May 2, 1907 



377 



Amc»rican Hee Journal 



queen in the hive 2 or 3 days before 

 the old one is removed, accurding to 

 the advising of Rev. E. T. Abbott, the 

 bees not being allowed to get at the 

 candy till the old queen is removed. 



2. That's a good deal like saying, ".My 

 calf is very small, tell mc how to make it 

 big." Of course, you're to let the calf 

 have all it can eat and let it grow. .'\nd 

 you're to let a weak colony have all it 

 can eat and let it grow. Be sure that 

 in each hive there is all the honey the 

 bees need — and more. In that respect 

 the colony is different from the calf; 

 if you feed the calf more than it can 

 eat, the food will be wasted, and you 

 may hurt the calf by overfeeding. Tlie 

 bees will not waste any extra feed given 

 them, and they will build up faster with 

 a good lot of honey in sight than if they 

 have only enough to keep them going 

 from day to day. Of course, you must 

 not do anything to make the bees cold, 

 such as leaving a cover loose or making 

 too large an entrance. You might try 

 the Ale.xandcr plan of putting a very 

 weak colony over a very strong one, 

 doing the work quietly so as not to 

 stir up the bees, and having an ex- 

 cluder between the 2 colonies; but if 

 you have no strong colonies you can't 

 do that. 



Queen-Excluders and Comb Honey 

 Production 



1. Is it really necessary to put a honey- 

 board between the brood-frames of the 

 newly-hived swarm and the super of 

 partly-filled sections taken from the old 

 colony ? 



2. Is it usual for the queen to go up- 

 into the super to lay unless she is pre- 

 vented by the use of a honey-board? 



New York. 



Answers. — i. If the super is put over 

 the swarm immediately after it is hived, 

 there is danger that the queen will go 

 up into the super unless a queen-ex- 

 cluder — or a honey-board, as you call 

 it — is used. But there is no need to put 

 the super on so soon. Let it remain 

 on the old hive until a brood-nest has 

 been established in the brood-chamber, 

 and then put it on. So the general prac- 

 tice is to put the super over the swarm 

 2 or 3 days after the swarm has been 

 hived. 



2. Some have trouble with fhe queen 

 going up. and some have no trouble. 

 If sections have starters only, and there 

 is little or no drone-comb in the brood- 

 chamber, the bees will build drone- 

 comb in the sections and the queen will 

 lay in them ; and when she has made a 

 start there she will not stop with the 

 drone-comb but will fVU the sections. For 

 many years I have produced sections 

 without queen-excluders, and not one 

 section in a thousand is troubled with 

 brood ; but the sections have been en- 

 tirely filled with foundation. 



Curing Rheumatism with Bee-Stings 



A lady in my neighborhod has had 

 rheumatism in the ankle of her right 

 foot for several years. She has tried 

 manv remedies, and all failed. I ad- 



tricd it twice, each lime 15 bees stinging 

 about the ankle. The first time I ap- 

 plied the bees. The stings relieved her, 

 but later she got very sick, although 

 a week later she .isked me to try again, 

 with worse results. She thinks the bee- 

 stings would cure her rheumatism, but 

 is afraid they might poison her system. 



I had inflaiTimatory rheumatism for 

 4 months in my left leg, and after a 

 doctor gave up, 15 bec-stings cured me 

 with one operation. Would you advise 

 us to keep on with only a few bees at a 

 time? PEN^SYLVANIA. 



.•\ns\ver.— ^i'es, I would try it again 

 with a smaller number, repeating the 

 operation many times at intervals of a 

 day or more. I don't believe she need 

 be afraid of the poison in her system. 

 Thousands of bee-keepers have been' 

 stung enough to show bad effects if 

 there were anj-, but tTicy're a pretty 

 healthy lot. 



Danzenbaker Hive and System 



1. Is the Danzenbaker hive as good 

 as any for comb honey? 



2. I have a small book, "The Danzen- 

 baker Hive System." Is it safe to fol- 

 low? 



3. Are the Danzenbaker brood-frames 

 deep enough for bees to winter well? 



Answers. — i. Some are enthusiastic 

 over it; some condemn it severely. Af- 

 ter a limited experience with it, I still 

 prefer the regular 8-frame dovetailed 

 hive. 



