246 



THE AMERICA!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Clipping the ftneen's Wing, etc 



DU. C. C. 3IILLEK, (200—293). 



Bee-keepers differ as to the advis- 

 ability of clipping queens' wings. 

 Those who advise against it iiave 

 conveniences for hiving swarms, and 

 some one on hand constantly to hive 

 them. If my queens' wings were un- 

 dipped, I should make it my study to 

 have the best arrangements possible 

 for hiving swarms without any climb- 

 ing or sawing off limbs of trees. 

 Taking all things into consideration, 

 I mucn prefer to have my queens' 

 wings clipped, and give herewith my 

 plan of proceeding with reference to 

 swarms : 



A colony whose queen has a clipped 

 wing will make preparations and 

 swarm just as if the queen's wings 

 were whole. Of course the queen 

 cannot go with them, and sometimes 

 the swarm will circle around in the 

 air for a few minutes, and return to 

 the hive ; at other times they will 

 cluster on a tree or other object and 

 remain from a few minutes to half an 

 hour before returning. As a general 

 rule the swarm goes back to its own 

 hive, but occasionally the whole or 

 part of the swarm goes to some other 

 hive. I do not know that I have ever 

 lost anything from this cause, as the 

 same bees will store just as much 

 honey in another hive as if they had 

 remained in their own. 



Some one must be on hand to watch 

 for swarms. A bright and faithful 

 boy or girl will do very well if the 

 owner is occupied. I have on hand a 

 numbpr of queen-cages of the cheap- 

 est kind. When a swarm issues the 

 watcher looks for the queen. She 

 may be seen on the alighting-board, 

 but I have been more successful in 

 watching for her on the ground in 

 front of the alighting-board, and I 

 generally find her not many inches 

 distant ; sometimes, however, she may 

 crawl off several feet. Generally the 

 queen is seen and caught while the 

 swarm is issuing. She may be among 

 the first that come out. but oftener 

 she is among the last. If not found 

 before the bees of the swarm have all 

 returned to the hive, it is hardly 

 worth w^hile to look longer for her, 

 although I have sometimes found the 

 queen an hour or more later, some 

 distance (once more than a rod) from 

 the hive, with a small cluster of at- 

 tendant bees. If the queen has not 

 been found, the probability is that 

 she has gone back into the hive to 

 come out again a day or more later. 



After the queen is caught and 

 caged, different plans maybe adopted. 

 One way is to remove the hive to a 

 new location, and put an empty hive 

 in its place, for the returning swarm 

 to enter. Give them a frame of brood 

 and their queen, and the work is 

 done. The old colony is so reduced 

 by removal that there is little danger 

 of a second swarm issuing. It any 

 fears of this should be entertained, a 

 part of the bees may be shaken from 

 the combs in front of the new hive 

 (taking care not to shake the comb on 



which may be the best queen cell), or 

 all the queen-cells but one may be 

 destroyed. 



Another plan is to shake most of 

 the bees from the combs, leaving only 

 enough to care for the brood, and put 

 these combs with the few bees, into a 

 new hive ; give them the queen, put 

 in or leave in the old hive two or three 

 combs on which are no queen-cells (I 

 prefer those which have only sealed 

 brood and eggs— no unsealed larvcC), 

 replace the supers, and put the hive 

 which now contains the queen on top 

 of the supers. These bees with the 

 queen will promptly destroy all queen- 

 cells, and in about ten days this hive 

 may be put down where the colony 

 was originally, and the hive with two 

 or three frames may be removed and 

 used as a nucleus hive, enough bees 

 remaining with it wherever it is put, 

 to form a good nucleus and rear a fine 

 queen, providing the eggs that were 

 given it be of good stock. 



Marengo, 5 Ills. 



Fur tlie American Bee Journal. 



What Causes Bee-Diarrhea? 



W. Z. HUTCHIN.SON, (G8— 94). 



Bee-diarrhea is the result of an 

 overloaded condition of the intestines. 

 I think that few, if any, will dispute 

 this. We may have different theories 

 in regard to the causes which bring 

 about this overloaded condition, but 

 can we not all meet upon the common 

 ground covered by my first sentence V 



Analysis and microscopical exami- 

 nations have both shown that the ex- 

 creta of bees is mostly undigested 

 particles of pollen, and the logical 

 conclusion is that, if the bees ate no 

 pollen their intestines would not be- 

 come overloaded. The correctness of 

 this conclusion has been proved time 

 and again. Diarrhea lias been pro- 

 duced by giving the bees pollen, and 

 prevented by with-holding it, when 

 all other conditions were alike. The 

 first colony with no pollen in its stores 

 has yet to perish from diarrhea. 



