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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Fertilizing Queens. 



Query, No. 108. — 1. How many queens 

 can be fertilized in one nucleus colony in one 

 month? 2. Can one queen be fertilized, and shipped 

 from a nucleus colony every week ?— S. H. 



We think if you rear 2 queens in a 

 montli, you will be doing well. In- 

 troducing virgin queens from an in- 

 cubator is an unsafe raetliod, al- 

 though many claim to succeed. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



1. A queen every 14 days is about 

 my average. Some nuclei do better, 

 others not as well. 2. Xo ; not by any 

 process that I know of.— G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



No definite time can be given, so 

 much depends upon the weather, 

 number of drones, and quick mating. 

 — Pkof. a. J. Cook. 



1. That depends upon the flow of 

 nectar and the strength of the nu- 

 cleus. Again, some queens do not 

 take their bridal trip for 7 or 8 days, 

 and never before 5 days after hatch- 

 ing. I should say about 3 queens in a 

 month at the best. 2. No ; not if al- 

 lowed to lay before introducing an- 

 other. — Dk. G. L. Tinker. 



1. That depends very much upon 

 circumstances. Queens are sometimes 

 lost when taking their " wedding 

 flight," and sometimes "balled" to 

 death by the bees. In view of all the 

 accidents that may befall the young 

 queen, I should say one, two or three 

 at the most. That may look indefl- 

 nite, but it is just that way. Queen- 

 rearing is not the lucrative business 

 that many imagine it is. 2. No.— 

 G. \V. Demakee. 



1. It will depend wholly and en- 

 tirely upon the condition of tlie nu- 

 cleus, the state of the weather, and 

 the chances of loss while on the mat- 

 ing trip. 2. Yes, if the conditions are 

 all right, and good luck attends the 

 operation. In some seasons more 

 than half the queens are lost on their 

 wedding tour ; in others the loss is 

 very slight indeed.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



I should not expect to average over 

 two. Sometimes queens are quite 

 slow in becoming fecundated. Again, 

 I like to have tliem lay in the combs 

 5 or 6 days before shipping. If the 

 queen is taken out when the combs 

 contain only her eggs (as it sometimes 

 happens), the bees are liable to devour 

 them ; when, if a part have hatched 

 Willi larvse, all are preserved, — James 

 Heddon. 



Queens usually lay wlien 10 days 

 old. I usually allow a queen to lay a 

 day or two before shipping her. Tak- 

 ing the whole season through, I Hud 

 that a queen ever two weeks would be I 



nearer the average than one every 

 week. If a queen 4 or 5 days old were 

 introduced at the time of shipping 

 the laying queen, it would be possible 

 to ship a queen every week ; but I 

 have had poor success introducing 

 queens more than 2 days old.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



Consumption of Honey by Bees. 



Query, No. 109.— 1. How much honey will 

 one pound of bees eat In 24 hours ? 2. How tone 

 will a pound of bees live on the honey with which 

 they mi themselves when caged ?— T. 8. 



1. I have had no experience with 

 this. 2. If placed in a dark, cool 

 place, they will live about 4 days.— G. 



M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. I could not tell exactly. I al- 

 ways put up too much, and then feel 

 safe. 2. I think that they will live 

 about 36 hours.— James Heddon. 



1. Bees knocked about in a cage 

 will eat more than when quiet in 

 their hives. If the cage were well 

 agitated, a pound of bees might con- 

 sume an ounce of honey in 24 hours. 

 2. Thirty or forty hours.— Dr. G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Any answer is, in a measure, theo- 

 retical. A test, of course, would de- 

 cide it, but it will be almost an im- 

 possibility to make such test thorough 

 and complete ; and when made it 

 would prove so expensive that the 

 ascertained results would not pay for 

 the time and trouble. — J. E. Pond, -Jr. 



1. The question is indefinite. In 

 the absence of brood less than one 

 ounce of honey will sustain a pound 

 of bees 24 hours. 2. A pound of 

 empty bees, when thoroughly filled 

 with honey, will weigh two pounds. 

