460 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



dead bees ? I know there are a good 

 many in the others. I think I shall do 

 away with the tight bottom-board hives. 



E. H. Hallett. 

 St. Johnsbury Center, Vt. 



Answers. — 1. The exact degree of 

 temperature is not the only, and perhaps 

 not the best test as to the time to have 

 bees out for a flight. At 50° it is gen- 

 erally safe, but there is a big difference 

 between a cloudy, windy day and a still, 

 sunshiny day. With no wind and bright 

 sunshine, 50° or higher is quite safe. 

 With snow on the ground, it would be 

 safer to have it warmer, but a little old, 

 well-packed snow need not be much con- 

 sidered. 



2. If that quart of dead bees consti- 

 tuted the entire loss for the winter, it 

 might not be more than the bees that 

 ought to die from old age in a very 

 strong colony. Still, that is a pretty 

 heavy loss. 



3. With a piece of strap-iron, you can 

 rake out all the dead bees, or nearly so, 

 by taking time enough. 



Thumb-Screws and their Use. 



Please to insert this in the question- 

 box for next issue, if possible. 



I want to lay aside the follower board 

 and wedge for pressing the sections in 

 supers, and use the thumb-screws in 

 place of them. Would I be infringing 

 on any patent ? Are any of your cor- 

 respondents using them ? 



SUBSCKIBEB. 



Answer — As we have already ex- 

 plained, it is impossible to get a question 

 into the question-box to be regularly 

 answered by the corps of experts, and 

 have the answer appear within a week. 

 It generally requires a number of weeks. 

 In the present instance, however, it is 

 hardly necessary to submit the question 

 to them, for we feel pretty sure there is 

 no patent on thumb-screws. Although 

 we do not positively know, we presume 

 thumb-screws, in some shape, are in use 

 by some of our correspondents. 



Bemoving Dead Bees from Combs,Etc. 



1. Which is the. easiest way of getting 

 bees out of cells where they have died in 

 the hive ? 



2. Is honey good to feed back to bees, 

 taken out of a hive where the bees have 

 died from diarrhea, which is capped over, 

 or not capped over ? If not, what Is best 

 to do with It ? 



3. The combs in the hives where bees 

 have died are very dirty, and smell 

 badly ; will they be of any use ? Can 

 they be cleansed for future use, or would 

 I better render them into wax ? 



Bethesda, Ont. D. W. Heise. 



Answer — 1. If your time is worth 

 nothing, pull them out with a crochet- 

 hook. Some have had success letting 

 mice dig them out. Perhaps the best 

 plan is to leave them for the bees to get 

 out. It may help the bees to have the 

 combs pretty well dried. 



2. The honey is all right to feed. 



3. If there is nothing wrong with the 

 combs except being dirty, don't think of 

 melting them up. You might scrape off 

 some of the worst daubed parts, then 

 give the frames, one or two at a time, to 

 strong colonies, and you will be sur- 

 prised to see what a nice job they will 

 make cleaning them up. 



Keep the Cellar Dark. 



I have 18 colonies of bees in a cellar, 

 nice and dry, with two windows at the 

 east end, so as to make the cellar light. 

 The hives are all covered with quilts. 

 Some of the bees come out and go to the 

 window and die. Do you think that 

 more than would naturally die, would go 

 to the window and I thereby suffer loss ? 



J. B. Ressler. 



Answer — If everything is just right, 

 and bees in best condition, light may 

 make no difference ; but it is safe to say 

 that at least some of the time all the 

 conditions will not be most favorable, 

 hence it is equally safe to say that you 

 will lessen your loss of bees by keeping 

 them in darkness. 



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