252 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 22, 1906 



find a large lump of royal food remaining after the queen has 

 emerged. 



In operating the Doolittle method I" prefer from 20 to 30 

 Langstroth frames of brood, with a large share of it hatching 

 for cell-building. In the two accompanying cuts you can see 

 a part of my cell-building colonies as "in operation June 17. 

 190a. [See cuts on first page.— Ed.] 



From past experience I am prepared to sav that with bet- 

 ter queens our yield of honey per colony can be greatly in- 

 creased. Wisconsin. 



A Quick Queen-Finder— Methods of 

 Feeding Bees 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



THE past season. I also solved another problem that I have 

 thought, worked, and studied over ever since I have 

 kept bees. • This is a queen-finder. With this device I 

 can find a queen quicker than one could believe possible. 

 Last summer in the presence of three reliable witnesses I 

 found the queens in 4 very strong colonies in the following 

 time: First hive. 87 seconds; 2d. 64 seconds; 3d. 109 sec- 

 onds; 4th. 96 seconds. This did not include moving from one 

 hive to the other, and of course. I worked faster than I usually 

 would; but instead of being about the worst drudgery con- 

 nected with our pursuit, it is a pleasure to find queens with 

 this device. It becomes one of the things we would not sell 

 for money if we could. No matter whether the queen is black 

 or yellow, this device gets her. and gets her quick. It will 

 find a queen in a strong colony just as quickly as it will in a 

 weak one. The frames are not taken out or distributed in any 

 way and it is impossible to lose or injure a queen. 



But my intention was. in this article, to describe a method 

 of early spring feeding that I have practiced the last 4 seasons 

 Ut feeders and ways of feeding, there are about as many as 

 there are bee-keepers. Although this method is very simple 

 1 do not remember ever seeing it described. Where early 

 spring feeding is necessary, it has. aside from sealed combs 

 given better results than any method I have ever practiced. 



I use a cheap grade of extracted honey if I have it on 

 hand; if not granulated sugar and water." mixed half and 

 Halt After the sugar has thoroughly dissolved, I take half- 

 depth extracting combs and fill them with this food by pouring 

 it on the combs from a height of 2 or 3 feet. I have a tank- 

 tor this purpose large enough to hold a number of combs at 

 once. Two or 3. or as many of these filled combs as are 

 deemed necessary for a colony, are then placed in a super and 

 this super is put under the hive. The entrance can then be 

 contracted as desired. 



If extracted honey is used in place of sugar it is warmed 

 up and thinned or reduced with water. I put in about a third 

 water if the honey used is thick. 



The great advantage of this method of early feeding is 

 that the colony is not disturbed, and no heat is lost, as there 

 is with any kind of overhead feeder. In fact, often when I 

 deem it necessary to feed a colony soon after it is removed 

 trom the cellar, and I have sealed combs on hand, if the 

 weather is not favorable, instead of taking out and inserting 

 another comb. I place it underneath the colonv, in a hive or 

 super. 



And now I am going to write something in regard to early 

 spring feeding, or late fall feeding, that I have no doubt will 

 be a great surprise to many, and that, in my opinion, will be 

 worth their time in reading this, for some" who may in the 

 future have to feed early or late ; and it is a surprise to me 

 that with as many closely observing men as we have in our 

 ranks, nothing much has been said about it before The way 

 1 came to observe the matter was this: 



A few years ago I purchased a few colonies of a neighbor 

 who was moving away. This was late in the fall, and most 

 ot these colonies were very light in stores. They were fed 

 up on buckwheat extracted honey. In order not to excite the 

 Whole yard they were fed about 5 pounds each evening 

 towards sundown. They took the feed quite readily, but after 

 some of them had been fed IS pounds or more they did not 

 semi much heavier than before feeding. Upon investigating 

 the matter. J found that a large percent of the bees that took 

 the feed new out and never returned. The nights were unit, 

 Cool, and probably many were chilled, but many also came out 

 and flew such a distance from their hives after" it was so dark 

 that 1 do not believe tiny would have gotten back that night 

 am way, ii" matter how warm it was. 



