THE AMERICAN BEE JOURJ^AL. 



21S 



have heard similar complaints from other 

 causes. In some cases the queens have 

 disappeared without any cause; and, it 

 would seem, have died. 



If any reader has any ideas upon this 

 matter, we would be glad to hear from 

 them. 



We have had more queens die this sea- 

 son than in all our former experience, but 

 have no idea of the cause. 



What am I to do with my bees — and 

 what will they do all winter? This is the 

 condition of things. Hives full of bees, 

 combs full of brood, but no honey any- 

 where in the hives. Have not had a 

 pound of surplus. Had three hives in 

 spring — have now thirteen — and all do- 

 ing well, except that they have nothing to 

 live on. E. E. 



Benton Co., Iowa. 



You are one of the many who do not 

 realize that bees are fed and raised on 

 honey. You complain that there is no 

 honey, has been none, and yet many hun- 

 dred pounds must have been gathered by 

 your bees to fill hives and stock them. 

 An increase from three to thirteen is 

 enormous for one season, and your local- 

 ity must have been much better for honey 

 than any other we hear from, to secure it. 

 You need not expect surplus honey, but 

 if your bees are as strong as you think, 

 they will gather no doubt much for win- 

 ter stores until frost. After that you may 

 have to feed some to keep all your hives 

 over. But you can well afford it. Don't 

 be of that number that expect to eat their 

 cake and keep it too. In what other busi- 

 ness can you find so large a profit as you 

 have already secured ? 



You can wait until next year for sur- 

 plus honey. 



How will I know when my bees are 

 under a fertile worker? I have three 

 hives; one a nucleus framed early in June. 

 They seem to turn out all drones, have 

 eggs, but I can find no queen. Have 

 given them more young brood. What 

 next? J. W. Baylor. 



Sharpsburg, Texas. 



Your hive may have a drone-laying or 

 unfertilized queen. If tliat is the case you 

 can find her easily. If not, then be sure a 

 fertile worker has possession. You will 

 find several ways to treat her, given in the 

 back numbers of The Jottrnal. It is 

 possible the bees may rear a queen from 



the brood you have given them, but in 

 most cases they seem perfectly contented 

 with the laying worker. 



Prevention is easier than cure in these 

 cases. 



Nuclei, and all hives rearing queens, 

 should be examined about the time the 

 young queen ought to lay, every day or 

 two; and bread supplied them so that if 

 anything happens to the young queen, 

 they can rear another. Fertile workers do 

 not appear until a colony has been queen- 

 less sometime. 



Please advise me of your theory about 

 bees hanging outside of bee hives and not 

 swarming when there is plenty of bees to 

 make two or three swarms. 



Corydon, Iowa. W. W. Wright. 



We judge that there is no honey for 



them to gather. Bees do not swarm, as a 



rule, when tliere is nothing for them to 



fill another hive with. If there is plenty 



of honey, and bees hang about idly, we 



divide them and set them at work filling 



another hive. Avery good way to do that, 



when many are outside the hive, is to put 



a comb or two of brood into an empty 



hive (a queen cell too, if you have it), 



then brush all the bees oft" the outside of 



the hive quickly and remove the hive 



itself a few yards away — setting the new 



hive there. The bees thus brushed off 



will go into it without trouble and do 



well. 



-^ « »■ 



Those expecting queens from us, and 

 also those who have ordered from others, 

 must have patience, this year. All who 

 are rearing queens have had many difii- 

 culties to contend with. First, cold 

 spring weather, when nothing could be 

 done with nucleii ; then wet weather, so 

 that young queens could not fly safely, 

 and many were lost. Until the middle of 

 July it was literally impossible to make 

 progress with queen rearing. Things are 

 favorable now, and just as fast as possi- 

 ble queens are being sent out. If this 

 weather continues all our orders will be 

 filled by the the time this number reaches 

 our readers. E. S. Tupper. 



Send for our New Price List of hives, 

 bees, queens, extractors, and all apiarian 

 supplies, to Italian Bee Company, Des 

 Moines, Iowa. 



