Aug. 10. 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



571 



them as such — and sometimes quite peaceful 

 toward aliens when they recognize them to 

 be aliens. To cite human parallels, the smell 

 of the Negro is different from the smell of the 

 Caucasian (for the Caucasian race has a dis- 



tinctive smell) ; and the smell of the China- 

 man differs from both. This shows that there 

 is DO ingrained absurdity about one little 

 nation of bees differing slightly from another 

 little nation. Page 453. 



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I)octor ZTtillcr 5 QucstioivSox 



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

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 

 Dr. Miller does iMt answer Questions by mail. 



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A Swarm In a Chimney -Shade for 

 Bees-Uueenltss Colony— Bee- 

 Birds— Swarmlne— Taking 

 Orf Honey 



1. How can I get a swarm of bees out of a 

 chimney into a hive* Can I do so after they 

 have started to build comb? 



2. I have been told that all new swarms 

 should be put in the shade and the old ones 

 in the sun. Is this true? 



3. If a colony is queenless will the bees rear 

 a queen it given some brood! 



4. How can I capture bee-killing birds? 



5 When a swarm clusters and separates in 

 two bunches upon the same limb, are there 

 two or more queens! 



6. How long before all the bees have left 

 the super should a bee-escape be used ? 



lOWA. 



Answers. — 1, It depends upon the particu- 

 lar conditions. Possibly all is within easy 

 reach, so that you can easily get at the swarm 

 and treat it just as if it was in a hive. If not, 

 you can go at it in another way. Place a 

 Porter bee-escape over the chimney, and over 

 that a hive containing at least one frame of 

 brood, the rest of the hive being filled with 

 combs, frames of full foundation, or starters. 

 The bees that come out, not being able to get 

 back any farther, will settle in this hive, and 

 at the end of 3 weeks you will have about all 

 the bees, even if they have had comb and 

 brood. 



3. There is good reason for putting a newly- 

 hived swarm in the shade, but I don't know 

 why it isn't just as well to have an old colony 

 also in the shade. 



3 Yes, but it is much better to give them 

 with the brood a sealed queen-cell. 



4. Shoot them, then you can easily catch 

 them. Perhaps, however, you might trap 

 them, if you knew the kind of bait chat would 

 attract them. 



h. Maybe, and maybe not. 



6 The lime varies. Sometimes the bees 

 will be all out if the bee-escape is left on over 

 night, and sometimes not. They are a help, 

 but if you are in a big hurry they are too slow. 

 That means escapes that allow bees to go down 

 into the brood-chamber. The Miller escape, 

 which is put on a pile of supers when they 

 are taken from the hive, will be likely to leave 

 the supers clear of bees if left on for half a 

 day. For my own use I like these very much, 

 but a man is likely to think well of his own 

 baby. (See page 570.) 



White Flakes In Front of the Hive- 

 Smoker Open at Both Ends 



1. Last evening we had a telephone call to 

 " bring a hive and take these pesky bees out 

 of my grove." We did as we were told, and 

 soon bad the swarm transferred from the 

 limb of a tree to a hive. I hived them on 2 

 drawn combs and 6 frames with full sheets of 

 foundation, then set them in the apiary. To- 

 day noon we notice the ground is strewn with 

 little particles of white Hakes, and is fairly 

 white in front of the hive. Of course I know 

 they claim this is wax from the bees. I could 

 fill three or four thimbles from what is on the 

 ground, and there was a lot of it on the limb 

 from which I took the bees. This has a ten- 

 dency to cause me to believe wax is spittle. 

 The bees certainly have a place to use it in 

 those 6 frames of foundation, if it is wax. 



Had the bees been put on a full set of drawn 

 combs I should have thought nothing of it. 

 This is the first lime I ever saw so much of it. 

 2. Is there a smoker made that can be 

 opened at each end? If we could open the 

 breech end to relight when the fire goes out 

 it would be lots handier than pulling out all 

 the wadding from the top just to get a light 

 into it. Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. i'ou are right as to the simi- 

 lariiy between wax and spittle, at least to that 

 extent that both are secretions. But if you 

 are hinting that the little white scales that 

 you could pick up by the thimbleful are any 

 other than beeswax, you will have trouble to 

 establish your point. Even if that colony 

 was wasteful, and didn't use all the wax that 

 was secreted, that doesn't prove that it was 

 not the genuine article. Haven't you seen a 

 good many pellets of pollen dropped and 

 wasted? But you didn't conclude from that 

 that it was not good usable pollen. If you 

 will make good use of Joe's eyes when bees 

 are busy building comb, you can satisfy your- 

 self pretty thoroughly that the little pear- 

 shaped scales are nothing but pure wax, fresh 

 from the bee-factory, when you see the bees 

 bringing them into use, a scale sometimes be- 

 ing plainly seen stuck onto the progressing 

 work. 



3. So far as I know there is no smoker 

 made that opens at both ends. I have had 

 breech-loaders, but I don't believe you would 

 like them. In general we want to pile fuel 

 on the fire, not under it. But it would be an 

 easy thing to have a smoker constructed so 

 as to load at each end, and I've no doubt you 

 could get one by paying a little extra. But 

 it's so seldom that a smoker needs relighting, 

 that it would be only a nuisance to have it 

 open at the bottom. There's something 

 wrong with the fuel, the smoker, or with 

 Joe, that allows the fire to die out till it burns 

 out, and I don't believe a doubleender is the 

 proper solution of the difficulty. 



