1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



349 



4. Honey that has been spoiled in this way 

 is not fit for much. You may be able to sell 

 it to tobacco manufacturers, for they use al- 

 most anything in the way of sweets for chew- 

 ing tobacco. 



Wintering — Moving Bees 



When ought 1 to place bees under a shed 

 for winter, to be packed with leaves? How 

 prevent loss by moving? How move them back 

 in the spring? WISCONSIN. 



Answer. — These qtiestions are tangled to- 

 gether, for the very matter of moving colonies 

 back and forth sometimes causes more loss 

 than leaving them separate. That is why so 

 many people keep their bees the whole year 

 in their winter cases, and it is also the reason 

 why beginners, who do not know of colonies 

 losing bees by "drifting," lose the weak colo- 

 nies, since thtir bees drift to the stronger ones. 



Bees know the exact spot where their hive is, 

 after they have taken one flight. If you 

 move it, you must in some way call their at- 

 tention to that fact, so they may take note of 

 the change. Our way is to disturb them greatly 

 and release them, while disturbed, so they may 

 take note of the change. A slanting board in 

 front of the entrance compels them to turn and 

 look back. 



Move your colonies together early, say in 

 late September or early October. Then pack 

 them. Move them back after they have had 

 cleansing flights, otherwise the tired bees 

 might not return to the new spot. But, better 

 than all this, try to keep them close enough 

 together, say in lots of 2 or 3, so that you may 

 not have to move them back and forth every 

 season. 



Honey and Kerosene 



I have about 60 pounds of this year's honey. 

 I am only 10 years old and own 3 colonies, 

 which 1 made of one, and the bees will not 

 have enough to winter on without it. i had it 

 extracted and the can it was put in had kero- 

 sene in it. Will it hurt the bets, and will they 

 accept it? OREGON. 



Answer. — 1 have never had any experience 

 with honey and kerosene mixed. If the honey 

 has only the flavor of kerosene and not any 

 quantity of it mixed in, probably it would do 

 no harm to the bees, if they take it. It may 

 be they will refuse to take it. Try to feed it 

 to them. It is a mistake to make too much 

 increase, and if you become an experienced 

 beekeeper, which you are likely to be, you will 

 find that it is usually an error to try to more 

 than double your colonies in a season. 



Sour Honey for Feeding 



Please inform me whether or not it is safe 

 to feed old honey, a little sour, to bees in ibc 

 tail when there is no flow of nectar for theii 

 winter supplies, and at what time to feed it. 



INDIANA. 



Answer. — No, it would be unwise to feed to 

 bees, for winter, honey which is sour, although 

 if the winter should be mild they might not 

 suffer from its use. If the winter is severe, 

 they would probably die of diarrhea Better 

 keep that honey to feed in spring, and if you 

 must feed for winter, use sugar syrup. 



Honey Above the Hive — Fruit for 

 Bee Feed 



1. I have a colony of bees which is storing 

 all their honey in a super, and none in the 

 brood-chamber. Will it be best to let the 

 super stay above the brood-nest, or would it 

 be best to put this super under the brood- 

 chamber? There is no honey in the brood- 

 nest, and but little brood. If I put the super 

 with the honey under the brood-chamber will 

 they move the honey? 1 have two hives in 

 this same condition. My bees are working on 

 goldenrod. 



2. I find that a lot of my bees are working 

 on peaches which are decaying. Will they con- 

 vert it to honey, or what will they get from the 

 decayed fruit? 



3. If 1 let the super which has the honey 

 slay on the hive above the brood-nest, will it 

 be too far for them to get it in the winter 

 time? 



4. 1 have a house built out of poles, daubbed 

 inside and out with clay -mortar. Will this be 

 a good place to winter my bees inside? 1 am 

 using it at present to cure tobacco, but will 

 finish in another week. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Answers. — 1. If you place the supers under 

 the hive, the bees will move the honey to 

 the higher story, for they dislike to have their 

 honey between them and the entrance, as they 

 cannot defend it so easily against robbers. But 

 when the honey is scaled, they sometimes hesi- 

 tate a long time to move it. As you live in a 

 comparatively warm climate, it might be safe 

 to leave the super at the top. 



2. Peaches and other fruit make very poor 

 food for bees. It is not honey, and it rarely 

 ripens enough to keep from souring. So it 

 would be advisable to extract that bad food be- 

 fore winter and to feed granulated sugar dis- 

 solved in half of its weight of water. That 

 should be done before cold weather. 



3. Honey in a super above the brood-nest 

 may be in convenient position for the bees, if 

 there is no honey-board or partition between 

 the lower and the upper stories. For the bees 

 to reach it conveniently, there should be noth- 

 ing between the upper and lower frames. 



4. The place which you describe would not 

 do to winter your bees unless they can be ar- 

 ranged in it so as to have a flight on warm 

 days. Confining them to the hive in such a 

 shed would cause them to fret and die on 

 warm days. We would advise leaving them 

 preferably on the summer stand. 



