.Si'pt(.'iiil/or, ]907. 



i^Am^rican Bee Journal 



case it will do no ^ddiI to smoke 

 tlu'in in. 



J. That ck-pi-iids. 1 1" early oiiougli in 

 the season so that you think another 

 super can be tinished, a "Ko-l)ack" may 

 lie put on with another super, or even 

 with 2 or more other supers. NFore 

 than one "go-back" may be put on a 

 colony. Measure the strcnslh of your 

 colony and the strengtli of the flow, and 

 act accordin.gly. l,ate in the season be 

 cautious about asking too much. (It 

 should be explained that a "go-back" 

 is a super filled with unfinished sec- 

 tions taken from a numlier of supers 

 and put b.ick on a liive to be finislud. 

 If you wait till the corner sections of ;i 

 super are all fully sealed, sometimes it 

 will take so long that tlic middle sec- 

 tions will be darkened.) 



3. Every 10 days is not far out of the 

 way, generally, only make sure that they 

 are never crowded so as to lack storing- 

 room. 



4. My practise has been to put the 

 empty one under until near the close of 

 the season. Some good bee-keepers, 

 however, prefer to pur tliem over every 

 time. 



.T. No. Takes too much work. But if 

 I had only a few colonies, and worked 

 them as a sort of pastime, I might 

 change the entrance according to the 

 weather. 



Swarm Spotting Clothes 



A swarm that issued recently spotted 

 the clothes on the wash-line. Is it a 

 common thing for swarming bees to 

 spot clothes? I thought it occurred 

 only when the bees have a cleansing 

 flight in the spring? Indiana. 



Answer. — I don't suppose it is a com- 

 mon thing, and I don't know enough 

 about it to say why it should have been 

 so in your case. One can imagine, how- 

 ever, that if bad weather had delayed 

 the swarming for a day or more, and 

 the swarm should issue immediately 

 upon the weather brightening up, that 

 the bees might empty theinselves a lit- 

 tle after the manner of a spring cleans- 

 ing flight. 



Unltine Swarms Wintering Bees 

 Outdoors- Kind of Bees 



1. How can I miitc a swarm with 

 one that has swarmed 3 or 4 days ago? 

 ( Second and third swarm from the same 

 hive.) 



2. How would you advise me to win- 

 ter my bees, as my cellar isn't very 

 good? How w'ould it do to put them all 

 in a row about 6 inches apart and put 

 straw between them, and over the top 

 of them? Should the hive be left open 

 at the entrance or should it be closed? 



,V Enclosed find bees out of 2 colo- 

 nies, Nos. I and 2. Are they the same 

 kind of bees? and what kind are they? 

 Cf.ntral Minnesota. 



.Answers. — i. In such a case there 

 ought to be no trouble if you merely 

 hive the third swarm in the saine hive 

 with the second swarm. BotSi have 

 queens and bees from the same hive 

 having probably the same scent. 



2. Your plan ought to work fairly 



well, of course with some sort of roof 

 lo keep the straw dry. 



.V I don't know. It isn't easy, in- 

 deed impossible, lo tell by seeing a sin- 

 gle bee what the blood of a colony is, 

 I'Vir example, take a colony of hybrids : 

 one worker may be selected that to all 

 appearances is pure Italian, and another 

 that is pure black. Then when you put 

 a bee in a letter and have it mashed in 

 Ihe mail, the case is still more dilTiciilt. 

 I can only say that I should guess there 

 is some black blood in each of the speci- 

 mens sent. 



Laying Workers Fill Cells With Eggs 



I have one colony of bees in which 1 

 find many cells with from 2 to 6 eggs 

 in each. And at the front end of some 

 of the coni'bs there are cells that seem 

 to have 30 or 40 eggs in each. I never 

 saw anytliing like it before. I could not 

 find the queen. Did laying workers 

 try to fill the cells with eggs? Iowa. 



Answer. — Almost certainly it is the 

 work of laying workers. You will prob- 

 ably find that if any drone-cells are in 

 the broodnest the nuisances have been 

 specially favorable to them. Also, you 

 will be likely lo find one or more queen- 

 cells, and in these there may be as man\ 

 as a dozen eggs in each. Better break 

 up the whole business, giving combs with 

 adhering bees to other colonies. 



