Nov. 1, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



wintering. Even so, the case has been 

 the same in this locality. The reason 

 was this : The vitality of the bees is 

 so impaired by the strain brought to 

 bear on them consequent upon holding 

 their excrement for 4 or 5 months dur- 

 ing a continual confinement of that 

 duration, that they spring-dwindle, or, 

 in other words, they die of premature 

 old age, as work or exercise of any 

 kind shortens the life of the bee very 

 fast ; hence, we have bees living only 

 6 or 8 weeks during June, July, and 

 August, while the bees emerging in 

 September and October live from 6 to 

 8 months if they can remain in the 

 quiet state in which they should be in 

 order to winter perfectly. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



cells in adjoining comb. While va- 

 riations from what we consider normal 

 are more common than supposed, the 

 extreme variations above referred to 

 are rather rare. 



To the practial bee-keeper this may 

 give a suggestion as to a way at least 

 to minimize drone-comb construction. 



Providence, R. I. 



Comb-Building— Drone-Cell 

 and Other 



BY ARTHUR C. MIUER 



The why and the wherefore of the 

 shape and sizes of the cells of honey- 

 comb have long been the subjects of 

 much discussion, and doubtless will 

 continue so to be for some time to come. 



If, however.we can get any additional 

 light, it will be worth the effort of some 

 further speculation, for the nearer we 

 come to the reason bees build drone- 

 comb at one time, and worker at an- 

 other, the more it will enable us to di- 

 rect the bees' labors as we wish. 



Bees build two sorts of cells, worker 

 and drone. Four sorts are generally 

 given, namely, worker, drone, queen 

 and " acommodation "or " transition " 

 cells, but queen-cells are the result of 

 isolation, and " acommodation " cells 

 are the result of extraneous forces. 



A bee strives to build a round cell, 

 but as all the bees about her are each 

 attempting the same thing the result 

 is a hexagon. But why its size? The 

 greater percent of comb in a hive is 

 worker, and, hence, we may call it the 

 normal size, due primarily to the size 

 of the bee, and secondarily to the pres- 

 sure to which the individual bees are 

 subjected while at work. 



Drone-comb is built after the first 

 rush of comb-building by a swarm has 

 spent itself ; in a colony having a fail- 

 ing queen ; in a queenless colony; 

 during an excessive honey-flow; and 

 during high temperature coupled with 

 great humidity. Under each of these 

 conditions we find what appears to be 

 looser clustering than when worker- 

 comb is being built. Under several of 

 them we know there exists an uneasi- 

 ness, a restlessness. Change the con- 

 ditions to normal— i. e., conditions of 

 quiet— and we get worker-comb. 



From these facts I have formed the 

 theory that the size of the cell is due to 

 the density of the cluster, said density 

 when at a maximum resulting in a 

 minimum-sized cell — the worker size — 

 and vice versa. Incidentally I wish to 

 call attention to the fact that cells vary 

 all the way from 5 and a fraction to 3 

 and a fraction to the linear inch. Gen- 

 erally the extremes are produced by 

 bees respectively exceptionally small 

 or large. I have found in the same 

 hive, even in the same frame, comb 

 with cells 4 to the inch, and 4'/ 2 to the 

 inch, and regular worker S-to-the-inch 



Swarming, Self-Hivers, Etc. 

 —A Review 



BY ADRIAN GKTAZ 



The bold assertions made by Mr. 

 Davenport have brought back to my 

 mind some experiments that I made 

 years ago ; some processes that I have 

 used, but I do not use now, and yet are 

 not without merit, and might event- 

 ually lead to valuable results if they 

 were taken up again and perfected. 



Finding Queens. 



One excellent method to find black 

 or hybrid queens, or queens of any 

 strain (both queen and bees) that are 

 apt to run off, all over and out of the 

 hive, is to provide a box the size of the 

 hive, having instead of a cover a sheet 

 of perforated zinc fastened about an 

 inch below the edges. The box is in- 

 verted over the hive, and the bees are 

 driven into it by one of the known pro- 

 cesses. When most of the bees are in 

 the box, the queen will be found on the 

 perforated zinc trying to get in the 

 box with the bees. 



Another process consists in chloro- 

 forming or otherwise temporarily as- 

 phyxiating the bees. The best is to 

 use saltpeter. A piece of cotton rag 

 is wet and rolled with some saltpeter. 

