968 



American Ttee -Journal jj 



Nov. 22, 1906 



inch shorter than width of the super. The 

 inside of an S-frame Tsuper is 12^ inches 

 wide, and the T-tin just 12 inches long. 



Transferring and Italianizing 



I want to transfer my bees from their box- 

 hives to hives with movable frames and give 

 them Italian queens. Can this be done at the 

 same time or will I have to wait a while ! 



Indian Territory. 



Answer.— Probably queens are not very 

 often introduced at the same lime a colony is 

 transferred; yet it will be all right for you to 

 perform the two operations at the same time 

 if you so choose. On one account you will 

 And it more convenient to do the introducing 

 after the colony has had time to fix things up 

 in its new home; it is that you must And and 

 remove the old queen either before or at the 

 time of introduction, or a day or two later It 

 will not be an easy thing to find the queen 

 during the turmoil of transferring, and it is 

 not best to handle the frames to look for her 

 until the bees have had abundant time to 

 fasten the combs thoroughly in the frames. 



Late Stores for Winter -Mismated 

 uueen— Perhaps Common Bees 



1. I am having a peculiar experience with 2 

 colonies which gathered considerable late 

 honey, and each had a full-sized second story 

 in which there was considerable honey. About 

 a month ago, fearing tney had not enough 

 winter stores in the brood-chamber, and wish- 

 ing to give them a chance to seal up for win- 

 ter, I put super covers with a hole of a size to 

 receive a Porter escape under the top stories. 

 They failed to do it, and a few days ago I 

 bruised up all the cappings, and started the 

 honey to running at a great rate. They have 

 taken down part, but one colony now is re- 

 pairing the combs and recapping part of it. 

 I do not wish to break the seals, and shali 

 leave them, taking it for granted they have 

 sufficient stores below. I intend to winter 

 them on the summer stands with Danzen- 

 baker super-covers, packed with carpet and 

 paper. 



2. Possibly you remember the question you 

 answered for me some weeks ago, in regard to 

 a mismated yellow queen producing bees of 

 all shades or markings. I thank you for the 

 answer, which 1 accept as correct— that this 

 i6 the usual thing, with bees— but when you 

 apply it to other things I am not convinced, 

 for I never yet saw a child that looked ex- 

 actly like either parent; or, which I think 

 the better illustration, the product of a first 

 cross of the white and black races that was 

 not easily distinguished from either pure 

 white or pure black. 



3. All the latter part of the summer and 

 fall, and even yesterday, some strange bees 

 were hanging around my hives attempting to 

 rob. I have seen my bees carry out and 

 away several, and I am sure they have met 

 with poor success, yet they persist with a con- 

 stancy worthy a better cause. They are 

 medium sized, glossy— almost pure black- 

 rather pointed abdomens. Could you give 

 me any idea what race they are? I have not 

 been able to find where they belong. I am 

 sure it was by one of these drones that my 

 crossed queen was fertilized, about which 1 

 inquired. 



I have recently finished my first reading of 

 your " Forty Years Among the Bees," and I 

 feel that I want to hand you a unanimous 

 personal vote of thanks for giving us so in- 

 teresting and helpful a book. Back in the' 

 days when I was a boy, and A. I. Root was 

 writing the first edition of "A B C of Bee 

 Culture," I tried bee-keeping, but was not 

 very successful, and circumstances compelled 

 me to give it up. Now I am practically a be- 

 ginner with 3 colonies, in the suburbs of a 

 city. What I will have in the spring remains 

 to be seen, but I shall put some of your ideas 

 to the test. Kentucky. 



Answers.— 1. It will not do to take it for 



granted too confidently that bees have enough 

 in the lower story when there is a lot of honey 

 in the upper story. I got fooled that way 

 myself this very fall. The bees filled several 

 frames in the upper story, and some frames 

 below were empty. But your bees, as far 

 soulh as Ken ucky, ought to have chances 

 enough in the way of warm days to carry 

 down the honey as fast as needed. 



2. I own up— you've got me on the mulatto 

 question. But I'm orthodox as to colors of 

 bees. Guess I better stick to bees, and not 

 talk about other things. 



3. Very likely those robbers are common , 

 stock with the plumage worn off, making 

 them look smaller, shiny, and pointed. 



Thanks for kind words about "Forty 

 Years." 



Results of the Past Season 



I had 6 colonies of bees last spring. One 

 was broken down last summer, but I didn't 

 notice it until about April 6, when all combs 

 were lying down on the bottom-bars, and 

 only a handful of bees left. But they had a 

 good queen, so I got new frames and fixed up 

 the combs in them. It is as good a colony 

 now as I have, but it stored no surplus. I 

 had 10 swarms from 2 colonies, and 6 from 2 

 others, one colony swarming only once. I 

 doubled up 3 and 4 swarms. I got 4 stray 

 first swarms in the timber. 1 have now 23 

 colonies in all in good condition, and with 

 plenty of stores for winter. I sold 837 worth 

 of comb honey. We had a good honey-How 

 from the beginning of June until after bass- 

 wood; then a dry spell which dried out white 

 clover. There was nothing to yield honey 

 after that until September. There are many 

 bees here that are starved already, and more 

 of them will die before spring. 



La Motte, Iowa, Oct. 17. Nick Jentgen. 



