1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



207 



live, I would probably call it one of the most 

 undesirable spots of all. 



There are some very good spots for bees in 

 central Utah, many in Idaho, some in Wash- 

 ington and Oregon; California has millions of 

 acres good for bees. We might say. the same 

 of all our States. Pe-^haps the best, after 

 California, are the Mountain States. Texas 

 has some very productive regions. Michigan 

 and Wisconsin have thousands of good spots. 



My advice would be to select the State you 

 prefer. Then visit around a little till you 

 find a spot where beekeepers are successful, 

 rick out a location where you will not be in 

 another man's way and go ahead. This may 

 be too vague; but the precise directions would 

 require special investigations. 



Separating a Double Hive 



1. 1 intend to put a hive body with brood 

 frames containing some honey under my 

 strongest colonies in April, and about the 15th 

 of May, when there is brood in both hive 

 bodies can I separate each double hive by 

 placing the queenless half on a new stand and 

 introduce a laying queen to each and leave the 

 old queens in their old locations ? I have a 

 500-page bee-book which gives only two plans 

 in this regard, and both being very compli- 

 cated. 



2. Would it be better to leave these colo- 

 nies double until the main honey flow is 

 over and then divide them as above? My idea 

 is that when producing comb honey the latter 

 would not work well unless the brood from 

 the lower hive is exchanged with that of the 

 upper as fast as it hatches in upper hive, to 

 avoid the bees storing the surplus in the up- 

 per hive instead of the super. 



MINNESOTA. 



Answers. — 1. Your plan will work if you 

 don't put it into effect too early. The half 

 which does not get the queen must get more 

 young bees, ^o help it take care of the brood. 

 I would shake a few of the young bees of the 

 queenright half in front of that hive after mov- 

 ing it. Also make sure that they have young 

 larvae in case you do not give them a queen, 

 or in case that queen is not accepted. 



2. If you leave the two hive bodies until the 

 main honey flow is Over, you will be likely to 

 find that they will crowd the honey in the 

 combs that have no brood in them. In this 

 way you will have a 'less amount of surplus 

 honey. But if you want much increase, that 

 honey may come into good use to help the 

 needy colonies at the end of the crop. You 

 might treat a part of the colonies early and 

 the others late. In this way, if you watch 

 them closely, you will be able to, help the needy 

 ones as often as they need help. 



Moldy Frames 



I have at hand a good many moldy frames 

 of honey. Can I give same to colonies with- 

 out them having any bad effects? These frames 

 of honey are but slightly moldy; here and there 

 1 hnd patches of mold on comb. 



I also have a lot of empty combs which are 

 affected with mold. Can I use these in the 

 extracting supers, or broodnest? 



NEW YORK. 



Answer. — You can give those combs to the 

 bees without fear of any bad effects. But I 

 would recommend that you give them to strong 

 colonies, one or two at a time. The bees will 

 soon clean them. Weak colonies would have 

 more trouble. 



The combs for the extracting supers might 

 be exposed to air for a few days, before using 

 them. 



want glass in his hives, except in the one- 

 frame hives, which he uses for observing. Glass 

 along the outer combs caiinot give one a defi- 

 nite knowledge of the inner conditions of the 

 hive. Besides, in a year or two the bees will 

 propolize the glass so that you cannot look 

 through it. Better follow the modern way and 

 inspect your hives by using a little smoke and 

 making sure whether they have a queen and 

 sufficient stores. Mso make sure that they 

 have no disease of the brood, which you could 

 not ascertain with a glass on the side. 



Miscellaneous 



1. How early should hives be inspected? 



2. If comb is ill-shaped, how remedied? 



3. If bees are dead and comb part full of 

 honey, smeared dark or yellow, what to do 

 with it? 



4. Will scorched honey kill bees? 



."i.If any disease, would boiling it make it 

 safe to feed the bees? 



6. If comb is partly candied in hive, can 

 bees take care of same? 



7. How often through the season should 

 hive be inspected? 



8. Last season my first swarms came off June 

 1 ; must have been several swarms together; 

 looked like a big calf up in the apple tree. I 

 had a large dish pan and put burlap on, leav- 

 ing one end to cover over bees. As I could get 

 only about one-fourth of them at a time, they 

 would fly back faster than I could get them 

 down to the hive. I got two hives then 3; got 

 some to going in; then saw another bunch in 

 small pear tree, and I did my best for about 

 3 or 4 hours to hive them, and managed to 

 save one small swarm out of the whole lot. 

 What might have been the trouble? I had 2 

 swarms leave after giving them a frame of 

 brood. I used full sheets of foundation. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 

 Answers. — 1. Inspect them as soon as warm 

 days come. Clean and close down the dead 

 colonies. Feed those that are short. 



2. Ill-shaped combs should be taken out and 

 straightened, fastening them in proper posi- 

 tion with braces of wire, wood or even strong 

 twine. 



3. See first reply. Use the honey of dead 

 colonies for those that may be short- 



4. Scorched honey is never very good, but it 

 is not dangerous to feed bees wTien they can 

 fly every day. For winter use, it is deadly. 

 There is no need of scorching honey if you 

 heat it (au bain-marie) over water. Ask your 

 cook how that is done. 



