July, llti)7. 



595 



American Bee Journal jyg^^ i:^ 



over the glass, so as to be exposed to 

 the light at all times, but generally they 

 are kept covered except when actually 

 under observation. 'I'hey are not so con- 

 tented under lull light, and much more 

 likely to cover propolis on the glass. 



3. I heartily endorse every word that 

 is said in the paragraph to which you 

 refer. 1 have plenty of combs so old 

 that the septum has been gradually in- 

 creased in thickness until the septum 

 in some cases is % thick. Of course 

 you know that new worker-comb is J-i- 

 inch thick, and when you find a septum 

 ■/8-inch thick you will find the comb 

 1-inch thick. That makes the cells ex- 

 actly the same depth in the old as in 

 the new, doesn't it? You are quite 

 right that there is a practical difference 

 in the spacing. When new combs are 

 spaced i-'s from center to center, the 

 alley-way between 2 combs is J^-inch. 

 When the septum increases so the comb 

 is I inch thick, that leaves the alley- 

 way only 5^. Whether it would not be 

 better to increase the spacing when 

 the combs become so increased in thick- 

 ness is a pertinent question. 



Straight Wired Combs from Starters 

 —Queen Questions 



1. Will bees build straight combs in 

 wired frames with starters only on top-, 

 bars and end-bars? 



2. Does the young queen destroy the 

 surplus queen-cells, or do the bees do it? 



3. I found a queen too feeble to crawl 

 out after the cap of the cell was oflf. 

 I split the side of the cell, lifted her 

 out, and placed her on a comb. A week 

 later she was rhissing. What caused 

 her weakness? Texas. 



Answers. — i. Not as straight as when 

 full sheets of foundation are used. Left 

 to their own devices bees in a state of 

 nature generally build their combs 

 somewhat corrugated. This for greater 

 strength. With only starters and wiring 

 they will, of course, start straight, but 

 as they proceed downward the corruga- 

 tions will appear. If the hive is plumb 

 to follow the w-ire, but if the wire is 

 not just where the bees want the sep- 

 and the wires straight, the comb is likely 

 turn, then the wire can go its own way 

 for all they care, and they'll put the 

 septum where they want it. The great- 

 est objection, however, to using only- 

 starters is the amount of drone-comb 

 that will be built. 



2. If the young queens in the cells 

 are well advanced, the young queen be- 

 gins the work and the workers finish it. 

 If the cells are not much advanced, the 

 workers attend to them. 



3. I don't know. Perhaps some con- 

 stitutional weakness. 



Shiny Bees— Clipping Queens, Etc. 



I. Why are there bees among the 

 Italians that are very dark, almost glossy 

 black sometimes, with no yellow bands 

 and seemingly small, but smart and ac- 

 tive at the same time? They are hunt- 

 ed up and driven out by the regular 

 workers. Is it a disease or only a 

 freak of nature? 



2. Why do the bees of a nucleus, 

 when first started Dy themselves, take 

 s|)ells of running on the outside of the 

 liive and fussing at the cracks at the 

 top of the hive, trying to get in, piling 

 up in bunches and acting like crazy? 



3. Is a queen reared from worker- 

 brood in the comb by the workers that 

 are queenless, as good and fertile as a 

 queen reared in the regular way? 



4. Can a queen-cell by careful hand- 

 ling, be cut from a comb and put into 

 another comb for a colony, to any cer- 

 tainty, without injuring it in any way 

 by pressure or exposure, or should it 

 always be introduced on the comb on 

 which it is built? 



5. In addition to the foregoing ques- 

 tions, I would like to express myself 

 as to the clipping of queens' wings, 

 which in my estimation is one of the 

 most foolish and most uncalled-for 

 things that a bee-keeper can do. I re- 

 ceived 2 queens last season which were 

 clipped. The one came off with a 

 swarm May 29, last, and fell some 10 

 feet from the hive, and I had quite a 

 hunt to find her. She was put into a 

 hive with the new swarm, The swarm 

 came out the next day, and she was 

 lost. They returned to the old hive and 

 came out again on the 4th day, and went 

 back, coming out again on the 9th day. 

