Sept. 18, 1902. 



This material may be protected bv 

 copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code) 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



601 



out actual use it docs. (Carved section-slip crossed by 

 thread of rubber.) Has also the merit of being very easy 

 to make. As but few bec-l'olks are clumsy in their me- 

 chanical doinps, nearly every one can make it, and catch 

 queens with a minimum of danger and nerve-strain. » 



Twenty-two years afjo— the first year I owned the api- 

 ary here — I also invented a wonderful queen-catcher. 

 Worked well the few times I used it ; and would pick ()ueens 

 up instead of being restricted to holding theui down. But 

 as I am an anti-clipper my invention haslangui-shed from a 

 total want of use, and I have never brought it forward. 



Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTBD BY 



DR. O. O. ailLLHR, Maroufto, 111, 



[The Qaestlous may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. MllJer 



direct, when be will answer them here. Please do not stsk the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — EDrroR.1 



Two Queens in a Hive. 



I will give a little of my experience with a colony of 

 bees. They are a cross between Carniolans and golden 

 Italians. The first of May I opened this hive with the in- 

 tention of dividing the colony, as they were getting very 

 heavy, and in ray work I found two queens, so I had one 

 queen for each colony. I left the old one on the old stand, 

 and looked in a week later and they had two more queen- 

 cells, one finished and the other one almost done. July 12 I 

 divided them again atid had a nice young queen to go with 

 the increase, but I do not think she was laying at this time, 

 but she has spread herself since. The old queen keeps the 

 hive running over with bees, and there are 7 frames of brood 

 in the hive now, and two queens again. Now this is the 

 third young queen she has reared this season, and I am go- 

 ing to leave it with her and see whether there will be 

 two in the spring. I clip all my queens, and when I clip 

 this last young one I will do it in such a way that I will 

 know one from the other, and can see which one gets killed, 

 if either. The question is : Why does she insist on having 

 a helper when she is so good herself ? Ii.i,iNoiS. 



Answer. — The probability is that in spite of her good 

 work the bees have a presentiment that she is nearing her 

 end, and it is not at all likely that you will find her alive 

 next spring. Still it is possible. The case, however, is un- 

 usual, and if peculiarity extends to her offspring you have 

 struck apoa a valuable trait. 



Can Bees See in the Darl< ? 



I was asked the other day whether bees could see in the 

 dark? I could not answer, and so refer it to you for answer. 



GSOKGIA. 

 Answhr. — The word "dark" is a relative term, and 

 does not always mean the same thing. There is probably 

 no such thing as sight in the absolute absence of all light, 

 but it is quite possible that bees can see where it is so dark 

 that human eyes can not seeT On the other Tiatid, itTs pos- 

 sible that they need more light than we do, and that the 

 work of the hive is carried on mostly by the sense of feel- 

 ing. 



•*-*~^ 



Why Did the Bees Do So? 



I have a very strong colony of Italian bees with a super 

 for extracted honey on the top of the brood-chamber, in 

 which super they had commenced to store honey. By open- 

 ing this super one day in order to find out how much surplus 

 honey they had stored, I pulled out the center comb and 

 found egg's and larvse three or four days old with which 

 said "comb was pretty well filled on both sides. 



I found that there was a little space left between the 

 zinc queen-excluder through which the queen went up to 

 the super. 



I could not find the queen in the super, but I thought by 

 using a little smoke from the top she went down into the 



brood-chamber. However, I put the zinc in proper place 

 and closed the hive. 



The fourth day after this, I went to the same hive and 

 looked through the super to see if I could find the queen 

 there laying eggs, and found that she was not there ; and 

 upon reaching tfie comb which contained the eggs and the 

 brood, I found it empty of eggs, and the larva; partly gone, 

 and some left starved without any food at the bottom of the 

 cell. 



Why did the bees leave this larvae to starve, and dis- 

 pose of the eggs ? Nkbkaska. 



Answer.— I don't know. When honey is being gathered 

 very rapidly there is a tendency to crowd out the queen. 

 I'ut an empty comb in the center of the brood-nest. If honey 

 is coming in slowly the empty comb will be filled with 

 brood. If honey is coming in very rapidly the comb will be 

 filled with honey. The same passion for honey might be 

 carried still further, making the bees empty out cells already 

 occupied by brood. But I doti't know anything about it for 

 certain. 



White-Eyed Drones. 



I had one colony out of 190 that had a few of those 

 white-eyed drones that " Kansas " was inquiring about on 

 page 48y, but I have nothing particular to say about them 

 excepting that it seemed like a white enamel scale which 

 could be removed, as I practiced on one. I never saw one 

 around the entrance (only inside the hive). I believe they- 

 cannot see until those scales get rubbed off. I think there 

 were some with the same kind of shield on the back of the 

 head, and I believe they were not long hatched. 



MjCHIGAN. 



Answer. — I think the case you mention was exceptional, 

 the common thing being a mere change in the color gf the 

 head, or the eyes, without any scale or other imperfection. 



The Loose-Tin T Super and Propolis. 



You tell us (on page 521) that you use T supers for comb 

 honey, and I have understood from other writings of yours 

 that you use the tins loose. Will you kindly explain how 

 the loose tins may be an advantage to you over stationary 

 tins in manipulating the supers ? Also, do you find the T 

 super any improvement over the P super with plain section- 

 holders, especially in regard to the feature of propolis ? 



The amount of propolis which I find in the hives this 

 season' is enormous, and we all know your acquaintance 

 with this article is "exceedingly intimate." Has the T 

 super with loose tins given you any relief ? 



Illinois. 



Answer. — With T tins loose, the entire contents of the 

 super are pushed out in one mass, the loose tins are picked 

 off, and then the sections can be easily split apart. Possi- 

 bly no arrangement will prevent the deposit of propolis. In 

 the T super, however, there is less trouble than with some 

 others, for the tops and bottoms of the sections are entirely 

 free, so that the bees have no excuse for plugging glue into 

 the cracks formed by having something touch either the top 

 or bottom of the section. It is possible that a change of 

 bees might help you, for there is a great difference in that 

 respect as to the amount of propolis. The worst gluers I 

 ever had were the Tunisians or Funics, from northern 

 Africa. They were fine gatherers, but their liking for propo- 

 lis and for cramming the cells so full that there was no air- 

 space between the honey and capping made them utterly 

 unfit for producing comb honey. 



Confining Queens Below Excluders. 



I notice, on page 47S, and also in a previous number, 

 that you are slightly off in your understanding in regard to 

 what I said about confining the queens below with the ex- 

 cluder, while the brood was placed above. In both of my 

 letters I stated that I was not using foundation this year — I 

 used empty frames. In previous years I used foundation, 

 but the bees failed to use it. 



On page 474, I stated that " I think if foundation had 

 been used I might have been able to get better results." 

 The heading and also your reply would indicate that it was 

 used in these experiments. 



Now, in reply to the inquiries in your answer, I would 

 caution a beginner, that if the nights are cold and the col- 



