760 



Sept. 6, 1906 



American Hee Journal 



become of it ? They did not put it in the lower super. That 

 was one experience. This year I had a colony with the su- 

 per nearly full of honey, and instead of putting the empty 

 super between it and the brood-chamber I put it on top of 

 the super that was nearly full. I have been watching- them 

 ever since, and they just simply stopped storing any more 

 honey, either in the super that was nearly full, or in the 

 empty one that I put on ; but instead began to put bee- 

 bread in some of the empty cells, and I believe if I had left 

 both supers on the queen would have gone up and laid some 

 eggs in them. 



5. If a person has an out-apiary, which I expect to have 

 next year, how can he manage that and get the swarms if 

 he is not on the ground all the time ? Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. When you shake a swarm, it is a good 

 deal like natural swarming, and ought to prevent swarm- 

 ing just as much as a natural swarm. When a natural 

 swarm issues, part of the bees go with the old queen, and 

 you can imitate that very closely when you shake a swarm. 

 Simply take from the hive all the combs, taking with the 

 combs enough bees to take care of the brood, making sure 

 to leave the queen in the hive on the old stand, put the 

 combs of brood with adhering bees in a new hive on a new 

 stand, and that's all there is to making a shaken swarm. 

 You see you have on the old stand just what you have in a 

 natural swarm, with the advantage that you have all the 

 field-bees in your artificial swarm ; at least you will have 

 all of them within a day or so, for the field-bees that leave 

 the hive on the new stand will for a day or so return to the 

 old stand and join the swarm. 



2. The instinct of the bee obliges it to take care of its 

 own nest first thing, and yet, after it has started its brood- 

 nest and the queen has begun laying there if you put on 

 the hive a super in which the bees had begun storing before 

 they swarmed, they will store honey in the super at the 

 same time they are working in the brood-chamber, provided, 

 of course, that they are gathering enough to work in both 

 places. 



3. If bees are to store in the supers, there must be nectar 

 coming in from the fields, and it is just possible that in 

 some cases there was not enough to be had in the fields, so 

 of course they would not store any surplus. Let me tell you 

 one thing you can do that will make the swarm stronger, 

 and so make more sure of its storing surplus : If there be a 

 somewhat even division of forces, it may be that neither the 

 swarm nor the mother colony will get enough from the 

 fields to do super-work, but if one of them be made extra- 

 strong it may be able to do surplus work. So when you hive 

 the swarm, set it on the old stand, putting the old colony 

 close beside it facing the same way. Then a week later 

 move the old hive to an entirely new place. The result of 

 that will be a large accession of bees to the swarm, for all 

 the field-bees that belong to the old hive, when they return 

 from gathering in the fields, will go straight to the spot 

 they have been used to, and not finding their own hive 

 there they will join the swarm. 



4. The advice to put the empty super under the one that 

 is nearly full is all right if you are pretty sure the bees will 

 keep on storing ; otherwise it is better to put the empty su- 

 per on top, unless, indeed, you think there will be no more 

 storing, and then no empty super should be given at all. In 

 the first case you mention (the bees carrying the honey 

 down from the raised super), the bees most likely carried 

 the honey down into the brood-chamber. In the second 

 case, with the empty super above, they stopped work simply 

 because they had nothing more to do. The trouble was the 

 same in each case, viz : the stoppage of the honey harvest. 

 And there's nothing you can do, nor that the bees can do, 

 to make matters better when the flowers have ceased to 

 yield nectar. 



S. Perhaps there is nothing better you can do than to get 

 ahead of the bees, and shake swarms at least a little before 

 they have a chance to swarm naturally. 



Tiering Two Weak Colonies for Wintering 



1. In the event of colonies not being strong enough for 

 wintering, is it a good plan to tier 2 hives with a zinc-hoard 

 between them, thus allowing the combined heat to keep the 

 bees warm enough— the wintering to be outdoors ? I have 

 some good queens and I dislike very much to destroy them 

 in the event of the necessity of uniting. 



