308 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 15, 1902. 



V V^J^ i^VJ^V>:VJ^ Ji^K>^K 



Convention Proceedings. 



The Chicago Convention. 



Report of the Semi-Annual Convention of the 



Chicago Bee-Keepers' Association, Held 



Dec. 5, 1901. 



Br A SHORTHAND KEPORTEB. 



iContiaued from pagre 294.) 



A WAX-PRESS IN A SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



" Has there ever been a wax-press on the inside of the 

 solar wax-extraetor ■?" 



Mr. Blunlv — That's a question of mine. I have seen a good 

 deal about the German wax-press. Why cannot we press it 

 right in the solar extractor ? That's why I ask if there has 

 been one, and, if a success, I would like to have one. If not, 

 lam going to make one. 



Mr. Dadaut — While I can't exactly answer the question, 

 we have used solar extractors both for combs and residue of 

 hundreds or thousands of pounds of beeswax. The first prin- 

 ciple 'is to have the sun strike the beeswax. Put a press in 

 there, and the sun doesn't strike the beeswax. 



Mr. Blunk — You wouldn't be pressing all the time. 



Mr. Dadant — Talie what is in your solar extractor, and 

 put it in the press while hot. 



Mr. Blunk — Press right through at the time. When you 

 get enough in there, press it by screwing. 



Mr. Dadant — Vou must remember the thing must be all 

 in the sun, and it must be scattered. When scattered there 

 will be very little of it. If you put two combs, one on top of 

 the other, the under comb will not melt. If you have only 

 one-comb thickness there will be so little to press that it will 

 stick. One thing we have done, and that is to take it out on 

 a hot day, in the heat of the .July sun. and press it right 

 through," and get little of it ; but it isn't worth it. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS TO A LAYING-WORKER COLONT. 



"When a colony loses its queen and develops a laying 

 worker, can a fertile queen be introduced successfully '? " 



Dr. Jliller— Find that laying worker, take it away and 

 put another queen in. The only trouble is that when there is 

 one laying worker there, there may be 50 or 100 or 1,000 of 

 them.' The notion that there was only one laying worker in a 

 hive is exploded, and it is often that there are many engaged 

 in it; and while it is difficult, it is not utterly impossible ; yet 

 you can manage to have the queen introduced. 



" What would you do with a laying-worker colony ? '" 



Dr. Miller — I would break it up, because you don't have 

 laying workers until they have been a long time queenless and 

 nothing but old bees. I would break it up and distribute the 

 bees to other colonies. 



Mr. Riker — Sometimes we have colonies of young bees 

 that become queenless and they have laying workers. My 

 method of subsiding that is to introduce a fertile queen in a 

 cage for ten, twelve or fifteen days in that colony, and then 

 liberate her, and everything is all right. 



Mr. Whitney — Mr. Riker's experience has been mine. I 

 found a colony with laying workers : I introduced a queen and 

 inside of iS hours everything was all right. 



Mr. Blunk — Was she caged? 



Mr. Whitney — I introduced her just as I would introduce 

 a queen to any'colony. I had some misgivings, as I expected 

 thev would kill' her. b'ut they didn't. 



'Mr. Dadant — I would suggest, if you have a valuable 

 queen, not to introduce her to a queenless colony. If you have 

 a queen to spare, and she is good, introduce her to a colony 

 where the colony is not very valuable ; and if you have a queen 

 and you don't care whether she is killed or not, introduce her 

 into the colony with drone-laying workers ; by introducing 

 her you will succeed half of the time, and if you lose her, well, 

 there is nothing much lost. 



Mr. Whitney—That's just what I think. Change the 

 queen, take out a iioor one, and put in a good one. 



Mr. Hintz — In' my experience, T bad two about two or 

 three vears ago that were queenless, and the most successful 

 way I'found was to take away the hatching brood and the lay- 

 ing workers will disappear. Six times out of a dozen you won't 

 succeed, but you take a frame of workers or hatching brood 



and they almost always will, as soon as hatched out, accept a 

 queen within -±8 hours. 



