Mar. 14, 1907 



215 



[American Bee Journalf^^^ 



1)ocforMil r^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 

 Dr. C. C. Millek, Marengo, III. 

 ' Dr. Miller does twt answer Questions by mail. 



for table use U to get It turned Into young 

 bees. 



4. .\ weak colony, say one that needs only 

 4 frames, may have a dummy at one side of 

 the frames with the remaining space In the 

 hive left entirely vacant; only the dummy 

 must be moved and a frame or frames added 

 as needed. Generally, however, when one has 

 a weak colony of that kind which Is expected 

 to build up, one has enough empty combs to 

 lill up the hive, and in that case I wouldn't 

 use a dummy at all. Vou may ask whether 

 the bees would not be warmer to have the 

 combs that are occupied shut olT from the 

 empty combs by a dummy. One would natur- 

 ally think so, yet experiments farefully made, 

 if 1 remember rightly, by Prof. Gaston Bon- 

 nier, showed that the empty combs were just 

 as good as a board partition. 



Beginning Bee-Keeping 



I would like to know the best possible way 

 to commence bee keeping the coming season. 



MicnioAN. 



Answer.— Take my advice and don't wait 

 for the coming season, but begm now, getting 

 a good book on bee-keeping and studying it 

 thoroughly. That's the way to begin, and by 

 the time you have done that you will know 

 pretty well the next step; but it the way is 

 not entirely clear then, I'll be glad to answer 

 to the best of my ability any questions as to 

 your further course. 



Italianizing and Transferring Bees 



1. I have 3 colonies of bees to which I wish 

 to give Italian queens. When shall I do this, 

 in fruit-bloom, or earlier, or later? And how? 



2. I have one colony in a box-hive, one with 

 movable frame, and one of odd size. I wish 

 to transfer them to my regular Danzenbaker 

 hives. When is the best time to do this? And 

 can I then re-queen* That is, at the time of 

 transfer? And how? Iowa Prairie. 



Answers — 1. It doesn't matter so very 

 much when, but a new queen is likely to be 

 received more kindly when honey is coming 

 in more freely ; so if you do not introduce in 

 the flush of fruit-bloom wait until the next 

 flow, which in your locality is probably white 

 clover, early in June. 



You will receive instructions on the ship- 

 ping-cage which brings you a queen by mail, 

 generally, and you will do well to follow such 

 instructions. They will tell you to remove 

 the old queen and put the new queen caged 

 into the hive, leaving the rest to the bees. As 

 a possible improvement, it may be well to put 

 the caged queen into the hive without dis- 

 turbing the old one, but having the cage so 

 arranged that the bees can not get at the 

 candy to liberate the queen. Two days later 

 remove the old queen and give the bees a 

 chance at the candy to free the caged queen. 



2. Nowadays the tendency is toward wait- 

 ing to transfer until 21 days after the colony 

 has swarmed. In your case, however, you are 

 merely to transfer from a frame of one size to 

 another, and I think I should not wait tor 

 swarming, but transfer during fruit-bloom. 

 You can also change the queen at that time, 

 in the way mentioned in the preceding an- 

 swer, or if more convenient, you can wait till 

 white clover is in bloom. 



Wliat Are Weal( Colonies in Spring? 



On page 152, Mr. SchoU says that at the 

 main examination of colonies as soon as warm 

 weather in early spring allows it, " If the 

 cluster does not spread over the space of at 

 least 4 or 5 combs, it should be marked as 

 ' weak,' and should be united with another 

 colony." If I should follow that teaching it 

 would leave very few colonies not united. Do 

 you think I would gain by such uniting? 



Subscriber. 



Answer. — If Mr. SchoU is speaking of 

 Xangstroth size of frames, it must be that 



there is something very dillerent in Texas 

 from northern Illinois. 1 do not note upon 

 first examination just how many combs the 

 cluster spreads over, but I do note generally 

 the number or combs in which I find any 

 brood, and practically that means the number 

 of combs the cl uster spreads over. It may be 

 of interest to give from the book of the very 

 prosperous year of 1903 the condition of 6 dif- 

 ferent colonies just as found at one opening 

 of the book, al the time of their first exami- 

 nation, April 20. The number of combs hav- 

 ing brood in them, and the number of sec- 

 tions obtained from each colony were as fol- 

 lows; 4 combs, '233 sections; 5,186; 2, 219; 

 4, 172; 5, '240; 3. 184. It will be noticed that 

 according to the rule of uniting all under 4 

 combs there would have been united 2 which 

 gave respectively 219 and 184 sections, or a 

 total of 403 sections. If I had united those 

 2 colonies 1 feel pretty sure it would have 

 been at a loss, for I have no idea the united 

 colony would have given 403 sections. Look- 

 ing along I find others with brood in 3 combs 

 each that gave, respectively, '285 sections, 238, 

 164, 170, 149, 2'24, 142. But I need go no far- 

 ther, for I think that is enough to show that 

 the rule would not be a profitable one to fol- 

 low in this locality. 