Since then, when feeding early or late. T always close the 

 hive so t.iat no bees can get out. They will take and store 



the feed just as well, and by the next day they are all over 

 their excitement. They will worry some after the hive is first 

 closed, but soon get over it. 



In my mind there is no question that the reason so many 

 colonies that have to be fed in early spring perish, or dwindle 

 away, is that a large percent of the bees that take the food fly 

 out and perish before they are able to return. 



Southern Minnesota. 



[Mr. Davenport is hereby requested to describe his quick 

 queen-tinder, for the benefit of the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal. — Editor.] 



Experience in Buying Queens — Disinfecting 

 Introducing-Cages 



BY _T. E. JOHNSON. 



ON page 97. Mr. L. A. Smith says he has had experience in 

 buying queens, and has not as yet found an honest 

 queen-breeder. My experience has been just the reverse. 

 For about 20 years I have bought queens occasionally, and 

 have always received fairly good queens, but during that time 

 1 have bought only one tested queen. I get untested queens, 

 as I think a young queen that has only begun laying is less 

 liable to be injured in the mail. However, I got a tested, 

 purely mated queen from England last summer, and she 

 proved to be all right. She came in a fairly large cage, and 

 bad a retinue of 20 or 25 bees, and was 14 days on the way. 



I always aim to get my queens in June or July, as I think 

 better queens are produced during that time of year I never 

 order queens of a man who advertises untested, and also 

 "select" untested, as I think no queen-breeder should send out 

 an "unselect" queen, so I "cut out" that kind of a man entirely, 

 because I want to get a queen from a man who values his rep- 

 utation better than to send out two grades of untested queens, 

 which means Door, and not so poor. 



Last year I got 12 queens from one man at 50 cents each, 

 and every one proved good, and although all were untested 

 queens they all proved to be purely mated ; but I don't think 

 I ever had an order for queens filled right away until last year. 

 Then my order was filled the day it was received, except 4, 

 which were sent 2 days after the order was received. The 

 breeder I sent to advertised in the American Bee Journal that 

 he could fill orders "by return mail." 



Now. I believe we should have a little patience, and expect 

 5 or 10 days' delay unless the breeder advertises to send by 

 return mail, as the orders may chance to come in too fast 

 just at that time; but if a breeder is thoughtless enough to 

 delay the order 30 days, or oyer, without giving notice and 

 offering to send the money back, he ought to be exposed. 

 However. I think in the end it will cost the queen-breeder 

 more to be dishonest and careless than to deal as he would 

 be dealt by. 



I have queen-cages that are disinfected that I use for in- 

 troducing, and no matter who the queen is from, she is placed 

 in the disinfected cage for introduction. 



To disinfect a cage, take 40 parts water and 1 part car- 

 bolic acid. Lay the cage in this solution for 1 hour, and it 

 will be safe from all disease. Of course, the cage should be 

 thoroughly aired and dried. 



I believe we should give more attention to having young 

 queens, as I find that often the colony that spring dwindles 

 has an old queen. The bees don't seem to supersede their 

 queens until the old queen is failing pretty fast, and that is 

 often not soon enough to suit me; but I believe we can rear 

 longer-lived queens in a 3-frame nucleus than in a baby 

 nucleus. 



It would, no doubt, be quite profitable for every bee- 

 keeper to rear his own queens, and thus he would get valuable 

 experience, and probably good queens. 



Williamsfield. 111. 



Full Weight vs. Short Weight Section Honey 



BY 1.. v. RICKETTS. 



SO, Mr. Hasty, on page 794 (1905). thinks that I am work- 

 ing at a good matter, yet he can not fall into my pro- 

 cession. 1 am sorry for that, for 1 like good company. 

 I think I will have to go it alone, then, for awhile, at least. 

 What I am advocating is right, and right will always win in 

 the course of time. 



Mr. Hasty seems to convey the impression that 1 am 



