Sept, 28, 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



683 



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Doctor IHiUcr's ^ucstton^Sox 



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

 or to Dr. G. C. Millbr, Marengo, 111. 

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



J 



Cleaning Out Partly-Pilled Sections 

 —Hive-Covers In Winter 



I have a number of sections with a little 

 honey in them that I want to use next year 

 for bait sections. I can not very well follow 

 your plan without my neighbors' bees getting 

 most of the honey. Can 1 put the sections 

 over the frames and let the bees clean them 

 out, without danger of starting robbing? 



3. Do you leave the hive-covers on when 

 wintering in the cellar, or use canvas or some- 

 thing of that nature? Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, not a bit of danger 

 from robbing unless some crack is left so the 

 bees can get into the supers from the outside. 

 The only trouble is that it is hard to get the 

 bees to make a clean job of it. Sometimes, 

 especially if they have plenty of stores in the 

 brood-chamber, they seem lo think the honey 

 couldn't be in any better place than in the 

 sections, and utterly refuse to move it. Ex- 

 changing full frames in the brood-chamber 

 for empty ones may make them change their 

 minds. Some say they succeed by having a 

 burlap or other cover over the brood- frames, 

 with one corner turned back so the bees have 

 only a small passage; but that has not suc- 

 ceeded very well with me. In any case it will 

 be well for you to allow the bees a chance at 

 the sections off the hives, after they are 

 mainly emptied. 



'2. They are carried into the cellar, covers 

 and all, just as they were on the summer 

 stands. 



Weight of Colony for Wintering 



1. What should a 10-frame colony of bees 

 weigh, ready for wintering? 



3. If it has full frames of honey should they 

 be placed in the center of the hive? The 

 frames in the center are only partly full of 

 honey. New York. 



Answers. — That depends. The kind of 

 hive makes a difference, some being heavier 

 than others; covers and bottoms also differ- 

 ing. Find out as nearly as you can what a 

 hive filled with empty combs weighs. Then 

 try to have each hive with its bees and other 

 contents weigh 40 pounds more than the 

 empty hive and combs. Understand that 

 doesn't mean that there will be 40 pounds of 

 stores present, for the weight of the bees and 

 pollen is counted in. For cellaring, 5 or 10 

 pounds less will do; but you're more likely 

 to do harm by too little than by too much, 



3. The bees know better than you how to 

 arrange their stores, and you can safely leave 

 that matter in their hands, your part being 

 to make sure that they have not only plenty 

 of stores, but abundant stores. 



Is It Pool Brood? 



What is the matter with my bees? Soon 

 after the white honey-Ilow the young brood 

 began to turn a light brown and to die. They 

 went in all stages of the brood until they 

 were capped over. A few died after being 

 capped, and would have a sunken appearance, 

 but no greasy appearance around the small 

 hole. Some of the brood would turn up 

 Chinaman-shoe fashion, but would never stick 

 to the walls of the cell. Nor could I get it to 

 be ropy by sticiiing a pin or toothpick in it. 



Our honey harvest has been a failure. So 

 after I saw the brood in the fix it was, I be- 

 gan to feed, then the young larv:v did not die , 

 till I could see the eyes; then the bees would 

 build out over It as though they were going 

 to start queen-cells. They would build the 



cell about ', of an inch and leave it open. I 

 ent a sample to the State bee-inspector, who 

 pronounced it foul brood, but it will not cure 

 by the Baldridge plan nor by the MoEvoy 

 plan, as I took one of my worst colonies, 

 shook it out on starters, left it for 48 hours, 

 then shook it on full sheets of foundation, 

 and as soon as the brood got so I could see 

 the eyes it turned brown and died. 



I tried one colony with the Baldridge plan, 

 then after it began to rear brood I shook 

 it out on full sheets of foundation. After 

 I began to feed the trouble decreased consid- 

 erably. Whatever it is, it is general all over 

 this locality. 



How would it do to extract all the honey 

 and teed sugar syrup with naphthol beta in it? 



Illinois. 



Answer.— I should have more faith in the 

 inspector's judgment than my own, for he 

 has seen hundreds of cases to my one, and is 

 familiar with the disease; but it might be no 

 harm to send a sample to N. E. France, Platte- 

 ville. Wis. , General Manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, if you are a mem- 

 ber of that organization, and if you are not, 

 send him a dollar to make you a member. 



The symptoms of the disease may not always 

 be exactly alike, and neither is it proof that 

 foul brood is not present because the usual 

 treatment has not proved successful. If the 

 trouble is general all over your locality, there 

 is a chance for a colony to get the disease 

 afresh, even during treatment. 



It might not be a bad thing to try the syrup 

 with naphthol beta, but in any case the dis- 

 ease will be at a stand-still through the win- 

 ter, and it might be about as well to wail till 

 next year and then vigorously apply the Mc- 

 Evoy treatment. Even if the disease is not 

 foul brood, that same treatment is all right 

 for those diseases that somewhat resemble 

 foul brood. 



aueenless Colony and Drone-Killing 



Will a colony of bees kill the drones in the 

 fall if they are queenless? Maine. 



