378 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Junel2, 1901. 



build themselves up into a strong colony before the season 

 closes. They are buildings comb well now. If they are not 

 strong enough I can add to them at the close of the white 

 honey from the " boomers." 



My second plan is to make what Ernest Root calls 

 " shook swarms," putting them on empty frames and giv- 

 ing the combs with brood and honey to another one-story 

 colony. 



Colonies that have queen-cells ready to seal do as well 

 as natural swarms. I find it will not do to give the new 

 swarms combs in the upper story until they have the frames 

 in the new hive nearly full of comb. Delos Wood. 



Santa Barbara Co., Calif. 



Answer. — One of the things that help to lighten my 

 ■work in the "Question and Answer" department of the 

 American Bee Journal, is the fact that sharp eyes are upon 

 my work, and back of the sharp eyes kind hearts ready to 

 help out where I fall short. In the nature of the case it 

 must be that questions will come that fall outside my own 

 experience, and then I must rely upon what I have learned 

 from others. After learning of the experience of Mr. Wood, 

 I should advise that one who desires to try the plan of put- 

 ting the queen in a lower story should try it at first on a 

 limited scale, until he finds how it works in his case. 



I am very much puzzled to know why the plan should 

 work so differently in California, for it so happens that I 

 have tried the plan in a good deal more than seven cases, 

 with no sign of a failure in any case. I never allowed a 

 flight-hole in the upper story ; in fact. I allowed no possible 

 entrance except through the lower story, but even if I had 

 allowed an entrance above I should not have expected anj' 

 diflrerent results, expecting the bees from habit to have 

 continued to use the lower entrance. 



I would give a good deal to be present to see the prog- 

 ress of a case in the hands of Mr. Wood, so as to find out if 

 possible what makes the difference. Let me give a little in 

 detail the course of a case, and if Mr. Wood can see his way 

 clear to do so, I wish he would try just one more case, and 

 then tell us wherein is the first departure of his bees from 

 the course pursued by mine : 



I wait till queen-cells are begun, then the brood is 

 raised to the upper story, and the queen left upon founda- 

 tion in the lower story, with an excluder between the two 

 stories. The queen stops laying in every case, and I sup- 

 pose she spends her time in the fruitless attempt to get up 

 through the excluder. This cessation of laying I believe 

 to be an essential part of the program, and without it I 

 think the plan would be a failure. The bees, however, go 

 right on gathering as busily as ever, and in two, three, or 

 four days the queen begins laying in the foundation. I 

 think I never had a case in which the queen sulked more 

 than four days, but, certainly, she began within the week. 

 If Mr. Wood should try another case, I wish he would tell 

 us whether he finds eggs later than the fifth or sixth day. 

 Also, the outcome of the first of the two plans he is trying 

 this year. 



♦-•-♦ 



Italianizing and Working for Honey. 



I wish to Italianize and also work for comb honey. I 

 understand that after a swarm leaves the hive there will be 

 no eggs in the old hive for 21 or 25 days. Of course, the 

 bees will not do much work during that period. The safe 

 and proper way is to let the bees follow their natural in- 

 stinct. Will I gain anything by introducing a laying queen 

 in a Benton cage, and cutting out the cells ? 



Mass.-vchusetts. 



Answer. — Are you sure, when you say, "Of course, the 

 bees will not do much work during that period," that your 

 " of course " is well founded ? So good an authority as G. 

 M. Doolittle is very positive that nothing is gained by 

 ■doing as you propose. He is pretty certainly right for his 

 locality, and it is not unlikely that the same thing is true 

 for you. It might be a good plan for you to try some both 

 ways and compare results. Then please be sure to give us 

 your conclusion. 



.*-•-♦. 



Not Foul Brood. 



is taken from died out some time during the winter. The 

 piece which I mail you is the worst in the hive. I have 

 Ouinby and Langstroth reversible hives. I have read the 

 convention reports, but I am not sure that I am right, and 

 ask for your valuable counsel. 



