Feb. 28, 1907 



1 -4^g^^ 



American ^ee Journal 



175 



But I think some cases have been reported 

 where the beee were kept bo warm and for so 

 long a time that they tool< to brood-rearinK 

 and suffered badly. Your idea or spruce 

 boughs seems a capital one. With enough of 

 these I wouldn't feel anxious, oven with an 

 imprisonment of a good deal more than 'J 

 months. 



Feeding Bees in Box-Hives 



I am a beginner with bees. I bought 26 

 colonies from a neighbor, mostly in box- 

 hives. When I brought them home some 

 seemed to be very light, and I think they need 

 to be fed before bloom comes. 



1. How can I tell if they need to be fed? 



2. Is there any danger of feeding too long 

 in the spring? 



8. What is the best way to feed bees In box- 

 hives? Illinois. 



Answers.—!. You can't tell very well; but 

 you can make something of a guess at it by 

 weighing, or hefting, the box, and seeing how 

 much heavier it is than an empty box of the 

 same kind would be. If it doesn't weigh 

 about 40 pounds more than the empty box, 

 then it will be a good thing to feed as soon as 

 a warm day comes in spring. If it weighs 

 only about 20 pounds more than the empty 

 box, better feed right away. But much de- 

 pends upon what is present. It the hive is an 

 ■old one, well tilled with old combs, and a lot 

 of pollen in it, it should weigh much heavier 

 than one with a light afterswarm that has not 

 much in the way of combs or pollen. 



2. No, unless you feed so much that the 

 <iueen has not room to lay. 



3. The best way is to put some combs of 

 honey under the hive. If there is not room 

 for that — and probably there is not — make a 

 shallow box or rim 2 inches or so deep to put 

 under the hive. 



Putting Bees Out of Cellar-Medium- 

 Strong Colony -Controlling In- 

 crease True Thermom- 

 eter, Etc. 



4. I BuppoEc you refer to the last part of 

 my answer to .Minnesota. That plan— put- 

 ting the queen ilowu Into an empty story un- 

 der an excUuiui is only used for extracted 

 honey, for you understand that the story of 

 brood that is imi, over the excluder will be 

 lllled with honey just as fast as the cells are 

 emptied by the i-irierging of the young bees. 

 But if you wish, you could got such a colony 

 to do some work also in sections. In that 

 case, I should put the super of sections be- 

 tween the two stories about 10 days after put- 

 ting the queen down, perhaps raising the sec- 

 tions on top after the bees were well started 

 in them. 



5. 1 don't know. Perhaps in the larger 

 places they are to be had at a higher price that 

 are entirely accurate. Isn't there in your 

 neighborhood a volunteer Weather Observer 

 to whom the government has furnished an 

 accurate thermometer? If so. you could com- 

 pare your thermometer with his. But it 

 doesn't matter such a greatdeal whether your 

 thermometer is accurate or not, if you want it 

 to use in the bee-cellar. All you have to do 

 is to try to find out at what degree by your 

 thermometer your bees are most quiet, and 

 then try to hold the cellar at that tempera- 

 ture. And that's what you'd have to do any- 

 how, even with an accurate thermometer. 



0. I think not. Good thing if Iowa bee- 

 keepers would stir in the matter. 



I am wintering 50 colonies of bees in the 

 cellar with the hive bottom-boards off. When 

 I put them out, how can I keep them from 

 fiyingout? The hives are piled on top of each 

 other. 



2. I have no wind-break or shade at home. 

 Would it pay me to move my apiary 60 rods 

 from home and have both? 



3. What is a medium strong colony in an 

 8-frame hive on April 1? or, in other words, 

 a colony that is strong enough to hold its 

 own? 



4. I run my apiary for comb honey only, 

 and wish to control increase. With refer- 

 ence to your answer on page "4, should I put 

 the super of sections on top of both stories, 

 or between them? 



5. Where can a true thermometer be pur- 

 chased? I have 3 which I hung up side by 

 side, and they stood at 4, 7, and 12 degrees 

 below zero, Feb. 3. 



6. Has Iowa any foul brood law, or any bee- 

 keepers' as.sociation i Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. If in good condition, and 

 carefully carried out, they are not likely to 

 want to fly. It will help matters if you have 

 doors and windows of the cellar wide open to 

 the outdoor air the night before carrying out. 

 If, however, the bees are not quiet enough, 

 blow smoke under to quiet them. 



2. I don't know. It depends a little upon 

 how much you care yourself for shade to work 

 in, and how much also for the inconvenience 

 of having them so much farther away. As 

 you winter your bees in the cellar it would 

 make no difference in wintering. It's a toss- 

 up which way to decide. 



3. A colony that has 2 or 3 frames half 

 filled with brood and plenty of bees to cover 

 them the first of April is likely to hold its 

 own all right, but it would need to be twice 

 as strong as that to be called medium. 



Transferring Bees — Italianizing 

 Requeening— Feeding Com- 

 mon Syrup 



1. A has 30 or 25 colonies of bees that he 

 wants to get rid of so that he can have the 

 combs and honey that are in the brood-cham- 

 ber to put his first swarms in so that they can 

 go to work at once. Can B take the bees, 

 transfer them to Langstroth hives, and feed 

 them until honey-gathering season comes? If 

 so, how? and how soon? (A wants them 

 taken away as soon as practical.) B can han- 

 dle the bees all right. 



