my, 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



647 



for the day take the bees and add them to the hive that needs 

 them most. 



2. Wheu a queeu dies in winter, you may count the colony 

 Is gone up. There Is no brood or eggs present from which to 

 rear a queen. 



3. It will do all right, and if you drive all the bees you 

 will have a good colony. But of course you'll lose all the 

 brood in the hive, which amounts to a good deal. If you get 

 the queen and most of the bees, leaving enough bees In the 

 hive to take care of the brood, you can drive out the rest three 

 weeks later, adding them to the colony, thus having all the 

 bees you would have had if the bees had been left in the old 

 hive. A favorite way with some is to wait till a prime swarm 

 issues, hive the swarm in a frame hive, then three weeks 

 later drive out the balance. 



4. I'm not sure. I've put in a great deal of wire, and 

 have always drawn it tight, but some say that with horizontal 

 wiring there will be less sagging of the foundation if the wire 

 be left slack. I think so good authorities as C. P. Dadant and 

 the A. I. Root Co. favor this view. If the wires be perpen- 

 dicular, perhaps all would have them tight. I've just con- 

 sulted Root's catalog, and they say the wire should be "drawn 

 just tight enough to take up the slack (be sure not too tight or 

 the foundation will buckle)." 



5. The same authority says to cut the foundation % inch 

 shallower than the Inside depth of the frame. Nothing Is said 

 about the horizontal length of the foundation, but % inch Is 

 not needed there ; '4 Inch will make good work, and If the 

 hive Is level from front to rear, there is no need of more than 

 % Inch between the foundation and the end-bar, and I've had 

 very good work with no space whatever. 



6. Just because the bees put so much stress on It. With 

 a well establisht home and a rising family the bees will stand- 

 a great deal of heat before they will desert, but when there is 

 nothing of that kind to hold them, the bees are more exacting 

 in their requirements, and if the hive is too hot and close 

 they'll promptly take their departure. One thing that makes 

 some difference is that at the time of swarming there is a 

 great deal of excitement, and that makes the heat greater. 



Stores for Wlnter- 



-Ventilaling Hives to Prevent 

 Swarming. 



1. I have four colonies of bees, and this year took 300 

 pounds of honey in one-pound sections, and the honey-flow 

 ceast suddenly about July 1, when a drouth set in and still 

 continues, no rain yet. The last of August I made an exami- 

 nation, and found the colonies all strong, but almost destitute 

 of honey, so I at once began to feed, and fed each colony just 

 15 pounds of granulated sugar, with an equal amount of 

 water by measure. Is that amount of sugar and water sutJS- 

 clent to carry them through until spring? 



2. I see it recommended by some bee-keepers to raise the 

 hives from the bottom-boards in summer to give ventilation 

 and prevent swarming ? As my hives are all nailed fast to 

 the bottom-boards, would you advise loosening them in order 

 to raise them ? or would you let them alone? 



3. If so raised, would not the queen, when she comes out 

 with a swarm, be liable to come out at the back or sides of the 

 hive, and be lost? My queens are all dipt. 



4. My hives are all 8-frame dovetailed, with a scant \i 

 inch entrance the full width. I had thought of enlarging 

 them to one inch, the full width, next spring, thinking that 

 would give them sufficient ventilation. Would you advise 

 that, or not? 



5. I have been following the plan of controlling swarm- 

 ing where no Increase is desired, as given by you in your book, 

 " A Year Among the Bees," page t>9, by caging the queen for 

 10 days, then releasing her after cutting out all queen-cells. 

 I have been very successful that way, yet it requires consid- 

 erable work. Do you still like the plan ? And do you think 

 the bees will work just as well where the queen is caged for 

 10 days ? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. The bees may, and they may not, have 

 sufficient stores. It makes a difference whether they are cel- 



lared or not. It makes a big difference whether there is a 

 good yield of fall honey or nothing whatever. Very likely, 

 with what they may gather — for usually they gather a little 

 fall honey— they will come through all right. Besides, there 

 may have been enough honey in the hive before feeding to 

 make quite a little difference. If wintered in the cellar they 

 will most likely be all right. 



2. There are advantages and disadvantages in both ways, 

 but on the whole I believe I don't want any tight bottoms, 

 altho for years I had many of them. 



3. Clipt queens may be a little more likely to be lost If 

 the hive Is open all around, but I never could discover any 

 difference. It is more troublesome, however, to find the queen 

 when she comes out if you have to watch on four sides of the 

 hive instead of one. 



4. Yes, as soon as the weather is warm, I'd rather have 

 an inch than half as much. Of course you wouldn't enlarge 

 the entrance by cutting away any part of the hive proper, 

 but by making the change in the bottom-board. A good way 

 practiced by some is to make slender wedges the entire length 

 of the hive, the head of the wedge being half an Inch or an 

 inch thick, depending on how large you want the entrance, 

 the head of the wedge being under the side of the hive In 

 front, and the wedge running down to a sharp edge at the 

 back end of the hive. 



5. Yes, the plan is a good one, where there is any one 

 present to watch for swarms when they issue. It requires a 

 good deal of work to cut out the cells, and the worst of it Is 

 that you may miss cells. Altho it takes a good deal more 

 room to describe it, I think you will find the plan given on the 

 next page requires less labor, as in that plan you get the bees 

 themselves to destroy the queen-cells, and they never miss 

 any. I doubt if the bees do as well at building comb while 

 the queen is caged or out of the hive, but they might do less 

 in the long run if the swarm were hived in the usual way. 



— m » 



Candied Hone)" in Conib§ Tor Winter. 



I have 200 colonies of bees, and each colony has from 

 three to Ave frames of Crt/idieti honey In them. What is best 

 to do with it ? We run for comb honey. Will the bees winter 

 well on the old candied honey ? I neglected to extract out of 

 the brood-chamber last fall with above results. 



COLOBADO. 



Answer. — If there is enough liquid honey in. the hives 

 aside from that which is candied, the bees may winter all 

 right. And If by using both the liquid and the candied they 

 will have enough, still they may winter all right. It is doubt- 

 ful If the candied honey, however. Is as good as the liquid. 

 The bees generally take out the softer part and leave the 

 harder grains, or rather they throw these grains out of the 

 hive, wasting it. Just what they do with it wheu it is candied 

 into one uniform mass, I don't know. I suspect that in the 

 dry climate of Colorado they might have trouble to do any- 

 thing with it, still they manage hard, dry sugar-candy, and 

 perhaps they'd manage the honey that was entirely solid. 

 From what has been said, you will see that the probability Is 

 that if bees do winter on candied honey, It will take more 

 than of the liquid. 



If you should get through the winter all right, the prob- 

 lem will still remain : What shall be done with the granu- 

 lated honey left In the combs ? The whole thing could be 

 melted up, but It seems too bad to destroy the combs. Per- 

 haps If openly exposed the bees would rob it out. In case the 

 granules are thrown out, somethlug could be set under the 

 combs to collect them, and then they could be melted. Per- 

 haps it might be a good thing to sprinkle the combs with 

 water before offering them to the bees. 



Now all this is largely guessing, and It would be a kind- 

 ness If some Colorado man who has "been through the mill " 

 would tell us all about it. 



