738 



Aug. 30. 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



Victoria the season opened well, but a very 

 bad freeze (3 inches of ice) came along in 

 May when everything was growing and full 

 of sap, so everything was long in recovering. 

 The bees especially had a bad time of it. In 

 fact, I never had seen bees so slow to build 

 up; and as our springs here are windy, cool 

 and dry, followed with dry summers, you can 

 guess the result from a bee-keeper's stand- 



point. I should estimate the yield around 

 Victoria at about 25 pounds per colony, 

 spring count. My colonies, which are 38 

 miles out of town, will average about 45 

 pounds each from clover and from willow- 

 weed, which they are now working on. Out- 

 side of California, I think Ontario can hold 

 her own for quantity and quality one year 

 with another. 



**T\. 



s*W 



Docfor Mi Herts 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 ' Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Probably Superseding the Queen 



On opening one of my hives to-day for the 

 purpose of substituting a new queen for the 

 old one, I was unable to And any queen. The 

 hive was a 2-story, and had sealed brood in 

 both stories— more in the top than bottom, as 

 a great deal of that in the bottom had 

 hatched. Only 2 or 3 frames contained any 

 unsealed brood or eggs, aDd those only a very 

 little; but there were several queen-cells 

 started, and as the bees were placed in a new 

 hive July 9 (I think it was), notover a month 

 ago anyway, I decided the old queen must 

 have died. Was I right? Maine. 



Answer. — Very likely you are right; but 

 it's one of the cases when it's very hard to be 

 positive. The fact that you could find no 

 queen is not positive proof, for the most ex- 

 pert tinder of queens may fail in some cases. 

 You say, " Only 2 or 3 frames contained any 

 unsealed brood or eggs, and those only a very 

 little." That doesn't say positively that eggs 

 were present, but from the way you say it, I 

 rather understand there were at least a few 

 eggs. If so, a queen wa6 present not less 

 than 3 days before. At any rate, she was 

 there within 8 or 9 days, and the small 

 amount of unsealed brood, if it was in all 

 stages, points to a failing queen. She could 

 not have been gone many days, and it is en- 

 tirely possible that she was there when you 

 failed to find her, for when a queen i6 to be 

 superseded she generally remains until her 

 successor emerges. 



Building Up and Wintering a Nucleus 

 —Introducing Queens 



I have 8 colonies of bees— 3 black and the 

 rest Italians. I have also one 4-frame nucleus 

 with a tested queen, just introduced. It has 

 been robbed until there is about a pint of bees 

 left. The queen has brood in patches as large 

 as a hand on all 4 frames. 



1. Can I build them up for winter? If so, 

 how? 



2. How can I unite them with one of the 

 black colonies, saving the tested queen? 



3. Is it possible to winter a 4-frame nucleus 

 packed with chaff in an outside case on the 

 summer stand? 



4. What is the best and easiest way of in- 

 troducing an Italian queen to a strong black 

 colony now? 



One of my colonies has stored 50 pounds of 

 surplus honey, while the others have done 

 nothing. Massachusetts. 



Answers.— 1. With 9 colonies to help there 

 ought to be no trouble about building up, 



provided you can induce the robber-bees to 

 let them alone. That must be your first care, 

 and it will be well to avoid opening the hive 

 except in the morning or evening at a time 

 when bees are not flying, and to keep the 

 entrance closed so that only a bee or two can 

 pa6s at a time. The first part of the work is 

 the hardest. The brood is now scattered in 4 

 frames, each frame, as I understand it, hav- 

 ing a patch of brood as large as one's hand. 

 Probably there isn't as much in the 4 frames 

 as in a single frame well filled, and the bees 

 could take care of it a good deal better if it 

 were in one frame. So take out 3 of the 

 frames, and put in the middle a frame taken 

 from some other colony, the brood being 

 nearly all sealed in the frame given. Perhaps 

 there are not enough bees to cover so much 

 brood, in which case you will take away all 4 

 of their frames, giving them the single frame 

 filled with sealed brood, and 2 or 3 frames 

 with more or less honey. A week later there 

 ought to be enough bees so you can swap 

 their single frame for 2 frames well filled with 

 sealed brood, unless the brood was too young 

 in the frame first given. You can help no 

 little by having frames of sealed brood pre- 

 pared in advance. At the time you give your 

 first frame, put 3 frames filled with brood in 

 an upper story over some strong colony, a 

 queen-excluder between the 3 stories. A 

 week later, as you will see, there will be little 

 but sealed brood present. You can take this 

 way of preparing all the brood you will want 

 to use. To go back again, you first gave 

 them a frame of sealed brood, and a week 

 later you swapped this for 3 frames of sealed 

 brood. Now, a week still later, you can swap 

 these 3 for 3 filled frames, possibly for 4, be- 

 ing sure never in any case to give more than 

 the bees can well cover. After you have got 

 up to 3 or 4 brood, the way is easier. You 

 can then, each week, without taking anything 

 away, add a frame of brood, and you may 

 give with it the bees adhering to it, for as it is 

 in an upper story over an excluder, there is 

 no danger of taking a queen, and, moreover, 

 these bees in the upper 6tory are mostly 

 young bees with some degree of a feeling of 

 queenlessness, so they are the best kind to 

 give to a strange colony. 



