672 



Aug. 2, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



_'. I am having trouble with one of my colonies. I can 

 not get the bees up into the sections. They build up between 

 the section-slats and the brood-frames. I have used every 

 means and all the information I could get from the "A B 

 C of Bee Culture" to get them to work in the sections. I 

 tried a section of last year's honey in the center of the 

 super. They uncapped it and carried it down. I tried a 

 section from another hive, with the comb partly drawn out, 

 with no avail. The hive is an old-style Simplicity, with 

 434-inch super, and 3-inch bee-space. What would you do 

 in my place ? 



3. When an afterswarm issued what will be the result 

 if I hive them and catch and kill the queen and shake the 

 bees back into the parent hive? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. I hardly dare advise. Chaff hives will 

 make you less trouble preparing for winter, but they are 

 cumbersome and unwieldy, and if they should perchance at 

 any time pass into the possession of some one having a cellar 

 or wanting to take them to an out-apiary, they would be 

 objectionable. So it would not be a bad plan for you to 

 experiment a little, trying some of both kinds, only be sure 

 to have only one size of frames. 



Possibly, however, your question is meant to be under- 

 stood not as to whether you shall have chaff hives entirely, 

 but that you have decided to have only chaff hives, and you 

 want to know whether you can 'depend entirely on chaff 

 hives for wintering, without any outside packing. In that 

 case I answer that no additional packing is needed with 

 chaff hives. It is well, however, in case of any outdoor win- 

 tering, to take advantage of any buildings, groves, etc., to 

 protect against the severity of prevailing winds. 



2. If the bees do not work in the super with all the 

 inducements you mention, it is quite likely because the colony 

 is not strong enough to work in supers, for you say you gave 

 a section from another hive partly drawn out, so it must be 

 that other colonies are storing. There is one thing that is a 

 little hard to understand. You say there is a 3-inch bee- 

 space. I don't feel sure what you mean by that, but if you 

 mean that there is a space of 3 inches between the sections 

 and the top-bars — and it looks a little like it when you say, 

 "they build up between ' the section-slats and the brood- 

 frames" — then it is no wonder that you have trouble. There 

 ought to be over the top-bars a space of no more than 

 J4-inch. 



If, however, you have only ^4-inch space over top-bars, 

 then there is just one thing more you can do to coax the bees 

 tip. Cut out a piece of brood from a brood-comb and fit it into 

 one of the middle sections. If the bees don't go up into that 

 there is nothing left but to take them to an insane asylum. 



3. They will swarm again with the oldest virgin left in 

 the hive. If you want to try anything in that line, the easier 

 and better thing to do is to destroy all queen-cells in the 

 hive, and then return the swarm, queen and all. 



Cuuduoled by K 



Something About Bees and Honey 



For nearly 14 years I have been keeping bees with 

 varying success in Cust'er county. When I commenced 

 then- was no one to give me any encouragement or lend 

 a helping hand. 1 had been told that, "Bees would not 

 do well in Nebraska," that "There was not enough for 

 them to work on," etc. 



1 1 1 iwever, I am quite a hand to want to try for my- 

 self— "bull headed" I have been told by the individual 

 most free to give home thrusts! 



I can say that the prospects for the bee-keeper in 

 Nebraska have steadily improved since I made my first 

 attempt, and I" have also learned much in the costly school 

 of experience. 



I am an advocate of farm bee-keeping. Not that I 

 think the farmer should vie with the specialist in the 

 field of apiculture and burden himself with more than 

 he can manage. Two or three colonies make but little 

 work and should afford honey for his table the year 

 round. Ordinarily this goes to waste in his fields for 

 lack of bees to gather it. 



Why should this be so? A recent writer in the 

 Farmer's Voice says that the farmer used to be a bee- 

 keeper. If that be so it seems a strange falling away 

 from a commendable practice, for certainly bee-keeping 

 was never easier than it is to-day. 



I have noticed the prevalent idea that " Bees would 

 not do well in Nebraska." Then there is the natural 

 dread of stings. 



It is said, with what truth I know not, that the poison 

 of the bee's stings is a specific for rheumatism. That 

 ought to be some comfort under affliction ! 



Besides that, the Italian bee is very gentle, and not 

 at all like the irrascible little black rascals of the time of 

 our grandfathers. 



Then, too, there are many who do not realize the 

 great value of honey as a food and as a medicine. They 

 don't have "the honey habit." 



We are told on all hands, " Uneeda biscuit " and in- 

 vited to "Try-a-bita" food, and cautioned what to smoke, 

 but there have not been many to urge the value of honey. 

 If people in general rated it at its true worth the present 

 supply would not be enough to go around! It would 

 replace some of the patent medicines of more than doubt- 

 ful virtue for the treatment of coughs, colds, la grippe, 

 etc. 



The medical profession are generally agreed that 

 honey is the most wholesome sweet, as it is also the most 

 ancient, and can be freely eaten in certain diseased con- 

 ditions of the body when sugar is forbidden as an article 

 of diet. It is usually much relished by children and is 

 suitable also as a food in extreme old age. 



To the honey-lover it is not generally considera- 

 tion of the above facts, but simply its deliciousness and 

 its comparative rarity that leads him to indulge. 



It is much cheaper than it used to be and while bee-keep- 

 ers may lament that the day of high prices is passing, 

 if they think at all of " the other fellow " they will not 

 regret the fact that they can no longer get 25 cents a 

 pound for their product. 



"How to Manage Bees," may be partly learned from 

 the many excellent instruction books and papers pub- 

 lished in regard to bee-keeping; but, after all, there is so 

 much difference in locality, I have had to learn many 

 things for myself. 



I have decided that at least one cause for failure 

 in Nebraska is this: Our best natural honey-flow is in the 

 fall, bringing with it late swarming which, if unchecked, 

 is also excessive. Then there is often failure in such 

 cases to gather sufficient stores for winter, especially 

 when, as was the case last fall, there is a cessation of 

 honey-gathering earlier than usual, followed by an open 

 winter when the bees fly freely, consuming their stores 

 before there is anything more to gather, when they starve. 

 The strongest colonies that are left are often allowed 

 by the careless bee-keeper to hunt the icy water in the 

 stock tanks, chilling to death, when the bee-keeper will 

 say he had a case of "spring dwindling." 



To put it in a nut-shell: If the colonies winter 

 through with abundance of food and are supplied with 

 artificial pollen and water close by, they are likely to be 

 in good condition when fruit-bloom comes, and if there 

 is nectar to gather they will repay whatever care has 

 been given them. — Custer Co. (Neb.) Beacon. 



Mrs. A. L. Amos. 



Mrs. Amos speaks of allowing the bees "to hunt 

 the icy water in the stock tanks." Will she kindly tell 

 us how she provides water for her bees? Does she warm 

 it? In this locality some farmers warm the water for 

 their cows but the bees are left to do their -own warm- 

 ing. 



-^ 



Comb Attached to Separators 



For 2 years my bees have been determined to build the honey to 

 the separators, and so spoil my sections for market. Now, what is the 