 If the queen had not been clipped, the 

 first swarm would have been all right, 

 as well as a second one. I can't see 

 the advantage of having to look after 

 the queen every time she comes oflf with 

 a swarm. It is certainly a trouble and 

 inconvenience, as well as inhuman and 

 unnatural. Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — i. They look black and 

 shining because they have lost their 

 plumage, and are probably worried by 

 the other bees because diseased. A few 

 such bees in a colony need cause no 

 alarm : when there are many of them 

 it may be a case of paralysis. 



2. When bees are queenless it is a 

 common thing for them to run about 

 over the hive as if looking for their 

 queen. I never saw bees of a nucleus 

 fussing at the top of the hive trying to 

 get in cracks, piling in bunches and act- 

 ing like crazy, but I have seen robber- 

 bees acting exactly that way. The like- 

 lihood is that the bees you saw did not 

 belong to the nucleus but were robbers. 



3. Not always ; depends upon circum- 

 stances. If at a time when honey is 

 yielding well, the colony strong, and the 

 bees have their choice of eggs and very 

 young brood, you can get as good queens 

 as any. If the queen is reared when 

 honey is not yielding, when no very 

 young brood is present, or in a weak 

 colony, you may count her of little 

 value. 



4. Thousands of queen - cells have 

 been cut from the comb and fastened 

 in or on another comb with just as 

 good results as if left on their own 

 comb. Indeed, in many cases, even when 

 the cell is taken on its own comb, it is 

 better to cut the cell and fasten it on 

 the comb, for a large portion of cells 

 are on the edges of combs where there 

 is danger of their being chilled, and 

 they should be centrally located where 

 sure to keep warm. 



5. A very large number of our most ■ 



experiiiiced bee-keepers prefer to have 

 queens clipped. If a queen is clipped, 

 there is some danger she may be lost 

 when issuing with a swarm, but that is 

 better than to lose both queens and 

 swarm. 



Wintering in Danzenbal<er Hives 

 Bees Superior to Blaciis 



1. How do Grant Staidey and Vernon 

 Burt winter bees in Danzenbakcr hives? 

 Do they double up, or winter in single 

 brood-bodies? 



2. Can f get a strain of golden or 5- 

 bandcd Italians that will be superior to 

 the blacks for honev-gathering? Also 

 gentler? 



I am a beginner and have 8 colonies 

 in Danzenbakcr hives. Tar-Heel. 



Answkrs. — I. I don't know. Like 

 enough in 2 bodies w^hen a colony is 

 strong enough. 



2. The best of the goldens are bet- 

 ter and gentler than the average blacks, 

 for this countrv. 



Transferred Bees -Ripening Honey- 

 Plan of Wintering Bees 



1. The past spring I transferred 2 

 colonies of bees. After the 21 days 

 were up I united the young bees in 

 the old hives, putting them on full sheets 

 of foundation, I put in a frame of 

 brood. I did not know whether there 

 was a queen or not. In 2 or 3 days I 

 looked into the hive and thev had start- 

 ed 2 queen-cells on the sheet of founda- 

 tion. In a couple of weeks I looked 

 through the colony and found a queen 

 the 2 queen-cells were the same, just 

 started. What is the meaning of that? 



2. One person advises ripening honey 

 artificially; another savs, let the bees 

 ripen it, for if you do the latter it will 

 be travel-stained. After the cells are 

 all filled with honey and capped, why not 

 put the super on top of the others "with 

 a wire-screen between it and the other 

 super and the hive? The bees can not 

 then get on the honey, and the heat will 

 be there just the same. 



3- I am planning on wintering my bees 

 outdoors. My stands are like that pic- 

 ture in the "A B C of Bee-Culture" 

 on page 26, with 2 hives on a stand 'l 

 shall move both hives together, then I 

 will make a box some 5 or 6 inches 

 larger on all sides than the hive This 

 space will be for the chaff. The box 

 will have a movable bottom and top 

 I will have a hole at the bottom so that 

 the bees will fly out of the hive. I 

 shall put on a honey-board for a cover 

 to the hive, then put on an emptv super, 

 filling this with straw, then put" on the 

 outer case, filling the space with straw 

 and then putting the cover on. Do you 

 know of any better way, or improvem'ent 

 on this way? The reason I will use 

 the honey-board is because I can feed 

 the bees in the spring without opening 

 the hive. I will use the pepper-box 

 feeder. I use the Danzenbaker hive. 



Iowa. 



Answer,— I. If I understand correctly, 

 there were only cups started, no eggs 

 nor larva- in them. I don't know what 



