1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



241 



working force in readiness for the 

 honey-flow. It may sometimes be 

 found advisable later on to re|)cat 

 the operation of raising the brood 

 into the second story. On the ninth 

 day afterwards, it is necessary ito ex- 

 amine the combs in the second story, 

 in case queen-cells have been built, 

 which should be destroyed if not oth- 

 erwise required. Queen-cells are not 

 so likely to be started if an all-wire 

 queen-excluder is used instead of a 

 zinc one. 



Another method that has given 

 good results in some seasons, when 

 the conditions have been favorable, is 

 to place the queen with one or two 

 frames of brood in a second story, 

 above a zinc excluder, leaving the re- 

 mainder of the brood below. Queen- 

 cells will then usually be built in the 

 queenless part, and on the ninth day 

 afterwards all but one are destroyed. 

 After the cell that is left hatches out, 

 as the young queen is below the ex- 

 cluder, she is able to fly out and get 

 mated, so that there will be two lay- 

 ing queens in the hive. The old 

 queen can be removed later and used 

 for a nucleus, or, if she is too old for 

 further service, can be destroyed. 

 Queen-cells are more likely to be 

 started below if a shallow super is 

 placed between the two stories, using 

 the two queen-excluders. By this 

 means, if it proves successful, hives 

 can be easily requeened each year. 



With the adoption of any method to 

 endeavor to prevent swarming there 

 will doubtless always be a centain 

 percentage of colonies that will 

 swarm. In this case nuclei can be 

 made by dividing up the brood- 

 combs, giving two or three to each 

 nucleus, taking care that each has a 

 good queen-cell. The swarm can then 

 be returned to the old stand, putiting 

 it on built-out combs, or, if these 

 are not available, full sheets of foun- 

 dation, leaving the supers in the same 

 position as before. If increase is 

 not wanted, all the brood can be re- 

 moved and placed in a top story, 

 above the supers, with a queen- 

 excluder between, and the swarm re- 

 turned below. If this is done a small 

 opening may be left in the top story 

 for a young queen to fly out and get 

 mated, all queen-cells but one having 

 been previously removed. The young 

 queen, when mated and laying, can 

 be used for replacing the old queen. 



The liability to swarm is more pro- 

 nounced, in spite of whatever method 

 may be employed to control it, by 

 the presence of old queens. Most 

 beekeepers find that it pays best to 

 make a rule of keeping only young, 

 vigorous queens, and, when a good 

 strain has been secured, to breed 

 their own queens from their bes't 

 colonies from year to year. Colo- 

 nies headed by young queens go into 

 winter quarters better and can be 

 usually relied on to come out stronger 

 in the spring than those with old 

 queens, besides lessening the ten- 

 dency to swarm the following season. 



The provision of adequate ventila- 

 tion is a very important item in the 

 control lof swarming. Overheating, 

 through want of sufficient ventilation, 

 will cause bees to swarm premature- 



ly, sometimes even before queen- 

 cells have been commenced. When 

 this occurs, the internal conditions 

 of the hive have become unbearable 

 to the bees and have to be remedied 

 quickly. Sometimes brood will be 

 found to have died through lack of 

 ventilation and consequent overheat- 

 ing. Too high a temperature within 

 the hive will occasionally cause the 

 combs to melt down and ruin ithe col- 

 ony. Single-walled hives, <on which 

 the hot sun pours all day long, are 

 more likely to be affected in this way 

 than those protected with double 

 walls or an outer case. In the in- 

 terior of British Columbia we find 

 that, with the hive-cases that are now 

 so largely in use, and which have a 

 packing of 3 inches all round, as well 

 as underneath the brood-chamber, a 

 summer entrance 1 inch deep extend- 

 ing along the full width of the hive is 



sufficient, if porous coverings, such 

 as sacking, are used above the frames. 

 With single-walled hives this sized 

 entrance is often insufficient, and ad- 

 ditional ventilation is needed. This 

 can be provided by pulling the supers 

 forward to allow a current of air to 

 circulate. 



A Good Meeting; 



One of the largest meetings of bee- 

 keepers of recent months was that 

 of the East Tennessee Beekeepers' 

 Association in connedtion with the 

 State Farm Congress held at the Uni- 

 versity at Knoxville in May. About 

 275 beekeepers were in attendance. 

 The size of the attendance speaks 

 volumes concerning the interest in 

 honey production in Tennessee. Ten- 

 nessee has a delighitful climate and 

 some 'of the finest people in the 

 world. 



