540 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 3, 1905 



Some kind of a platform should be fixed on which to pile the 

 honey, and this platform should be made of open-work so 

 that the honey resting on it can not only have a current 

 of air going up through it, but all about the bottom of the 

 pile. 



When I first commenced keeping bees, I stored my comb 

 honey in a room on the north side of the house, and piled 

 it directly on the floor, thinking I was doing the proper 

 thing, as the most of those having bees near here stored their 

 honey in the cellar at that time. But when I came to casing 

 that honey I found that the honey next the wall of the room 

 and the floor had soured and the honey was bursting from 

 the cells, while that higher up in the room, and out from 

 the wall, was still in good shape, as was considered at that 

 time. I took the hint at once, and the very next year found 

 me with a temporary platform fixed of slats, spread apart 

 enough so that the edges of the sections would just catch on 

 them, the platform being raised up a foot from the floor. 

 When another tier of sections was to go on top, strips were 

 placed between, and so on clear to the top of the pile, and 

 in this way there was no hindrance to the air from circulat- 

 ing all round the sections from below, from above, and from 

 between, and around the wood holding the honey. I now had 

 the problem solved, and the same has proven good for more 

 than a score of years. 



All these things are little matters, but the whole of such 

 little matters apnlicable to every nhase or part of bee-keeping 

 life, when put together to make one great whole, makes all 

 the difference between success and failure in our beloved 

 pursuit, according as we understand and use them. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Re-queening Colonies During the Summer 



BV C. P. DADANT 



The re-queening of colonies, or replacing of queens by 

 younger ones has been much discussed. Some of our large 

 producers have advocated the replacing of queens every two 

 years. One of our Western leading bee-keepers has even 

 advised and practiced re-queening, that is, removing the 

 queen to compel the bees to rear another, and thus making 

 an interruption in the breeding. When this method was 

 recommended, I wondered whether it was possible to follow 

 such a method and succeed. My view is that the bees need 

 their queen at all seasons. It is true that they need her less 

 in the summer, after the crop is over, than in the Spring 

 before the crop begins, but the depletion of bees by colonies 

 in the summer is so prompt that there is need of constant 

 refilling of the ranks by new additions, though they need 

 not be so numerous. So I felt that this was a move in tlie 

 wrong direction. 



Later, I had occasion to meet the person in question and 

 to inquire as to the success of his idea, and he. acknowledged 

 'that it was not satisfactory, though in his opinion this lack 

 of success was due to the conditions of the crop and dates 

 of the harvest of honey. But I doubt very much if any con- 

 ditions can be found that will justify a killing of queens to 

 compel the bees to rear others, thereby losing some 20 odd 

 days of breeding. In addition to this loss there is also a 

 risk of the loss of some of the young queens. In fact we can 

 safely calculate on losing about 10 percent, that will either 

 be lost in their wedding-flight or that will prove worthless. 

 To eliminate good queens that may prove still good for an- 

 other year, and run the risk of having a part of them, at 

 least, replaced by worthless ones, is a mistake. 



It is also a mistake to re-queen hives that have good, 

 nrolific queens, just because they are two years old. If the 

 bees did not usually change their queen by rearing another 

 as soon as they notice that she is failing in her laying, there 

 would be good excuse fr)r such an action, but there is no 

 doubt that the bees do change their queens whenever they 

 lessen their breeding, and it is only in exceptional cases that 

 a colony allows itself to run down because its queen has en- 

 tirely lost her fecundity. Those who clip their queens' wings 

 have noticed how often these queens are replaced without the 

 knowledge of the apiarist. If this were not the case, an 

 apiary in which no nnecns were replaced artificially would 

 soon dwindle down to nothing. 



