714 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 8, 1900. 



of bees with each queen — till they commenced laj'ing. I 

 can save my young queens in that way, but then I can not 

 safely give them strength except by giving them hatching 

 brood, and I do not often have a frame of that without 

 larva?, which these few bees are unable to nurse. 



Heretofore my bees had been blacks and Italians till 6 

 years ago, and since then I have had a mixture of golden. 

 And the man who had trouble with his virgins also had 

 some golden blood with his. Is it possible that that cross 

 has had anything to do with it ? 



Unless you have heard of other such cases I fear you 

 will consider me untruthful, and perhaps insane ; but I 

 don't know that I can furnish you any " more reliable testi- 

 mony " — except for you to come and see for yourself. 



2. Is it considered that bees that have been reared in a 

 foul-broody colony have less vigor and energ^y than others ? 



When I read of using bees for incubators, my daughter 

 suggested that " fowl "-broody bees would be best for that 

 purpose. Wyoming. 



Answers. — 1. If a man should tell me that his bees 

 came into his house, took some ropes, and harnessing part 

 of their number moved their hive into a more sheltered lo- 

 cation, I would have some doubt as to his veracity or san- 

 ity ; short of that I could swallow whole almost anything 

 told about bees, so I have no trouble in believing your story. 



I wonder if you have told the whole of the story. You 

 don't say what you do when you find a queen balled. Do 

 you just leave the queen to her fate, or do you try to rescue 

 her? I often find a queen balled, and if I try to free her 

 from her tormentors, there is danger she may be treated 

 the worse for it. But when I find a queen balled, I close the 

 hive as quickly as possible, and the next time I get around 

 to the hive the probability is that the queen is all right. 

 This is true whether the queen be a laying one or a virgin. 

 It is probably a ver_v common thing for virgin queens to be 

 balled on returning from a wedding-trip, for the common- 

 ness of torn wings points that way, but if the bee-keeper 

 does not interfere they are likely to come out all right. 



When a queen is caged, the bees seem to think she is 

 not all right, for if she's all right why doesn't she keep on 

 laying ? And so it is not strange that they may have some 

 thought of superseding her ? 



When giving strange bees to a queen, the chance for 

 peace will be greater if the strange bees are from a queen- 

 less colony. 



One would hardly think that a certain strain of blood 

 would make a difference about balling queens, but still it is 

 possible. 



2. Yes, the likelihood is that bees in a foul-broody col- 

 ony are weaker for the presence of the disease. 



Carpenter-Bees— Presence of Drones. 



1. I enclose you two MarechalNiel rose leaves that bees 

 have cut pieces out of and carried off, for what purpose I 

 would like to know. 



2. Do the presence of drones in hives at this time de- 

 note queenlessness ? Alabama. 



Answers. — These leaves were not cut by hive-bees, but 

 by carpenter-bees. With powerful and sharp jaws like a 

 pair of scissors, they cut with great rapidity. Then they 

 carry away the pieces and use them to construct a very in- 

 genious nest. 



2. The presence of drones is not conclusive proof of 

 queenlessness. Here and there a few drones may be found 

 quite late, and in rare cases they are suffered to remain 

 over winter, notwithstanding the presence of a good queen. 



Transferring Bees 



(lueen-Excluders 

 Frames. 



Extracting- 



1. When and how would you transfer colonies in hives 

 with odd-size frames into dovetailed hives with Hoffman 

 frames filled with full sheets of foundation ? I do not want 

 to increase my number of colonies nor diminish my honey 

 crop. 



2. I am thinking of producing extracted honey. I do 

 not like queen-excluders. Would you advise me to tier up 

 and extract from the hive-bodies ? 



3. Are the shallow extracting-frames better than the 

 full-depth ones ? Northern Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. If white clover is your main crop, at the 

 beginning of the white clover harvest take away all combs 

 from a colony and give frames of foundation in place. That 



will leave the colony in the condition of a swarm, with- 

 no thought of swarming, and giving full attention to the 

 honey-crop. Just possibly, however, you might transfer 

 the combs from one frame to another in fruit-bloom, sav- 

 ing the expense of the foundation. If you intend to work 

 for extracted hone.v, proceed in this way : At the begin- 

 ning of the harvest, put on the stand a hive filled with 

 frames of foundation, over this a queen-excluder, and over 

 the excluder the hive of brood, bees, etc., making sure that 

 the queen is in the lower story. 



2. Better overcome your dislike to queen-excluders. If 

 that's too tough a job, tier up, and extract from those combs 

 that have the most honey and the least brood. 



3. Yes.the objection being that they can not be used in- 

 terchangeably as brood-combs. 



Late Dividing— Catnip Seed— Bee Journal Index. 



I have 4 colonies of bees that gathered enough for win- 

 ter, but no surplus. There was no surplus honey in this lo- 

 cality this year. 



1. I have one colony of bees with two full brood-cham- 

 bers — one the regular brood-chamber ; I put the other on for 

 honey, and the queen took possession, and now there is 

 brood in both. Can I make two colonies of this? There 

 are too many bees to drive into the one body. I believe 

 there is but one queen. I have the S-banded Italians. 



2. Where can I obtain catnip seed ? and at what price ? 



3. Is there an index to the Bee Journal ? Kans.\S. 



Answers. — 1. At this time of year it would be unwise 

 to divide the colony. The colony is in all probability none 

 too strong for good wintering, and when a cold day comes 

 you may be surprised to find into %vhat a small space the 

 bees can pack themselves. 



2. For S cents you can get a packet of catnip seed from 

 any leading seed-dealer. Watch the advertising columns 

 of the Bee Journal about next February or March for seed 

 offers. 



3. A full and very valuable index appears at the close 

 of each volume of this journal. 



Value of Having Queens Clipt. 



I wrote you some time ago your premium queen was 

 killed, but she is not. I placed the caged queen between 

 the combs for the bees to eat out the candy, and I did not 

 open the hive till 10 days later, at which time the queen was 

 out of the cage and there was no eggs laid but a number of 

 sealed queen-cells, and I at once told you the queen was lost. 



But a few weeks ago I sent to Ohio for an Italian 

 queen ; on receiving her I wanted to introduce her to this 

 same colony. I opened the hive and found the colony strong 

 in bees, and plenty of brood, and your queen with the clipt 

 wing. 



I always thought the new queen destroyed the cells as 

 soon as she got out of the cage. 



The queen is a good layer, for she has a strong family, 

 and I will say the clipt wing saved your queen. I am thank- 

 ful for having it so arranged as to have them clipt. The 

 bees from your queen are one, two, and three banded, and 

 I am well pleased with them. I will try them in 1901 as 

 honey-gatherers. I hope you will excuse my mistake. 



Iowa. 



Answer. — This is another instance of the advantage 

 of having a queen clipt. But for the clipt wing this queen 

 would have been destroyed as an interloper. It also shows 

 that one must not be too hasty in voting a queen absent. 

 Many a time it happens that a new queen does not lay for 

 several days after leaving a cage ; in some cases not for a 

 week. Neither is the presence of queen-cells in such cases 

 proof of queenlessness. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



