November, 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



Changing Hives— Doubling Colonies 

 for Winter 



1. I am taking care of a few colonies 

 in old-fashioned immovable 8-frame 

 hives. Can I in any way advantageously 

 get them into lo-frame Langstroth hives, 

 either this fall or in the spring, so as to 

 have the full benefit of their summer's 

 work in the new hives? 



2. Some of the colonies swarmed out 

 so late that they have not surplus honey 

 enough to winter themselves, while oth- 

 ers have more than I think necessary. 

 Can a small late colony be doubled in 

 with a large one and wintered through 

 as one strong colony? Minnesot.v. 



Answers. — i. Don't think of disturb- 

 ing bees by anything like transferring as 

 late as October, or even in September. 

 It would not give them a fair chance 

 to get comfortably arranged for suc- 

 cessful wintering. Wait till fruit-bloom 

 next year, or perhaps better still, wait 

 till they swarm, and then break up the 

 old hive 21 days later. If the frames 

 were not "immovable" it would be a 

 different thing, but even in that case 

 they better be left undisturbed till next 

 spring. 



2. Yes, although there is some dan- 

 ger of fighting. One way is to set one 

 hive over the other, wirecloth between 

 them, and after 3 or 4 days or a week 

 arrange all the filled frames in the one 

 hive. It may do without the wirecloth 

 if you set the one over the other very 

 quietly, so that each colony will stay 

 in its own hive till a warm day comes. 



Introducing Queens 



1. I purchased 7 queens and I tried 

 to introduce them by placing the new 

 queens in the hives they were expected 

 to occupy and leaving them 3 days be- 

 fore removing the old queens. At the 

 time I removed the old queens I gave 

 the bees a chance at the candy. Four 

 of the old queens I caged and placed 

 in upper stories, so that if the young 

 queens were killed I could let the old 

 queens out in the hives -they formerly 

 occupied. In every hive where both old 

 and young queens were caged, the young 

 queen was killed when she was let out. 

 Did the bees recognize their old mother 

 in a cage with a quilt between her and 

 the bees, and the young queen directly 

 among the bees? 



2. Is this the usual state of things, 

 or do you usually leave the old queen 

 in the hive to replace any loss? 



3. In 3 hives that I had killed the 

 old queens (upon taking them out) the 

 young queens were accepted. But one 

 colony had 9 sealed queen-cells and the 

 young queen was right among them. 

 What were they going to do? 



Missouri. 

 Answers. — i. Being in a cage would 

 not at all prevent the queen from be- 

 ing recognized as well as if she had been 

 at large. There was a quilt 'between 

 the 2 stories, but it is not clear whether 

 there was communication between them. 

 If there was a chance for the bees to 

 get up from below, even if only a small 

 passage, then it was much the same 

 as if the old queen had been in the 



lower story, and the bees would be pret- 

 ty certain to kill the new queen. If the 

 quilt shut off all communication between 

 the 2 stories, then it was strange the 

 new queen should have been killed. 



2. No, it is not usual to leave the old 

 queen in any part of the hive after the 

 bees are allowed to release the new one. 

 If it be desired to save the old queen, 

 she may be taken with 2 or 3 frames of 

 brood and adhering bees, and the whole 

 put, as a nucleus, in another hive. 



3. It is nothing unusual for bees to 

 start queen-cells when a new queen is 

 introduced. Even if the old queen be 

 caged, they are likely to start cells. 

 Although a queen is in the hive, she is 

 not laying, and they seem to think a 

 successor should be supplied that would 

 do better work at laying. After the 

 queen is freed and gets to laying they 

 may destroy all the cells, but sometimes 

 a young queen is allowed to hatch and 

 destroy the laying queen. 



Does (lueen Lay in October?— Pre- 

 venting Swarming 



1. I looked into one of my bee-hives 

 the other day to see if the colony had a 

 queen. I found no eggs whatever, 

 neither any larvse. Now, as I am a be- 

 ginner, I should like to know if the 

 queen lays eggs in October. The cli- 

 mate is rather cool. 



