1897. 



THE AMEHICAM BEE JOURNAL. 



727 



COtronCTED BT 

 DR. C. O. idXLLER. AtAREKGO. ILL, 



[QueatloDS may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



■..OSS or mating Quccn§ — Liglit Brood Foiindalion 

 -3 or S Banded Bcc« — Planting for Honey. 



1. I keep my bees in the city. I lost 50 per cent, of my 

 queens the past season on their bridal trips, and I attributed 

 the loss of such a large percentage to the river. It is my opin- 

 ion the queen and drone, when they meet, fall to the water 

 and drown. Is my theory correct ? 



2. I will make 50 hives for my Increase next year. I 

 have now at the sawmill to be drest, l.OOO feet of juniper 

 plank. It is the lightest and most durable wood grown in 

 the South. Do you think light foundation for the brood- 

 chamber will answer ? and for 50 10-frame Hoffman hives, 

 how many pounds of light foundation will ft take, using full 

 sheets? 



3. What is your opinion of the difference in 3 and 5 

 banded bees? I am going to try 5 bands one more year, and 

 if they do no better than in the past, I will replace with 3 

 bands ? 



4. I can rent land in this section at from S3. 00 to $5.00 

 per acre. Would it pay to rent and plant honey-producing 

 plauts for the bees? If so, what would you advise me to 

 plant? The land is one mile from the city, is poor land, and 

 would need a fertilizer to produce much vegetation. 



North Carolina. 



Answers. — 1. It is quite possible you are right, altho the 

 loss seems very heavy from that cause alone. 



2. Light brood foundation will be all right if your frames 

 are well wired. It runs eight sheets to the pound, so for 50 

 10-frame hives it will take 62J^ pounds, more or less, for it 

 does not run of exact weight. 



3. Taking them all in all, I doubt whether you are likely 

 in genera! to get anything better in 5 bands than in 3, altho 

 there is much difference, and some 5-banders may be as good 

 as any of the 3-banders. 



4. I don't believe you can get your money back on it for 

 honey alone. If sweet clover has value in your region as a 

 forage plant, then you might do well to invest. It would 

 probably do without fertilizers, and would act upon the land 

 somewhat as a fertilizer. 



Two t|ueens in a Hire — Bitter Honey — Balled 

 Queens. 



1. I opened one of ray hives having an Italian colony, the 

 other day, and in looking over the frames I found two queens. 

 Why were there two queens in that hive ? 



2. Does honey-dew make bitter honey ? I got a nice crop 

 of honey this season, and it was all bitter. 



3. In looking over the frames of one of my colonies I 

 found that the bees had balled one of my fine tested queens, 

 which they killed at once. The queen was young and prolific, 

 having the frames filled with eggs and brood. I introduced 

 another one, which they killed in the same way. Why did 

 they kill the queens ? and what would be best to do with the 

 colony ? Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. The probability is that the bees have 

 reared a young queen to take the place of the old one, and it 

 happens in a good many cases that the old queen Is left for 

 some time after the advent of her royal daughter. It is not 

 so very unusual to find mother and daughter laying on the 

 same comb. But you will probably find that the mother will 

 disappear in a short time. 



2. It is not specially bitter, but of dark color and usually 

 of disagreeable taste. The bitter honey probably came from 

 special flower. It is barely possible that the honey will im- 

 prove with age. 



3. It isn't easy to say in all cases why bees ball their own 

 queen. Generally, however, it is from fright. It is very 



probable that you were yourself to blame for the death of the 

 first queen. You say she was balled and killed at once. When 

 bees ball their own queen, indeed when Ihey ball any queen, 

 they are not likely to kill her at once, but keep her impris- 

 oned, and ii they kill her at all It will be after balling her till 

 she is worn out. But if the bee-keeper attempts to pull apart 

 the ball and forcibly remove the queen, she is very likely to 

 be stung to death. Upon opening a hive I have a good many 

 times found the bees in the act of balling the queen, but in 

 such case I close the hive as quickly as possible and leave the 

 bees to themselves, and the next day the queen will be found 

 laying all right. If for any reason you want to get a queen 

 away from a ball of bees, don't try to pull her away by force, 

 but steadily blow smoke upou the ball till all the bees let go 

 and try to get out of the way. Bo careful not to blow hot 

 smoke on the ball, for that will make them sting the queen at 

 once, but if you have a hot-blast smoker hold it far enough 

 from the ball so the bees will not feel the heat. 



