634 



AMERICAN BEE lOlIENAL. 



Oct. 2, 1902. 



much water as sugar. Whether fed thick or thin, it is not 

 well to feed late. 



5. Five pounds of sugar made into a syrup with two 

 pounds of water is supposed to be of about the same strength 

 as honey ; so you will see that at the same price per pound 

 it ought to be cheaper to feed sugar. 



An Experience with Bees. 



I have had quite an experience with that colony since I 

 wrote before. I think I said I liad examined it carefully 

 three times during 10 da3's, after first noticing something- 

 wrong, and the last two times I could find neither eggs nor 

 unsealed brood in the hive. A greater part of the sealed 

 brood was dead also, the bees busy carrying it out and tear- 

 ing down comb, and of course there was no sign of a queen. 

 I therefore concluded it was queenless, and wrote for a 

 queen. It was about 10 days later (Aug. 15) when, the queen 

 having arrived, I opened the hive to introduce her. What 

 was my surprise to find a splendid-looking young queen, 

 and 4 frames packed with eggs in the most approved style, 

 every cell having an egg, and no skips. She evidently had 

 been laying a couple of days, as there was no hatched brood. 

 I knew it to be a new queen for I had seen the old one sev- 

 eral times, and she had ragged wings. 



1. But where did she come from ? I examined every 

 frame carefully on Aug. 6, and found no trace of any queen- 

 cells, and no unsealed brood, and no queen ; and now, on 

 Aug. 15, 1 find a young queen at work laying for 2 or 3 days. 

 Did I overlook her on the 6th ? or was there a queen-cell in 

 some corner that escaped my search ? At all events there 

 she was, and I was then in a dilemma. I had 2 queens on 

 hand. I disliked destroying either ; and )-et I did not want 

 both. The young black was doing such good work, the cau- 

 tion seemed to say, " Let well enough alone ; " but, then, I 

 would rather have the Italian. So I caught and caged the 

 black and set the yellow one in her cage (unopened) over 

 the brood-frames. I waited 2 days and then opened the 

 hive and destroyed IS queen-cells which they had started. I 

 waited another day and destroyed S more, then I let the bees 

 at the candy. In two days more I looked in again and 

 found the bees trying to kill my pretty Italian queen. They 

 had evidently been abusing her for some time. I found her 

 on the bottom of the hive, and about two dozen bees maul- 

 ing her. Her wings were nearly bitten off and she looked 

 altogether in a pitiable plight. I immediately caught and 

 caged her again. The nest morning she looked much bet- 

 ter, and I thought I would try again ; once more I examined 

 the frames and destroyed 2 very small queen-cells, and I 

 was now satisfied there was no more brood in the hive 

 young enough to start queens from ; so I let the bees at the 

 candy end of the cage again. This was on Saturday. On 

 Monday I again looked after my queen, and again found 

 her nearly dead, and the bees still balling her ; her wings 

 were now in strips and her legs quite stiff. I knew she could 

 not live, so I let her go and gave back to them (in a cage) 

 their own black queen. I had kept her caged for 10 days 

 while experimenting with the Italians. So you observe 

 that is victory number one for the bees. But if they scored 

 the same, I have learned a great deal about bees. I also 

 learned something else. I discovered what was, and is yet, 

 the matter with my colony. Shortly after the 4 frames of 

 eggs above mentioned (layed by the young black queen) had 

 been sealed, I observed the bees again tearing down the 

 comb and hauling out the brood, the most of it dead. I 

 determined now to make a thorough examination, and to 

 my chagrin discovered that the cells were full of worms 

 (bee-moths). They had gotten under the capping and had 

 tunnels right over the heads of the young bees, and in 

 many places I dug a worm right out of a cell right alongside 

 of the nymph. Fully one-half the brood is destroyed. The 

 rest is hatching out all right. 



2. Now, why don't they (the bees) destroy those worms? 

 The colony is strong, and I never saw larger and finer look- 

 ing bees. They are not the little black bee, but a very large 

 brown bee. I think they must be a cross with an Italian 

 drone, for last year they were certainly all blacks. They 

 have done very little at gathering honey for several weeks 

 past. It takes them all their time tearing down the comb, 

 and even part of the foundation, and carrying out the dead 

 brood. 



