60 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



3. Please tell me where is the best place to 

 winter bees. If outside, what is the best 

 cover an^ how much shotiUl be around the 

 hive? NORTH MICHIGAN. 



Answers.— 1. Jt is probable that your cel- 

 lar was too warm at the lime when you placed 

 the bees in it. It is out of the question to 

 expect to keep bees in a cellar by putting 

 screens on the doors. If the cellar's tempera- 

 ture is between 45 and 50 degrees, the bees 

 will be quiet without any screens, either on 

 the doors or on the hive entrances. Outside, 

 it is impossible to keep the temperature 

 where the bees never want to fly. But in 

 warm days it will do no damage if a few of 

 them get lost. 



2. The building that you propose to make 

 would be all right for your bees if they can 

 fly out whenever it is warm. Otherwise a 

 cellar is better, in your latitude. 



3. Winter in a good cellar, in your latitude. 

 If you winter out of doort, better make outer 

 cases with about G inches of shavings or sim- 

 ilar protection around, under and above your 

 brood nests. 



Moth — Bees by the Pound — 

 Transfer 



1. I have Dr. C. C. Miller's two books 

 ("Fifty Years Among the Bees" and "Thou- 

 sand Answers) and like them both real well. 

 1 had considerab.e trouble with the bee 

 motlis this year. They killed out three old 

 colonies for me and a new swarm that 1 

 caught. 1 have read that zero weather kills 

 the moth, so 1 have left my bees out of doors 

 so far this winter and the temperature has 

 been down to l(i degrees or more below 

 zero. I will put them in now. Lr. Miller's 

 book says the Italian bees keep the moths 

 down, even though the colony be quite small. 

 So that seems to be another thing for me 

 to take advantage of. Do you .think I have 

 done the right thing by leaving my bees out 

 to get that zero temperature to kill the 

 moths? I suppose 1 will get some goo from 

 it, but suffer the loss of a few bees to pay 

 for it. Am I right? 



2. I have a hive that I bought from a 

 neighbor last spring that didn't have good at- 

 tention, consequently the lid was practically 

 no account and the bees froze out. There is 

 quite a lot of honey in the bottom, so I was 

 thinking, it being dark and in good combs, it 

 would be line for bees to use anyway, either 

 to feed the bees in other hives, if they need 

 some, or to start new colonies in the spring. 

 1 shouldn't think new colonies would need 

 very much honey at that time of year. So how 

 would it be for me to buy some pound pack- 

 ages of bees and give each nucleus a frame or 

 two of this honey? 



3. When 1 buy bees by the pound will 

 there be a queen come with each package, or 

 do they only sell worikers without queen? 

 Please advise me as best you can about it. 

 There are lots of bees in the timber here and 

 also there are several colonies kept around 

 over the country. So possibly I can't keep 

 the Italians pure even if I should get a start 

 of them. I am quite new at the bee business 

 and don't know whether I can make a good 

 job of finding old queens and replacing them 

 with Italians or not. 



4. I would like to get a good start of Ital- 

 ians and try raising some queens for my 

 other hives. Possibly that would be better 

 than to try to stock all the hives in the spring. 

 , 6. Another thing I would like to do is get 



some of my swarms into new hives. 



NEBRASKA. 



Answers. — 1. No, you did not do the right 

 thing to leave your bees out to kill the moths- 

 If there are any moths m them, they stay in 

 the warm part of the hive and do not die 

 till the bees do. Putting your hives in the 

 cellar late in the winter is not good, because 

 the bees arc already loaded with feces in their 

 bowels and may suffer from diarrhea. 



2. Yes, if you have honey from a dead 

 colony and preserve it you may use both the 

 honey and combs for bees by the pound, 

 bought in the spring. 



8. When you buy bees by the pound you 

 had best buy a queen with each lot. They ar- 



rive in better condition and really need a 

 queen. But you can buy bees without queens. 



4. Yes. Try your hand at it next summer. 

 Why should you not succeed as well as oth- 

 erte have done? 



5. To transfer your bees into new hives, 

 wait tilt the bees swarm, then hive the swarm 

 in an up-to-date hive; set it on the old 

 stand, then set the old hive close beside or 

 behind it. In 3 weeks the brood will all be 

 hatched out of it and you can shake all the 

 bees in front of the swarm. Then tiie combs 

 may be used as you see fit. If they do not 

 swarm, take off the cover, place the new 

 hive on top of the old one and drive the 

 bees into it, making sure that the queen is 

 up with them. Then place a queen excluder 

 between the two until all the brood is hatched, 

 when you can remove the old hive. 



Swarming — Extracted vs. Comb 



There are so many ways and so much talk 

 about keeping uees from swarming that a 

 beginner is confused and don't know what, 

 how or when. Some claim one thin and some 

 another. 



1. I want to know how it will work to use 

 thje full-size brood frames to extract from, 

 and then I could use all bodies the same 

 size. 



2. It is all right to extract the outside 

 frames of the brood nest and put those empty 

 ones above and foundation below. Would 

 they go above more readily to work and check 

 swarming? 



3. They say that the prime swarm rarely 

 sends forth another swarm; but it is almost a 

 sure thing with mine ; as soon as they get 

 good and strong they will swarm. I put out 

 23 swarms and got aliout 1,800 pounds of 

 comb honey. I am thinking of changing to ex- 

 tracted and see if I cannot get along better. 



