164 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Clipping the ftueen's Wing. 



Query, No. 33.— Is it advisable to clip the 

 queeu's winji? What has been the experi- 

 ence with siH'h <|iH'eiiK y Are they more likely 

 toVie siniei-si'ilril liy the bees, than those ha\- 

 ing- perfect wings y—Towson, Md. 



Du. J. P. H. BuowN answers thus : 

 " It is not at all advisable to clip 

 queens' wings in an apiary where the 

 ground swarms with ants ; unless such 

 queens with clipped wings are looked 

 after when the bees are swarming, 

 they may fall to the ground, and the 

 ants will soon kill them." 



G. M. DoOLiTTLE says: "After 

 practicing the clipping of queens' 

 wings for 15 years, I am still an en- 

 thusiastic advocate of the plan, and 

 would as soon go back to box-hives 

 and black bees, as to leave off the 

 practice of clipping the queen's wing. 

 %ly experience with sucli (jueens 

 proves them just as good as those 

 riaving wings, and that they are no 

 more liable to be superseded than 

 others." 



G. W. Demaree replies thus : 

 " Queens with clipped wings have not 

 given satisfaction, in a general way, 

 in my apiary ; therefore I cannot 

 advise such a course. Colonies that 

 have queens whose wings are clipped, 

 and those having very old queens, for 

 like reasons, are inclined to swarm in 

 season and otit of season, t^ueens 

 with clipped wings give me more 

 trouble than do the best of flyers." 



W. Z. Hutchinson remarks as fol- 

 lows : " Colonies with queens whose 

 wings are clipped have given me more 

 trouble than those having tiueens 

 with undipped wings. I am not pos- 

 itive that a queen with a clipped wing 

 is more likely to be superseded, but 

 there are some ' pointers ' in that di- 

 rection." 



Dr. C. C. Miller answers as fol- 

 lows : " I should dislike very much 

 to do without clipping my queens' 

 wings, and I doubt if it makes any 

 difference about their being super- 

 seded." 



Prof. A. J. Cook says : " It is ad- 

 visable to clip queens' wings, and of- 

 ten, when the bees cannot be watched, 

 it is absolutely essential to success. 

 It is no injury to tlie queens, nor does 

 the operation make the queen any less 

 acceptable to the bees. I liave prac- 

 ticed this largely for I'l years, and 

 have liad many sucli (pieens remain 

 the prolitable heads i>f colonies for li. 

 4, and even •> years. Clipping queens' 

 wings is not only practically valua- 

 ble, out it is scientific, as I have shown 

 in my Manual." 



Bit. G. L. Tinker replies thus : "I 

 advise clipping the queen's wing 

 where the bee-master or an assistant 

 can be on hand to attend to swarming. 



They are not more liable to be super- 

 seded if it is done properly. I clip the 

 whig as follows: "Take the queen 

 from the comb bv the wings with the 

 right hand, transfer her to the thumb 

 and forethiger of the left hand, hold- 

 ing gently by the thorax ; then with 

 sharp-pointed scissors clip only one of 

 the larger wings lengthwise, taking 

 off about I3 or J^ of the thin edge. If 

 only ij is cut off, the queen may fly, 

 but always alights close by on a small 

 tree or bush near the ground. I have 

 had several Syrian queens to fly with 

 clipped wings." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., answers as follows: 

 " I am not an advocate of wing-clip- 

 ping, and have had but little expe- 

 rience in that direction, simply be- 

 cause I And it less trouble to allow the 

 queens to go unmaimed. I have not, 

 however, found that those queens 

 having clipped wings were any more 

 liable to be superseded than others. 

 My impression is, that superseding, as 

 a rule, is caused by failure on the 

 part of the queen as an egg-layer, and 

 not on account of any clipping. I un- 

 fortunately in clipping one queen took 

 off a leg also, but this seemed to make 

 no difference, as she did her duty well 

 for over S years, and then was lost in 

 a swarming fit on the part of the 

 bees." 



.James Heddon says : " My expe- 

 rience with large apiaries, continually 

 attended during the swarming sea- 

 son, is, that I can get along with less 

 labor and loss when my queens' wings 

 are not clipped. My exjjerience here 

 has been that swarms having queens 

 with clipped wings are much more lia- 

 ble to re-swarm.^ Yes, colonies will 

 quite frequently supersede queens 

 whose wings are clipped, tliough per- 

 fect in all other ways." 



