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37 



nanagciiiciit to Prevent the 

 Building of Drone-Cuinb. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 605.— My bees are in Simplicity 

 hives, with LaDgstroth frames, being home- 

 made, and do not jrive entire satisfaction. I 

 Intend to set a better quality of frames and 

 transfer the bees. 1. How would it do to 

 place the new hive under the old one. and let 

 the hees build comb naturally? The queen 

 would lay below, and the honey would be 

 placed above. After the brood had all hatch- 

 ed above, and the upper story was filled with 

 honey, I could extract it. 2. Would I fret 

 drone-comb built below in this way, or is 

 there a better plan that would disturb the 

 bees less, or cause less loss of time and brood ? 

 —Louisiana. 



I hardly think that the proposed 

 plan would work well, but a trial of it 

 will tell you. — G. M. Doolittle. 



Your plan is an excellent one, 

 though you would have to look out for 

 drone-coitib. — Will M. Barnum. 



1. Your plan would not work in 

 Southern Michigan. 2. I would pre- 

 fer to crowd, and let them swarm ; 

 then you could start with new hives, 

 frames, etc. — H. D. Cutting. 



1. I should not like it. 2. You could 

 count on plenty of drone-comb. It 

 would be better to transfer the good 

 combs, and use foundation for the 

 balance. — C. C. Miller. 



Your plan is one that has many 

 times suggested itself to beginners, but 

 as many times as tried, it has proven a 

 failure. "Modern transferring" is the 

 best i^lan of all. See bee books and 

 papers. — James Heddon. 



It would do well. Read Mr. Hutch- 

 inson's book on how to get comb 

 honej\ I should use starters, or full 

 sheets of comb foundation, as I recom- 

 mend in my book. — A. J. Cook. 



Your idea is a good one, only I 

 would modify it so much as to fill the 

 frames of the new hives with founda- 

 tion. This would be the only sure 

 way to avoi.l an excess of drone-comb. 

 — J. M. Shuck. 



The Langstroth frame is good 

 enough, if you make it right. Cut the 

 comb out of the " botched " frame, and 

 fasten it in the "well-made" frame 

 with wired sticks, and let the bees keep 

 on at work. — J. P. H. Brown. 



If I tried that plan, I would want to 

 put the queen in the lower hive, and 

 keep her there by a queen-excluder. 

 In that case I think that the bees would 

 build workcr-eomb ; or you can use 

 foundation in the new hive. — Eugene 

 Se(;()u. 



1. I think that you had better trans- 

 fer in the early spring ; cut otit the 

 comb and fasten it in the new frames, 

 and put it directly in the new hives. 



2. Probably not ; at least only a por- 

 tion of drone-comb. — Mrs. L. Har- 

 rison. 



The best way is to cut the combs out 

 of your frames and fit them into the 

 new frames. If the combs are too 

 crooked, or built across the frames so 

 that they cannot be removed sep- 

 arately, I would transfer a la Heddon. 

 — P. L. Viallon. 



1. It would probably do ; but why 

 not transfer them by the Heddon 

 method ? That would certainly be 

 better in every way. 2. You would 

 get plenty of drone-comb below, un- 

 less foundation or comb was used. — C. 

 H. Dibbern. 



1. If the colonies are strong, and 

 honey is being gathered in sufficient 

 quantity, and a queen-excluding honej'- 

 board is used, your plan might work 

 well. 2. Some drone-comb would be 

 pretty surely built, and it might be 

 mostly drone-comb. By using founda- 

 tion the building of di'one-eomb would 

 be prevented. — A. B. Mason. 



Your way is too slow. If you do 

 not want to use coiub foundation, we 

 would advise you to transfer all the 

 worker-combs that are not too old. Re- 

 member that if you give to your queens 

 too much room, the workers will build 

 store, or brood, combs mainly. — 

 Dadant & Son. « 



I. Use whole sheets of foundation 

 by all means. I have not found the 

 plan stated, to work well with myself. 

