572 



AMEPICAN BEE JOUFNAL. 



Sept. 4, 190:. 



weak, you must not give many bees. If they have three 

 frames of brood, you may give a fourth with adhering bees, 

 but it would not be safe to add two frames. The safer plan 

 is to give them queenless bees. If you have no queenless 

 bees, take the queen with two frames of brood and adhering 

 bees from one of your colonies, putting them anywhere in a 

 separate hive. In two days" time you can take from this 

 queenless colony one or more frames of brood with adher- 

 ing bees, and give to the colony you want to strengthen. Of 

 course it will be better to take brood that is sealed. Then 

 return to the queenless colony the queen with the two 



frames of brood. 



-»-»-^ — 



Reducing the Numberrof Colonies. 



I do not want over 5 colonies to keep over winter — I 

 don't need more for my use, and I cannot sell colonies here 

 for any more than the hives are worth. I have been doing 

 just what farmers do with cattle, which they keep for fam- 

 ily use. Some I keep for milk (honey), some I keep for 

 breeders, and others I kill. I use the movable-frame hive 

 with full, well-wired foundation. Those I keep over winter, 

 I call my "breeders" (S of them). They have the 

 surplus one-pound sections and always produce enough 

 comb honey. These are allowed to swarm in the natural 

 way. I have hives ready with complete comb, from last 

 year's building, which receive the swarms, and as fast as 

 they fill and cap these combs I extract, leaving perhaps one 

 or two of the center ones untouched. At the end of the 

 honey-gathering season I — don't get shocked — I kill them 

 with brimstone, and after extracting what honey is still in 

 the hives, set the brood-chamber on top of one of the breed- 

 ers, with perforated-zinc between. The hatched brood will 

 strengthen the old colony, and by the beginning of Decem- 

 ber, when there is no danger of the bee-moth doing mischief, 

 I take off the brood-chamber and find the comb again en- 

 tirely clear of brood, and in perfect order for the next year's 

 work. Thus I keep 5 " breeders" and 5 completed brood- 

 chambers for use as stated. 



Do you think I could safely strengthen my " breeders," 

 if needed, by putting them where new colonies are, and 

 shake the bees out of the latter in front of the breeders ? 

 Do you think there would be a fight among them, and per- 

 haps do more harm than good ? I know your method of 

 putting a frame covered with bees into another hive, but I 

 do not want to use my " honey " frames in with the breed- 

 ers, if there is another way. 



Your article on " Strengthening Colonies," by putting 

 one hive where another has been, while many are "afield," 

 will not answer my purpose, because the " breeder '' may be 

 as strong as the " milker," hence I would lose as many per- 

 haps by being taken away from the old colony as would be 

 gained in the new. 



If you have any suggestions to strengthen my "breed- 

 ers " with those or some of those I would kill at any rate, 

 you will greatly oblige. Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — I confess I don't feel entirely sure I under- 

 stand you. You don't say when you want to strengthen 



your breeders, but I suspect you mean when storing is over. 

 You speak of putting your breeders where your new colonies 

 are, which would lose to a breeder its own field-bees, an idea 

 that later on you repudiate, leaving it a little muddy what 

 you do mean. In any case, your fears as to danger from 

 fighting may be well founded. Supposing that you want 

 to strengthen thus your breeder about the time the harvest 

 is over, you might do this : 



Remove the queen from the colony that is to be de- 

 stroyed, setting the hive on top of the breeder or close be- 

 side it, leaving on the stand of the condemned colony a hive, 

 with the queen and one comb. This hive will catch all the 

 older or field bees, and upon these you can wreak your sul- 

 phurous fury without loss, for these bees would not be likely 

 to survive the winter ; while the hive that has gone to 

 keep company with the breeder has the younger and 

 more valuaole bees. Two days after this these bees 

 will be fully conscious of their queenlessness, and there will 

 then be no danger of their making any attack upon the 

 queen of the breeder. Up to this time there must be no 

 communication between the two hives — if the one has been 

 on top of the breeder it still has its own bottom-board. 