Bees Carrying Water at Night 



"Ohio" wants to know what Dr. Miller 

 thinks about that night-shift of bees carrying 

 water (see page 846). The past 2 years, in 

 April or May, during a hot spell, I moved my 

 bed outside the house, and there I slept every 

 night (weather permitting, of course.) till it 

 got too cool (October or November). 1 didn't 

 use even a tent or mosquito-bar. The first 

 night when I moved my outfit outside I could 

 not sleep, as fleas and long-tongued mosqui- 

 toes bothered me no little. I did not sleep 

 that night until 3 a.m. by the watch. I went 

 to the bee-hives and stood there, got a torch- 

 light, and watched the bees in front of their 

 hives; not one minute, not 5 minutes, but 

 fully 15 minutes, going to the next hive and 

 watching again. Soon after 3 a.m. I went to 

 sleep and the bees were still going at this 

 time, just as described. 



As reported before, never more than one bee 

 goes out of one hive at once after water, and 

 the next one takes wing the very second one 

 carrier sets her foot on the alighting-board, 

 no matter if a quart of bees is hanging over 

 each entrance, and 2 or 3 empty supers on 

 top. My hives stay in the shade from about 

 9 a.m. till 3 p.m., during summer, and are 

 raised about IS inches from the ground. The 

 orchard, and in front of the house, is cultiva- 

 ted with horse as close as can be done. Like 

 Mr. Doolitlle, I plow either at the first sign 

 of daylight, sometimes during or right after 

 a 6hower, or duiing a honey-flow — at any 

 time while bees are Hying thickest. The 

 horse so far has escaped with 4 or o stings 

 during the last 3 years, when the bees were 

 shifted from another place into the orchard. 



By the way, I have seen or heard of these 

 water-carrying bees many times. As I sleep 

 outside, I know that every hot night, water- 



carrying is going right on exactly as reported, 

 except on cloudy nights. If I had bees a good 

 distance from the house— water far for the 

 bees to get— and were it not that I, like a 

 good many others, prefer to sleep outdoors, 

 I would not know of this night-working shift 

 of bees. The well is 70 feet deep, is 210 yards 

 away to the east of the house. No bees go 

 there at night but plenty of them at day time. 



The scattered condition of my apiary also 

 might have some influence, where bees under 

 certain conditions go after water at night. 

 Another thing, bees must be carried early in 

 spring to go to a nearby watering-place, so as 

 to know exactly the water-spot. Or, to be 

 exact, don't put a vessel filled with water on© 

 day and expect bees to go after water the fol- 

 lowing night. It may take 2 or 3 generations 

 before results like mine could be attained. 



Force of habit, you see. 



Last spring was favorable for bees here. 

 During June, July, and the first half of Aug- 

 ust, nearly every day we had hard rains, 

 mostly about 12 M. Drones, although plen- 

 tiful in hives, flew very little on account of 

 cold waves following rains. An unusually 

 large percent of virgin queens was lost. 



Fort White, Fla., Oct. 9. J. Pawletta. 



Wintering Bees, Etc. 



I have just taken off the top stories of my 

 10-frame dovetailed hives from 25 colonies. It 

 will not be a big crop this year — about 1800 

 pounds in all. There were 3 6tories with 2 

 10-frame supers on each, and the second su- 

 pers will be taken oil in a couple of weeks. 

 This is the way I do when I take the last su- 

 per off: I examine the brood-nest and take 

 out 2 or 3 frames that have the least honey, 

 but full of pollen, and put in frames full of 

 honey sealed over, so that all colonies have at 

 least 30 pounds of honey. The frames taken 

 out are stored for feeding in the spring, if 

 needed. If not, they are used for starting 

 new colonies or hiving an accidental swarm ; 

 but my 25 to 30 colonies have given me only 

 9 natural swarms in 3 years, or just 3 swarms 

 a year. Then after the frames are fixed, I 

 put the winter-cases on, and they are wintered! 

 right on the summer stands. I intend to in- 

 crease to 50 colonies next year. 



Well, I think Dr. Miller was right in 

 his answer that some swarms had entered the 

 hive. The Alley queen is all right. The hy- 

 brids or blacks are all gone. This is the first 

 time that I have seen queens fill the frames 

 with brood clear to the top-bar as those Adel 

 bees did this spring. The spring was fine to 

 May 14 or 15, then it rained to the first of 

 July — full 6 weeks and in the best bloom. 

 Too bad ! Well, we shall have to stand it. 



I see the Baron M. is Lieawful yet. Hope 

 he will bring Yon Yonson along. It is so long 

 since we heard from him, and it would be fine 

 to hear if the catnip and raspberry have in- 

 creased. And I think Miss Emma Wilson 

 will have to take this Mr. D. in hand for his 

 slur on the ladies' vanity. Just think, even 

 a queen-bee has to have a looking-glass : I 

 can hardly believe it ; and, besides, would not 

 all the rest of the bees, before they go out, 

 have to see if their "hat" was set right? 

 This would take up too much time, and I 

 don't see how they can roll in the honey that 

 way. Better have the sides of the hives all 

 mirrors, for accommodation. O. K. Rice. 



Wahkiakum Co., Wash., Oct. 10. 



"Where Ignorance is Bliss," Etc 



After making a thorough canvass of this 

 section and looking over about 30 apiaries, 

 I find that most of the bee-keeping is done on 

 the most antiquated plan. There is not much 

 management put into the business by the old- 

 timer of the back-number type. If you ask 

 them if they ever read a bee-book, they say 

 " No," and will tell you that " there is noth- 

 ing in it, so what is the use to read a book on 

 bees, or a paper, either!" Besides, bees have 

 stings, and if they were to try to handle them 

 they might do them irreparable injury, so 

 they go on with their box-hives and log 

 gums as of old, never reading a bee-paper_cr 



