July 20, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



505 



and perhaps you who say tliey do not abscond, if you had 

 examined carefully you might find that they had started cell>. 

 What they start cells for I don't know. Mr. Stachelhauscii 

 ' says they start cells and he gives them the sheet of brood, 

 holding them there so that they won't abscond. Whether 

 they would go on with that and rear a queen and swarm 

 again I don't know, because I always stopped them and look 

 them away. But it is, I think, a pretty common thing that 

 they start cells when you give a frame of brood to a shaken 

 swarm. 



Mr. Whitney — Perhaps I don't understand. When I said 

 they didn't abscond when I put them on frames of comb it 

 is simply old combs with the queen. I don't understand that 

 they would commence queen-cells under such circumstances 

 as that. But when I give them uncapped brood and eggs 1 

 have never had them trouble me by attempting to abscond, 

 but they do rear queen-cells, and they will rear a queen un- 

 less you introduce one, of course. I would think if they didn't 

 commence making queen-cells you would have a very weak 

 colony of bees very soon. When parts of mine leave the hive 

 sometimes I have shut them in for 36 hours, and especially 

 if I move that hive away from the old stand; and I have 

 never had any trouble, and I have shaken swarms a great 

 many times. 



Mr. Abbott — I made shook swarms long before I ever 

 heard tell of shook swarms, at least I suppose I was doing 

 the same thing. I did this : I took a colony of bees and 

 divided it up into two or three colonies sometimes and gave 

 them all a laying queen. I had the queens, maybe a dozen, 

 before I commenced my work, and with each colony went a 

 queen, turned loose at once, and they had one frame of brood 

 and the rest foundation, and under such circumstances I have 

 never had any cells started or had any trouble. My idea was 

 to bring out the point that the way to make shook swarms 



is to keep a number of laying queens on the colonies you 

 want to divide, and then turn the laying queens loose at 

 once, and I don't think they wdl build any cells if you do 

 that. 



Mr. Hutchinson — If I understand the matter, they do not 

 shake the bees from the colony until they have made prepa- 

 rations for swarming ; and the bees are shaken off on the 

 old stand and the brood given the bees on the new stand; 

 and the old queen and all of the bees, or nearly all, go on 

 the old stand, and the flying bees that come back join that, 

 and that has a queen ; and what we have been talking about 

 is the giving of a new swarm a comb of brood to prevent 

 them absconding, and sometimes they go to work and build 

 cells on that. That is all the division they usually make; they 

 do not divide them up into several parts; they just have the 

 two ; and the old combs of brood are usually given a queen- 

 cell nearly ready to hatch, or else given a laying queen, 

 preferably a laying queen. If it is given, then there is no 

 use going to work and hunting up the queen-cells and de- 

 stroying them, because that colony and laying queen will 

 destroy them themselves. 



Mr. Smith — I believe it is their instinct for ther own 

 preservation. You disturb a colony of bees, or alarm them, 

 and they will immediately start queen-cells, but they will cut 

 them out again after they find their old queen is secure, in 

 a day or two. I think that is the reason ; it is the fear of 

 their queen being injured or taken from them that they 

 start queen-cells. 



Mr. Snell — I would like to ask any one who has given 



a shook swarm a queen, and then that colony started cells, 



if he has ever known them to be matured and a swarm made 



from such colonies? I would doubt their doing it very 



much. 



(Continned next week.) 



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Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Jouraal, 



or to Dr. C. C. Millbr, Mareng-o, 111. 



tg~ Dr. Miller does iu>t answer Questions by mail. 



J 



Putting Weak Colonies Over 

 Strong Ones 



I see that you wish everybody to report re- 

 sults in putting a weak colony over a strong 

 one. We tried 13 that way and we had no 

 queens killed. 



We were very well satisfied with the results. 

 We have 8 pairs slill together. May not the 

 use of hybrid bees explain failure in other 

 cases? Missoi'Ri. 



Answer. — I don't know. It doesn't seem 

 that there should be any difTerence between 

 hybrids and others, but sometimes there is a 

 difference where it is not suspected. 



Putting On Supers— Dividing for 

 Increase 



1. What is gained by putting the second su- 

 per below the first one? 



