436 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WITH 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Brood in the Sections. 



Query, No. 84.— What is the cause of bees 

 filling: the sections with brood, and drone 

 brood at that, and what is the remedy for it? 

 I put on one case of sections some time ago, 

 thinking- that the bees were crowded for 

 room, and perhaps would be forced to swarm 

 when there was no bloom to sustain swarms, 

 and I tind the above result. Would you de- 

 stroy the drone-comb, or cut off the beads of 

 the drones in the cells ? Please answer in 

 the Query Department.— S. D. 



W. Z. Hutchinson says : " There 

 are different causes for bees putting 

 brood in sections. I cut the trouble 

 short by using queen-excluding honey 

 boards." 



Prof. A. J. Cook answers : "They 

 are over-crowded, I should say. If 

 the comb is white and nice, cut off 

 the heads of the drones ; otherwise, 

 melt up the comb for wax." 



Dr. C. C. Milleu replies: "Cause: 

 Too free communication with surplus 

 room. Remedy : Ileddon's skeleton 

 honey-board, or zinc or wooden per- 

 forated queen - excluder. If drone- 

 brood is sliced off, it will be more 

 economical, but the comb will be a 

 little dark." 



G. W. Desiaree says : " If you 

 put on the section-cases at a time 

 when the brood department is crowd- 

 ed, and but little surplus honey is 

 being gathered, the queen is most 

 likely to deposit eggs in the sections. 

 I would shave off the heads of the 

 drones, and extract the honey from 

 the sections after being tilled. Combs 

 after having brood reared in them, are 

 unfit for table use." 



James IIeddon answers : " Per- 

 haps you did not get on your sections 

 till the bees had crowded the queen 

 below, with honey. If your bees are 

 pure Italians, they are more apt to 

 crowd the queen below, after the sec- 

 tions are put on. If the combs below 

 were all worker, and you gave your 

 bees a chance to dictate the size of the 

 cells above, of course they would build 

 drone -comb there, and the queen 

 would make haste to deposit eggs 

 therein, as the only place to rear any 

 drones, something that unreasoning 

 nature impels them to do ; but reason- 

 ing man knows that it is not for the 

 best. As it is likely the comb is al- 

 ready soiled, I would advise taking 

 away the comb, and replacing it with 

 a full-sized piece of worker founda- 

 tion." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., replies: "The 

 cause is very simple. The heat natur- 

 ally rises to the sections, and the 

 queen in her desire to rear drones, 

 goes into the sections for that purpose. 

 The remedy is to use worker founda- 

 tion only in sections, and allow a small 

 amount of drone-comb to remain in 

 the brood-chamber. The queen is 

 simply fulfilling one of the laws of her 



nature, when she lays eggs in drone- 

 cells ; and if she cannot find such in 

 the brood-chamber, she will go into 

 the sections. In my own experience, 

 I have never found any worker brood 

 in sections, save in one or two in- 

 stances, where the queen had been 

 crowded out of the brood-chamber, 

 owing to the sections not being placed 

 on the hives as early as they sliould 

 have been." 



Dr. G. L. Tinker says : "Queens 

 go by freaks sometimes (at least some 

 Italian queens are prone to), and lay 

 eggs everywhere in the hive, in the 

 drone-comb of the sections as well as 

 in the worker-cells of the brood-combs. 

 The remedy for queens laying In the 

 sections is a queen-excluder. A bee- 

 space above the brood-frames is no 

 hindrance to the queen entering the 

 sections. I have often found queens 

 in supers when no eggs were laid. If 

 there are but few drone (we seldom 

 find any worker), larvie found in the 

 sections pick tliem out ; if many, ex- 

 tract the honey and melt up the comb." 



G. M. DooLiTTLE remarks : " The 

 querist seems the more surprised that 

 the brood in his sections was drone- 

 brood, while if I should find any but 

 drone-brood in sections, I should be as 

 surprised as he ; for I have yet to see 

 worker-brood in sections, unless the 

 colony was a new swarm and com- 

 menced house-keeping up-stairs. The 

 cause of drone-brood in sections is, 

 the restriction of drone-comb below, 

 together with a light flow of honey ; 

 and the remedy is, filling the sections 

 with comb foundation of the worker 

 size. If the brood is found before it 

 is sealed over, the sections can be 

 taken from the hive and left in a cool 

 place for 3 or 4 days, until the brood 

 dies, when, if placed on the hive 

 again, the bees will fix all as good as 

 ever ; if sealed over, destroy it, as the 

 comb will lie so colored by the brood, 

 that the honey would have to be sold 

 for second or third quality." 