Mr. Green — I had a little experience last spring, different 

 from anything I have run across in the bee-books. In conse- 

 quence I got a good colony. The colony lost its queen. I 

 went through the colony, clipped the queen just before swarm- 

 ing, and I think I clipped a virgin queen. I introduced a 

 frame of brood and they started queen-cells, and I selected a 

 good one, and soon after that I found laying workers and eggs 

 scattered all over. I read so much about layer workers — that 

 you couldn't do anything with a colony of that sort. The 

 queen had hatched, and I concluded they had destroyed that 

 queen and consequently broke up the colony and distributed, 

 and after going too far in that process I found a good queen 

 in that colony. They had gone right on and reared their 

 young queen from brood, and all that time they had laying 

 workers laying as fast as they could lay. 



Mr. Swift — I would like to know whether, when you break 

 up the colonies and introduce them into their hives, you will 

 introduce the laying workers in those hives '.' 



Mr. Hintz — In that one colony of mine I put eggs and 

 larv;o, and they wouldn't start a queen-cell : but as the young 

 bees were hatching, they accepted a queen in 48 hours. 



Dr. Miller — Answering the question asked, I think you 

 will find that if you distribute to other colonies the bees that 

 have laying workers, that you will distribute the laying work- 

 ers, but they will go into another colony with a good queen ; 

 their occupation is gone. 



SEVERAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



" When should a queen begin laying in order to have col- 

 ony in shape for the honey-flow by June 10 ? " 



Dr. Miller — Whenever good weather comes. 



" Will a queen that has been a good one through the sea- 

 son, but commenced laying drone-eggs in worker-cells, be all 

 right next spring ? " 



Dr. Miller— No. 



RIPENING HONEY. , 



" Should all comb honey by ripened after taking from 

 hive ? " 



Dr. Miller— No. 



'• How long before putting in cases would you consider 

 the proper time for the same ?'' 



Dr. Miller — That depends. All comb honey should not be 

 ripened, because if ripe enough it doesn't need any ripening, 

 and if it isn't, as to the time, depends on the time needed. As 

 a general rule, when honey is sealed it is ripened, but not al- 

 ways. There is no law you can put down to it. 



Mr. Hogge — How am I to know when I take it off that it 

 is ripe? I had some I'xperience the past summer with comb 

 honey. I found some of my honey, after four weeks taken off, 

 that was dripping — looked like sweat. 1 thought the honey 

 looked as if it was perfectly sealed. 



Dr. Miller — Take the ripest honey you can get, the best 

 honey in the world, all perfectly sealed, put in a place where 

 it has a chance to attract moisture and leave it there long 

 enough, and it will leak through the combs. 



jlr. Hogge — There was other honey right with it that 

 didn't do it. 



Dr. Miller — The probability is some of the honey was less 

 ripe than the other. Allow me to step just to one side of the 

 question a little. None of it ought to have been allowed to 

 become thin. The place was unfavorable to evaporation, and 

 it was favorable to the attraction of moisture. The best honey 

 that was there was probably hurt a little by being there, but 

 the thinest of it would weep through the cells. Although 

 honey may be taken from the hives so ripe that it doesn't need 

 any more ripening, I should, if possible, put it in a place 

 where it would ripen m<ire, and if you put it in a warm, dry 

 place it will be constantly getting a little thicker and better. 



Mr. Dean — We used to have some difficulty with our comb 

 honey in Pennsylvania when we kept the Italian bees. We 

 had some Italians and blacks. The honey from the Italians 

 was sealed directly on the honey. The honey would swell a 

 trifle, seem to sweat, and there would lie a bubble of water on 

 it, while honey from the blacks, in tlii> same place, wouldn'tdo 

 that. We discarded the Italians entirely. I think that was 

 the trouble perhaps with this gentleman's honey. When the 

 bees cap it directly on the honey it has no chance to expand, 

 and the consequence is it seems to force water. 



Dr. Miller — It is true, there is a ditTerence, as has been 

 suggested in that fact. I have had Italians that would do 

 that very thing. They fill up the horiry too close to the cap- 

 ping. The blacks I had were a great deal worse than any 

 Italians I ever had. As a rule the blacks will produce better 

 looking honey. 



