April 20, 190S. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



297 



if the hives were put in the center of the bee-room, and the room 

 darkened as in cellar-wintering ' 



3. Could I buy one Italian queen and rear queens from this one to 

 Italianize the rest? 



i. There would be no drones to fertilize my queens except drum s 

 from the same queen or mother as themselves. Does this inbreeding 

 of bees amount to anything? Isn't it a detriment to the future gen- 

 erations? I have never seen anything on the subject. 



New York. 



Answers. — 1. About -to degrees, but there is a good deal of varia- 

 tion in thermometers. 



2. I think not. 



3. Yes. 



4. Inbreeding is not desirable, but in this case there would not le 



much chance for it. 



♦-♦-» 



Preventinz Robber-Bees 



I have noticed that there are strange bees robbing mine of honey. 

 How can I prevent this? Illinois. 



Answer.— The chief thing is to help them to help themselves by 

 keeping them strong and by avoiding things that will tempt robbers 

 to start at their work. A queenless colony is a fair mark for robbers. 

 Break it up and distribute bees and brood among other colonies. Keep 

 the entrances of weaker colonies so small that the bees can easily guard 

 them. Don't allow brood-combs or combs of honey to stand exposed 

 to tempt robbers. Don't open hives at a time when robber-bees are 

 troublesome. If for any reason you must open a hive at such times, 

 do it in the evening after flying has ceased. 



Feeding " Cider " Honey from Hive in Wtiicb Bees Died 



I find upon examining my hives this spring that 5 colonies have 

 died, the frames being all filled with sealed honey except the brood- 

 nest, which they filled late last fall with sweet cider, and the lider 

 soured and killed the bees. 



Will it be safe to give those frames to other colonies as they are, 

 containing honey and sour hone; not sealed, but no bad odor? 



Washinoton. 



Answer. — Perfectly safe to give to the bees after they are flying 

 daily, to be used up in rearing brood. Only look out that it does not 

 go into surplus, and that it is not left for next winter's stores. 



Stimulative Feeding— Transferring Bees 



1. Would uncapping a little comb every day be as good for stimu- 

 lative feeding as syrup made from granulated sugar? There is plenty 

 of honey in the hive, and I want the bees to build up so that they will 

 be booming when the honey-flow comes on. 



2. I want to transfer the bees into a dovetailed hive. When is the 

 best time to do it? New York. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, and very likely you may save yourself so much 

 trouble. Every 2 or 3 days may do as well as every day. If the 

 queen is laying all the eggs the bees can cover, it is hardly worth 

 while to take even that trouble, for stimulating can hardly help, unless 

 it be that it gets up extra heat in the hive. 



2. In'fruit-bloom is a good time, but it is perhaps better to wait 

 till the bees swarm, then hive the swarm in the new hive, and 21 days 

 later break up the old hive. In case they fail to swarm, you can then 

 transfer when other bees are swarming. 



Cover for Brood-Frames— Breeding Queens 



1. What arrangement of quilts, enameled cloth, etc., do you pre- 

 fer between the brood-frames and cover? 



2. Will a queen breed better drones when two or three full years 

 of age than when one year old? 



3. It is commonly recommended to breed from the queen whose 

 bees gathered the most honey the preceding year. Such a queen is 

 supposed to be a full year old ; or, as we commonly say, in the second 

 year. In your experience, are the best queens bred from a queen in 

 her third season if she has been worked to her full capacity the two 

 preceding seasons? 



4. Do you think the best queens are the daughters of best queens ; 

 or, as often is the case in breeding poultry, is not the prize animal or 

 insect obtained by crossing extremes? In other words, should we 

 breed by records or by characteristics? Great vigor, with high inieUi- 

 gence, for example. 



5. If the best queens come from the best mothers, why don't we 

 have more of them? Michigan. 



Answers.— 1. Between my top-bars and hive cover there is u.y.h- 

 ing in the world except about a fourth of an inch of air. 



2. 1 don't think she will. The idea probably comes from think- 

 ing that a young heifer will not "have so good a calf as whenukiir; 

 but remember that a queen is not young in her first year; tbi lust 

 year is a third or a half of her active life. 



3. I don't know for certain much about it; but I doubt thai it 

 makes much difference whether a queen is a month old or sevi i u! 

 years old, so far as her queen progeny is concerned. Of course, oiv i- 

 QOt likely to breed from a queen until she has had a full seas .is 



work to show what she can do, and if her record was all right I 

 wouldn't object to using her if several years old. 