/^ 



DR. MILLER'S ANSWERS 



^ 



1 

 J 



Questions are answered in order received. As we receive more questions 

 than we can answer in space available, two or three months sometimes elapse 

 before answers appear. 



Wintering 



1. I frequently note the theory of wintering 

 bees in two hives, a hive and super. I also 

 note, in "Fifty Years Among the Bees," that 

 two colonies may be successfully wintered in 

 one 10-frame hive, cellar wintering. In actual 

 practice, which plan is best? I like the idea 

 of two colonies in one hive, because all my 

 bees are summered in outyards. If this plan 

 were employed, would it be of any advantage if 

 the division board was partly of wire cloth for 

 greater diffusion of heat and hive odor? 



2. In setting a weak colony over a strong 

 one in spring, Alexander method, is it best to 

 use screen cloth for a few days between the 

 hives, or is newspaper better? Will the bees 

 have trouble and light through the screen? The 

 screen would be easier to put between the hives, 

 especially on a windy day. MAINE. 



Answers. — 1. It would be better if all colo- 

 nies were so strong that there would be no 

 object in wintering two of them together. But 

 if you have two weak colonies there will be a 

 gain in the matter of heat by having them in 

 one 8-frame or a 10-frame hive with a thin 

 partition between the two sides. I never tried 

 wintering with one colony over the other, but 

 think I should much prefer the colonies side 

 by side in the same hive. For one thing, this 

 makes it much easier to shift the colonies into 

 two hives side by side in the spring than it 

 would be if one colony were over the other. 

 There would be nothing gained by having the 

 partition partly of wire cloth, and possibly 

 something lost. You don't want the same hive 

 odor, as ifae colonies are not tJ be united, 

 and there may be just a little danger of one 

 of the queens being killed if there is any com- 

 munication between the two sides. The bees 

 crowd up against the partition at each side, 

 forming a single cluster, and this they could 

 not do with one hive over the other. 



2. Haven't you got two things mixed? 

 Newspaper is used when the two colonies are 

 to be united. The Alexander plan in spring 

 is to put a weak colony over another, prefer- 

 ably a strong one, temporarily, so that the 

 weak one may have the help of the heat in 

 building up. In this plan newspaper should no' 

 be used, and I rather think it would be better 

 not to use wire cloth, using only the ex* 

 cluder and allowing the lower hive to stand un- 

 covered a little while before setting the other 



on it, and then putting on the excluder and 

 upper hive as softly as possible. 



Making a Living With Bees 



I have now thirteen colonies of bees. 



Do you think I can make a living in the 

 bee business, and would you give me some of 

 your good points, if you think there is a liv- 

 ing in it for me? Our honey crop here is 

 mainly white clover, which lasts from about 

 June 1 to August 1. I have $500 of money 

 which I can use in the business. Should you 

 think I can clear about $100 net money per 

 month for a living? PENNSYLVANIA. 



Answer. — The problem is whether, with 13 

 colonies of bees and $500 to invest in more 

 bees, you can make $100 a month, or $1,200 a 

 year. You might be fortunate enough to buy 

 bees at about $5.75 per colony, thus getting 87 

 colonies for your $500. That, with the 13 al- 

 ready on hand would give you an even 100 

 colonies. If you should harvest 100 pounds 

 per colony you would have a total of 10,000 

 pounds, and at 35 cents a pound that would 

 bring you $2,500, or more than double the 

 desired $1,200. 



That's what might be. But it might be quite 

 different. Even if you had the hundred colo- 

 nies, and make sure of 25 cents a pound for 

 all the honey you could produce, the yield per 

 colony will always be an uncertain factor. Like 

 enough it might be safe to count that in a 

 series of years you would come out all right, 

 for the years of failure would be overbal- 

 anced by the good years, but you have no way 

 of telling when the bad and when the good 

 will come; and suppose the first two or three 

 years fall below the average, then where are 

 you? 



Your safe way is to continue the bees as a 

 side line and drop all other things only when 

 you get enough ahead so that you can stand a 

 year or two of dead failure in the honey har- 

 vest. 



Bureau Hive — House Apiaries 



1. In the March Journal, just to hand, page 

 93. 4th line, 2nd column, I note reference to 

 "Simmons' bureau hive." I would like to know 

 about the "bureau" hive. I have never seen 

 reference to it uefore. 



8. Also about construction of "house api- 

 aries," illustration of one being given on that 