Answer.— I think not. 



Building for Wintering Bees- 

 Peed for Winter 



Bee- 



1. I think of building a place to winter 

 my bees in the coming winter, and would like 

 to have your upiiiion on my idea. As I am 

 going to put it along the side of my honey- 

 house, I will have to make it high enough to 

 accommodate two tiers of hives. After put- 

 ting the first tier on the bottom, I will put a 

 super on each hive filled with chaff. The 

 next tier will set on top of these supers, and 

 will also be supplied with supers filled with 

 chaff. Over all of this I will put chaff, also 

 behind and in front, but will arrange some 

 way to keep the rhaff from blocking the en- 

 trance and preventing the bees from (lying. 

 Do you think, if each 8-frame hive weighs 45 

 pounds, that this method will be successful? 



2. I made a nucleus this summer. It is in 

 a shallow exlrn liug super (S-frame). If this 

 is full of honey should it winter all right, or 

 would it be belter to put on another story and 

 feed it full of si'rup? The nucleus seems very 

 strong and coniijletely fills the shallow hive. 



3. I made soiiic syrup for feeding by mixing 

 sugar wiih col.l water, equal parts by meas- 

 ure. Will this hi; all right? Ontario. 



Answers. I Something depends upon 

 the weight of tlie hives, bottom-boards, etc. 

 If of the sami' weight as mine, .50 pounds 

 would be safer. 



3. If the sliiillow frames are of the usual 



depth, something like 6 inches, and the combs 

 are solid with honey, there ought to be no 

 need of further feeding. But with combs 

 solid with honey there should be plenty of 

 room for the bees to cluster below the bottom- 

 bars. This you can give by putting under 

 the hive a frame perhaps 3 Inches deep. 



'A. That's all right for early feeding, so that 

 the bees have plenty of time to evaporate and 

 ripen it. But the later it grows the heavier 

 the syrup should be; and when fed so late 

 that bees are not expected to evaporate it, 

 there should be about 5 pounds of sugar to 

 each quart of water. 



Keeping Drawn Sections Over— Hiv- 

 ing Swarms on Pull Drawn 

 Combs or on Poundatlon 



1. Is it possible to keep the combs built in 

 sections this year ani not filled so that they 

 will be as good as new for use next year? If 

 so, how? I have trouble about their turning 

 a straw color. 



3. Is it best to hive a swarm on full-drawn 

 empty combs, or would you cut them out and 

 put in foundation or starters when running 

 for comb honey? I have used the full combs 

 the past two years, and the result has been 

 that in many cases the bees filled up the 

 brood-nest pretty soon, and then swarmed 

 again. Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. I've studied over your ques- 

 tion quite a little, and am not entirely sure 

 whether you mean the sections turn a straw 

 color while on the hive or after you take them 

 off. If while on the hive, then it is probably 

 because the bees varnish them with propolis, 

 which they do increasingly as the season ad- 

 vances, and the less honey they are storing 

 the more propolis they seem to put on the 

 sections. The remedy is to take off sections 

 when the bees are storing nothing; even if 

 you put them on for a later (low, and espe- 

 cially not to keep sections on after the last 

 flow is over. If you mean that the combs 

 turn straw color after you take them off the 

 hive, then I don't know what the trouble is. 

 I never knew change in the color of founda- 

 tion or comb in sections, unless it were a 

 slight bleaching out to a lightercolor. All I 

 do with mine is to keep them in a dry place, 

 and I have no trouble. 



Possibly 1 haven't understood your ques- 

 tion aright, and if not I'll beglad to try again. 



2. I think I should generally prefer the 

 drawn combs, but I doubt about it in the case 

 you mention. If it leads to swarming again 

 in a short time, or even in a rather long time, 

 and if such swarming does not lake place 

 with foundation, then I should prefer the 

 foundation. Before swinging clear over, 

 however, it may be worth while for you to do 

 some experimenting. Under conditions as 

 nearly alike as you can make them, try a 

 number of colonies with full combs, a like 

 number with foundation only, and to another 

 like number give hives half filled with foun- 

 dation, and tilled up 10 days or so later with 

 full-drawn enrabs. By this last is m6*nt that 

 a 10-frame hive would receive .5 frames of 

 foundational the time of hiving swarm, and 

 10 days or so later .5 frames of combs. Then 

 you can see which lot works best. 



Comb Honey Guarantee Circulars. 



— These were gotten up by The Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' League, to be put into shipping-cases 

 before nailing them up for market. They are 

 mailed for only 10 cents for 50 — practically 

 cost price. Every bee-keeper who has any 

 honey lo sell by the case should use these 

 circulars. They will help to inspire confi- 

 dence in the genuineness of comb honey. 

 Send all .r lers to this office. 



Maeterlinck's "Life of the Bee."— 



We have a few copies of this book, price, post- 

 paid, SI 411; or with the American Bee Jour- 

 nal one vLir — both for $2,00, as long as the 

 books lafi. It is a cloth-bound book, and has 

 437 pages. 