4. As a common, every-day bee-keeper, and not a scientist, the 

 only way I have to judge of the characteristics of a queen is by her 

 record, and the one that gives the most honey has for me the best 

 characteristics. The question of crossing is a separate affair, and 

 there is no doubt that very important results may be obtained by the 

 right kind of crossing in bees as well as other animals. 



5. I don' t think that I can tell ; but I think I can give one reason 

 The best queens, as a rule, are little given to swarming, and vice 

 versa. Here's a queen that sticks to her knitting, never swarms, and 

 is superseded when three or four years old. It is easy to see that left 

 to herself she will give only the one royal descendant, while another 

 queen that runs to swarming rather than gathering will in the same 

 number of years leave 30 or more. 



Moving Bees in the Spring 



I desire to establish an out-apiary, but bee-keepers tell me that it 

 IS too late now to move the bees, as many fleld-bees would get lost, be- 

 cause they would fly straight from the hive, as they were in the habit 

 of doing on the old place, and would not find the way back U) their 

 new location. 



Do you really think that it would be objectionable to move bees 

 after they have started to gather considerable honey and pollen? I 

 have to move some of the bees about 4 or 5 miles, and others only 

 about Ji of a mile. How about the last distance? Texas. 



Answer. — Without special precaution, a colony of bees, at a time 

 when they are gathering, if gently moved only a few rods, may be 

 safely counted to be depleted of all field-bees, which, upon returning 

 from the field, will return straight to the spot where stood the old 

 home. If moved a half mile, not so many will return to the old spot, 

 and practically none if moved a mile or more. How many would re- 

 turn of those moved -.i of a mile would depend somewhat upon cif- 

 cumstances. If, after removal to their new quarters, they should 

 strike upon forage ground with which they were already familiar, 

 they might return from it to the old spot. But the jolting and jarring 

 of the trip will help to make them mark the new spot when the en- 

 trances are opened, and you might help matters by blowing in a little 

 smoke and pounding on the hive just before opening. Mr. Scholl, in 

 Gleanings, reports entire success in moving 50 colonies 100 rods in the 

 following manner: 



Before bees fiy in the morning close entrance with moss or green 

 grass, and move to new location. Open entrances next day, or else kt 

 the bees gnaw their way out themselves. If very warm, a piece of 

 section under cover may afford ventilation. When Mr. SchoU's Ipees 

 were moved it was pretty cool, and even with the cover slightly raised 

 it might be well to look out for suffocation. 



Feeding Bees— Putting on Supers 



1. How much sugar-water shall I feed my bees this spring? 

 " They can drink a pint of it in 3 hours." 



2. When shall I stop feeding them? 



3. When can I put on the first super? 



Answers. — 1. Not so much as you are likely to think advisable. 

 If they have plenty of stores, it may not be best to feed any. If lack- 

 ing in stores, feed till they have abundance. It is not well to feed on 

 days when they can get plenty from the fields, nor on days so cool 

 that the bees could fiy out and be chilled. 



2. The preceding answer will decide that. 



3. When you see white wax along the top-bars and upper parts of 

 combs: or, as you are in a white clover region, anytime within a week 

 after you see the first clover blossom. 



Prevention of Swarming 



Suppose hives Nos. 1 and 2 were to cast swarms only 2 or 3 days 

 apart, and be hived on three frames of brood which are taken from 

 the parent colony, the remaining 7 frames containing half sheets of 

 foundation ; now if one does not want much increase how would it do 

 to cut out all queen-cells except one, iu one of the old hives, and then 

 unite the two old colonies by placing a few sheets of newspaper 

 between the two old hives. 



By this plan one would have three colonies instead of 4, but the 

 main thing would be that he woiUd get lots of honey from this united 

 colony, as it would be plenty strong enough to take hold of a flow, 

 when if you had the two old colonies separated you would have no 

 honey stored for some time. 



We have tried this plan twice so far this year, and it has succeeded 

 very well, so we are going to try it still further. 



When brood is hatched in the upper story we use the combs to- 

 hive swarms on. 



Now when these united colonies get strong, and want to swarm, 

 we will be no worse off than before, for we can keep doubling up. 



Louisiana. 



Answer. — Your plan of doublinj brood is good. In some places 

 there would be danger that colonies would swarm again if hived on as 

 much as 3 frames of brood. If they don't with you it's all right, for 

 the "more brood a swarm can have the better, provided it doesn't 



