putting all the brood above 

 the excluder at the beginning of the honey-flow, leaving 

 the queen below. This is on the supposition that you work 

 for extracted honey. 



Clipping Queens and Their Swarms. 



I have IS colonies of bees, and I wish to run for comb 

 honey especially. I have 12 hives, just purchast, to receive 

 the swarms the coming season. 



1. Would you advise me to clip all of my queens' wings ? 

 If so, during v/hatpart of which month ? 



2. Does this clipt-wing queen then issue with the first 

 swarm next season ? 



I am not physically able to climb trees, etc., after 

 swarms. My hives are roomy and very well shaded, and 

 bees mostly Italians. Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. Most assuredly, I think it advisable for 

 you to have all laying queens clipt. Then when a swarm 

 issues, instead of having to get it off a tree, here's what you 

 have to do : Watch for, find, and cage the queen. Set the 

 hive to one side and put in its place the hive for the recep- 

 tion of the swarm, putting at or in the entrance of this hive 

 the caged queen. When the swarm returns and is entering 

 the hive, or after it has entered, let the queen run into the 

 hive. Clip queens during any part of any month when it 

 is warm enough for bees to fly freely. The main point with 

 you is to get them dipt before swarming-time. 



2. The queens that you will clip, that is, the ones that 

 are now in the hives, are the ones that will issue with 

 swarms this summer. 