5. Yes, boiling the honey or raising it to 

 boiling point of water will kill germs of dis- 

 ease in about 30 minutes. 



6. Bees use granulated or candied honey 

 readily. 



7. Inspect them as often as you think they 

 need something. Four inspections a year 

 would be rather too scanty. Twenty would 

 probably be more than needed. 



S. The best way to gather a swarm, where 

 you cannot cut the limb on which they cluster, 

 is to present them a comb, dry or full of 

 brood. They will quickly crawl upon it, and 

 you can then put them wherever you want. 

 Your runaway swarms were probably secondary 

 swarms with virgin queens. A new swarm with 

 good queen rarely leaves the hive in which it 

 is put. if the hive is not left to too much sun 

 exposure. 



Hives With a Glass 



I am a new beginner with bees and I want 

 to get started with the best gums and fixtures. 

 My father had gums with glass on the back 

 side of gum and on the sides of supers, which I 

 thought very convenient. Do you have that 

 kind? IOWA. 



Answer.- — The average beekeeper does not 



Foulbrood — Robbing 



1. I have about 30 colonies of bees in 2-story 

 hives. On account of inconveniences, I was 

 delayed in taking their honey last fall until too 

 late. Now the bees are located in the upper 

 story with brood. Would it be O. K- to put 

 bottom story on top, placing top story on the 

 bottom? 



2. I ha%'e one hive with American foulbrood. 

 One afternoon I found bees were robbing the 

 hive. I expect to find more foulbrood, but how 

 shall I look for it? 



8. When bees are robbing, do the robbers 

 come from one hive, or do they come from 

 numerous hives? 



4. If the bees which did the robbing came 



from one hive I will expect to find foulbrood 

 in that hive. But will I find the foulbrood in 

 the other hives?. 



5. What is the quickest and surest plan to 

 combat the disease? 



6. If I find both upper and lower story 

 filled with healthy brood, would it be O. K. to 

 confine queen in the lower story, separate the 

 two, place another supply of fu.. depth frames 

 and foundation between the two? I presume 

 they would draw the foundation in this way 

 and prevent sagging of foundations. 



ILLINOIS. 

 Answers. — The fact that the bees are now in 

 the upper stories with brood indicates that 

 you did not leave them too much honey. It 

 will be all right to exchange the stories as you 

 suggest, as soon as they become strong enough 

 to take care of the space above them. 



2. Open the hives, using a little smoke, and 

 look for dead brood in the frames among the 

 newly hatched larvae. 



3. Robbers may come from one hive or from 

 a dozen. Usually, however, the robbing is 

 done by one or two hives only. 



4. You may find Ihe disease pretty well scat 

 tered in your colonies. Examine them care- 

 fully. Some people get discouraged when they 

 see foulbrood. But we have made larger crops 

 from our bees after we found ourselves com- 

 pelled to fight foulbrood than we ever did be- 

 fore. 



5. For the treatment of foulbrood, you had 

 better buy a text book, or write to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Bureau of Ento- 

 mologj-, Washington, D, C, for a Bulletin on 

 the treatment of bee diseases. They have 

 them for your use, and mine, too. It takes 

 too much space in the Question and Answer 

 Department to reply fully to this question. 



6. Yes; but why confine the queen to the 

 lower story before the honey crop is on? You 

 had best let her raise all the brood she can be- 

 fore the crop. 



Foulbrooci — Clipping Queens' Wings — 



Labeling Honeydew — Stretching 



of Combs 



1. In localities where foulbrood exists bees 

 frequently "rob out" infecttd colonies located 

 in walls of houses, trees or neglected apiaries, 

 therefore may not inf-icted honey be stored in 

 supers and be extracted before discovery? 

 Would not the disease the n be spread if the 

 combs were placed on other colonies, (aj while 

 wet, or, (b) the following season, though dry 

 and clean? 



2. On page 90, American Bee Journal, we 

 read: "The only benefit in clipping the 

 queen's wings is the prevention of her escape 

 with a swarm." If one wishes to supersede 

 all queens at, say two years of age, also to 

 breed from queens showing the best records, 

 would not clipping their wings be a benefit, 

 enabling the apiarist to know if any queen had 

 been superseded by natural impulse ? 



3. Should honey containing honeydew be 

 labeled pure honey? Is it legal to so label it? 



4. Do not combs in li;^4-inch depth frames 

 give more trouble from stretching near top bar 

 than those in 9|^-inch frames? 



COLORADO. 

 Answers. — Yes, in both cases. In fact that 

 is probably the way in which American foul- 

 brood has spread. European foulbrood ap- 

 pears to be much less dangerous in this re- 

 spect. 



2. Yes, clipping will enable one to know 

 whether she is still the same queen, 



3. Neither honeydew nor fruit juices should 

 be sold as good honey. Better mark the goods 

 by their real name. 



4. We have had no more trouble from the 

 deeper combs than from the shallow ones. 

 Much depends upon the wiring. 



Increase — Re-Queening 



1. Do you tliink the plan you give for in- 

 crease on page 24S of "Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees," as good as any of the other plans 

 given therein? Will the queens be as good as 

 those' bf any of your other plans? 



