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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



487 



hot, but in the densest shade they may desert the hive If it is 

 too close. Let it be open as possible at the bottom, ooen if 

 possible on as many sides as the hive has sides, and for a day 

 or two, if the weather is very hot, let the cover be partly off, 

 leaving a good, big crack for the air to pass up through. 



2. a. By no means. A strong colony will uearly always 

 — perhaps always — have some drones during the swarming 

 season, and if a queen-trap is put on the hive you may count 

 on finding drones in it, swarm or no swarm, h. There ought 

 to be no difficulty. If the drones are in very large number, 

 let them run into the hive over a board two or three feet long, 

 or over a sheet. The queen can easily be seen in the proces- 

 sion. 



3. Probably the very best of all ways is to put them in an 

 empty hive and put the hive under another containing a col- 

 ony of bees. 



4. I don't know. Possibly the most humane way would 

 be to chloroform them and throw them in the fire. But I 

 would first brush all bees off the combs and take the combs 

 away, and it might be well to remove the queen three weeks 

 previous, to save the honey that would be used in rearing 

 young bees, and for the sake of having the combs free of 

 brood. Probably sulphur is used more than all other things 

 combined to suffocate bees. 



Carrying Out Dead Brood. 



I had a colony of bees that brought out deaa brood at % 

 small rate. But they increast agreat number. June 27 they 

 cast a large swarm, July 9 they cast another swarm, and the 

 10th another. The first swarm has begun to have hatching 

 brood. I put sawdust in front of the first new hive to see if 

 dead brood was carried nut. Yesterday I noticed a number of 

 dead bees that had not attained their full growth. They have 

 a hive and a SOpound super full of honey. What is the cause 

 •of this dead brood that they have brought out? 



New York. 



Answer. — It is hard to say without personal inspection. 

 The most likely thing would be that the bees were blacks, 

 and that wax-worms were present in the hive, altho it would 

 seem very strange for them to be present in sufficient force 

 in a hive well populated by a recent swarm. That the origi- 

 nal colony should be strong enough to cast a large swarm 

 seems to indicate that the loss of numbers from the death of 

 the young bees is not a very serious matter. 



A Stray Swarm — Colony Deserlinff. 



1. Last winter there was a man lived in our tenement 

 bouse across the road, and last April when he moved away he 

 left his empty bee-hives stackt beside the grapevines. Last 

 Tuesday a swarm of bees lit on the vines, and.then went into 

 one of these empty hives. Now, what I would like to know Is, 

 whose bees are they? 



2. One of my neighbors had a new colony leave the hive 

 and go off, after they had filled it with honey. Can you ac- 

 count for it? 



This is one of the best honey seasons ever known here. 

 We are having terribly hot weather, the thermometer regis- 

 tering 102- in the shade. There have been quite a number 

 of sunstrokes. Not much rain. New York. 



Answers. — 1. I can hardly venture a guess. If the 

 swarm came from one of John Smith's colonies, and John 

 Smith had followed it and kept it in sight until it entered the 

 hive, then I suppose John could claim it as his. But in the 

 present case it seems to be a stray swarm with no previous 

 owner in the case, and the question is whether the swarm be- 

 longs to the owner of the premises or the owner of the hive. 

 If I should venture an opinion, it would be that the swarm 

 belongs to the owner of the hive, providing he is paying rent 

 to have his hives occupy their position, but if tbey are merely 

 there by the sufferance of the owner of the land, then the 

 swarm belongs to the owner of the land. This opinion is, 



however, subject to reversal by any higher court, and it isn't 

 necessary for the court to be very high, for this court is a bee- 

 keeper and not a lawyer. 



2. No, I can't. For a colony of bees to desert a hive just 

 after filling it with honey seems to be a caseof total depravity 

 in bee-life. I wonder just a little whether it might not have 

 been a case of swarming. That might be, for sometimes a 

 swarm is lodged in a hive and itself sends out a swarm as soon 

 as conditions allow. 



Honey on meal Tor Bccn — Inserting 

 In a (tucenlcs§ Colony. 



Quecn.Cclls 



1. The books suggest feeding meal to bees by placing 

 honey on the meal. Will not this induce robbing ? 



2. It is also suggested that colonies or nuclei should be 

 queenless for 24 hours before inserting queen-cells. In the 

 meantime, should the capt queen-cells be allowed to remain in 

 the hive where reared ? Unless carefully timed in each pro- 

 ceeding, will the queens not be liable to hatch and cause 

 trouble? California. 



Answers. — 1. Not very likely. Only a small quantity of 

 honey need be used, and as soon as that is consumed the bees 

 are expected to go on with the meal. Besides, the feeding Is 

 at some distance from the hives. * 



2. If there are present in the hive queen-cells older than 

 the ones you insert, you may feel pretty sure that the latter 

 ones will be destroyed. If you want the bees to respect the 

 sealed cells you insert, remove all others that are older, the 

 safe plan being to remove all other sealed cells. 



Hive-Entrances When Supers are On. 



I am a constant reader of the American Bee Journal, and 

 take great interest in bees. I begun this summer with 4 colo- 

 nies in old gums, and now have lO in Dovetailed hives, and 

 have supers on most of them. The bees are working in the 

 sections nicely. I have pure Italian queens in all of them. 

 Should the entrance be opened larger when supers are on 

 than it is when the super is not on ? Some of my bees seem 

 to be crowded and laying out, and I put supers on and they 

 lay out more, I believe, so I opened the entrance more, which 

 seems to help the matter. Is it best to have full' length en- 

 trances? Tennessee. 



Answer.— It is hardly probable that the- bees hung out 

 more becouse supers were put on, altho they may have hung out 

 more after they were put on. The hanging out was probably 

 the result of heat and larger numbers, altho it may also have 

 come from other causes such as a letting up of the harvest 

 giving the bees less to do, or an inclination to swarm. In any 

 case, it's a good thing to give the bees plenty of air when you 

 put on supers, and you can hardly overdo the matter so long 

 as you give the air from below. Yes, full length entrances 

 are none too large, and it may be still better to raise the hive 

 at the four corners, so the air can enter on all four sides. Of 

 course that it is possible only with loose bottom-boards. 



Xbe Horse— Ho-w to Break and Handle.— 



This is a pamphlet of 82 pages, giving complete instructions 

 for breaking and educating colts, teaching horses to drive, 

 and for use under the saddle, together with many instructions 

 which have never before been publisht, and which are the re- 

 sult of the author's experience covering a period of 20 years. 

 By Prof. Wm. Mullen, with whom the editor of the Bee Jour- 

 nal is personally acquainted. Price, postpaid, 20 cents ; or 

 given as a premium for sending us one new subscriber to the 

 Bee Journal for the rest of the year at 50 cents. 



Back Numbers Since Jan. i.— We are able to 

 supply complete sets of the Bee Journal since Jan. 1, 1897, 

 to any who may desire, at two cents per copy. There are a 

 number of new' readers who perhaps would like to get some of 

 the first numbers of this year, to complete their volume for 

 1897. We shall be glad to furnish them as long as they last, 

 at two cents each. 