2. Is it too late now (Aug. 10) for a virgin queen to com- 

 mence laying and breed sufficiently to make a good colony 

 for wintering ? She comes from a $2 red-clover (?) strain. 



3. Is it safe to put bees in winter quarters without a full 

 complement of filled frames?. It seems to me that if 6 

 frames had the winter supply, or possibly S, filled by the 

 incomplete number of bees, the plain division-board moved 

 close to the frames and a small sack filled with plauer-shav- 

 ings or leaves placed tightly in the vacant place in the 

 hive, it might result favorably. Am I right in this ? I am 

 feeding to stimulate brood-rearing, but I fear the time is 

 too short to get strong colonies this poor year. 



Illinois. 

 Answers. — 1. I've been sitting for some time, chin in 

 hand and elbow on knee, trying to think how to answer 

 that question. If I say yes, and everything comes out all 

 right, yon will have 2 colonies next spring instead of 1, and 

 very likely you'd rather have 2 weak ones than 1 strong 

 one. But if you unite in the usual way, you will be surer of 

 their living, and it is better to have 1 live colony than 2 

 dead ones. Something depends upon the strength of the 

 colonies. If they would make no more than a fair colony 

 when united, then it will probably be better to unite. If 

 stronger than this it might be well to try the tiering. An- 

 other thing to be conridered is the risk of queens. Some 

 have succeeded with colonies thus tiered in spring, while 

 others have had one of the queens killed. Some have 

 thought that such killing is more likely to occur if the bees 

 are hybrids. But all this roundabout talk will hardly blind 

 you to the fact that I really don't know what is the right 

 answer to your question. 



2. Not too late, provided she has bees enough to cover 

 about 3 combs, and there is enough paslurage for them to 

 keep gathering till the middle of October. If pasturage is 

 lacking, you must feed. 



3. Yes ; some think it is even better to take out one or 

 more frames, all the time provided there be no scarcity of 

 stores, and you are speaking of '■ filled frames." Six frames 

 ought to accommodate a very strong colony. The " poor 

 year" can hardly be considered in the case, if you feed to 

 make up for it. 



I thank you heartily for your kind words in a letter ac- 

 companying these questions. 



Wiring or Splinting Shallow Frames— Shallow or Deep 



Supers for Comb Honey ?— Full Combs for 



Spring Building Up of Colonies 



1. Would you advise wiring or putting splints in shal- 

 low extracting-frames (5 ^-inches deep), or would they be as 

 well without wire or splints? 



2. Would you advise using shallow extracting-supers, 

 or deep supers, when running for comb honey ? If deep su- 

 pers, tell your objection to shallow ones ? 



3. Do you think it is better to run for both comb and 

 extracted honey on the same hive ? 



4. Where do you get frames full of comb to build up 

 colonies in the spring, as you say you get your colonies 2 or 

 3 stories high ? And when the honey-flow comes you re- 

 duce them to one story, and put on supers ; then what do 

 you do with hive-bodies full of comb when you put on su- 

 pers, or have you a different way of manipulating in spring? 



Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. You can get along without any sort of 

 support for the foundation by being more careful in hand- 

 ling the frames and taking a little more time with the ex- 

 tractor, especially while the combs are new. The time of 

 putting in the supports must be figured against the extra 

 time of manipulation without supports. On the whole, I 

 think I would rather have the supports, especially as the 

 time of putting them in may be in winter, and the extra 

 time of handling the combs comes at a busy time. 



2. I don't know of any objection to the shallow extract- 

 ing supers except that the combs cannot be used inter- 

 changeably with those in the brood-chamber. If I were run- 

 ning for extracted honey, I think I should prefer the shal- 

 low super. Fortunately, the case is one in which you can 

 experiment without much trouble. Try part of each. If 

 you find you like better the shallow, there will be no trouble 

 afterward in having more shallow combs and using the 

 deep ones all in brood chambers, especially as you probably 

 will want more brood-combs as the years go by. If you find 



