March 16, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



(a) Will a colony ever swarm without the young queen's 

 piping being heard 7 days after? 



(b) Will a colony that has swarmed once send out an 

 afterswarni if the young queen is not heard piping in 7 days? 



(c) Finally, is a young queen's piping a certain sign of 

 the intention of the colony's sending out an afterswarm, and 

 the not hearing her piping a sure sign that no afterswarm 

 is to be sent out? 



7. What is the use or purpose of the bee-space now put 

 behind the Alley queen and drone trap? Is it not just as 

 good, for all practical purposes, without such bee-space ? 



'Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. It is probably large enough, although I 

 don't know how cold it is with you. If your bees are located 

 so that there is no chance for cold wind to blow into the 

 entrance, it is possible that a larger entrance might be better. 



2. Destroying all cells after queen is heard piping ought 

 to make a sure thing of it, unless it might be possible you 

 had waited till the bees were just on the point of swarming 

 when you cut out the cells, and would swarm without finding 

 out that no cells were left. I don't know whether such a 

 thing could happen or not. But hold on : 'fess up, now, 

 didn't you move the old hive to a new location at the time 

 of hiving the prime swarm? If you did. no wonder you liad 

 a second swarm. That's not the way. Hive the prime swarm 

 on the old stand, and put the old hive close beside it ; then 

 move the old hive to a new stand a week later. You see, if 

 you move the old hive to a new stand right away, so many 

 young bees will hatch out by the time the young queen 

 emerges that the colony will be strong enough to swarm. 

 But if you put it close beside the old stand, and then move 

 it a week later, all the field-bees will, on their return from 

 the field, go to the old stand and join the swarm. That will 

 greatly weaken the stump, or mother colony, and it will 

 hardly feel it can afford to send out another swarm. Still 

 further, the field-bees going to the old stand, there will be 

 no honey coming in from the field, making them think, 

 "Well, as the honey-flow has stopped entirely, we most cer- 

 tainly would starve if we should attempt to set up house- 

 keeping in an empty hive : so let's not swarm." 



3. A laying queen looks much larger than a virgin, but 

 it's the abdomen that's larger not the thorax. It's not the 

 abdomen, but the thorax that prevents a queen going through 

 the zinc, and I think the thorax of a laying queen i? no 

 larger than it was when she was a virgin; so she ouglit to 

 go through no more easily one time than another. But a 

 virgin queen probably makes a more vigorous effort to go 

 through, so she might go through an aperture through which 

 she would not force herself after she settled down as a laying 

 queen. 



4. That depends. If the bees had all they could do on 

 basswood or some other heavy yielder, the alsike would make 

 no appreciable difference. If they had nothing or very little 

 else, the alsike would make not only an appreciable, but a 

 very big difference. I should suppose SO acres would give 

 .JO colonies more than they could possibly do. 



5. I don't know. Possibly 1,500 pounds. 



6. I wouldn't like to be too positive about it. but I 

 think the young queen always pipes before she is many 

 hours out of the cell ; usually about eight days after the 

 issuing of the prime swarm, although it may be 2 or 3 days 

 sooner than that time, and possibly several days later. 



(a) If you mean a second swarm, I think the queen will 

 always pipe before swarming, perhaps not often as soon as 

 7 days. 



(h) I don't believe it will send out an afterswarm till 

 after the piping; but, as before intimated, the 7 days i^ not 

 right. 



(c) Please allow me to answer the .spirit rathor than 

 the letter of your question. You may rely with much con- 

 fidence upon the noises made by young queens in deciding 

 whether an afterswarm will issue or not. Eight days after 

 a prime swarm has issued, place your ear against the M'le of 

 the hive in the evening when all is still, and if swarming 

 is planned for the next day you will hear a young rjueen 

 piping and one or several yet in their cells quahking. The 

 quahking is not so shrill as the piping, and seems more hur- 

 ried. If you hear both the piping and quahking yov may 

 confidently expect an afterswarm, generally as soon ;i~ the 

 next day. If you do not hear it, you may as confident!' say, 

 :'No swarming to-morrow." In most cases you may ■ 'ttle 

 it one way or the other by listening that one evening. But, 

 as before intimated, there may be a variation in time, 1 . the 

 weather has been wet and cold, the prime swarm may have 

 been delayed in its time of issuing, making the time tni the 

 issuing of the second swarm just that much less. Or. the 



time may be longer, and it may be worth while to listen 

 on the evening of the 9th day or later. But you needn't 

 listen any later than the evening of the 15th day. As said 

 before, I think the young queen pipes in all cases, swarm or 

 no swariu, but there must be both piping and quahking to 

 make you expect a swarm, and if there is to be no swarm 

 the piping will be neither so loud nor so long continued, and 

 you will not likely hear it at all. 



7. I don't know. I haven't seen traps made very lately. 

 Perhaps Mr. Alley will tell us. 



Bees Under the Snow-Feeding Bees-Candled Sections. 



1. My colonies are buried under the snow. Will they 

 smother? I have planer shavings on top to let the air 

 through. 



2. What is the 'pest way to make candy for bees, and 

 how would you feed it? 



3. Which is the best feeder to use in feeding either 

 honey or sugar syrup, so that the bees will not be disturbed 

 very much? 



4. I have some honey that is a little sour. Will it injure 

 the bees if I feed it to them in the spring? 



5. I have some sections filled with candied honey. Would 

 it be well to melt them, feeding the honey to the bees and 

 saving the wax? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. Enough air works in through the snow so 

 there's no danger of smothering. But look out not to let 

 the entrance become filled with damp snow and then freeze 

 solid. 



2. Just the same as your women-folks make it. Stir the 

 sugar into a very little water in a vessel on the stove, and 

 when a little dropped into cold water is brittle it is done. Lay 

 the cake of candy over the frames and cover up warm, 



3. The Miller feeder, the Doolittle frame feeder, or the 

 Boardman entrance feeder can be used with very little dis- 

 turbance. 



4. Not after they are flying every day or so. 



5. There is probably no better way. The honey will also 

 be good for table use 



=\ 



-V (£ontributcb -f 

 J) Special Clrttclcs 



Producing Comb Honey With and Without 

 Separators. 



BY M. A. GILI.. 



I see the question, "Can marketable honey be produced 

 without separators?" has been passed upon by the Board of 

 experts, on page 20. When I look over the list of names 

 and see the decided opinions where the answe'r is "No," 

 I am reminded of the case where a prisoner in jail had sent 

 for his attorney who, after viewing the case, said, "Why, 

 they can't put you in jail!" Whereupon his client answered, 

 "But I am in here !" 



Is it possible that these experts are not aware of the 

 tons upon tons, and carload after carload of honey that 

 goes to market every year tliat has never seen a separator? 

 Is it possible, too, that they arc not aware that there are 

 a number of markets that prefer this kind of honey to the 

 most perfect separatored honey that was ever produced? Why 

 is this so? It is because honey is sold by weight there in- 

 stead of upon its merits. 



Not all markets are alike, however, as some job- 

 bers prefer, and their market demands and appreciates, a 

 nice, straight article, weighing from 21 to 22 pounds per 

 case of 24 sections, which is all that a carload can possibly 

 weigh, as an average, where the honey is produced with a 

 full set of separators. 



When sections were first invented they were made in- 

 tending to hold one pound of honey, and they met the re- 

 nuirement very well, weighing from 15 to 17 ounces. Soon 

 after separators were adopted, using the same sections, cut- 

 ting off one-half of a bee-space, the weight dropped to from 

 ]4 to 16 ounces, much to the detriment of nice, straight sepa- 



