218 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL. 



Aprils, 1902 



and an excluder between the two ? Would the bees take 

 care of the brood in the upper hive until hatched ? 



My idea is to have the old frames cleaned out by the 

 bees without losing the brood ; then if the combs are in 

 good condition I can tit them in the Hoffman frames. The 

 old frames are about 10x15 inches. New York. 



Answer. — Your plan will work all right, except that it 

 will plung-e you still deeper into the mess you want to avoid ; 

 for the old combs above the excluder will become filled 

 with honey. If you can extract that, you will be all right. 



Specialist Bee-Keepers— Rearing Queens, Etc 



1. About what percent of the successful bee-keepers of 

 the United States make bee-keeping their only occupation ? 



2. '■ Honor bright," do you think as good queens can be 

 produced from a queen-mother that is confined in a nucleus 

 (to prolong life) as from the same queen when kept in a full 

 or normal colony ? 



3. Do young bees which hatch too late in fall to get a 

 cleansing flight live until spring ? Massachusetts. 



Answers. — 1. That's a tough one. I haven't data on 

 which to base an answer, and it would probably be very dif- 

 ficult to obtain such data. Irf the first place, I don't know 

 what proportion are "successful bee-keepers," and I don't 

 suppose every one would agree upon what should be called 

 a successful beekeeper. Taking bee-keepers as a whole. 

 my guess would be that in most of the States not more than 

 one in 500 makes bee-keeping his only occupation. 

 Take such States as Colorado, and it is possible that 

 the number may rise to 1 in 25 or 50. Yet that guess 

 may be very wild, and I should be very glad if some of the 

 bee-keepers in those regions where specialists are plenty 

 would tell us what percent have no other occupation. 



3. " Honor bright," yes. The form of your question 

 suggests that you think diflferently, and there is a possibil- 

 ity that you may be right. Will you kindly tell us your 

 reasons ? 



3. I think so. 



■*—-*■ 



Bee-Sting Remedy— Dark Color for Hives. 



1. Can you give any remedy for the swelling caused by 

 bee-sting, or, rather, an antidote to prevent the swelling ? 

 The sting causes little or no annoyance. I hardly notice it, 

 but the swelling is something awful. I have tried am- 

 monia, arnica, soda bicarbonate. Iodine tincture, and hot 

 water. I have been subject to stings for the last 5 or 6 

 years. 



2. What are the objections to hives being a dark color, 

 except being hotter in summer? Penn. 



Answers. — 1. It almost seems that the only thing is to 

 keep away from bees. Possibly an application of honey or 

 cold water might be good. 



2. I do not think of any other objection, unless it be 

 a matter of taste. Unless the sun shines on the hive a dark 

 one would hardly be hotter than a light one. 



Spring Feeding— Making Nuclei. 



1. About how much sugar syrup will I have to feed my 

 three colonies of bees, that have run short of honey this 

 spring, to last them from now until they can gather honey. 

 I am feeding these three colonies one pound of sugar syrup 

 every day. Is it enough ? 



2. How can I form nuclei? I am after increase. How 

 many nuclei can I get from one 8- frame colony ? 



New York. 



Answers. — 1. That depends. If you have plenty of 

 pasturagefromthetimeoffruit-bloom.it may be well to 

 count that they need something like 10 pounds each from 

 the middle of March. If they gather nothing till white 

 clover they may take five pounds more. That's a liberal 

 allowance, but it's on the safe side. 



2. Something depends upon the number of frames filled 

 with brood, for you can make a good nucleus from each two 

 frames. You can make a nucleus for each frame of brood, 

 but you will hardly do it a second time, and it is better not 

 to try it the first time. Suppo.se there are 6 frames well sup- 

 plied with brood. Of course there will be two other frames 

 of honey and pollen. Take two frames of brood with adher- 



ing bees with one of the frames of honey, and put them in 

 an empty hive, taking the queen with them. Two days 

 later take from the old hive two frames of brood and bees 

 and put in a hive on a new stand. Use the other two frames 

 of brood and bees for another hive. That leaves your old 

 hive with only the one frame of honey. Go to the hive that 

 has the queen, and take from it the frame of honey, and put 

 it along with the queen in the old hive. The object of tak- 

 ing the queen away two days in advance is to be able to 

 form your nuclei from queenless bees, which stay where they 

 are put better than bees that do not feel themselves queen- 

 less. If you want to make the matter more sure, you can 

 stop the entrances with green leaves for 24 hours after 

 forming your nuclei. Only you need not close the entrances 

 of the two hives that have had the queen in them. 



Feeding Bees in Winter. 



L,ast fall I got a colony of bees from a neighbor, which I 

 have kept in the cellar up to this time (March 12). March 

 10 I happened to go down into the cellar, and took a look at 

 the hive. What I found was a quart of dead bees. I 

 thought the bees must all be dead, and took the hive up in 

 the sunshine, where I scraped some of the bees from the bot- 

 tom, when quite a swarm of live bees came out. I then 

 opened the cover and removed one frame, and there seemed 

 to be thousands of bees still alive, even if a quart of bees 

 had died. The frame I removed did not contain any large 

 amount of honey — about 2'. inches square of honey was 

 found in the frame, all the other cells being empty. 1 de- 

 cided they must be short of stores, and made a mixture of 

 sugar and water (I dissolved the sugar in the %vater), which I 

 ran into the cells of the frame I had removed. (I should 

 think there was about 'j quart of sugar syrup.) 



In the evening I put the hive back into the cellar again. 

 The next day (March 11) I went down (into the cellar) and 

 examined the hive. I heard the low hum of the bees, but I 

 decided I would see how much of my syrup the bees had 

 eaten, and again took the hive out of the cellar, and put it 

 in the sun. Some of the bees came out and flew about for 

 awhile, and returned to the hive. I removed the same 

 frame that I had filled, and found the bees had eaten all 

 the syrup. I again filled it with syrup. Now what is the 

 best thing to do ? What can I do to keep those remaining 

 bees alive till it is time to put the hive out ? What else 

 could I have done instead of what I did. Minnesota. 



Answer. — What you have done may work all right. 

 The best thing would be to give them enough comb honey 

 to make them pull through. Likely you have none. Then 

 make candy. The Scholz or Good candy described in your 

 bee-book will be best ; but if you have no extracted honey 

 with which to make Scholz candy, make plain sugar candy. 



Transferring Bees. 



How can I best transfer bees from an old-style box into 

 a modern hive. Illinois. 



Answer. — The instruction given in your text-book on 

 this subject is all right, only nowadays there is a tendency 

 toward the practice of allowing bees first to swarm, then 

 transferring three weeks after the swarming, when the 

 worker-brood has had time to hatch out. 



Transferred Bees Fighting— Having Too Much Honey in 

 Spring— Placing Hives, Etc. 



1. Will not the bees fight when you return the old bees 

 that are left, to the new swarm, 21 days after swarming 

 when transferring? 



2. Can bees have too much honey when put out in the 

 spring ? 



3. Does it make any difi'erence how far apart the hives 

 are placed ? 



4. About how many dead bees should there be on the 

 cellar-floor from 23 colonies if they are wintering all right ? 



5. Is the north slope of a hill a good place for a bee-cel- 

 lar? Wouldn't sand, put on the floor about 4 inches thick, 

 and then sawdust 2 inches thick on top of the sand, help 

 to keep the cellar dry ? Iowa. 



Answers — 1. That will nearly always be at a time when 

 the bees have good pasturage and will be peaceably iticlined. 

 The drumming will take all the fight out of the bees from 