3. What about the wintering of this colony ? Will the 

 bees get the worms killed before time to put them into the 

 cellar, or will the worms remain in the hive all winter and 

 destroy bees ? What would I better do in this case ? The 



bees do not seem to be able to get at the worms ; and they 

 do not like to " tackle "' them when they can get at them. 



4. I have also something else to tell you, doubtless not a 

 new experience to you, but rather strange to me. The first 

 queen I got was let loose in the hive on the first day of 

 August. She has done well, and the hive is packed full of 

 fine-looking, bright-colored, young Italians. But here is 

 what surprised me. On Aug. 29, I examined this colony to 

 see how the new queen was getting along, and, as I said, 

 found it packed full of j'oung Italians and plenty of sealed 

 brood, but I found, along with the old queen, and close by 

 her, a fine, long, energetic and very graceful-looking young 

 queen as bright in color as her mother, and apparently on 

 terms of mutual agreement existing between them. Now 

 what does this mean ? Does it mean that my new red clover 

 queen which has been laying just about one month, and 

 laying well, too, is now going to be superseded ? If so, Dr. 

 Gallup may be right, after all. 



5. Shall I leave those two queens in the hive for winter 

 (there can be no more swarming here now this season) ? or 

 shall I destroy the )'oung one ? Of course, she cannot be 

 mated pure, here, and I dislike to see my beautiful colony of 

 bright Italians go back to blacks again. 



I forgot to say that the black queen that I kept caged 

 for ten days while trying to get the bees to accept the Ital- 

 ian, is again laying well. If they can only get the worms 

 destroj'cd, it may pull through all right yet. 



Ontario. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know where she came from. Some- 

 times a young queen reared in the hive escapes the most 

 careful search ; sometimes a virgin queen from elsewhere 

 enters the hive; and in a few cases I have known a laying 

 queen from another colony to enter. 



2. The character of the bees has much to do with the 

 matter ; blacks will suffer the presence of moths when Ital- 

 ians would clean them out, and some blacks are worse than 

 others. The great number of worms would make the bees 

 somewhat discouraged, for blacks will give up when too 

 many worms are present. 



3. With the help that you can give them, they may win- 

 ter all right. If you dug out all the larger svorms, they may 

 take care of the smaller ones, so as to winter pretty well. Take 

 the sharp point of a wire-nail, or the point of a penknife ; 

 start at one end of the webbed gallery of a worm, and tear 

 it open perhaps half an inch. Then start at the other end 

 and tear it open the whole length. When the worm, driven 

 by you. comes to the hole first made, it will come out, and 

 you can then deal with it as your judgment dictates. 



4. It looks like superseding. Yet it is possible that the 

 old queen has a considerable lease of life before her, for 

 when a queen is introduced the bees are sometimes dissatis- 

 with her for a time, long enough to start a successor, and 

 afterward she proves all right. 



5. Leave both for the winter. If the old queen has dis- 

 appeared by next year, then you may be thankful you did 

 not destroy the young queen. If both are still alive, then 

 divide the colony as soon as strong enough, letting each 

 queen set up an establishment of her own. 



Send all the questions 3'ou like without any feeling you 

 are intruding, but please don't send anything for postage. 

 When I open a letter and find postage stamps enclosed, it 

 always gives me a sort of chill, for the first thought is that 

 an answer is expected by mail, and although you did not 

 want an answer by mail I want to be spared the chill. 



•' The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



Why Not Help a Little— both your neighbor bee-keep- 

 ers and the old American Bee Journal — by sending to us the 

 names and addresses of such as you may know do not now 

 get this journal? We will be glad to send them sample 

 copies, so that they may become acquainted with the paper, 

 and subscribe for it, thus putting themselves in the line of 

 success with bees. Perhaps you can get them to subscribe, 

 send in their dollars, and secure for your trouble some of 

 the premiums we are constantly offering as rewards for 

 such effort. 