 When it is fully impregnated it is 

 thoroughly dried, and is then ready to 

 use. 



A hole a little smaller than the hive, 

 and a few inches deep, is dug in the 

 ground (I think a shallow, tight box 

 would do as well). The hive, without 

 its bottom, is placed over, and all 

 cracks and openings carefully closed 

 except one to let the nozzle of the 

 smoker reach in. The impregnated 

 rag is put in the smoker and lighted, 

 and the smoke blown into the hive. 

 That takes only a few seconds, the rag 

 burning very rapidly. Withdraw the 

 smoker and close the hole. An intense 

 buzzing, almost a cry of agony, will be 

 heard. When it has ceased, wait just 

 4 minutes and take up the hive, giving 

 air to the bees that are now motion- 

 less in the hole. A few raps on the 

 hive will dislodge the few that have 

 not fallen. In half an hour the bees 

 will be awake and in as good health as 

 ever, and can be returned to the hive. 

 A piece of perforated zinc placed be- 

 fore the entrance keeps the queen out. 



The bees thus treated will unite 

 without trouble, if from different hives, 

 or accept any queen given them. The 

 process has the advantage of being 

 practicable with box-hives as well as 

 with frame hives. 



A third process is to move the hive 

 to a new stand ; put another one in its 

 place with one comb of brood taken 

 from the other, to retain the field-bees. 

 Three days later so few bees will be in 

 the original hive that the queen will 



be easily found, and the hive can be 

 returned to its old place. 



Prevention of Swarming. 



Soon after having begun to keep 

 bees, I realized that if I were going to 

 do any good with them in this locality, 

 it was necessary to control or prevent 

 swarming, or, at least, prevent increase 

 without weakening the colony too 

 much. I say this intentionally. It is 

 impossible to prevent increase and de- 

 stroy the swarming fever without los- 

 ing some brood, whether by requeen- 

 ing or caging the queen, or shaking 

 the bees and removing the brood, or 

 otherwise. 



But that ought to be done with the 

 least loss possible. Not long ago some- 

 body wrote that he could prevent 

 swarming easily. The process in- 

 volved the withdrawal of two combs of 

 brood, and again two more a little 

 later, and two more yet if necessary. 

 In my locality such a treatment would 

 weaken a colony entirely too much. 



Another adds a second brood-story 

 under the first, and puts the supers on 

 top a little later. I have no doubt that 

 in a very heavy flow something would 

 be done in the supers, but here all that 

 the colony thus treated could and 

 would do would be to fill up the added 

 brood-chamber under. 



Remember here that I am speaking 

 exclusively from the standpoint of one 

 working for comb honey. In working 

 for extracted the problem is much 

 easier. Sufficient shade and ventila- 

 tion, or protection against too cool or 

 too warm weather, and enough already- 

 built combs to satisfy all needs, is all 

 that is wanted. 



On a few hives I tried taking out one 

 comb with the least brood possible, 

 and putting in its place a comb of 

 foundation ; this to be put near the 

 center of the brood-nest ; the operation 

 to be repeated as often as necessary to 

 insure sufficient room for the queen to 

 lay. A comb already built will not an- 

 swer the purpose, because the bees 

 would fill it with honey quicker than 

 the queen could lay in it. Two combs 

 of foundation at a time do not work 

 either ; the queen can not lay fast 

 enough to fill them with eggs before 

 the bees draw the cells enough to fill 

 them with honey. The process suc- 

 ceeded so far as I tried it, but the trial 

 was not extensive enough to warrant 

 its success under all circumstances. 

 The process does not weaken the colo- 

 nies to any great extent ; in fact, it 

 may perhaps strengthen them. The 

 combs taken out are those containing 

 the least brood, sometimes none at all. 

 The queen has almost a wtiole comb to 

 fill at once, which means more brood 

 than when she has only a few patches 

 of empty cells here and there. In that 

 last case she must lose considerable 

 time in hunting up empty cells to lay 

 in. 



Self-Hivers. 



Prevention of swarming and self- 

 hivers seem to be a contradictory amal- 

 gamation. But what is needed is pre- 

 vention of increase rather than the 

 mere issuing of a swarm. If a swarm 

 is hived on the old stand, and the par- 

 ent hive is moved at some distance, 

 both will lose the swarming fever in 

 about 8 days. They can then be re- 