 2. Yes, unless great care and watch- 

 fulness is used, and much labor per- 

 formed in cutting drone-comb out as 

 fast as it is built. — J. E. Pond. 



I was once in the same fix with GO 

 colonies. I took them into ray honey- 

 room one at a time, removed a comb 

 at a time, and cut the frames, comb 

 and all, to the standard Langstroth 

 dimensions ; and having hives at hand 

 properly cut, I transferred them into 

 the new hives, as I made the change 

 in the frames. 1. I think that my plan 

 is preferable to yours. 2. You would 

 get lots of drone-comb. — J. M. Ham- 



BAUGH. 



1. It would not do well. 2. Yes, 

 generally. When the colony is strong 

 enough to swarm during the swarming 

 .season, drive a swarm from it into the 

 new hive having frames filled with 

 foundation, making sure that the 

 queen is with the swarm. In 21 days 

 shake the bees still in the old hive into 

 another new hive, and you have the 

 old combs clear of bees and brood. — 

 R. L. Taylor. 



1. The queen would continue to lay 

 above until she had plenty of room 

 below, and until the combs above were 

 full of honey. The plan will not work 

 successfully. 2. You would get too 

 much drone-comb. About swarming 



time, shake the bees from the combs 

 in the old hives, and let them run into 

 the new, leaving only enough to care 

 for the brood. Have the frames of 

 the new hive filled with foundation, 

 and three weeks after unite the bees 

 in the old with those in the new. Or 

 transfer the combs to the new frames. 

 The latter would be my preference. — 

 M. Mahin. 



1. I do not think that your plan will 

 give satisfaction. I would put a set of 

 frames filled with foundation above the 

 bi'ood-nest, and use them to take a 

 crop of honey with the extractor ; and 

 in the fall, after the brood was all out 

 of the comlis below, 1 would exchange 

 the set of combs, inUting the new ones 

 in the lilace of the old ones. 2. Most 

 likelj' too much of it, besides a waste 

 of time and honey. — G. W. Demaree. 



Why not let the bees swarm, and 

 then you can give them a new hive 

 filled with comb foundation, and pre- 

 vent them having too much drone- 

 comb ? — The Editor. 



Sources from Wiiicii Propolis is 

 Gatiiered. 



Written for tlic American Bee Journal 



Query 606.-1. From what flowers do bees 

 fraiher propolis ? 3. Is it packed upon the 

 drum of the leirs the same as bee-bread when 

 brought in. Forty years ago, in tbe wilds of 

 of Wisconsin, when there was nothing but 

 the wild flowers for the bees to work on, the 

 bee-trees that we found were waxed up with 

 It, the same as the hives of to-day. The wild 

 flowers have been gone for years, but the 

 propol!S comes in the very same, and looks 

 and tastes just the same aa u did In those 

 early days. The bee has nothing to work on 

 now, that It did in those days, but the bass- 

 wood.— Wisconein. 



1. Many trees furnish propolis. 2. 

 Yes. — H. b. Cutting. 



1. From buds, not flowers. Hickory, 

 horse-chestnut, etc. 2. Yes. There 

 were buds then as now. — A. J. Cook. 



1. Here, from a poay called a pine- 

 tree. 2. Yes. Bees gather propolis 

 from resinous weeds, trees, etc. — from 

 many sources. — James Heddon. 



1. Chiefly, I think, from the buds of 

 resinous shrubs and weeds. — Eugene 

 Secor. 



1. None. They gather it from the 

 leaf-buds of poplar and and other trees. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



Propolis is an exudation from the 

 wood part of the tree or plant, and not 

 from the flower. The pine, balm, 

 gum, various fruit-trees, etc., yield it. 

 —J. P. H. Brown. 



Bees do not gather it from flowers, 

 butfrom dift'ercnt trees. Propolis is a 

 gum, or an exudation, like rosin. — 

 Dadant & Son.. 



1. It is gathered from resinous buds, 

 such as the hickory, pine, horse-chest- 

 nut, etc. 2. Arc you sure that it is 