3. Why put on a second super until the first 

 one is full \ 



3. Why not take the super off when full, 

 before putting on another one? 



4. How long is it after the egg is deposited 

 in the cell until the cell is capped. 



3. At what lime and in what way are the 

 young bees fed? 



6. How long is it after the old queen leaves 

 the hive with the first swarm until the new 

 queen meets the drone and is ready to begin 

 laying? 



7. 1 live in southwestern Missouri. Would 

 it be advisable to divide the bees in a hive 

 now! My bees have failed to swarm any this 

 Beason, and I should like to increase my stock. 

 Can one not having experience divide them 

 successfully? 



How late would it be advisable to introduce 

 new Italian queens into old colonies, in this 



latitude? I have only one Italian colony In 

 11, which I got by introducing an Italian 

 queen in September, 1904. I had no expe- 

 rience at that time, but met with the best of 

 success, and now the colony is very strong 

 and working nicely. I have had no swarm 

 from it. Would it not be better to introduce 

 new queens about Aug. 1, in this locality? 



9. Would it be advisable to try to divide the 

 colonies after the supers have been put on. 



Missouri. 



Answers, — I. The bees will begin to work 

 sooner in the new superif it is put under than 

 they will if it is put on top, 



2. After the first one is full, so that there is 

 no room for the bees to store, it will slill take 

 them some time to finish up the sealing so the 

 sections are fit to take off, and the second su- 

 per gives them room to work in during that 

 time. 



3. For the reason already given. Try two 

 colonies side by side the two ways and see 

 which you like best. At the present writing 

 (July lU) very few of my colonies have only 

 two supers on. Some of them have four, and 

 a few five. 



4. Eight or nine days. 



5. They are fed by the nurse-bees tor 5 days 

 or more from the time the larva hatches out 

 of the egg until it is sealed over. 



6. The young queen will emerge from her 

 cell about 7 or S ilays after the prime swarm' 

 issues. When 5 days old or older, she will 

 mate. In l»i days or more from the issuing of 

 the prime swarm she will begin laying. 



7. Yes, by readiofj up well in your book of 

 instruction so as lo have general principles 

 well in mind, yi'ii ought to be able to make 

 increase successfully on first trial, and there 

 is plenty of time fnr it yet. 



8. You can introluoe any time from now 

 until bees stop work. 



9. Yes, if increate is important, although 



you must remember that you can't have your 

 cake and eat it too, and if you turn the force 

 of the bees toward increase it will interfere 

 with the honey crop. There are localities, 

 however, where the harvest is heavy late in 

 the season, and in such a locality it is possi- 

 ble to get more honey by dividing early. In 

 most places a colony that works straight 

 through without having its forces divided 

 will store more than the colony and its in- 

 crease together would store. 



Catching ttie Drones— How Many 

 Colonies to Keep 



1. When should the drones be caught? 



2. Why are there so many when it is only 

 necessary for them to meet the queen once? 



3. I live in the south central part of the 

 State. Is it a good bee-district? 



4. How many colonies would it be advisable 

 to keep? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. Any time. Prevention, how- 

 ever, is better than cure. Allow very little 

 drone-comb in your hives and you'll have few 

 drones. 



3. For greater safety to the queen. If there 

 was only one drone for each queen, the queen 

 might make many trips before mating. 



3. Yes, but some parts are better than 

 others. 



4. Probably not more than 100, and perhaps 

 less than that if other bees are within 3 or 3 

 miles. 



Transferring Bees from Box-Hives 



I have a colony of bees in a box-hive. There 

 are no frames in it. The comb is built every 

 way in the I 'rood-chamber. I would like to 

 get them into a modern hive. I have a new 

 10-frame dovetailed hive. Can I put the new 

 hive on the ol'' stand and set the old hive on 

 top of it, fii. . have the bees go down and 

 build comb m the new hive, getting the bees 

 out of it in that way? How can I get them 

 into the uew hive? When would be the best 

 time of year tu do it? They swarmed June II. 



MicaiOAN. 



Answer.— It is not certain just how you 

 will come out if you set the old hive over a 

 new one. If the old hive is quite large, and 