Fertilizing dueens. 



Query, No. 85.— Which is the best plan of 

 fertilizing queens in confinement?— J. C. 



Prof. A. J. Cook says : "Sofaras 

 I know, there is no practical method." 



Dr. C. C. Miller replies: "I do 

 not l)elieve that any successful plan 

 has yet been discovered." 



James Heddon says : "I give it 

 up." 



Dadant & Son answer: "There 

 is no such thing as fertilization in 

 confinement. Those who claim to 

 have succeeded are either deceiving 

 others or have deceived themselves 

 by careless experiments." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., remarks : " There 

 is no best plan of fertilization in con- 

 finement ; in fact, there is no plan for 

 such fertilization that is worthy of the 

 name. Nature for various reasons 

 has provided that the queen should 

 meet the drone in the air outside of 

 the hive, and there is no practical 

 method yet devised to improve on 

 nature." 



G. M. Dooi.ittle answers : "After 

 trying faithfully all the plans ever 

 given, only to fail, I feel that I am 

 excusable for saying that I doubt any 

 one ever having a queen fertilized in 

 confinement. Tliey may think so, but 

 for all that the chances are that thj 

 queen was fertilized as all queens are 

 when not known by the experimenter." 



Dr. G. L. Tinker replies: "I 

 think it unadvisable to fertilize queens 

 in confinement, and hence have given 

 this matter no attention. The ulti- 

 mate result of such practice, if it 

 could be accomplished, would be to 

 injure the wing-power of the work- 

 ers." 



G. W. Demakee says : " There 

 is no best plan, because no reliable 

 plan to mate queens in confinement 

 has been discovered. Since we can 

 control the drones by excluding drone 

 combs, and by using the perforated 

 zinc, the 'confinement plan ' has lost 

 most of its desirability." 



Drones and Drone-Comb. 



Query, No. 86. —Will bcesswarm if drones 

 and drone-comb are kept out of the hive? 

 -VV.H. H. 



James Heddon answers: "Yes." 



W. Z. Hutchinson says : " Yes." 



Dr. C. C. Miller replies : " I 

 think that they will ; but absence of 

 drones and drone-comb is, to some 

 extent, preventive." 



Prof. A. J. Cook remarks : "Most 

 assuredly, if they are pressed for 

 room. The mere fact of such absence 

 has little or no restraining effect." 



G. M.DooLiTTLE replies : "I have 

 yet to see the hive containing a popu- 

 lous colony during June and July, 

 that had not a few cells of drone- 

 comb in it ; and I do not believe that 

 it can be kept out, for worker-comb 

 will be changed to drone-comb if it 

 cannot be gotten otherwise." 



G. W. Demaree answers: "In 

 view of my experience, I answer yes. 

 Every year I have a few colonies of 

 hybrids, and these are deprived of all 

 drone-cells, and are not allowed to 

 rear any drones ; they swarm as 

 promptly as other bees." 



Dr. G. L. Tinker replies : "Yes ; 

 because the absence of all drone-comb 

 in a hive does not prevent the rearing 

 of drones in worker-cells, and vast 

 quantities of them, too, when the bees 

 want them. It would be interesting 

 to see a bee-keeper keep the drones 

 out of a few dozen colonies when they 

 take a notion to rear them." 



Convention Notices. 



S^~ The Cortland Union Bee- Keepers' 

 Association will hold a basket picnic at tbe 

 apiary of Mr. Miles Morton, at Groton, N. Y., 

 on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 188.5. All bee-keepers, 

 with their families, are cordially invited to 

 be present. W. H. Beach, Sec 



tW The Union Bee-Keepers' Association 

 of Western Iowa will meet in Stuart, Iowa, 

 on July '~'o, 188."j. at 10 a. m. 



M. E. D.4RUY, Sec. 



