474 



AMERICAN BEE pURNAl- 



July 24, 1902. 



Now, as I said before, this is out of line with anything I 

 ever heard of or read about, and I would like to know 

 whether you have ever had bees come out and loaf away 

 from the hive entirely, and then hide themselves. They 

 have actually put in 3 or 4 pounds of honey already, and 

 were 2 days without a queen. I had hoped the old colony 

 would swarm, and then I would have put them all back to- 

 gether, but I concluded to give them a queen, as I had a 

 good chance to do so, and call them a colony, for there are 

 enough left in the old hive to make a good, strong colony. 



I had another colony swarm without a queen, but after 

 loafing out all afternoon they went back. Minnesota. 



Answer. — If I understand the matter rightly, the un- 

 usual thing in the case is that that a smaller number than 

 usual of the bees came out with the swarm. Why that was 

 I don't know, and I don't know that their is any rule deter- 

 mining the number of bees that should issue with a swarm. 

 Probably matters occurred a little after this fashion : When 

 you found queen-cells started the bees were preparing to 

 swarm. About the time the cells were capped the bees con- 

 sidered the matter of swarming and did some loafing — it is 

 a common thing for bees to do more or less loafing a day or 

 two before swarming. Then the bees swarmed, although 

 not so many bees as you expected issued, and as the clipped 

 •queen could not go with them they returned to the hive, re- 

 peating the swarming, and probably staying out a little 

 longer each time. Then when the first young queen 

 emerged and was strong enough to fly, the swarm issued 

 with her and went into the empty hive. The cells and the 

 young queen that you gave to " the loafers " did no good, 

 as a young queen was already with them or they would not 

 be working like nailers but would have returned to the old 

 hive. (By the way, do you think it fair to continue to call 

 them " loafers " after they " went to work like nailers ?" ) 

 You found no eggs or unsealed brood in the old hive, be- 

 cause the old queen was lost when she swarmed out or was 

 later put out of the way. It is just a little to be feared that 

 you meddled too much by so freely giving cells to the " loaf- 

 ers." for if you left neither virgin queen nor queen-cell in 

 the old hive you may count the chances are in favor of a 

 queenless colony. Under the same circumstances you may 

 expect a repetition of the program, except that usually 

 more than a third of the bees will issue with the swarm. 



A Beginner's Report on Queens. 



I have just been through the hives, the ones I bought 

 •queens for. In one I found a quantity of brood, and what I 

 take to be eggs. These, however, are not lying on the bot- 

 tom of the cell, but are stuck half way up the back of the 

 cell. Are they eggs ? 



In the second I find more bees than there were before, 

 but no sign of young brood. There is a little brood which I 

 think is dead, being old stuff laid by a former queen that 

 died. I gave them a frame of brood from another hive and 

 this may account for the increase. The dead brood is in a 

 frame near the side, and all the center frames are filled 

 with honey. Bees are working well, but no sign of queen, 

 eggs or young brood. I wish I had an expert here to look 

 at them for five minutes. 



The third colony is dwindling — no queen, no brood. I 

 saw the queen in this hive 4 or S days after she was put in, 

 but cannot find her now : I feel sure that she is dead. I will 

 give them a second frame of brood to-morrow. The three 

 queens were put in 14 days ago, so there ought to be brood 

 now. I wish you could give me a hint or a clipping. 



Bkitish Columbia. 



Answer. — Those are eggs that you found on the sides 

 of the cells. It sometimes happens that a queen lays an 

 egg in that way while in general she places her eggs all 

 right. I once had an imported queen which for a time laid 

 all her eggs in that objectionable way, and afterward laid 

 them properly. It is likely that rough handling in the 

 mails may have .something to do with the matter. It is to 

 be feared that no queen is in the second or third hive, al- 

 though it is barely possible that there may be one. Some- 

 times a queen will not lay for a week after being introduced, 

 and if the weather has been very bad it might be longer. If 

 the weather has been as bad during the last half of June as 

 it has been here, it is not to be wondered that the queens 

 are not kindly received, especially after being roughly 

 handled in the mails. I had a fine queen killed by strange 

 bees in circumstances in which heretofore there never had 

 been any loss. That was two weeks ago, but if it had oc- 



cured during the present hot weather there would have been 

 no loss. 



