Jan. 18, 19C6 



FHK AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



51 



out, as she was released and appeared in be in perfect con- 

 dition. 



Just 10 days later I examined to see what she was doing-. 

 She had just begun to lay. I waited 10 days and looked 

 again, and found larva;, sealed brood, and eggs. I counted 

 as many as 6 eggs in a single cell. So I just gave her a 

 larger brood-nest, then closed the hive and went into the 

 house; but just one hour later I thought I would step out 

 and see what was going on, and, to my surprise, a ball of 

 bees was lying just in front of the hive. I could not wait 

 to get hat or veil, but just ran to them and picked them up 

 with my bare hand and hastened to drop it and to pick it 

 up again. I said to myself, " You will kill the queen!" 

 Yet with my bare hand and a little stick I soon released the 

 queen, took her in my hand, quickly ran in a room and 

 turned her loose on the window, and, lo, she had all her 

 legs and was a shade darker. At once I saw she was " a 

 stray." Then I put her into a cage and went out to see if I 

 had a missing queen, but no, mine were all right. I had one 

 colony that was queenless, so I just introduced her there, 

 and went to see if my new queen was all right, and found 

 she was. 



I waited 10 days longer, and gently lifted the hive-cover 

 and raised the frames. There was but little brood and 

 larva;, and there were not many eggs, but as many as 6 to a 

 cell, plenty of room, and plenty of bees and honey. What 

 is the cause ? She is in an 8-frame standard hive. Will 

 she be all right by spring ? She is a perfect beauty, and I 

 shall report again when spring comes. 



I must also give my report for 1905, and some experi- 

 ence. I had 47 colonies, spring count, and at present 79. 

 All went into winter quarters in good condition, with the 

 exception of 12 that I had to feed some. 



I think they did very well, as they did not get to store 

 any surplus till September, at which time I generally have 

 my honey crop gathered. Some colonies stored as high as 

 100 pounds each, while others much less, and some did 

 nothing. I did not keep any account of my honey this 

 year, as I was surprised to get any. Some of my colonies 

 filled 4 large supers, some only 1, and some only a half 

 super, while some got nothing. I just make a lump guess 

 at about 500 or 600 pounds. I generally keep up with the 

 best colonies, and the very best gave me 100 pounds. I have 

 one colony that gave 300 pounds last year, and gathered it 

 between the last of July and the last of September, and it 

 was certainly nice. I sold all my honey last year for 10 

 cents a pound, while the past season I sold it for 12>< cents 

 a pound, and some at 15 cents. 



I attended the Ellis County Fair, and exhibited my 

 honey. I got all the honey premiums. I have a good de- 

 mand here at home for honey. I haven't used sections yet. 

 I work for comb honey, and pack it all myself. I made all 

 my hives and frames myself until this year. My husband 

 is a poor helpmate with handling supers or boxes ; I can't 

 see why, but it must look to him as if they were wrong side 

 up. He will turn them over in spite of me, and of course 

 you know what the result is — a lot of spilt honey. 



I haven't any record of my apiary yet, though I shall 

 get it soon, as I have several clipped queens, and they 

 might get lost. Give me your best record idea. 



Does a fertile queen ever leave the hive, and all the 

 bees go with her, and then return again to her brood ? I 

 saw her, and know she was there. She and all her bees 

 went out and circled all over my apiary, then returned to 

 their hive. I went and looked in while they were out, and 

 there was brood, larvae, eggs, and honey in plenty, and the 

 last week in June she quit laying and did not lay any more 

 until the first week in September. I just thought it was a 

 lost queen, and I began giving them some brood, so they 

 might rear another queen. But they would not, and once a 

 week I would give them another frame, and so on until I 

 began to get tired. I took all the frames out looking for her 

 many times, but could not see her, so they would not even 

 try to rear a queen. Being tired I left them without brood 

 about 12 days, and they worked so hard storing lots of 

 honey that I decided I would try once more, and after they 

 failed I thought I would just let them fill their hive with 

 honey. I was vexed at them, and thought I would just quit 

 putting in larva: and eggs for about 10 days, and when I 

 looked there was nothing but bees, and honey in plenty. I 

 often looked for the queen, but could not tell her from any 

 other bee. I know they did not rear any queen, as I kept a 

 close watch, and after all the brood hatched I went there to 

 put in another frame, and, lo, there were about 4 frames 

 well supplied with nice eggs. I just closed it up, and to- 

 day it is as nice a colony as I have, strong and heavy. 

