September, 1907. 



American Vee Journal 



in it, leaving your colony hopelessly 

 queenless. If you set the swarm on the 

 old stand and move the mother colony 

 some distance away, the swarm will get 

 all the field-force, weakening by just 

 so much the mother colony, making it 

 less likely to swarm. But a lot of young 

 bees are hatching out all the time, build- 

 ing up the colony to such e.xtent that 

 when the first virgin is ready to go 

 with a swarm, which will be in about 8 

 days, there may be a strong en.uigh 

 force to go with her. 



I'll give you a better plan than either : 

 When the swarm issues, put it on the 

 old stand, and put the old hive close be- 

 side it. A week later move the old 

 hive to a new stand. That, you will 

 see, will not only drain the mother col- 

 ony of all the field-beei it had at the 

 time of swarming, but also of all that 

 have become fielders since then, leav- 

 ing it so weak and discouraged that it 

 will not be likely to have any thought 

 of swarming. 



2. Some think it best to give a frame 

 of brood to the swarm — not 2 — while 

 others give none. I don't know which 

 plan is best — perhaps giving the one 

 brood. 



3. After a queen is laying she may be 

 clipped at any time when most conven- 

 ient. 



4. I have had no experience with cot- 

 ton honey, but from the fact that I do 

 not recall seeing any objection to it for 

 winter stores I suppose it is all right. 



5. That makes me throw up my hands. 

 The number is legion, and I'm not sure 

 that a whole day's searching would 

 make sure of getting them all. Besides, 

 what good? Why not let 'em rest quiet- 

 ly in their graves? 



ference, one would suppose it would 

 have a quieting effect. I don't suppose, 

 however, that the poppy made any dif- 

 ference. Still it is not impossible that 

 it might. 



Varying Effects of Bee-Stings 



^ly little girl, 11 months old, has been 

 stung 3 times lately. The first time just 

 below the ear, the second time on the 

 hand, and neither sting swelled much or 

 seemed to cause her much pain. The 

 last time she was stung on the hand, 

 and it swelled very tight, almost to her 

 elbow, and caused her much pain for 

 several hours. The bee that stung her 

 was given her in a poppy by her sister. 



1. Why did the last sting swell so 

 much more than the others? 



2. Would the fact that the bee had 

 been feeding on the poppy have any- 

 thing to do with it? The bees work on 

 poppies here in the early morning, and 

 as my children say, they " go crazy " 

 for a short time. They don't seem to 

 bother them in the afternoon. 



COLOR.^DO. 



.Answers. — I don't know. Very like- 

 ly the place had something to do with 

 it. There is a great difference in the 

 painfulness of stings, and also in the 

 amount of swelling, and it is not easy 

 to say just why in all cases. A sting 

 on one part of the hand may swell 

 more than on some other part. One 

 sting may be deeper than another. One 

 may be left in longer than the other, 

 giving more time for more poison, hence 

 more swelling. 



2. If the poppy should make any dif- 



Introducing Queens— Carniolans 



1. I was thinking of buying as many 

 queens as I have colonies next spring, 

 and introducing them as Mr. Abbott 

 says, putting the new queen on top of 

 the frames for a day or two, then divid- 

 ing the colony, putting the new queen 

 in one hive and the old queen in the 

 other. I thought in this way to get two 

 strong colonies from each one. Do you 

 think the plan would be a success? 



2. Is an untested queen guaranteed 

 to be mated, and to lay worker-eggs? 



3. Do queen-breeders furnish a queen- 

 cage with each queen? 



4. Do you think Carniolans are more 

 hardy than Italians for wintering? 

 Would it be wise to cross them? 



Nevada. 



Answers. — i. The plan will work. It 

 may be well to leave the old queen on 

 the old stand, putting the caged queen 

 with the larger part of the brood on a 

 new stand. If this is done about the 

 usual time of swarming, or a little in 

 advance, and all the brood is given to 

 the new queen, you will have a shaken 

 swarm, with little danger of the old 

 queen swarming again. 



2 and 3. Yes. 