But it is advisable and even necessary to replace queens 

 when there are evident signs of lack of prolificness. In my 

 experience, extending over nearly 40 years, with several 

 apiaries, I have noticed that the bees are less likely to replace 

 a queen that is only of very moderate prolificness, but whose 



capacity is unchanged ; that is, a queen that from the first has 

 been of but little value, than to change a queen which has 

 been all her life vigorous and begins to fail. Our attention 

 must therefore be directed to the naturally inferior queens — • 

 to those colonies that have given but little crop. It matters 

 but little whether the queen looks bright, if she has not 

 filled her combs with eggs she should lie condemned, and 

 looks should not be considered. Not only must those queens 

 be changed, but the bees must not be allowed to rear others 

 of the same blood. Too often our bee-keepers have paid at- 

 tention to the looks of the bees rather than to their work- 

 ing qualities. That is why so many of our bright Italians 

 are sluggish and slow, though beautiful to look at. 



The months of August and September are good months 

 in which to change queens, because queens are plentiful and 

 cheap at that time. We have also been able to discover the 

 poorest and the best colonies. 



Those who have produced neither honey nor swarms 

 can probably be made to give a good harvest the following 

 year by changing the queen. 



If we expect to rear our queens ourselves, we must be 

 sure and have the queen-cells from the most prolific, and at 

 the same time the gentlest colonies in the apiary, if these 

 two qualities can be found united in the same colony. If 

 we breed from the best honey-producers we will be sure to 

 make no mistakes. But let the queens be reared and lay- 

 ing before we attempt to change our breeders. Better have 

 a queen of mediocre value in a hive than an interrogation 

 point. 



As a matter of course if we buy we must know the man 

 of whom we buy our queens, and we must get young queens 

 from an apiary where foul-brood is unknown, for there is 

 but little doubt that this disease may be transmitted by the 

 queens, though it is probably only in exceptional cases. 

 Honey, being used in the larval food is much more likely 

 to spread the contagion than any other thing. But there is 

 too much danger in foul-brood for us to risk anything from 

 a foul-broody apiary. There are plenty of good, reliable 

 breeders, and the business of queen-rearing has become so 

 much of a specialty that it is hardly worth our while to 

 rear queens. I never realized the truth of this as vividly 

 as I did when at the St. Louis Convention. Mr. Gill, of 

 Colorado, one of the most practical honey-producers in the 

 United States, said that it did not pay him to rear his 

 queens; that he preferred buying them, although he needs 

 several hundred every year. Scientific queen-rearing re- 

 quires a special outfit, and daily care, and is better conducted 

 as a specialty. 



Let us bear in mind that the best time to introduce a 

 queen is during a flow of honey : that robbing is the greatest 

 incentive to the killing of strange queens by the bees, and 

 that after we introduce the queen it is best to let the colony 

 alone for several days. Queen-introducing is always more 

 or less risky. Some apiarists will tell you that there is noth- 

 ing difficult about it. that they have always succeeded. You 

 can just rest assured that the man who has always succeeded 

 is the one who has done the least of it. We practiced in- 

 troducing in former days when we imported some 40 queens 

 from Italy every season. The best method, in my opinion is 

 the one now generally used by breeders : Cage the queen 

 in the hive, just after removing the old one, and let the 

 bees liberate her by eating their way to her. 



Hancock Co.. 111. 



# 



Brood-Frames and Frame-Spacing 



HY C. W. DAYTON 



I wish to answer Mr. Lathatn, on page 1.54, that if a 

 bottom-bar is sawed out IJ^-inches wide, in six months it 

 will have shrunk to about one inch. A top-bar which is l}i 

 at first will be 1-lfi less in six months, regardless of how dry 

 the lumber is when it is sawed. 



I use what I call full width bottom-bars. That is, a 

 bottom-bar the same width as the top-bar, and on account 

 of shrinkage it makes them finally about 7-16 inch apart when 

 in use, with 1^-inch spacing. With side-bars no wider than 

 the top-bar, when any certain frame is to be taken out we can 

 move the frame on both sides away probalily about '4 i"ch. 

 though there may be honey along the upper edges of the 

 combs. This gives somewhat less than one inch "play" when 

 the bottom-bar comes up past the top-bars. 



The ends of the top-bars rest in notches 1% inches wide 

 in strips of galvanized iron. These are used instead of the 



