714 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ideas ; but here is a case where it worked 

 just the other way. 



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answered by 



Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 20 or more apiarists 

 who help to make ''Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting- on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Rearing' Drone-Brood. 



Do bees always rear drone-brood when 

 they are given more room after being 

 crowded for a short time ? 



SUBSCRIBEK. 



Answer. — No, crowding alone will not 

 make them rear drone-brood when more 

 room is given. Crowding alone will not 

 make bees want to swarm, but it is one 

 of the things that help towards it, and 

 anything that tends toward swarming 

 will help to make drones desired. But 

 no amount of crowding would make 

 them rear drone-brood during a severe 

 dearth. 



Getting Bees to Work in Supers. 



When Dr. Miller speaks in his work, 

 '* A Year Among the Tiees," of contract- 

 ing the brood to five frames to force the 

 bees into the super or into the sections, 

 at what time does he expand the same ? 

 Or, in other words, when does he fill the 

 hive with frames? W. R. 



Macon, Mich. 



Answer. — One of the pleasant things 

 about bee-keeping is that there is always 

 something new, always some change to 

 be made for the better. But that same 

 thing becomes at times very unpleasant, 



when you have committed yourself in 

 print to some line of action and are 

 asked about it a few years later. When 

 I practiced taking away frames at time 

 of putting on supers, I believe the 

 frames were returned sometimes in two 

 or three weeks, and sometimes later. 



But I think the craze for contracting 

 the brood-nest has pretty much passed 

 away. At any rate, for several years I 

 have left tlie same number of frames in 

 the hive the year around. 



So far as getting the bees to work in 

 the supers is concerned, there is an 

 easier and a better way. Simply put in 

 the central part of the super a single 

 section that has comb in it worked out 

 or partly worked out. Such sections 

 are called "bait," and the bees are al- 

 ways sure to take the bait. I have had 

 bees in a poor season fill and seal the 

 bait when they didn't touch another sec- 

 tion. 



If yoq haven't any such unfinished 

 sections left over from last year, and 

 some of your colonies are slow about 

 starting in supers, go to a colony that 

 has started, and take from it sections on 

 which the bees are working, and they 

 make fine bait. If you like, you can 

 take bees and all. 



Bad Weather — KilUng Drones. 



On May 18th it snowed nearly all day, 

 and on the morning of the 19th ice had 

 formed on water. All of the locust 

 leaves are killed — I don't think any of 

 the trees will blossom. I wonder if Dr. 

 Miller could tell us why the bees are 

 killing the drones in such large numbers 

 now so early. W. K. 



Caledonia, Wis., May 24. 



Answer. — Why, bless you, you've told 

 the reason yourself. Everything looks 

 like winter with its cold and snow, so 

 the wise little bees concluded they could 

 not afford the luxury of so many " gen- 

 tlemen of leisure." In general, you will 

 find that when for any considerable 

 period there is no nectar to be had, the 

 drones are driven out. 



Pulling Out Half-Hatched Brood. 



I have several colonies of bees all do- 

 ing well, but in one of them the bees are 

 pulling out half-hatched brood and 

 young bees. There is considerably more 

 drone brood than is necessary, I think, 

 and there is only very little brood that 

 will produce workers. I would like to 