Comb Honey without Separators. 



Cliiory, No. 34.— Is it practicable to pio- 

 duce comb honey in marketable shape with- 

 out the use of separators ?— Pine Grove, Pa. 



W. Z. Hutchinson says that " with 

 the proper fixtures and bees it is, but 

 it does not follow, as a matter of 

 course, that it is advisable for every 

 body to dispense with separators." 



Prof. A. J. Cook says : " Yes, 

 when men have learned how." 



Dr. J. I'. H. IJrown replies thus : 

 " It is. The sections should be from 

 1}^ to 1''8 inches wide. If you wish to 

 use sections 1 lo-iu or 1! inches wide, 

 you had better use separators." 



Du. C. C. Miller answers as fol- 

 lows : " It is with some, and not with 

 others. Perhaps the management has 

 something to do witli it. I have not 

 made a success of it." ' • 



G. ^V. Demakkk replies as follows : 

 "With setitions of proper width, and 

 properly adjusted on the liives, 1 un- 

 hesitatingly answer, yes." 



t;. M. DoOLiTTLE remarks as fol- 

 lows : " Not where the sections are 

 to be glassed ; and I prefer to use them 

 always, whether the honey is to be 

 glassed or not." 



Ja.mes Heddon replies thus : " In 

 some localities, with some apiarists 

 and with fixtures in good shape, it has 

 proven entirely satisfactory and prac- 

 tical, but there are many who will 

 gain by never giving up the use of 

 separators." 



J. E. Pond, .Jr., answers thus : 

 ■' Yes, I think it is. Sections should 

 not be over IJI inches in width; l^g 

 would be better still. I think, how- 

 ever, with bee-keepers generally, it 

 will be found far more trouble than to 

 use separators ; so much more so, in 

 fact, that the majority will prefer to 

 use them, and will find that it will 

 much more than pay the difference in 

 expense and loss in amount of honey 

 caused by their use." 



Dr. G. L. Tinker replies as fol- 

 lows : " It is practicable to produce 

 comb honey in marketable shape 

 without the use of separators, but not 

 in a case 12 inches or more in width. 

 I succeed admirably with a case 9 

 inches wide and holding 24 one-pound 

 or 18 two-pound sections, if the foun- 

 dation starters are fastened rightly. 

 With me, separators are a nuisance." 



How to Ripen Honey. 



ttuery. No. 3.5.— What is the best plan of 

 ripeninj^ iioney ? Here, we cannot afford to 

 wait uutil it ripens in the hive, as the bees 

 would remain idle too much of tlie time.— 

 New Heads, La. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE says : " Put it 

 into 300-pound tin cans, or vessels of 

 any kind or capacity, having such ves- 

 sels in a room whose temperature can 

 be kept at 90"^ to KHP for a month or 

 so, leaving the top of the can open. 

 Tie cotton cloth over the top to keep 

 out dirt and flies." 



G. W. Demaree answers as fol- 

 lows: "Leave it with the bees to 

 evaporate it. Adopt the ' tiering-up ' 

 system, and your bees will not have to 

 remain idle a moment. They will at 

 the same time gather honey, and fin- 

 ish up that which has already been 

 stored." 



James Heddon replies thus : " In 

 large apiaries run exclusively to ex- 

 tracted honey, I think the right 

 method of artificial evaporation will 

 prove in the future to be the best and 

 most successful plan; but for a less 

 number of colonies, it will be best that 

 the bees ripen the honey, and, by a 

 proper management of the ' tiering- 

 up' plan, no time nor honey need be 

 lost to tlie bees," 



W. Z. IIUTcniNsoN remarks as fol- 

 lows : " I liave had no experience in 

 ripening honey outside of a bee-hive, 

 except hy exiiosing it in open vessels 

 covered with muslin to exclude dust. 

 I think that ripened by the bees is of 

 liner flavor. If it is desirable to ripen 

 it artilicially, the evaporation can be 

 greatly hastened by allowing the 

 honey to slowly run from one large 

 sheet of tin to another, from that to 

 another, continuhig this until it has 

 passed over a sutlicient number of 

 sheets to tiring it to a proper con- 

 sistency. The sheets of tin can be ar- 

 ranged above each other." 