 What was the trouble? I thought perhaps they gathered 



honey too fast for her, or did they get a stray queen ? I 

 know they did not rear one, for I looked every week to see. 



I bought some bees from a neighbor, and such a mess I 

 never saw before. When I would raise some of the covers 

 they would smell something like a dead cow, one that had 

 been dead for about five days in real warm weather. Now 

 this gave me great trouble, as I had no experience with any 

 such thing, and it also gave me lots of experience. It would 

 break out at any and all times of the year. Just as soon as 

 I was sure it was foul brood I never would raise the cover 

 from them so as to let any other bees enter the hive. I 

 would close the entrance at once, and make ready for trans- 

 ferring them. The first thing, I got the hive ready with 

 about 3 combs, 2 of honey and 1 of brood, all clean and 

 healthy. Then I would take the foul-broody colony 30 feet 

 away, still keeping the hive closed tight. I put ashes on 

 the old stand about 3 inches deep, covering the ground all 

 in front, under, and around. Then I put the new hive there, 

 closed the entrance about half, and then I was ready to 

 transfer. With the smoker full of fuel, I fired it, and just 

 opened the entrance enough to insert the nozzle of the 

 smoker, then I begin pumping smoke, and just as soon as 

 they were well smoked I slipped the cover to one side 

 enough to give them about 1 inch to come out. I caught 

 her and carefully clipped her wing, put her in the new hive 

 by raising the cover and letting her run in on the combs, 

 closed the lid tight, then just kept smoking as long as any 

 bees would come out, and they would nearly all go to the 

 queen, and what few clustered on the outside of the hive I 

 just raked on a board, and then dumped them right in front 

 of the new hive. I hastened back to close the old hive, 

 chink the entrance with a wet rag, and see that the cover is 

 put down tight. 



The first day when all the bees are compelled to stay in 

 their hive, I attend to the burning of the contents of the 

 old hive. I cut close and burn all combs. I do not even 

 drop the smallest particle of comb honey or anything there- 

 in, and boil the hive, frames, and bottom and top. I boil 

 them about 20 minutes. 



Now that is my way, and I think it is good, as experi- 

 ence is a good teacher. 



Now the transfer is quite easy, but the cleaning up is a 

 job. I certainly do hope that the bee-law in Texas will 

 have the inspectors inspect every apiary, even if they have 

 only a small number of colonies. I have suffered for the 

 want of protection. I have learned a great deal about foul 

 brood, but it took me 3 years to get rid of the dreadful dis- 

 ease. My apiary is all healthy and nice now. 



Hurrah for the American Bee Journal ! It and I are the 

 same age. Mrs. Carrib Branch-. 



Garrett, Tex., Dec. 10, 1905. 



Next time you have a queen balled, don't try to pull the 

 ball apart with a stick. It may make the bees sting the 

 queen to death. Throw the ball into a dish of cold water, 

 and the bees will loosen their hold to save themselves as 

 best they can, and you can then rescue the queen from an 

 unwilling bath. Another way is to blow smoke upon the 

 ball. If you hold the nozzle of the smoker close to the bees, 

 and blow hot smoke upon them, they will be sure to sting 

 the queen. Hold the smoker so far off that blowing at the 

 ball has no effect ; then gradually move the nozzle nearer 

 and nearer until the outside bees begin to leave the ball ; 

 then without moving the smoker nearer keep on blowing 

 till all the bees have left the queen. 



The probability is that the laying of more than one 

 egg in a cell is due to some temporary derangement as a 

 result of travel and introduction, and that the queen will 

 be laying all right in the spring. 



Thanks for your report. You are to be congratulated 

 on doing so well when the bees did not store till so late. 



Replying to your question as to the best idea of keeping 

 records, we like a blank book of the inexpensive sort, put- 

 ting down the numbers in order, and allowing about 3 colo- 

 nies on each page. 



Yes, a queen may leave the hive with her bees and re- 

 turn, but it is not a frequent occurrence. 



It is hard to say just how it was that there was a time 

 during the honey-flow when no eggs were laid, but it is en- 

 tirely possible that the bees were queenless and that a stray 

 queen entered later. 



Maple Sugar and the Sugar Bush, by Prof. A. J. Cook; 

 44 pages; price, postpaid, 30 cents. This is by the same 

 author as "The Bee-Keepers' Guide," and is most valuable 

 to all who are interested in the product of our sugar-maples. 

 No "lie who makes maple sugar or syrup should be without 

 it. Order from the office of the American Bee Journal. 