There seems something wrong in one colony that I can 

 hardly understand. The bees have allowed the brood in 

 that comb to die when there seemed to have been no other 

 brood in the hive. It looks at least as if the colony must 

 have been very weak. 



The first-named queen will likely put her eggs in the 

 bottom of the cell after she is fairly settled down. I have, 

 however, a little fear that there is no queen in the hive, as 

 you say nothing of seeing her, which leaves the suspicion 

 that there may be laying workers in the case, forwhen they 

 have only worker-comb they sometimes lay eggs on the 

 sides of the cells, although at other times they are placed 

 all right. By this time the brood will be sealed, and if seal- 

 ing is flat it is work of a queen. If, however it is raised, so 

 that it presents the appearance of a lot of little marbles, 

 you have laying workers, and will do well to break up the 

 colony and distribute the combs among other colonies. 



Wants Honey, Not Increase— Supers from Foul-Broody 

 Colonies. 



The greatest problem confronting me in bee-keeping is 

 how to produce the greatest amount of honey with what 

 bees I have — some 25 or 30 colonies. When I get the 9 frames 

 full of brood, and the super of 30 pounds ready to cap, or if 

 I tier up to 60, and the 9 brood-frames full, as G. M. Doo- 

 little recommends, out comes a swarm, and it is all spoiled. 

 Now, then, can I at that stage, when the hive is full of bees, 

 take 4 frames of brood out of the center of the brood-nest 

 and put in frames with starters, and keep my bees at home 

 and at work successfully ? 



2. Will sections or supers that have been on foul-broody 

 colonies be safe to put in with a healthy colony, when they 

 have not drawn out the foundation, and have been exposed 

 to the air for some time ? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. Your problem is the great problem with 

 a great many, how to produce comb honey without the in- 

 terference of swarming. Taking away all brood and leav- 

 ing the colony on foundation or starters will effectually 

 stop the swarming foolishness, and taking away four 

 frames of brood will answer sometimes, and sometimes it 

 will not. 



2. The fact that so good an authority as Wm. McEvoy 

 says it is safe to use hives that have been occupied by foul- 

 broody colonies makes it seem that it ought to be equally 

 safe to use supers and sections, if no drop of honey has 

 ever been in the sections. 



Fastening Queen Below on Foundation. 



I will give the desired report of ray efforts this year. 

 As mentioned in my previous letter, in building up my one- 

 story hives to "double deckers" — I work for extracted 

 honey and run hives 2 or 3 stories, using full-sized hives for 

 all stories — I took brood and bees from one hive, and placed 

 another, with queen-excluder between, leaving the old 

 queens and two frames of hatching brood, on the old stands, 

 filling up with empty frames and dummies. The hatching- 

 brood and returning bees make good nuclei, and immedi- 

 ately commenced building worker-comb, and are now fairly 

 good colonies for wintering. But unless the sumac yields 

 a good fall tlovc, feeding may be necessary. I think if 

 foundation had been used I might have been able to get 

 better results. I am so well pleased with this method that 

 I shall practice it next year. By taking brood from the 

 hybrid queens, it entirely prevented rearing impure drones. 

 The colonies topped out with brood and bees, went to work 

 at once as though they had always been one family, and 

 stored more honey than those that had two stories during 

 the winter. The season being a "record-breaker" for not 

 producing honey, the two-story colonies did not build up 

 fast enough in the spring to be ready for a honey harvest, 

 if there had been one. I extracted a little from those built 

 up strong, but I wish I had not, as I may have to feed it all 

 back. 



After reading your advice to "California," I tried 2 

 more colonies that way. Not having foundation, I put one 

 empty comb and empty frames below, and confined the 

 queen on them with excluder and put the brood on top. The 

 bees built queen-eells above, but did not build comb below. 

 I do not think the queen "sulked," I think it was the 

 " sulky bees." 