If the bees have been queenless for a number of weeks, 

 the best thing is to unite them with some other colony, altho 

 they will not be of much use anywhere if they are very old. 

 If the loss of the queen is a recent occurrence, and the colony 

 is strong, and you have no need of the bees to strengthen any 

 other colony, just let It alone till next spring and then give it 

 brood and eggs from which to rear a queen. 



A Case of Balled Queen. 



For pleasure and experiment I have an observation hive 

 which holds one Langstroth frame. Early in September I 

 killed the black queen and the next day inserted three Italian 

 queen-cells. These hatcht Sept. 10. I removed the darkest 

 and kept the yellowest queen. I happened to witness her 

 "bridal trip " Sept. 22 ; she began laying a few days later, 

 but before she began I took out the old frame, because there 

 was no honey and no brood, and put in a frame with plenty 

 of brood, and the rest honey sealed over. The honey began 

 to go, and so I began to feed. After about a week of feeding 

 I noticed one day (Oct. 24) quite a solid bunch of bees at a 

 certain point. I watcht it in the afternoon. I saw the queen 

 in the center, as she had slowly workther way to the glass. X 

 saw by the way they hugged her that something was up, and 

 that they were probably trying to "ball" her. I took the 

 frame out, and still they hung together in a solid bunch. I 

 finally liberated her, and she fell to the bottom of the hive ; 

 the bees then jumpton her as if she were a stranger, and 

 fought her as I have seen them when a strange queen goes to 

 a hive-entrance. I secured her and put her into a queen-cage 

 in the hive. The hive is quite full of bees and some brood. 

 They are storing away the honey and sugar lam feeding; 

 they gather a little honey and pollen every morning. 



Were they " balling" her, or trying to protect her from 

 some enemy ? Why ball a young laying queen? Did they 

 think she was laying out of season? or what was wrong? 

 Would you liberate her now, or keep her caged longer? 



They commenced to ball the queen in the morning, and it 

 was 4 o'clock before we liberated her. The books I have 

 seem to be silenton the subject. Doctor. 



Answer. — By referring to the answer to "Virginia's" 

 questions in this department this week, you will find a pretty 

 full answer to your question. The probability is that the 

 bees balled the queen to protect her, and not at ail because 

 she was laying out of season. Better liberate her, and it 

 might be well to take the precaution to liberate her as you 

 would on introducing a queen, that is, allowing the bees to 

 eat away the candy in the cage to liberate her. 



Honey as Food is the name of a 24-page pamphlet, 

 3 J^xS 5-4 inches, which we are now printing for general dis- 

 tribution among those who should be users of honey. It is 

 just the thing for bee-keepers to hand to «very one of their 

 customers, and also to those whom they would like to have as 

 customers. It is very handy in size — just right to go into an 

 ordinary business envelope. It contains 12 illustrations, five 

 of which are somewhat comic, and help to make it attractive. 

 There is a blank space for your name and address. About 

 }4 of the pamphlet was written by Dr. Miller, and then we 

 added thereto many new and valuable honey recipes — for 

 cooking and for medicinal purposes. In all, it makes a neat 

 Utile pamphlet. Send name and address and we will mail you 

 a sample of " Honey as Food." 



Prices for quantities, postpaid — 25 for 30 cents; 50 for 

 50 cents ; 100 for 85 cents : 200 for SI. 40. By express, 

 not prepaid, 500 for $3.00; 1,000, $5.00. 