2. If I am not mistaken, that booklet 

 was written by the inventor of the hive, 

 and so should be exactly adapted to it. 



3. Yes. except in the colder regions 

 of the North it is all right for outdoor 

 wintering, and in the colder places cel- 

 lars are used anyhow. Even in the cold- 

 est localities, for outdoor wintering one 

 could use 2 stories for very strong colo- 

 nies, and that would make it a deep 

 hive. 



Questions on Topics Found In ' 

 Years Among the Bees' 



Forty 



I have read your "Forty Years Among 

 the Bees," and re-read parts of it sev- 

 eral times, especially on queen-rearing, 

 and may have to read it several times 

 inore before I become an expert. I 

 have taken some notes as I went along 

 and may have to ask you some ques- 

 tions; not however, with a view of in- 

 timating that my waj' is better than 

 yours, but merely to get your opinion of 

 mine. 



1. You speak of tags on your hives. 

 I have my hives numbered. Will not 

 this take the place of tags? Or, do you 

 change the tags every year? 



2. In regard to depending upon 

 clipped queens for out-apiaries, if the 

 clipped queen is lost when she comes 

 out, and the swarm returns, will they 

 not swarm again when the first young 

 queen is hatched"^ 



3. In speaking of self-spacing frames 

 by nails, I have used them but thought 

 that too tinkering-. You object to side 

 frame-spacing, alleging that the frames 

 will become so glued up that they will 

 not occupy the same space again. I 



don't care if they don't. I don't gen- 

 erally use a dummy the second time, 

 and allow the frames to spread a little 

 after the frames are built, thinking the 

 bees will not draw out the cells any 

 after they are once finished. Am I 

 right? 



4. You speak of wetting sections be- 

 fore putting them together. I never 

 found that necessary. I keep mine in 

 the cellar and find them damp enough. 



5. On page 168, "Giving a nucleus to a 

 swarm," etc., what advantage is there 

 over giving a hive with frames of 

 foundation, or starters, with its own 

 queen? 



6. You seem to take frames out of a 

 hive and put them into another to clean 

 my hives and lift them off the bottom- 

 board. Is not this preferable? 



7. Page 237. Having your breeding- 

 queen in a 2-frame nucleus, you take 

 away one of the combs and put in its 

 place a frame with 2 small starters (Fig. 

 86). A week later you will have a 

 comb built in it well filled with eggs 

 (Fig. 88). This is then taken away 

 and another of the same kind given, 

 and this will furnish such an egg-filled 

 frame once a week. Then for every 

 such a one taken away, I must make a 

 colony queenless. Having 2 of this kind 

 in 2 queenless colonies, you clip off a 

 little of the outside of these ; why is 

 this? I thought the younger the brood, 

 the better the queens. 



8. As I understand, you now place 

 these hives back to back. How is this 

 one frame a week older than the other? 

 'lo get them back, I must lift them 

 from their stands and take them to a 

 new place. Won't they incline to go 

 back to their old stands? And as they 

 have been used to come in from the 

 same direction, won't they go into the 

 hive that is set in that direction? Of 

 course they will be conscious of their 

 queenlessness as I made them so to re- 

 ceive these frames. Now, am I not 

 getting two plans mixed? When I have 

 got my prepared comb into a queenless 

 colony, what more do I need? It strikes 

 me that is where you want to rear 

 queens by the quantity. 



g. I tried making nuclei in one hive, 

 but the bees all wanted to come in from 

 the one side. 



10. In making 2 or more nuclei in one 

 hive, is it necessarj' that there be no 

 passage from one apartment to the other 

 by the workers, either at top or bot- 

 tom? 



11. I have always been at a loss to 

 know how to keep queens when I have 

 them reared till I wanted them. If a 

 queen is caged, is it necessary that there 

 be worker-bees with her, or if her cage 

 is between combs will outside bees feed 

 her? 



12. I believe you told me once that 

 you caught the worker-bees one at a 

 time and put them into the cage with 

 the queen. Is there a particular way to 

 take hold of a worker to avoid getting 

 a sting? 



13. You use splints in fastening 

 foundation in frames. Where do you 

 get them? 



14. You give directions for making 

 cages to protect queen-cells. Did you 

 ever use the spiral queen-cell protec- 



