Sept. 4, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAl- 



571 



out of their cells a short time, and the stroiiffer, or older fine, 

 clinched the younger, or weaker one, and you would 

 have thoufjhl she was pushinjf her stinjcer clear thronffh 

 her, ri^ht by the small connection of the two pnrts 

 of the body. I rolled them around so I could have full view 

 of what the process was. She tried to stiiiff her, all risht, 

 or else bite hard. The so-called stinper seemed to bo too 

 soft to penetrate the body, and made a performance like 

 one of your black wasps will when you hold him by the two 

 winps, so he cannot stinp, as we used to do at school. 



But the queen died in a few seconds, either from a sting-, 

 bite, hupfjiiif,'^ or fright. I found this young queen in a 

 worker-cell head lirst, where she had crawled for protection. 

 I notice the weaker queen does not make any resistance in 

 a melee, so the victorious one could not very well get hurt. 



This season I have found several queen-cells with the 

 queen dead, and the head toward the bottom of the cell. 



C.M.IFOKNIA. 



Answek. — Confronted with such good authority as 

 T. W. Cowan, I have been obliged to change my view as to 

 the possibility of the sting being used by the queen as an 

 aid in laying. Moreover, it is likely that I was wrong in 

 thinking there is no need of a " feeler " at both ends, for 

 workers have them. Cheshire tells us that, notwithstand- 

 ing the swift work a worker makes in stinging, it always 

 feels first the spot where it stings. 



Taking Off Supers-Stores for Winter. 



1. When is the best time to take supers off, in middle 

 Wisconsin ? 



2. Should all the frames in the brood-nest containing 

 unsealed honey be removed when preparing for winter .' If 

 placed in the middle, and containing a little honey-dew, the 

 bees will get the diarrhea, and if put towards the sides, for 

 the bees to get at towards spring, the honey sometimes pops 

 out. What is best? 



3. Sometimes after the supers are taken off, the bees 

 swarm. If such swarm is hived on empty combs and fed 20 

 pounds of sugar in syrup, will that carry a colony through 

 the winter and until the next fruit-bloom ? 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. Take them off as fast as the sections are 

 all or nearly all finished, whether that be in June or Septem- 

 ber. Take all off as soon as it is evident that storing for 

 the season is over. 



2. Honey-dew of such character as to give diarrhea 

 should be removed from the hive and replaced with honey 

 of good quality or with sugar syrup. In spring, after bees 

 are flying daily, it may be safely returned. 



3. That will be likely to carry them through if the bees 

 are cellared. For out-doors a fourth more would be safer. 

 But let the feeding be done early. 



Carrying Out Sealed Brood. 



1. Something has gone wrong with one of my colonies. 

 Here is the history so far as I know, together with present 

 appearances : It was a swarm, having been hived on July 3, 

 hence it is only a few days over a month old. It was a very 

 large swarm, and during the first three weeks not only 

 built frames of comb in the brood-nest down to the bottom, 

 but filled one and partly filled a second super of sections. 

 Over a week ago I noticed an apparent lack of energy in 

 this hive : bees did not seem to be working, and acted as 

 though something was wrong. I examined the frames 

 carefully, but could not find a queen, although there was 

 brood in all stages, even eggs. I noticed that a lot of the 

 sealed brood was "bareheaded." However, since I found 

 eggs I felt satisfied. Still the bees did not go to work, and 

 seemed listless, walking about on the alighting-board in 

 front of the hive. Yesterday and this morning I observed the 

 bees busily engaged carrying out brood, some of it quite 

 dead, but a good part of it still living, so that the young 

 bees dragged out of the cells and thrown out could still 

 move their legs, and some of them could even crawl around. 



I at once opened the hive and examined the frames. I 

 find no cells empty, and most of the remaining brood have 

 the caps torn off and the bees are at work hauling the brood 

 out of the cells. Some of it is dead, and some living-, and 

 some of it is hatching out in the natural way. But in a day 

 or two the bees will have every brood-cell empty. The brood 

 which the bees are carrying out is all taken from capped 

 cells (there is no other in the hive at present). With very 



few exceptions it is not colored, but is shrunken and short. 

