240 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September 



whether or not they need more room. 

 Sections, if you want them built quick- 

 ly, well filled and finished, should 

 never be given until the colony is 

 badly in need of them ; then only one 

 rack at a time, for it takes lots of bees 

 to make nice white comb honey. 

 Watch the brood combs closely and 

 see if the queen keeps the combs well 

 filled ; if so, then they will continue 

 to keep strong. Every two or three 

 days raise the cover and see if they 

 are whitening up the top of the brood 

 combs; if so, and they have lots of 

 bees and the flow is good and the 

 weather fair, then they need more 

 room. Now place in the middle of 

 your rack five or six sections with big 

 pieces of old comb in them (not too 

 old), fill it Avith sections and put on 

 the hive. After they have got nicely 

 to work in the other new sections, re- 

 move these to some other rack. I have 

 raised comb honey every month in the 

 year, and find that black hybrid bees 

 fill the sections faster, and if they are 

 strong fasten them much firmer, and 

 their work is much nicer than pure 

 bees. To get the best results, the 

 queen should never be over three 

 years old. By the use of these sec- 

 tions of comb, this trouble of the bees 

 looking through the sections so much 

 before going to work is very much 

 averted, for they find comb already 

 built and have only to fill it. There 

 is noihiug gained, and a good deal 

 lost by giving bees too much room. 



LAYING WORKERS, OR DRONK LAYING 

 QUEENS. 



There are a good many people who 

 have lots of trouble with laying work- 

 ers, and now and then you find a very 

 troublesome old queen who is still try- 

 ing to perform her duty. For the 

 benefit of those who have not been in 

 the business as long as I have, and 



naturally do not know what to do, I 

 Avill give them my way of getting rid 

 of these very troublesome pests. Now 

 for the first (laying workers) for they 

 is by far the hardest to get rid of. As 

 soon as you find a hive where ttie cells 

 are built out long and the brood is 

 scattering, the top of the cells look 

 dark and drawn up, and most slways 

 have a bad smell, you may feel sure 

 that it i? one or the other of these 

 trouble makers. Take away all the 

 combs that have these eggs in, and if 

 you have time continue the bees in 

 the hive for a day, then let them out 

 and give them a big sheet of brood 

 that is hatching fast, and a small 

 sheet of eggs that have just started to 

 hatch in the center, and see that they 

 have plenty of honey. In four days 

 look at them, and if they are building 

 several good plump cells, w'ell and 

 good ; but if not building any, or only 

 buttons, then they are not satisfied, 

 and the buttons should be destroyed 

 and a fresh comb of young brood giv- 

 en, and usually this comb of young 

 bees they now have will at once start 

 good healthy cells from the right aged 

 brood. As for old queens, they are 

 not half the trouble, and in my apiary 

 not nearly as plentiful as laying work- 

 ers. When the beginner finds one 

 that is laying all drone eggs, all he 

 has to do is to spread a sheet of paper 

 in front of the hive, letting it come 

 up on the entrance ; then shake all 

 the bees onto this rather slowly, and 

 watch for a dark slow moving queen. 

 When you see her, catch and dispose 

 of her as best you can. Give them 

 lots of honey and plenty of brood, and 

 you are pretty sure to get a young 

 queen . " If at first you don't succeed, 

 try, try again." 

 Cuba, W. 1. 