The stupidity exhibited by some in 

 asserting that the pollen theory is a 

 chimera, because bees in warm 

 climates never suffer from diarrhea, 

 is truly amazing. Bees in warm 

 climates are free from diarrhea simply 

 because they can enjoy frequent 

 flights. 



Because it is only in the higher 

 latitudes that diarrhea makes such 

 sad havoc among the bees, it has been 

 asserted tliat it is caused by cold. 

 Very well, we will put the bees in a 

 warm cellar, are they now free from 

 diarrhea V Unfortunately, they are 

 not, and thus perishes the "" cold 

 theory." 



Now another class steps forward, 

 and, with confident air, they all ex- 

 claim in chorus: ''Now, we have 

 found it, its confinement!" N'ot too 

 fast. Some of the colonies in a cellar 

 are dead from diarrhea; others not 

 yet dead will dwindle in the spring 

 and die ; others have only a " touch " 

 of diarrhea, and will probably " pull 

 tlirough ;" while still others are en- 

 tirely free from diarrhea. Where is 



the confinement theory now, as all 

 were confined alike V 



Please do not understand me as in- 

 timating that cold and confinement 

 have no bearing upon the subject. 

 The effect of cold is to induce greater 

 consumption of food, consequently 

 the sooner do the intestines become 

 overloaded. Confinement simply pre- 

 vents the bees from discharging the 

 contents of their intestines in the 

 open air. Cold is not necessary to 

 the production of bee-diarrhea, while 

 confinement is ; but it should not be 

 forgotten that while there cannot be 

 diarrhea without confinement, there 

 can be conlinemeut without diarrhea. 



Then there are the questions of 

 ventilation and humidity ; but as bees 

 have both lived and died during the 

 same winter in well ventilated cel- 

 lars and hives, and buried in the 

 earth, and in a dry atmosphere as 

 well as a wet one, I can but look upon 

 these as having but little bearing 

 upon the subject. 



Will those who continue to use the 

 expression " dry feces," and those 

 who believe that bees ever discharged 

 their feces in a dry state, please turn 

 to page 620 of the Bee Journal for 

 1882, and read the account of Prof. 

 (Jook's experiments upon this subject? 



The latest theory is " hibernation." 

 In the first place, Mr. Clarke started 

 out with a false assumption. Bees in 

 forest homes of their own choosing, 

 are no more free from diarrhea than 

 are bees in the modern chaff-hive, or 

 in the cellar. Were bees living in 

 hollow trees, comparatively free from 

 diarrhea, the forests would long ere 

 this have fairly teemed with bees. 

 Mr. Clarke should, however, have the 

 credit of having started a new line of 

 reasoning; and, although it may lead 

 to nothing, it certainly ought h(5t to 

 be cast aside with ridicule. Bees win- 

 ter well when they hibernate ; and, 

 although they sometimes winter well 

 when they do not hibernate, I think 

 that all will agree that the chances 

 are much more in their favor when 

 they do, so much so that it is safe to 

 say, when bees hibernate they winter 

 well. 



Why do bees hibernate? As the 

 temperature falls, they cluster closely 

 and more closely to retain the animal 

 heat. Now, in some instances, why 

 do they remain thus quietly and 

 closely clustered for weeks and weeks 

 with no indications of diarrhea, and 

 in others the cluster sooner or later 

 breaks up with diarrhea? In other 

 words, having commenced to hiber- 

 nate, why do some colonies continue 

 to hibernate and others do not ? I 

 suppose the readers are expecting 

 me to give as a reason the consump- 

 tion of pollen. Well, in the light of 

 all that is now known upon the sub- 

 ject, is there a more reasonable reason 

 that can be given ? When bees con- 

 tinue to hibernate for a long time, it 

 appears to me that one of two things 

 must be true, either they hibernate 

 because they consume no pollen, or 

 else they consume no pollen because 

 they hibernate. Let either hypothe- 

 sis prove true, and it will be seen that 

 there can be no diarrhea if there is no 

 pollen. Let some one produce a case 



