AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



331 



the other one had a laying queen and 

 about a frame of brood and eggs. Those 

 three colonies stand together. 



2. I have some combs containing 

 honey, and have no extractor. I would 

 like to save the combs, and would like 

 to let my bees empty them, but I would 

 not like to put them on top of the hives, 

 as the weather is likely to change from 

 warm to freezing, and then the hives 

 would be too large. Can you give some 

 plan that is safe outside of the hives ? 

 Would it do to put them one or two hun- 

 dred yards off from the hives, and allow 

 the bees to clean them? M. W. G. 



Bankston, Ala. 



Answeks. — 1. It is a pretty hard mat- 

 ter to guess straight at such a distance. 

 The queenless colony may be explained 

 by its queenlessness, the bees all being 

 old. The few days of warm weather 

 would stir them into unusual activity, 

 and then the freezing weather would be 

 too much for them. Sometimes a cold 

 snap coming suddenly after a warm 

 spell catches a lot of the bees away from 

 the cluster and they are chilled to death. 



Sometimes it will seem as if bees are 

 dying off very fast, when it is only the 

 bees that have been gradually dying 

 from old age all winter, and the bees 

 carry them out when the weather 

 allows. 



There is a bare possibility that there 

 is something unwholesome about their 

 stores, but very likely all will turn out 

 well just as soon as the weather allows 

 them to fly every day. 



2. Set them 50 yards or more from 

 the bees, and close them up in such a 

 way that only two or three bees can get 

 in at a time. If you leave them entirely 

 open, the bees will tear the combs to 

 pieces. Leave them standing a few 

 days after the bees are through with 

 them. If you take them away before 

 the bees are quite done with them, there 

 is some danger of robbing. 



Eyes of Bees, Southern Queens, Etc. 



Will you please answer the following 

 questions in the Bee Journal : 



1. What is the use of the three little 

 eyes in the shape of a triangle on the 

 head of a bee ? 



2. Does transportation through the 

 mails affect a queen in any way as to 

 prolificness and longevity ? 



3. Will a Southern bred queen and 

 her progeny be as hardy in our Northern 

 climate as one bred here ? 



4. Which facing is the best for hives 

 in winter and early spring ? 



5. Is there any foundation manufac- 

 turer making drone-comb foundation ? 



6. Have you ever seen a queen depos- 

 iting eggs ? ^ 



It is snowing here today. Our winter 

 is just beginning to set in, and the Ohio 

 river is rising very rapidly ; it is prob- 

 able we will have a late spring in this 

 locality. J, C. W. 



Evansville, Ind., Feb. 14. 



Answers. — 1. The general opinion 

 seems to be that the three single eyes, 

 or ocelli, are for vision at short range. 

 I think it is Grimshaw, an English 

 authority, who suggests that they may 

 be for the purpose of producing a sort of 

 phosphorescent light by which bees are 

 enabled to work in the dark. 



2. Certainly it does in some cases. 

 There seems to be a general agreement 

 that if a queen in full laying is mailed, 

 she is injured thereby as to her laying 

 qualities, but not as to longevity; while 

 a young queen just beginning to lay, or 

 a queen that has been taken from the 

 hive for two or three days, is not injured 

 by mailing. I've had a number of 

 queens that had been shipped from 

 Italy, and they seemed to be all right. 



3. The general testimony is that she 

 will. 



4. I don't know that it makes any 

 difference. At times the bright rays of 

 the sun shining directly into the hive 

 seems to do mischief by enticing the 

 bees out when too cold for them to fly, 

 in which case a northern exposure might 

 seem preferable, but a board or screen 

 of some kind in front of the hive would 

 act as a safeguard with a southern or 

 eastern exposure. A western exposure 

 would seem objectionable where west 

 winds prevail. 



5. Not that I know of. Some years 

 ago A. I. Root made foundation with 

 43^2 cells to the inch, but it did not meet 

 with favor. 



6. Many a time. Lift out the frame 

 the queen is on, at a time when she is 

 laying heavily, and if you do it quietly 

 an Italian queen will often keep right 

 on laying. 



ConTention IVotices. 



Texas— The Texas State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold their 16th annual meetkigr 

 at Greenville, Tex., on Wednesday and Thurs- 

 day, April 4 and 5, 1894. Everybody invited. 

 No hotel bills to pay. We expect a large 

 meeting- and a good time. Don't fail to come. 



Beeville, Tex. E. J. Atchley, Sec. 



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