42 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 21, 



r-.-^7 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, AIASBKGO, ILL. 



IQuestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct 1 



Pay in Bees for Transfcrriiig- 

 II y brill 8. 



-Pure Italians v§. 



1. I have a neighbor who has 9 colonies of bees in box- 

 hives ; he wants me to furnish hives and do the work of trans- 

 ferring them, and let me take part of them for pay? How 

 ought they to be divided ? 



2. Are the pure Italian bees better honey-gatherers than 

 hybrids ? W. L. S. 



Answers.— 1. There's no rule about it. Settle what is 

 a fair price for the bees, a fair price for the amount of time 

 taken at the work, then figure accordingly. 



2. You'll probably find little difference between the pure 

 stock and the first cross, providing you have good stock to 

 start with. 



Closed-Top vs. Open-Top Sections. 



1. When using 8-frame dovetail hives having wood sep- 

 arators slotted on the bottom edge only, is it not better to use 

 Root's No. 4 closed-top sections open on the bottom side only, 

 thereby forming air-tight compartments which will hold the 

 heat of the hive, and help the bees in drawing out the comb 

 foundation ? Or is it better to use open-top-and-bottom sec- 

 lions, which allow a drect draft from the hive-entrance to the 

 cover, which is not always air-tight? P. O. 



Answek. — So long as there is no wish to put another set 

 of sections over, I certainly would prefer closed-tops, so that 

 the bees could get up through. I would not, however, like to 

 be confined to sections with closed tops, just because in the 

 great majority of cases I want to put more than the first 

 super on a hive. When the first super is % or % filled, it 

 would be a loss of time and money to wait till the sections 

 were entirely filled before giving a second super ; and one 

 super cannot be put over another unless the lower one has 

 sections open at the top, so the bees can get up through. 

 Possibly It might work well to have the first super contain 

 sections with closed-tops, and the second and third supers 

 with open-topt sections. 



((ucslions on Swarmins:, Bre-Slings and Bcc- 

 Supplics in California. 



1. When is the time to put on sections, before swarming 

 time, at swarming, or after they get done swarming? 



2. Do you put on sections as soon as you hive a swarm, or 

 wait until they get the brood-chamber filled ? 



3. Is a colony that has not swarmed for four years apt to 

 swarm next season ? or does it make any difference in its not 

 swarming ? 



4. Is a colony apt to go four or five years without swarm- 

 ing, and then swarm the next season ? 



5. My little brother wanted to know whether a person 

 could get accustomed to a beesting without swelling ? • 



6. Do you know anybody in California who deals in bee- 

 material ? I want to get some, and it costs ton much to get it 

 in the East? I got five dovetail hives from Wisconsin, and 

 the freight alone was $8.25. The hives didn't cost quarter 

 as much as the freight. F. E. S., Yolo Co., Calif. 



Answkks. — 1. Don't go by the swarming at all, but go by 

 the honey harvest. If obliged to give an answer with refer- 

 ence to swarming, I should say before. The old rule is to put 

 on sections whc^n you find bits of white wax along the upper 

 part of the brood-combs. Sections should be on just as soon 

 as the rush of the harvest comes, and It's better to be a little 

 before than after that time. 



2. It would be all right to put on supers immediately upon 



hiving a swarm, only that sometimes the queen goes up and 

 commences laying in the super. If a queen-excluder is be- 

 tween the hive and the super, then the super can be put on 

 immediately. Otherwise it is well to wait a day or two until 

 the queen has commenced laying in the brood-frames. 



3. There's no rule about it, but a colony that has been in 

 good heart for four years without offering to swarm during that 

 time, is perhaps less likely to swarm than the average, simply 

 because there is something about the strain of bees--perhaps 

 aided by other conditions — that makes them less likely to 

 swarm than other colonies. But if the four years have been 

 so poor that bees in general did not swarm, then look out for 

 their swarming the first good year. 



4. It is not often that a good colony goes four or five 

 years without swarming, but when such a thing does happen, 

 there's no certainty it will not swarm the next year. 



5. Some persons swell more than others, but the swelling 

 probably makes no difference about getting hardened to 

 stings. Whether the swelling is bad or not, almost any one 

 will become so that stings will hurt much less, and also swell 

 much less. The veterans think little of stings. 



6. [We believe there are several bee-supply dealers in 

 California, and we have wondered why they have not advertised 

 their wares in the Bee Journal. It must be that they are not 

 anxious to increase their business. Perhaps they will soon 

 get to the advertising part. — Editor.] 



Transferring Colonics from Box-Hives. 



1. I want to get 100 or more colonies changed from box- 

 hives to frame hives, and at the same time get all the comb 

 honey possible. Since I shall have no ready-built combs to 

 make up my colonies with, if I should wait until after the flow 

 or even until after the first flow, how would you proceed to 

 have these combs built out ? The matter would be very simple 

 indeed if I were running for extracted honey, but as it is I find 

 sale for only a limited quantity and for this amount I have 

 plenty of extracting-combs on hand. You will see that my 

 great object is to get the full crop of honey and still make 

 these Improvements. Colorado. 



An.swer. — 1. If you trust to natural swarms and hive 

 your swarms in the new frame hives furnisht with founda- 

 tion, the problem would solve itself and you would secure a 

 good crop of comb honey, and at the same time end the season 

 with your bees well establisht in frame hives. I have doubts 

 whether in any other way you can get as much comb honey, 

 and at the same time have the colonies transferred to frame 

 hives. Of course the idea is to have all the strength of the 

 colony go to the new hive. This has been explained in this 

 department in a late number of the Bee Journal. 



It is possible that I don't fully understand the case, and 

 that by some means you want first to secure the crop of honey 

 and then afterwards get the colony establisht in a frame 

 hive. In that case, supposing there remains warm weather 

 after the close of the harvest, you may profitably resort to 

 feeding. I have had beautiful combs thus drawn out and 

 filled by putting Miller feeders on top filled with sugar and 

 water, or if you haven't the feeders you can use the crock- 

 and-plate plan. You could also feed the honey taken from 

 the box-hives which no longer were occupied by the bees. ^ 



If there is some peculiarity in the case that I don't meet, 

 I shall be glad to have you ask further, and I'll try again. 



B. Taylor's Separator and Its Use. 



I have been trying over since I first read of this plan to 

 explain to myself how Mr. B. Taylor's separator plan works. 

 He told us that he used his separators between each two sec- 

 tions only. Now bearing in mind that he used narrow sec- 

 tions and his cleated separator, I can see how the bees would 

 build their combs out to 'b inch from the edge of the section 

 on the side where the separator is, but I cannot see why they 

 would do so on the other side. Why would they not bulge 

 the combs there as they do when no separators are used? 

 Don't say that they won't bulge them when foundation is 

 used, for mine have done so time and again. I would like to 

 use such sections and separators the coming season, but I 

 cannot understand the philosophy of it. And one other ques- 

 tion on this same topic : Why would the bees build out to }4 

 inch from the edge of those sections, thus leaving a bee-space 

 of only ,'ii inch between the combs, whereas in the case of 

 ordinary combs they will make the space greater ? 

 ______^__^^______ _ ^__ P. H. D. _ 



c^ Answer. — Beginning at^the last end of your question,'! 



