170 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 13, 1902 



nucleus she may be given without caging; merely take a 

 frame of brood from the nucleus, queen, bees and all, and put 

 in a hive. Another good way is the nucleus plan. Commenc- 

 ing with the colonies most in danger of swarming, take from 

 them brood enough to discourage them, and distribute it 

 among the nuclei you are building up. Better have the queen 

 laying in the nucleus before beginning to build up much. 



■±. I'm not sure that I know exactly what you are after. 

 In any case, I would have tlie queen below, and if the extra 

 story were filled with extracting-frames I would put it above, 

 although I have known bees to make good work storing in ex- 

 tracting-frames below. If the e.xtra story is to help prevent 

 swarming, then put a// frames of brood in the upper story, 

 leaving the queen with empty combs or foundation below. 

 That will work well for extracted honey, and will be better to 

 prevent swarming than the plan you tried of putting up the 

 brood piecemeal. 



5. Yes and no. Up to the time the cells are sealed no colony 

 is|any too strong, in my opinion, to care for them. There are 

 some. I know, who think a weaker colony will do as well, but 

 my view would do no harm, even if they are right. When a 

 cell is about ready to have the queen emerge, it may as well be 

 given to a nucleus, for it will be wasting something like two 

 weeks" time of a strong colony to take care of it. 



6. I don't know. The easiest way is to fill the hive at the 

 start, and for extracted honey it may be as well. For results in 

 ■comb honey it may work better to give only half the number 

 at the start, and give the rest in ten days or two weeks. 



7. First-rate. Reared many a queen that way. Of course, 

 have entrances on all four sides." 



8. Testimony varies. Reports from abroad say harm has 

 been done by it. In this country it is generally believed to be 

 all right. Possibly it would be best, not to have a large surface 

 of the metal in proportion to the amount of honey. 



Feeding Bees in the Cellar, Etc. 



1. My bees are sometimes a little restless, buzzing and 

 coming to the hive-entrances (I winter them in the cellar). As 

 I have not had any experience with bees I don't know whether 

 they are short on stores. In that case, what is the best thing 

 to do? 



2. Is it harmful to open and examine the hive at this time 

 of the year (Feb. 17) ? I have been thinking about doing it, 

 but if I should open the hive and disturb the bees, I believe I 

 would get them all around the cellar. 



3. One hive seems to be slightly damp, which I suppose it 

 should not be. What can be done about that ? 



Minnesota. 

 Answers. — 1. The best thing to do depends upon circum- 

 stances. If you are fortunate enough to have a deep space 

 under the bottom-bars, sections of honey, or a comb of honey, 

 can be shoved under, taking care to "see that it touches the 

 bottom-bars, or at least that the bees get started on it. It may 

 be necessary to stir the bees up a little to make sure of this. 

 It may be t"hat the top of the hive is the only part you can get 

 at, in which case you may put in honey in frames or lay a cake 

 of candy on top, covering up well. 



2. Of course, it is not the most desirable thing to disturb 

 the tjees at all, but if carefully and gently done, the hives may 

 be opened and frames even taken out without disturbing them 

 very much. There is not much danger of getting them all 

 over the cellar. 



3. It is possible that the hives need a little more ventila- 

 tion. If there is no ventilation above, and if the entrance is 

 too small, the moisture from the bees will condense on the 

 walls of the hive. It matters little how the air gets to the 

 bees so there is plenty of it. It may be sealed air-tight above 

 if it is all open below ; and it may be sealed air-tight below if 

 there is no covering on top : or it may have the usual summer 

 entrance and a little chance for air 'to escape at the top, such 

 a chance as would be given by laying a nail "under one corner 

 of the cover. 



Swarming Management— Clipped Queens. 



1. My bees usually swarm during April and May. What 

 is the best plan to get the most lioiiey ? Is it hi'st to let them 

 swarm and give the prime swarm the most of the brood-frames 

 with the brood, and give the new swarm empty supers'.' or is 

 some other plan better '? If you advise giving the new swarms 

 combs from the mother colony, how many would be best? I 

 find it to be the best plan with me to push the new swarms at 

 the expense of the mother colony, to get the most honey. But 

 if you will give me a better plan, I will certainly be glad. 



2. If a queen is not hurt while being clijiped, does the 



clipping ever injure her in any way afti.Twards '.' A thing I 

 do not like is a prime swarm to leave me and go to the woods. 



South Carolina. 



Answers. — 1. You're right, " to push the swarms at the 

 expense of the mother colony to get the most honey." But 

 instead of giving the brood to the swarm and leaving the 

 partly-filled sections with the old colony, do just the other way. 

 Give the swarm frames filled with foundation or with starters, 

 and after a day or two, when the queen has begun laying in 

 the brood-chamber, take the supers from the old colony and 

 give to the swarm. In order to make the swarm stronger, do 

 this: When the prime swarm issues, hive it on the old stand. 

 and set the old hive close beside it. A week later move the 

 old hive to a new stand. That will throw all the field force 

 into the swarm, making the mother colony so weak that it 

 will not send out a second swarm. All this is on the supposi- 

 tion that your earlier flow is the more important one. If you 

 have a heavy flow continuing late in the season, and there is 

 no danger of overstocking your field, then it may be better not 

 to concentrate all your effort upon the swarm. 



2. Of the great number of clipped queens I have had, I 

 never could see that one was worse for the clipping afterward. 



American and European Linden— Wintering Bees- 

 of Honey-Plow. 



End 



Well, here I am again asking questions, but if you get 

 weary of me, why just turn me down. 



1. What is the dift'erence between the American and Ger- 

 man linden ? or, in other words, which of them is what bee- 

 keepers call "basswood?" 



2. Which is the better, a dead-air space about the bees, 

 or to have that air-space filled with mineral wool or some 

 other packing-material ? 



3. Is it a good plan to raise the hives say about four 

 inches from the bottom-board for wintering bees on the sum- 

 mer stands — I mean to have a frame made four inches high 

 and the same dimensions as the bottom-board, so they may be 

 removed in the spring ? 



■i. Have you any way to tell when the honey-flow is over 

 in summer ? Penn. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know enough to tell just what the 

 difference between the American and European linden is ; but 

 it is not very great. The American is called basswood. 



2. It is considered better with the packing. 



3. It is a very excellent plan. I get something like the 

 same result by having a bottom-board 2 inches deep, filling 

 up the extra space in summer. 



■±. Y'es ; when the bees have been doing good work at 

 storing, and some day when you go into the apiary and feel 

 inclined to say, " What under the sun makes the bees so cross 

 to-day?" the probability is that the flow is letting up. 8o 

 long as the flow lasts you will have little or no trouble with 

 robber-bees: but when the flow stops you will find them in- 

 clined to pounce upon a frame of brood or honey if left ex- 

 posed. 



Don't you worry about being turned down for asking ques- 

 tions, so long as you do not easily find answers to them in your 

 text-book. Come on with your questions ; I've a whole lot of 

 answers left, quite a large percent of them being, " I don't 

 know.' 



Why Did the Bees Die ? 



I have lost 27 colonies during the winter. They had 

 plenty of stores b\it it was very nearly as thick as taffy. Is 

 this the reason they died ? If not, what do you think killed 

 them? They had good winter quarters. Illinois. 



Answer. — I don't know. It is possible that along with 

 the thickness of the honey there may have been something 

 wrong abovit the quality. You do not say anything about the 

 condition of the bees except their death. If they suffered with 

 diarrhea, the quality of the honey was probably at fault. It 

 is just possible that they died for want of moisture, in which 

 case I should expect to find them in much the same condition 

 as if they had starved : but I'm not entirely sure about this. 



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