Combs of Granulated Honey— Feed- 

 ing Comb Honey— Strong- 

 Scented Honey- 

 Dummies 



1. What is best to do with frames filled with 

 granulated honey? If placed in the hive, will 

 they liquefy so that the bees can use them, or 

 should I place them outside and let the whole 

 force get at them? 



2. Is it necessary to uncap combs of honey 

 given in spring? I have scored them with a 

 knife and sometimes the honey would run 

 down and out, causing robbing. 



3. Last fall when I opened some hives they 

 had a strong scent. I was afraid there was 

 some disease in them. I could see nothing 

 wrong with the brood, and the combs were 

 well filled with honey and all capped over. 

 The honey is amber, strong tasting, and 

 scarcely fit to use on the table. Will such 

 honey stored by the bees, or fed to them in 

 spring, be fit feed for them? Can it be some 

 poisonous plant food ? 



4. You are often called upon to explain 

 what dummies are, how they are made, and 

 how used in the hives. In confining a small 

 colony to one end of the hive, do you fill the 

 empty space with anything? 



North Dakota. 



Answers.— 1 and 2. You can trust the bees 

 to uncap the cells, and as fast as needed. The 

 heat of the hive is not sufficient to liquefy 

 granulated honey, but the bees will make use 

 of a good part of it for all that. You may get 

 them to use all of it by spraying or sprinkling 

 the combs with water, repeating the opera- 

 tion as often as they are cleaned dry by the 

 bees. 



3. It is not likely the honey is at all poison- 

 ous, only unpleasant tasted, and will be all 

 right for the bees' own use. The most profit- 

 able thing to do with some honey that is poor 



Feeding in Winter— Malting Increase 

 —Moth-Worms in Brood-Combs 



1. About a week ago we had a few nice, 

 warm days with the temperature at 40 de- 

 grees above zero in the shade. The bees be- 

 ing active and taking a good flight, I thought 

 I would look into colony No. 4, for I was 

 pretty sure they were short in stores. Did I 

 do wrong in feeding them at that time? 



2. Being anxious to increase as fast as pos- 

 sible, I would like to have your opinion 

 about it. I read one article by W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, saying that he made his increase by 

 taking 2 or 3 frames of brood from strong 

 colonies and giving them a laying queen; but 

 not being able to buy my queens, would it do 

 to take a queen from one colony and let the 

 bees rear a new queen? Please give me some 

 of your best plans. 



3. Last year I lost considerable by having 

 the moth-worms get into some brood-combs 

 which I had stored away. How can I prevent 

 this? Michigan. 



Answers.— 1. It is not a good thing to dis- 

 turb bees in February, but it is a much worse 

 thing to let them starve. So if you were not 

 pretty certain that their stores would last till 

 warmer weather, you were very wise to feed. 



2. It is not easy to say what may be the 

 best plan for you. What is best for one is 

 not always best for another. But taking the 

 plan you mention, you can do very well with 

 a little variation. Decide which colony you 

 think has the queen of best blood, and see 

 that it is strong, if necessary giving it frames 

 of hatching brood from other colonies to 

 strengthen it. You may even All 2 stories 

 with brood. Call this hive A. When the 

 time comes for bees to begin making prep- 

 arations for swarming, take the queen with 2 

 or 3 frames of brood and adhering bees, and 

 put them in hive B, on a stand a rod or more 

 distant. Better fasten the entrance for about 

 2 days, lest too many of the bees return to the 

 old hive. About 8 or 10 days after taking the 

 queen away from A — don't delay longer than 

 10 days— take out one of the frames with the 

 queen from B, put it in an empty hive, C, and 

 fill out C with empty combs or frames filled 

 with foundation or starters. Take hive A 

 from its stand, and set hive C in its place. 

 You will now make as many nuclei as you 

 can from the brood and bees in A, taking 2 

 frames of brood and bees tor each nucleus, 

 putting each on a new stand. It may happen 

 that without any attention on your part there 

 will be one or more good queen-cells on one 

 of the combs in each nucleus. It may be, 

 however, that most of the queen-cells are on 

 one or two combs, and you must cut out at 

 least one good cell for each nucleus. You 

 can fasten it on the comb by pushing over it 

 a hive-staple. See that it is centrally located 

 where the bees will be sure to keep it warm. 

 A cell must also be given to B, and it will be 

 well that this be given in a cage so that the 

 bees can not get at it for a day or two lest 

 they destroy it before they discover their 

 queenlessness. The bees of the nuclei being 

 queenless, will remain pretty well where put, 

 but you might fasten them in for a day or 

 two. You will find much about increase in 

 the last volume of the American Bee Journal, 