I have so much to do that I can not give the bees proper 

 attention, but I do the best I can, and will endeavor to 

 clean them up if it is foul brood. Iowa. 



Answer. — There is no appearance of foul brood, and 

 I'm not sure there is any disease at all in the case, but it 

 seems different from anything I ever saw before. The cells 

 that are sealed, when the capping is picked away, seem to 

 be entirely emptj' and clean, as if the bees had just sealed 

 them up for a joke. Can it be that some very minute insect 

 has eaten out the contents of the cells ? 



Bee-Paralysis. 



" Past blessings do not suffice; I am still needy." I 

 mean I have another question that I would like to have an- 

 swered through the American Bee Journal. 



I have a colony of bees that are afflicted with some 

 malady, and I want a cure. The colony is a first swarm of 

 last season ; it was in good condition last fall and wintered 

 all right, being strong this spring. About three weeks ago 

 I noticed something wrong. Quite a number of bees — per- 

 haps two to four dozen — each day crawl out, or are hauled 

 out of the hive by the other bees. They remain on the 

 alighting-board or crawl on the grass around the front of 

 the hive, and are unable to fly, but keep up a constant 

 motion with their wings for a few hours, then die. The 

 most of them look natural, though some are very black, 

 hairless, and shiny. In other respects the colony seems all 

 right, working when the weather is fit, carrying pollen into 

 the hive and rearing brood. What should I do in the case ? 



I find nothing in the books that covers it, unless it be 

 " Bee Paralysis," mentioned in " A B C of Bee-Culture," 

 and this, to my mind, does not quite cover it. 



I am anxious to do what is needed as soon as I leara 

 what that is. Ohio. 



Answer. — If your name was Mississippi or Florida in- 

 stead of Ohio, I would say that I could only condole with 

 you without the slightest hope of helping you. Seeing you 

 are as far north as Ohio, I can bid you dismiss your fears, 

 and let things take their course. Yourdescription so clearly 

 given leaves no doubt that your visitor is bee-paralysis. I 

 had one case so bad that I broke up the colony. But that 

 was the only case so bad. I've had many another case, but 

 the colonies suffered only temporary loss, and I never paid 

 any attention to it. I'm not sure that I've seen anything 

 of it for three or four years. 



I mail you a sample of comb under separate cover, and 

 will thank you if you will let me know what you think 

 about it. I have never come in contact with foul brood, 

 and did not know but what I had run up against a genuine 

 case. If so, I shall be pleased to have you tell me how you 

 ■would go at it to stamp it out. The colony that this comb 



Preventing Further Swarming— Young Queens. 



In the winter of 1900-01 I read one or two articles in 

 the magazines and papers relative to bees, and caught the 

 fever. I borrowed some late American Bee Journals and a 

 text-book, and " read up " some more, and in May, 1901, I 

 purchased a nucleus of three frames in a dovetailed hive, 

 the rest of the frames with full foundation. The queen 

 was a tested Italian, and proved very prolific, as she led out 

 a good swarm, June 26, which was successfully hived. 



August 1 the original purchased queen led out another 

 swarm (colony No. 2), which was also secured and properly 

 hived, thus giving me three colonies. We secured about 40 

 pounds of section honey. 



I put these three colonies into winter quarters out-of- 

 doors, and they wintered all right, and have been so indus- 

 trious that on May 16 colony No. 1 (the purchased queen's 

 first daughter) led out a swarm, and May 18 colony No. 2 

 (the purchased queen's second daughter) led out one also, 

 both of which are now at work in their respective hives. 



So much for the history of my bee business. Now for 

 the questions I wish to have answered as soon as possible. 



After the two swarms spoken of above were cared for 

 in their new homes, to prevent further svrarming for the 

 season if possible, I proceeded to cut out all but one queen- 

 cell in hives No. 1 and 2. 



1. Was that a wise thing to do ? 



2. How soon should the new queens be hatched, and out 

 on their bridal-trip, and the hives examined to find the 

 queen ? New Hampshire. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, if it was desired to have the 

 strength divided equally as possible between the swarm and 