Bees Filling a Super- A Play Spell- 

 Straight Combs-Storing for 

 Winter 



1. How long does it take a strong colony of 

 bees to fill one super? I put one on July 6, 

 and they started to work in it right away. It 

 holds 24 sections. 



2. What makes the bees gather and waste 

 time by Hying in front of the hive about a 

 half hour everyday? About a week ago I 

 raised the hives an inch in front, but they 

 still do it. 



.1. I used full fuuudation sheets in all my 

 hives, and still the bees have not made 

 straight combs, but have bound Ihein to- 

 gether here and there. What causes this? 

 How can I separate, them so I can pull them 

 out one by one? If done once, will they con- 

 nect them again, or bow can I hinder this? 



3. Will the bees stop working in the supers 

 of themselves in time to fill their frames be- 

 low for winter? If aot, what shall I do? 



5 Some time atr^ I bought a large prime 

 swarm and had to haul them 4 miles, but I 

 did not give thein air enough, and when I 

 came home I bad nnly one pint of bees left. I 

 cleaned out 13 qui'its of Oead bees, and then 

 introduced a queen to them July 4, which 

 they accepted. \\\\\ they build up before 

 winter, and get enn jgh honey to take them 

 through till next bi ng? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. It may take all summer, and 

 it may take 3 or 4 days. Either of these 

 would be an extreme case. Perhaps 10 days 

 to 2 weeks would be something like an aver- 

 age for filling and finishing; for it takes some 

 time after lieing filled for the sealing to be 

 finished. If the bees have abundance of room 

 2 weeks will be a pretty short time. 



2. Bless your heart, you wouldn't grumble 

 because children waste time playing, would 

 you? Those bees are having a play spell, and 

 raising the hive a foot wouldn't stop them. 

 Don't worry, it's good for them. 



3. Without seeing the case it's hard to an- 

 swer; but if the work is properly done noth- 

 ing of the kind should happen. I suspect just 

 a little that you have put in the foundation 

 without foundation splints or wiring, and that 

 the foundation, being loose, has flopped about 

 so as to touch in places. The foundation 

 should be fastened securely in the middle of 

 the frame, and then there would be no trouble. 

 Carefully pull the frames apart, if necessary 

 cutting apart the places that are fastened to- 

 gether; gently push toward the center of the 

 frame any parts that are to one side, and 

 when returning the frames don't have them 

 just as they were, but turn every other one 

 end for end. Then the same places will not 

 come together as before ; and after 4 days or 

 more repeat the process if they are not yet 

 all straight. 



4. Yes, generally; but it is always well to 

 have on hand some extra combs of sealed 

 honey to give to any needy colony. 



5. I don't know; they may if the season is 

 remarkably good. The probability is that 

 you will need to give them combs of honey or 

 feed them otherwise. 



A Reporter and "The King Bee" 



You will see the " king bee " mentioned in 

 the accompanying clipping taken from the 

 thrice-a-week World, of New York. I have 

 been a bee-keeper since 1868. and as yet I 

 can't say that I ever saw a ■' king bee," un- 

 less it is a drone; and if Mr. Fry was stung 

 to death by a drone, don't you think they 

 should have allowed him more space than a 

 mere I'^-inch item in a newspaper? 



Is it through my ignorance that I ask what 

 is a " king-bee?" 



I have been located here in Cuba with api- 

 aries since 1899, and now have 4 apiaries. 



Cuba. 



Answer. — No, you never saw the king bee 

 mentioned, for you never looked in the right 

 place. This king bee had a sting that worked 

 telescope fashion, and when opened out to its 

 full extent was I'-g inches long. If you want 

 to see him, don't go to looking through hives, 

 but take a 2inch auger and bore a hole 

 through the skull of the reporter that wrote 

 that item, and when you reach his brain there 

 you will find that king bee in all his glory. 



The newspaper item referred to reads as 

 follows : 



STDNG TO DEATH BY A KING BEE. 



LoOKPORT, N. Y., June 19. — James T Fry, 

 a farmer, aged 83 years, succumed this morn- 

 ing to injuries received in an encounter with 

 a honey-bee. Fry was moving the bee-hives 

 on his farm near this city last evening, and in 

 so doing angered the honey-makers. A king 

 bee attacked Fry and stung him several times 

 in the face before Fry succeeded in killing it. 

 He was chased to the house by a swarm of the 

 indignant insects. Blood poisoning quickly 

 developed in the wounds made by the king 

 bee, and allei ted the heart, causing Fry's 

 death within 12 hours. 



Swarming in Black Hives— Loaf 



Sugar for Bees-Starters In 



Sections 



1. At the last bee-keepers' convention held 

 in this city, a g-untleman stated that if hives 

 are plainted ick and set in shady places, 

 the bees will nut swarm. Have you tried this 

 method will; success? 



2. Loaf su^'i: as a food for bees has been 

 mentioned rectntly in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and was, 1 think, tacitly commended by 