 According to this, they ought to carry 

 enough honey at one aggregated load 

 to sustain life over 16 days, if they 

 could utilize the honey in the absence 

 of some place besides their honey- 

 sacs to store it. I have found that 

 the ordinary package of bees— called 

 a " pound '—can be shipped to any 

 point in the United Slates or Canada 

 on less than a half-pound of properly 

 made soft candy. — G. W. Demaree. 



1. I do not know, only it will vary 

 greatly. 2. This will also vary ; of ten 

 more than one hundred. — Prof. A. J. 

 (;ook. 



Black, Shiny Bees. 



Query, No. 110.— What is the cause of 

 the heads and abdomens of younK bees beine 

 black and shininK as thouffh havinf^ been hit, 

 dragged out and killed by perfect bees; what Is 

 thecureforlt7-W. G. 



Possibly worms had been at work 

 in the combs, and injured the young 

 bees,— Dr. C. C. Miller, 



I have never had a case of this 

 kind, I suppose it might be caused 

 by worms or chilling of the brood, — 

 James Heddon. 



I have never found this true. Old 

 bees are often so. The hair becomes 



Eulled out ; or in age they become 

 aid. Why not V— Prof. A. J. Cook. 



I have often seen old bees with 

 black and shining abdomens, but 

 never "young bees." — Dr. G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Bees that are partly crushed be- 

 tween the combs of honey in manipu- 

 lating the hive, look thus when liber- 

 ated, and are treated by the other bees 

 as described. — G. M. Doolittle. 



The best answer I know of to this 

 question is found in " Dzierzon's 

 Theory." It would require a larger 

 amount of space than can be given 

 here to give a comprehensive answer. 

 J."E. Pond, Jr. 



We think that you are mistaken in 

 supposing these to be young bees. 

 The bees whose heads and abdomens 

 are shining are some of the very oldest 

 bees. They are usually somewhat 

 smaller than the healthy bee, and 

 their wings often show that they 

 have worn themselves out. The cause 

 of their t)eing so shiny is, that they 

 have lost their hair by much travel. 

 Robber bees are the worst looking in 

 this respect.— Dadant & Son. 



I believe such specimens of bees as 

 you describe is the out-cropping of 

 impure blood in the parent bees. I 

 have seen specimens of these out- 

 cropping bees that were as black and 

 shiny as a polished boot ; and I have 

 seen them as green as a green bottle. 

 The only cure for it is to change the 

 blood of the bees. A few such bees 

 in a colony have never hurt the work- 

 ing quality of the colony, so far as 1 

 have seen. — G. W. Demaree. 



Local Convention Directory. 



IR85. Time and place of Netting. 



Sept. 8— 12.~Iowa StatP, at DesMolnes. Iowa. 



Wm. Goos, Sec, Ddvenport, Iowa. 



Sept. 10.— Patsalaga. at Uamer, Alabama, 



M. G. Uusbton, Sec Ralf Branch, Ala. 



Sept. 23, 24.— Kentucky State at Covington. Ky. 

 J. T. Counley, Sec, Napoleon, Ky. 



Oct. 10.— Wabash Conntv, at N Manchester, Ind, 

 J. J. Martin, Sec, N. Manchester, ind, 



Oct. 10, II.- Western, at Independence, Mo. 



C. M. Crandall, Sec, Independence, Mo. 



Oct, 14, 15,— Northwestern, at Chicago, Ills, 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, 



Oct. 15.— Progressive, at Macomb. Ills. 



J. G. Norton, Sec, Macomb, Ills, 



Nov, 5, e.— N. J. & Eastern, at Trenton, N.J, 

 Wm. B, Treadwell, Sec. 16 Thomas St., N, Y. 



Dec, 8— 10,— Michigan State, at Detroit, Mich. 



U. U. CuttinK, Sec, <:iinton, Mich. 



Dec. 8— 10.— North American, at Detmit. Mich. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Rogei sviile, Mich. 



|y In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- ED, 



The Illinois State Fair will be hold in 

 Chicago (luring the week commencing Mon- 

 day, Sept, 14, 188,5, and promises many 

 attractions. 



1^~ We want one number each of the Bee 

 Jouu.NAi, of August, 18G0— February, 1867. 