 After its two days of queenlessness, you are then to set it 

 over the perforated-zinc as has been your custom, with no 

 bottom-board between, but over or under the zinc put a 

 piece of manilla paper or two or three thicknesses of news- 

 paper, allowing no communication between the two stories 

 except a hole through the paper large enough for one bee to 

 pass at a time. The bees will gnaw away the paper, and 

 when all brood is hatched out you can extract. 



If I don't get your idea, come again and I'll try it over. 



Feeding Bees— T Supers. 



1. How did you feed that 1,000 pounds of sugar the past 

 spring, in the hives or out of them ? 



Do you still adhere to the " T " super ? and do you like 

 them ? Do they sag at all ? 



3. Do you use any dovetailed supers with section-hold- 

 ers ? If so, how do they act with you ? I have had great 

 trouble with their sagging, in some cases so badly as to 

 close up the bee-space between them and the queen-exclud- 

 ers, or one super and the other. 



4. Can " T " tins be used in a dovetailed super without 

 much changing ? 



Answers. — 1. By means of Miller feeders, which are 

 always put on top of the hives. In some cases a second 

 story was put on a hive with a feeder over it, and filled 

 combs were taken from this upper story to give to other 

 colonies. 



2. I still use the T supers and like them as much as 

 ever. There is not the least sagging, the upright part of 

 the tin entirely preventing it. 



3. I have not had the trouble you mention, but I have 

 not used them to any great extent. 



4. The super would have to be shortened inside, which 

 could be done by putting in one end a board of sufficient 

 thickness, or a thin board with two little cleats. 



Prize =wlnninQ 



Daughters of Moore's famous loug-tong-ued 

 red clover Italian (jueen, wbich won the $25.00 

 prize offered by The A. I. Root Co. for the long- 

 est-toDgued bees; and also daughters of other 

 choice iong-todgued red-clover breeders whose 

 bees *' iust roll in the honej,"' as Mr. Henrv 

 Schmidt, of Hutto, Tex., puts it. Untested 

 Queens, 75c each; six, J4,00; dozen, $7.50. Select 

 untested, $1.00 each; six, $5.0n; dozen, $9.00. 

 Safe arrival andsaiisfaction guaranteed. Cir- 

 cular free. 



J. P. MOORE, 



28Klf Lock Box 1. HOROAN, KY. 



DAIRYMEN ARE DELIGHTED 



t'< iiicci r bos^ "TO w'irk If.r tia. (.'uw ktf iurm:.!.- «>■ 

 have m"nej. We slarl ym in buslriei-'. Vou rtitke 

 Unit pffifils, Ewy w..rk. \S'e furnuli captlai. Smd 

 Itl crnm for fall line of iianipli'ii and r%itii'ul:i'f 



USAPEB PUBUSHINO CO.. Cbicaio. lllK. 

 Please mention Bee Journal •when 'writinfr 



Bees Doing Fairly Well. 



We had a very poor honey-flow the early 

 part of the season, but it is oow pickinjj up 

 and bees are doing fairly well. H. H. Moe. 



Lafayette Co., Wis., Aug. 20. 



Disposing of a Laying Worker. 



1 had a case of laying worker like that on 

 page 50.5. I take an empty hive, without 

 frames, and put in two of the most eriiply 

 frames, from the hive where the laying worker 

 is, and then put a good queen with a few of 

 her bees in a new hive, then put the new hive 

 with the queen in the place where the hive 

 stood with the iaying worker, and put the 

 ciueenless one on top of the other. When the 

 bees come from pasture they will find them- 

 selves in a strange place and will not fight the 



The EoiersoD Binder 



This Emerson stiff-board Binder with cloth 

 back for the American Bee Journal we mail for 

 but 60 cents; or we will send it with the Bee 

 Journal for one year— both for only $1.40. It ia 

 a fine thing to preserve the copies of the Jour- 

 nal as fast as they are received. If you have 

 this "Emerson" no further binding is neces- 

 sary. 



OEORQE W. YORK 6: CO., 

 144 & 146 Erie Street, CHICAGO, ILL- 



W you want the Bee-Book 



That covers the whole Apicultural Field more 



completely than any other published, 



send $1.25 to 



Prof. A. J. Cookp Claremont, Cal.* 



FOR HIS 



" Bee-Keeper's Guide." 



Liberal DiKOunta tc the Trade. 



Please mention Bee Jovirnal when ■writing. 