4. I'm not sure, but I don't believe 

 they are hardier. If you have an apiary 

 of pure Italians, better try any sort of 

 crossing only on a small scale until you 

 are sure you will like the cross bet- 

 ter. 



Why Use Improved Hives? 



I am not a young man in years, but 

 am young in the knowledge of bees. 

 I keep bees only for the honey I can 

 get. What use is there for me to use 

 patent hives when I know nothing about 

 them? Why is not my old-fashioned 

 gum with a good big, plain box-cap just 

 as good for getting the same amount 

 of honey in a season as the patent 

 hives? Missouri. 



Answer. — Let me say, first, that most 

 of the hives in use now by practical 

 bee-keepers have no patent on them, 

 the patent on the Langstroth movable 

 frame having expired some years ago. 

 So your question probably is. What ad- 

 vantage is there for you in movable- 

 frame hives over common box-hives? 

 Perhaps there is no advantage. It de- 

 pends upon circumstances. The mov- 

 able-frame hive is no better for the bees 

 than a box-hive; in general not so good. 

 It has really only one advantage over a 

 bo.x-hive, but sometimes a single ad- 

 vantage counts for much. A man with 

 his head on has the single advantage 

 over one with his head cut ofT that he 

 still has his head on; but that is a con- 

 siderable advantage. The one advantage 

 that the movable-frame hive has over 

 the box-hive is that the frames can be 

 taken out and put back again. But that 

 advantage is of no value to those bee- 



keepers who never lift out the frames 

 from one year's end to the other. If I 

 had no notion of ever lifting out a 

 frame, I would prefer box-hives. 



Possibly you may want to know what 

 advantage there is in being able to lift 

 out frames. For one thing, you can tell 

 by lifting out the frames whether a col- 

 ony is queenless or not, and if it is 

 queenless you can remedy it. With a 

 box-hive it is practically impossible 

 either to detect or to cure queenlessness. 

 That one difference between the two 

 kinds of hives is enough to decide in 

 favor of the movable-frame kind, — pro- 

 vided one intends to take advantage of 

 the movable feature. It would be a 

 pretty long story to tell all the things 

 that can be done with a movable- 

 frame hive that can not be done with 

 a box-hive, among which are examin- 

 ing for disease and treating for the same, 

 introducing queens, strengthening weak 

 colonies by giving frames of hatching 

 brood, etc. 



Starting New Colonies of Bees 



When is the proper time to start new 

 colonies of bees in this climate — 40 miles 

 south of St. Louis? What is the best 

 method for a beginner to take in do- 

 ing so? MlSSdUKI. 



Answer. — The very best time is at the 

 time when bees are inclined to swarm 

 naturally. Bees begin to swarm when 

 honey begins to yield well, and more or 

 less colonies may swarm so long as 

 honey yields, although most colonies do 

 their swarming during the early part of 

 the honey-flow. You may even make 

 increase successfully in the month of 

 September if you make the new colo- 

 nies strong enough. The earlier you 

 start a colony the less need of its be- 

 ing strong, as it has a longer time to 

 build up before winter. 



It is not easy to say what may be the 

 best way for you. What may be best 

 for one may not be best for another. 

 Perhaps the easiest way is to take half 

 the combs, bees and all, out of a hive 

 and put into another hive, filling out 

 each hive with combs or frames filled 

 with foundation, setting the hives side 

 by side, as nearly as possible on the old 

 location, trusting to the queenless part 

 to rear its own queen. 



A better way is to look four d;iys 

 later and see whicli hive contains eggs, 

 and give a laying queen to the other 

 part. That, of course, involves buying 

 and introducing a queen. 



If you want the bees to rear their 

 own queen, here is a better plan : Find 

 the queen, and put her with 2 frames 

 and all adhering bees into another hive 

 on a new stand. A week later a num- 

 ber of queen-cells will be in the now 

 queenless colony, when you let the hives 

 exchange places, and the bees will do 

 the rest. If you want to have more 

 than one new colony, you can divide the 

 queenless part, putting the larger half 

 on an entirely new stand. 



As you have ju-t obtained the book, 

 "Forty Years among the Bees," you will 

 do well to turn to page 252, where you 

 will find several pages about artif'::a! 

 increase. 