3. Would one good Italian colony furnish 

 drones enough for 60 or 75 colonies by put- 

 ting drone excluders, or drone-traps, on all of 

 the hives? If so, how? Would answer No. 4 

 to Pennsylvania, page 389 (1906), answer in 

 this case? There is no apiary near me, and 

 practically no timber, and I want to Italian- 

 ize my apiary. I have one good, strong Italian 

 colony. 



3. How should I introduce the queen-cells? 

 By cage? If so, how, and what cage should 

 be used? 



4. Would you requeen at the beginning of 

 honey-flow, or later in the season? 



5. My bees are hybrids and brown bees. 

 The brown bees are large and comparatively 

 quiet. 1 do not think they are the little black 

 bee I hear so much about. What would you 

 call them? 



6. I have half a barrel of common syrup 

 that is of no use to me. Would you let the 

 bees have it in the spring? If so, how, and 

 at what time? Maryland. 



Answers. — 1. It's a bad time of the year 

 for such business, but it can be done. As 

 soon as bees fly every day, take out all the 

 brood-frames, leaving the bees on empty 

 frames or foundation, put on a Miller feeder 

 with sugar syrup, and the bees will do the 

 rest. But that is objectionable in two ways: 

 It is a loss of brood at a time when brood is of 

 the most value; and it is very objectionable to 

 have the-dead brood in the combs when they 

 are to be used for swarms. So you must man- 

 age with an excluder. Put all the frames 

 into the upper story over the excluder except 

 one frame of brood that you will leave in the 

 lower story with the queen. In2or3 days, 

 or as soon as the queen has begun laying in 

 one of the new frauies below, put into the up- 

 per story the frame of brood you left below. 

 Then in 3 weeks all the brood will be out 

 above, and you cuu remove the frames. I am 

 taking it for granted that the bees are on 

 movable frames. If they should be in box- 

 hives, then the bees must be drummed out, so 



as to be sure to get the queen out, then put 

 Into the lower story, and the Ijox-hive put 

 over the excluder and left there 21 days. 



2. Yes, a tingle colony can furnish enongh 

 drones for 7'> colonies or more, providing It is 

 strong enough and has enough drone-comb, 

 say the equivalent of half a frame or more. 

 The answer given to "Pennsylvania," to which 

 you refer, is all right for you. The only dif- 

 ference made by your distance from timber 

 and other l)eos is that you are less likely to be 

 troubled with outside drones. 



3. (ienerally a queen-cell will be accepted 

 all right by any colony that has been queen- 

 less 2 or 3 days, or as soon as it begins build- 

 ing some queen-cells of its own. Fasten 

 the cell centrally on a brood-comb by means 

 of a hive-staple. Lay the frame on its side, 

 lay the cell in place, either horizontally or 

 with the point downward, then put the staple 

 over the cell, not with the cell in the middle 

 of the staple, but at one side, that is, one leg 

 of the staple is touching the cell, and this leg 

 is pushed in only far enough to hold the cell, 

 while the other leg is pushed in deep. It will, 

 however, make the cell a little safer against 

 being torn down by the bees if put in a Miller 

 introducing-cage, and the cage can be held in 

 place by running a slender wire-nail or a very 

 large pin through the cage into the comb. 



4. Y'ou'U probably do some of both ; for if 

 you begin at the beginning of the honey-flow, 

 there will be some failures that will be made 

 up later on. 



5. If I were in your place I think I should 

 call them large brown bees. Occasionally 

 such bees are spoken of, although they prob- 

 ably do not differ much from ordinary brown 

 or black bees. But there is no question that 

 some black bees are better than others. 



6. Yes, there is generally a time in the 

 spring when bees can fly every day but get 

 little or no nectar. At such a time it will be 

 well to feed such syrup. Either feed in the 

 hive with a Miller or other feeder, or if you 

 are situated where neighbor bees will not get 

 the lion's share you can feed in the open air 

 in shallow dishes with cork-chips on top, or 

 some other arrangement to keep the bees from 

 drowning. Open-air feeding may be a little 

 the best for the bees— more like working in 

 the field. 



The Miller Frame— T-Super, Etc. 



1. Kindly give me a description of the Mil- 

 ler frame so that I can make them or have 

 them made : or can they be purchased of deal- 

 ers? 



3. How is the foundation fastened to the 

 top-bar? 



3. How thick should the follower be in 

 order to hold the frames solidly together? 



4. Are the T-supers just like yours sold by 

 dealers? 



5 I have some new supers made 5 inches 

 deep. Can they be used for Tsupers! 



Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. I think you will get Miller 

 frames by ordering of the leading manufac- 

 turers; but here is how they are made, as 

 copied from my book, " Forty Years Among 

 the Bees:" 



" The frame is of course of the regular 

 Lansstroth size, 17?sx9V. Top-bar, bottom- 

 bar, and end-bars are uniform in width, 13^' 

 inches throughout their whole dimensions. 

 The top-bar is Js-inch thick, with the usual 

 saw-kerf to receive the foundation, and close 

 bf side this is another kerf to receive the wedge 

 that fastens in the foundation. The length 

 of the top-bar is IS;'^ inches, and J<;x9-16 is 

 r ibbeted out of each end to receive the end- 

 bar. The end-bar is 8 9-16xl}s'x;5^. The bot- 

 tom-bar consists of 2 pieces, each 17°<x>2Xj^. 

 This allows '^-inch between the two pans to 

 receive the foundation, making the bottom- 

 bar Ifs inches wide when nailed. 



"The side-spacing, which holds the frame 

 at the proper distance from its next neighbor, 

 is accomplished by means of common wire- 

 nails. Tbese nails are IV inches long and 

 rather heavy, about 3-32 inch in thickness, 

 with a head less than J^inch across. By 