 There is no sign of a queen in the hive at present, and evi- 

 dently has not been for some days, as there arc neither eggs 

 nor unsealed brood. About 10 days ago there was brood in 

 all stages, and a large quantity of it. The combs or cells 

 out of which the bees arc taking the brood arc clean and 

 apparently very dry. When empty I noticed 2 or 3 small 

 wax-worms in the cells along with brood, but so far as I 

 have examined, not enough to account for the very abnor- 

 mal condition of things. Can you give mc any hint as to 

 what is the matter, and what to do in the case '! I do not 

 like to lose a colony which started out so well. 



2. Would you advise me to put a new queen with this 

 colony in its present condition, or what would I better do 

 with it first ? C)f course, if I can get the colony in working 

 order again I intend to feed it up for winter. I forgot to 

 say that at present it has plenty of sealed stores. 



Ontakio. 



Answer. — I don't know what the trouble is, but it looks 

 like a case of poisoning. Being past the time of fruit-spray- 

 ing it is hard to make any guess as to the scource of the 

 poisoning, if poisoning it be, so it is impossible to say what 

 should be done, only to hope that the trouble may now be 

 over. In any case it may be a good thing to supply the 

 colony with a queen. If the trouble continues, try giving a 

 frame of brood with some of it sealed, taking it from an- 

 other colony, and see if they tear the brood out of the sealed 

 cells the same as they do with their own brood. If it were 

 only part of the brood that was carried out, it might be 

 drone-brood, nothing being wrong, but from what you say 

 it seems to be all the brood. 



Are They Diseased ?Paralysls. 



Last June I found 2 colonies of bees had rotten brood, 

 nearly one-half of it ; it is not ropy or stringy. It dried up 

 and the bees carried it out of the hives, and now some of 

 the larv;c that are sealed up are dry, and some are watery. 

 I think it will dry up, and the bees will uncap it and carry 

 it out. There does not seem to be over one-tenth or less of 

 the brood affected now, and they seem full of bees and pros- 

 pering. Yesterday and to-day I find I have 3 colonies of 

 bees that seem to have made drone-comb out of the worker- 

 combs, and they have dead dried, brood, and I think all the 

 brood just before capping looks yellow. Are they queenless, 

 or are thev diseased ? 



I had two colonies that had paralysis; I changed the 

 queen for queen-cells, and thev appear to be all right now. 



Iowa. 



Answer.— The trouble seems a little like poisoning, 

 and if it is poisoning it will disappear when the cause no 

 longer exists. The rearing of drone-brood in worker-comb 

 indicates drone-laying queens or laying workers. 



Introducing ttueens. 



1. When a queen is introduced hoiv is one to know 

 whether the bees received her ? Of course, one could wait 

 until the brood already in the hive hatches out, and then 

 examine for young brood, but that takes time — too much 

 time. 



2. I introduced a queen a few days ago (August 2) and 

 would like to give her more bees. Can I take bees from 

 another colony and give her ? If so, will there be danger 

 of their killing the queen ? If so, how long after introducing 

 the queen before that danger would be over ? 



Kentucky. 



Answers.— 1. If the queen is introduced immediately 

 after the removal of the old queen, it will be about three 

 weeks before all the brood from the old queen emerges from 

 the cells : but there is no need to wait so long a time. Three 

 days after the removal of the old queen all her eggs will 

 have hatched, and if you then find eggs in the combs you 

 may know that the new queen is laying. But if you do not 

 find eggs at that time it is not by any means proof that the 

 new queen is gone, for sometimes she does not lay for a 

 week. By a little looking over the combs you can generally 

 see the queen. 



2. Yes, you can give more bees from another colony, 

 but it must not be recklessly done. Something depends on 

 the strength of the colony to which you wish to add the 

 bees, and a good deal depends on the harvest. If honey is 

 not yielding there is more danger . If the colony is very 



