1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



841 



issue. Ans.—'No. The mere fact that the 

 syrup is made of sugar and water, half and 

 half, makes the syrup so thin that the bees 

 have got to thicken it, and this they can not do 

 in cold weather. The syrup should be made in 

 the old way, and fed thick, in the proportion of 

 two of sugar to one of water. Better still, feed 

 early— not later than the middle of October. 



U. E., of Ariz., says he has a colony that 

 reared a queen, and, after she had been laying 

 in the hive nicely for seven days, the bees ball- 

 ed and killed her. He says that there was no 

 robbing going on at this time, and that the 

 bees were gathering alfalfa honey. He asks 

 why the bees killed her. ^?is.— There was 

 probably something wrong with the queen. 

 The bees can sometimes detect weaknesses or 

 undesirable qualities in the queen sooner than 

 the apiarist. If robbing had been going on we 

 might surmise that a few of the outsiders were 

 at the bottom of the trouble. 



D. J. P., of New Mex., having purchased an 

 Alley trap, says the drones, as soon as trapped, 

 ■die very fast in it, and wishes to know if this is 

 as it ought to be. Ans. — Yes. The drones will 

 not live more than a few hours after being 

 trapped, according to our experience. They 

 will worry themselves trying to pass the metal, 

 ■or, what is probably true, starve to death. The 

 trap is generally used for trapping out undesir- 

 •able drones ; and if undesirable, their early 

 demise is not much to be regretted. If desiring 

 to capture select drones for an out-yard, they 

 should be fed and taken care of at once. 



F. C, of Mich., asks when is the best time to 

 double up to get the most surplus. He does 

 not wish to keep over 2.5 colonies, and these he 

 would increase every summer to .50, uniting 

 down again to 2,5 for the honey -flow. Ans. — 

 I hardly know how to answer this question. 

 Better keep down increase in the first place. 

 If you mjt.st unite, I suppose you will have to 

 •do it just before thG honey-flow; but, dear me! 

 you will make them swarm fearfully if it is 

 any thing of a honey-flow and you are running 

 for comb honey. Of course, a good deal de- 

 pends upon the size of your hive, and whether 

 you will produce comb or extracted honey. 

 The usual practice is, to let the bees alone, so 

 far as uniting is concerned, until along toward 

 fall — that is, providing the colonies are normal. 

 If they are only half strength, of course it pays 

 to unite in summer, providing you can do it 

 without too much loss of bees, and this surely 

 would be one trouble just before the honey- 

 flow. Uniting can not usually be practiced 

 satisfactorily except in the fall, when the days 

 are too cool for the bees to fly much. 



0. B. K., of Me., is greatly troubled with rob- 

 bing. He has about 30 colonies, and has lost 

 five already. What is he to do? ylns.— First 

 get the A B C of Bee Culture, or any other text- 

 book, and study up on the subject of robbing. 



But I may suggest right here that there are a 

 few important things to be observed. See that 

 the hive-covers fit tightly; that the hives are 

 well made, and the joints tight-fitting— or, at 

 least, bee-proof. After the honey season, if the 

 colony is not of normal strength the entrance 

 should be contracted. It should be contracted 

 any way if robbing is progressing. If the bees 

 get started badly on a colony, close the en- 

 trance nearly tight with grass. After a while, 

 when robbing has quieted down, the grass will 

 have wilted away and fallen out of the en- 

 trance. It is usually best not to close the en- 

 trance up entirely with blocks of wood. Even 

 if you do not forget to take them away after 

 robbing has quieted down, the bees are liable 

 to smother. If you are careless about letting 

 the bees help themselves to your honey-tank, 

 you will have robbing all the season. Every 

 thing containing honey should be made abso- 

 lutely bee-proof. When you see bees buzzing 

 around, and increasing in numbers around a 

 can of honey or case of comb honey, do not be 

 too sure that they can not get at it. If they 

 continue to buzz around, you may rest assured 

 that they are getting honey; and the only way 

 to stop them is to find the place where they are 

 getting in. 



O. P. B., of Ark., asks the following ques- 

 tions: 1. Is it ever necessary to extract from 

 the brood-chamber to give the queen room 

 to lay? 2. Will bees winter on buckwheat 

 honey entirely, and rear healthy brood in the 

 spring? 3. Is sorghum syrup a good feed for 

 bees? 4. Will a populous colony store honey 

 without a queen or brood ? Ans.—\. Not gen- 

 erally, but sometimes it may be advisable. A 

 better way is, to take out the combs of honey 

 entirely, store them away for winter feeding or 

 some future extracting, and put empty combs 

 or frames of foundation in their places. 2. Yes, 

 generally. Buckwheat honey was once con- 

 sidered unwholesome for bees; and whil-e it is 

 generally admitted that It is not as good as 

 white honey, or, better still, sugar syrup, as a 

 general rule the bees will go through on it in 

 good shape. 3. In the South, sorghum syrup 

 may answer; but as a general thing bee-keep- 

 ers in the North prefer something else for a 

 winter feed. 4. Yes; but bees usually have 

 more vim when they have a good thrifty queen 

 with them; but in order to prevent swarming, 

 some bee-keepers remove the queen entirely 

 during the height of the honey-flow— first, to 

 prevent swarming, and, secondarily, to prevent 

 the raising of a lot of bees that, later on, will 

 be consumers. These bee-keepers are reported 

 to get pretty good crops of honey. 



My honey report for 1894 is as follows: Spring 

 count, 140, poor and good; increased to 210, and 

 have harvested 14,5(X) lbs. of extracted honey- 

 half light and half dark. I live 16 miles from 

 W. L. Coggshall. S. J. Snydkr. 



Venice Center, N. Y., Oct. 9. 