WISCONSIN. 

 Answers. — 1. Yes, it will do to use the 

 brood size frames in the super. 



2. Unless you have hives containing more 

 than 10 Langstroth frames in a story, you 

 will have but little to extract from the sides 

 of the brood nest. Give plenty of room, 

 plenty of ventilation and plenty of shade and 

 you will diminish the swarming tendency. 



3. You will have less swarming with the 

 production of extracted honey, all other things 

 being equal. You must have a very good lo- 

 cation for bees. 



Queen-Cells 



1. Please tell nie how you can tell the dif- 

 ference between a rijie queen cell and a fresh 

 one. 



2. Can a queen cell be cut out of a brood 

 frame and put in some other comb? 



3. Will tlie bees accept such cells by shak- 

 ing some bees on said comb by imprisoning 

 the bees for 24 hours or so? 



WISCONSIN. 

 Answers. — 1. A freshly sealed queen cell 

 looks smooth. A ripe queen cell looks a lit- 

 tle rough on the end, as the bees were 

 anxious to see what is in it and meant to 

 open it. 



2. Yes, certainly. You must use a great 

 deal of caution and cut around it far enough 

 not to damage it. Use the same caution in 

 inserting it. Nowadays queen cells arie pre- 

 pared artificially, so that they rarely need to ■ 

 be cut out of the comb. 



3. Yes; but it would be better to put the 

 cell on a comb of brood, in the most central 

 part of it. Then put in bees enough to take 

 good care of it. Be sure and have honey 

 there, also. 



Wintering 



1. Will a strong, populous colony winter 

 successfully in a lO-frame Danzcnbakcr brood 

 chamber? The frames arc 7J^ inches deep. I 

 have tar paper around the outside of the hive 

 and they arc kept in a fairly comfortable 

 building. 



2. I left a super of section honey over the 



brood chamber. Do you think this is neces- 

 sary, and will it cause a loss of too much 

 heat? 



3. Should the super be taken off before the 

 bees are set out in the spring? IOWA. 



Answers. — 1. Bees can be wintered success- 

 fully in almost any style of hive if they have 

 enough stores. The Danzenbaker hive is very 

 shallow, and that is against it, but with an 

 upper story full of honey it is quite probable 

 that they will have honey enough. 



2. The super may cause loss of heat, but it 

 is probably necessary for a honey supply. 



3. Do not remove it unless the colony is 

 weak and does not need the honey stored in 

 it. 



Beginning in City 



1. How many hives should an inexperienced 

 hand start with? 



2. What time of the year should you start? 



3. Can bees be raised in the city? 



OHIO. 

 Answers. — 1. If you have no knowledge of 

 bees whatever, say 2 to 6 colonies, till you' 

 learn whether you can handle them. 



2. The best time to get bees is in spring, 

 during fruit bloom. Be sure the colonies have 

 good queens and sufficient stores to carry them 

 to the honey crop. 



3. Yes. Chas. F. Muth kept an apiary in 

 the heart of the city of Cincinnati and made 

 some honey. Thos. G. Newman kept a num- 

 ber of colonies in Chicago. However, it is 

 better to live in the outskirts of the city, if 

 you wish to keep bees successfully. 



Raising Queens — Foulbrood 



1. Can bees be kept near chickens? 



2. Explain how to go about raising queens. 



3. What is meant by foulbrood? 



PENNSYLVANIA. 

 Answers. — 1. Bees may be kept in the same 

 yard with chickens. But if the yard is very 

 small it might be best to place the hives on a 

 stand so that chickens will not annoy the:n or 

 be annoyed by them. 



2. It would take an entire number of the 

 Journal to explain about queen-rearing, Send 

 for "Practical Queen Rearing," or for "First 

 Lessons in Beekeeping," and you will read the 

 explanation of it. 



3. Foulbrood is a contagious disease of the 

 brood of bees. There are 2 varieties of it, 

 called "European" and "American" foulbrood. 

 You will also read about this in books on bee- 

 keeping. 



Clover — Shipping Bees 



1. How is the best way to get a start of 

 white clover? The place where I intend to 

 sow the clover is a large garden that was full 

 of weeds. Is this a good place for the seed ? 

 I am a boy IG years of age, and intend to start 

 into the bee business tlie fo. lowing year. 



2. How many hives of bees would do for a 

 beginner? 



3. I have a neighbor that lives a quarter of a 

 mile from me who has a few hives of bees. 

 Do you tliink ray bees would gather honey at 

 that distance from home? 



4. Do you think Indiana is too far to have 

 bees shipped from Central Illinois? 



ILLINOIS. 

 Answers. — 1. White clover will grow nicely 

 in a garden, as anyone who has used horse 

 manure in a garden can testify. Get seed and 

 sow it. But usually there is enough clover in 

 all the pastures in your vicinity. 



2. From 2 to C colonics are best for a be- 

 ginner. Have at least 2, for with only one 

 you might have a little bad luck and get dis- 

 couraged. 



3. Bees go readily 2 miles from home to 

 gather honey, but your neighbor's few hives 

 will not interfere with yours. 



4. Bees are shipped clear across the United 

 States, but it would be best to buy your bees 



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