Late Transferring of Bees 



Last fall I purchased 3 colonies of 

 bees in home-made hives of the Langs- 

 troth pattern. I found that the frames 

 were badly made so that the combs were 

 crooked — in fact, they zigzagged in ev- 

 ery shape. I left them just as they were, 

 fed the bees steady all winter, and they 

 are good and strong now, but will not 

 get more than enough honey to feed 

 themselves through the coming winter. 

 I would like to get tnese bees out of 

 the old hives. Would you advise trans- 

 ferring them at this time (August 3) ? 

 Arkansas. 



Answer. — Perhaps it may be as well 

 to leave them as they are till next 

 spring or swarrning time. Still, it may 

 be all right to transfer this fall, if you 

 are sure of a good fall flow after trans- 

 ferring. 



Requeening Colonies-Spring Protec 

 tion of Hives 



1. If I wish to requeen my apiary 

 without the trouble of hunting the old 

 queens, may I not buy fertile queens 

 of this year's rearing, and place them 

 (in the cages that they are shipped in), 

 in the hives, and let them eat their way 

 out with the help of the worker-bees? 

 And then- will not the }-oung fertile 

 queens kill the old ones? Or is the old 

 one likely to kill the young one? 



2. I wish to give my hives spring 

 protection. I have read of roofing-pa- 

 per or felt being used, but would not 

 this plan do? That is, just get some 

 dry-goods boxes (which can be done 

 very cheaply), and both sides and bot- 

 toms being made of matched lumber, 



take the tops off, and invert the dry- 

 goods box over the hive, a sutificicnt 

 hole for entrance being cut into the 

 dry-goods box to open over the hive- 

 entrance? I figured on no packing of 

 any kind between the box and liive. 



3, Would not ordinary oats-straw cov- 

 ered over the hives, leaving an entrance, 

 be good spring protection? Or would 

 a wet spring keep the hives too damp? 

 Wisconsin. 



-Answers. — i. If you put a laying 

 queen, no matter how young, into a 

 colony, leaving the old queen present, 

 \ou may count on the new queen being 

 killed as soon as she gets out of her 

 cage — no, not killed immediately, but 

 balled, and maltreated till she is dead. 

 The same holds true with regard to a 

 virgin introduced; only if it be late in 

 the season, and the bees have a queen 

 that they desire to supersede, the vir- 

 gin would be allowed to supersede her. 

 Possibly this might hold good at any 

 time when the bees desire to supersede 

 a queen, and possibly it be as true of a 

 laying queen as of a virgin ; I don't 

 know. 



2. Your plan may work, but the trou- 

 ble is that when the sun shines out for 

 a short time, or even for a long time, 

 the bees don't get the benefit of it, the 

 dry-goods box keeping them cool ; 

 whereas with the black felt they would 

 be made warmer than with the naked 

 hive. 



3. It will be all right if some covering 

 to shed the rain is over the straw, or if 

 the straw- is so placed as to shed the 

 rain. 



Afterswarms Cotton Honey for 

 Winter Stores, Etc. 



1. After a swarm has issued and has 

 been hived, what shall I do to keep the 

 parent colony from swarming again, or 

 casting after-swarms? Shall I cut out 

 the queen-cells? If so, how long after 

 the swarm has issued shall I do it? Af- 

 ter the swarm has been hived, shall I set 

 the swarm, or new colony, on the old 

 stand, and move the parent colony a few 

 feet away? 



2. I have only starters in my hives. 

 Would it be advisable to give the new 

 colony a couple of frames of brood from 

 the old hive, or let them draw out the 

 starters and fill up the combs them- 

 selves ? 



3. The queen in the colony is not 

 clipped. Would it do to clip her this 

 late in the year? 



4. Cotton is one of the chie^ crops 

 raised here. I understand it is a gr^at 

 honey-producing plant. Would it do for 

 the bees to winter on? Y'ou know it has 

 the peculiarity of expanding and burst- 

 ing the cells if kept for a while in the 

 combs. 



5. What are the names of the diflfer- 

 eiit bee-papers that have been started 

 and discontinued in the Llnited States? 



Oklahoma. 



Answers. — I. If 30U cut out all queen- 

 cells but one a week after the swarm 

 issues, there ought to be no more 

 swarming. But sometimes a queen-cell 

 is so hidden that you will be pretty 

 sure to miss it. Again, the only cell 

 you leave may have only a dead grub 