2. You can unite with a black colony by 

 proceeding as advised in the answer to the 

 previous question, using the black colony 

 alone, and then after you have Drought the 

 nucleus up to 4 frames kill the black queen, 

 3 days later add 3 frames of brood and adher- 

 ing bees, and in a day or more add the rest of 

 the black colony. 



3. It might succeed and it might not. Some- 

 thing depends upon the severity of the win- 

 ter, and the sheltered location. 



4. There is possibly no best way that is 

 easiest, and no easiest way that is best. The 



easiest way I know of is to dump the queen 

 in the hive without any ceremony, and some- 

 times that may succeed, but it certainly can 

 not be recommended as the best way. Per- 

 haps the best way is to put the queen, with- 

 out any bees unless it be some of ber own 

 bees, in a hive containing frames of sealed 

 brood, much of it 60 far advanced that the 

 young bees are just emerging from their cells, 

 keeping the hive closed for 5 days in a place 

 where the brood will not chill, then putting 

 the hive on its stand and giving for a time an 

 entrance so small that only a bee or two can 

 pass at a time. That, however, can not be 

 called the easiest way. Taking the spirit of 

 your question, I may answer that a good and 

 easy way is to follow the instructions usually 

 sent with queens when shipped: Remove 

 the queen from the hive, and at the same time 

 put in the hive the cage with the new queen, 

 allowing the bees to release her by eating out 

 the plug of candy. A little more safety may 

 be secured by putting the cage in the hive a 

 day or more before removing the old queen, 

 not allowing the bees to have access to the 

 candy till the old queen is removed. 



Wood or Metal Splints and Wire for 



Staying Comb Foundation In 



Brood-Prames 



I wish to ask in regard to staying founda- 

 tion in brood-frames, under different condi- 

 tions from your own — a deeper frame by 3 

 inches, and a warmer climate. Under these 

 conditions do you think that your way of 

 staying foundation would stand the test? I 

 doubt if it would. Climatic conditions in the 

 latitude of northern and central Illinois are 

 quite different; hot spells are much more 

 protracted in central Illinois, with much 

 warmer nights. Hives that are kept well 

 shaded will, sometimes, get too warm; in 

 this condition the comb becomes soft and 

 pliable, and loaded combs gradually incline 

 to sag centrally. 



Six years ago I adopted the " Draper-barn- 

 Jumbo " hive — (I live in town and keep only 

 a few colonies) — with horizontally wired 

 frames. I now conclude that for this climate, 

 and for deeper frames than the standard 

 Langstroth, horizontal wiring is a complete 

 failure; the strain comes largely on the light 

 end-bars of the frame, and they " give," and 

 the wires and comb naturally keep settling 

 centrally when conditions favor. 



It spoils a brood-frame to get out of shape; 

 it is fortunate that some comb foundation is 

 made with a full-size base, allowing for some 

 contraction by sagging. Another trouble 

 with sagged comb is that the bees remodel it 

 into drone-comb in the lower comers. How 

 little drone-comb will satisfy a colony's nat- 

 ural instinct for rearing drones, and prevent 

 remodeling worker-cells? 



If I were starting anew, I think I would 

 adopt the standard depth Langstroth frame 

 in preference to the " Jumbo." 



A word more in regard to your manner of 

 staying foundation : 1 surmise that if the 

 splints were fastened to the top-bar of the 

 frame, the comb would stand reasonable con- 

 ditions in any climate. 



I have been thinking that it would work to 

 use zinc splints (black iron would answer 

 just as well, though harder to work) ; these 

 metal splints could be more readily fastened 

 to the top-bar than the wooden ones. Propo- 

 lis is a very valuable cement — far superior to 

 pure wax; bees reinforce all their work with 

 it. When warm it has strong adhesive power, 

 much greater than wax. 



Southwestern Illinois. 



Answer. — I have never tried foundation 

 splints in anything deeper than the Lang- 

 stroth frame, but I see no reason why they 

 should not work with entire satisfaction in a 

 frame 3 inches deeper. The lower part would 

 be the same in either case, and increased 

 depth could hardly make any difference in 

 the upper part, for the splints do not allow 

 the weight of the lower part to affect the 

 upper part. 



A6 to difference in temperature, we have 