2. As I want to be prepared for next 

 year, I should hke to know how to keep 

 my bees from swarming. Minnesota. 



Answers. — i. The queen sometimes lays 

 well on into October, but in most cases, 

 as far North as Alinnesota she is more 

 likely to stop 'laying in September. 



2. A whole lot of people have been 

 trying to find out that same thing for a 

 good many years, and perhaps no plan 

 has been found yet that is entirely sat- 

 isfactory to all, although every now and 

 then some one claims to have succeeded. 

 Perhaps the larger number content 

 themselves with shaking swarms as 

 coming the nearest to entire prevention, 

 although strictly speaking it does not 

 prevent at all, only anticipates the ac- 

 tion of the bees. If you are working 



for extracted honey the problerri is eas- 

 ier than with comb honey. The Da- 

 dants get along with only 2 to 5 percent 

 of their colonies swarming, and their 

 only means of prevention is giving 

 abundance of room, both in the brood- 

 chamber and in the surplus apartment. 

 The Demaree plan with some is entirely 

 successful in preventing all swarming. 

 Just before there is danger of swarm- 

 ing, put all the brood in a second story, 

 leaving the queen in the lower story 

 with empty combs or foundation, and a 

 queen-e.xcluder between the two stories. 

 Perhaps this may work perfectly with 

 you. 



Wintering in Chaff -Hives- Caucasian 

 Bees 



1. I have made a number of chaflf- 

 hives, 5^ by Yz inch dead space filled 

 with dry chaff packed in moderately 

 tight. Will my bees, all good strong 

 colonies, winter in these set on the south 

 side of an 8-foot fence? The covers 

 are chaff also, 1J/2 inches in center and 

 5^ on edges. 



2. With an opening (entrance) say 

 4x5^ inches, do I need any further ven- 

 tilation, if I attend to keeping the en- 

 trance open during the winter? 



3. What is the present consensus of 

 opinion among bee-men regarding the 

 Caucasians? I may as well mention 

 that I have a colony which while not 

 overly strong, as I robbed it of brood 

 to start other colonies, gave me about 

 25 pounds of comb honey, and the sea- 

 son was remarkably poor. I think. Per- 

 haps I think so because I am just com- 

 mencing in the bee-business. lowA. 



Answers. — i. You can tell next spring 

 better than I can tell now ; but if obliged 

 to make a guess in- the case. I should 

 say they ought to winter all right. 



2. I think not. 



3. There is no consensus as yet. One 

 says they're tip-top, another says they're 

 not worth keeping. Perhaps there are 

 Caucasians and Caucasians. Your opin- 

 ion is as good as that of any one else, 

 after you find out what they will do for 

 you as compared with others. 



'Boiled 'DowiV' 



A Recouii i.\ 1 AKiNG Off Honey. 



We have harvested a good crop this 

 year, and I made a record in taking off 

 extracted honey. I should like to see 

 this surpassed by some of the plain- 

 frame men. In 10 hours 2 boys and 

 myself took off extracted honey, put all 

 the combs back, and cased 350 gallons 

 of honey. I took off every comb and 

 wheeled them to the tent in a wheel- 

 barrow, four lo-frame bodies at a time. 

 That talk about its being so hard to get 

 self-spaced combs out of hives is all 



nonsense. The day before we made this 

 record we took our outfit 14 miles, and 

 put the tent and everything in working 

 order, and extracted 300 gallons. But 

 we had to get up at 2 a. m. ; but that 

 shows what can be done if one gets in 

 a rush. — A. H. Knolle, of Texas, in 

 Gleanings. 



Gasoline Engine for Extracting. 



E. W. Alexander is enthusiastic as to 

 the use of a gasoline engine for those 

 who produce extracted honey on a large 