Wintering Queens Apart From Bees 



I have a number of hives from nuclei, di- 

 vided in July. Some are doing first rate, oth- 

 ers not so well. When fall comes, will have 

 to unite so as to give each hive a respectable 

 cluster, and in the ^ring would like to sub- 

 divide them again into same number of hives. 

 How can 1 winter the queens, meantime, apart 

 from their bees? How did Pratt, from Swarth- 

 more, winter 75 in one hive? 



DELAWARE. 



Answer. — W'e tried the Pratt method; did 

 not succeed. We do not believe it is usually 

 successful, though some people may succeed. 

 We doubt that Pratt himself tried it often. If 

 you can succeed with what you suggest, we 

 would like to hear about it. We have never 

 considered it practical. Did any of our read- 

 ers ever try and succeed? How many times? 



Indications of Swarmini, 



I bought 3 hives last fall; one was very 

 weak and died out. 1 now have 2 strong hives. 

 What I want to know is this: What are the 

 general indications of the hive when at-out to 

 swarm ? Can you tell 3 or 3 days prior to 

 swarming? What is the matter with them 

 when they bang out on the hives and fight or 

 drag one another around? I have watched mine 

 several days and found them restless, noisy 

 and seemingly fighting each other. They seem 

 to be settled down and more quiet now. 



KANSAS. 



Answer. — It is not an easy thing to tell 

 from outside indications anything about when 

 or whether a colony will swarm, unless it be 

 their running about on the front of the hive 

 j ust as they are about to begin swarming. 

 Sometimes they will cluster out a day or two 

 before swarming, but that's no sure sign, for 

 if the weather is hot and the colony strong 

 they may hang out when they have no no- 

 tion of swarming and if well ventilated they 

 may swarm without hanging out. 



But it is not hard to look inside the hive 

 and then you can make a pretty good guess as 

 to their intentions. If you find a dozen or 

 more queen-cells started, you m.iy expect a 

 swarm to issue about the time the oldest cell 

 is sealed over and that is usually about eight 



days from the time the egg is laid in the cell- 

 Even then you cannot always be sure they will 

 swarm, for if, by any means the honey-flow 

 suddenly ceases, as by a cold, wet spell, or a se- 

 vere drought, swarming will be given up and 

 the cells be torn down. There may be cells pres- 

 ent not intended for swarming, but supersed- 

 ing; but in that case the cells are likely to be 

 not more than four or five. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, cells may be started for superseding 

 and changed to swarming, and vice versa. 



Queen Rearing — Extracted Honey 



1. What is a good way for a small bee- 

 keeper to raise 8 or 10 queens at a time? 



2. What are the main requirements to meet 

 in order to advertise your honey as "pure ex- 

 tracted honey?' 



3. is a hive raised on -1 1-inch square blocks 

 (one on each cornerj loo much ventilation in 

 cool weather? 



■i. \vhat is a good way for increase on a 

 hive to say four more coionits? 



G. Say, for instance, i would get 2,000 

 pounds of extracted honey some year Vvhat 

 is a good way to dispose of amounts like this? 

 What is being paid for extracted honey at 

 present? Como? 



0. What is a good way to operate 100 colo- 

 nies for extracted honey? 



7. What is a good way to winter bees in 

 damp, rainy, cool winters? 



8. Is it a good plan to scatter your hives, set 

 them in fives, or how would you advise so 

 that they can tell their own hives quickly? 



9. Have you any record of a bee disease 

 that invades the western beekeepers ( V\ ash- 

 ington) every few years, or is there no cer- 

 tain disease? WASHIAGTON. 



Answers. — 1. Select the colony that you 

 think has the best queen in the yard. Give it 

 brood, or brood and bees, from other colonies, 

 till you have a strong colony with a dozen or 

 more frames of brood. When a good flow of 

 honey is on, take two frames of brood with 

 adhering bees and the queen, and put in a 

 hive on a new stand. A lot of queen-cells will 

 be started in the queenlcss colony, and before 

 the oldest has time to hatch, say in about 10 

 days, divide the colony up into nuclei having 

 one or two broods in each nucleus. See that 

 each nucleus has a cell located near the mid- 

 dle of the brood-nest, and for this purpose you 

 will need to cut cells from some combs and 

 fasten them on others. If you are very suc- 

 cessful you ought to have a laying queen in 

 each nucleus in about a month from the time 

 you took the queen away. At the time of 

 breaking up the colony into nuclei it will be 

 well to let the hive containing the queen be 

 returned to its old stand, letting a nucleus 

 take the stand the queen has just left. 



2. The chief thing is to have an article well 

 ripened and of best quality. 



3. No, during hot weather and honey-flows; 

 yes, before and after. 



4. Do as directed in the answer to the first 

 question, and let each nucleus build up into a 

 colony. 



5. Put up a sign, 'Honey for Sale," and 

 let customers call for it; go to the homes 

 of customers with sample and take orders; or, 

 leave it at groceries, cither selling or trading 

 it outright, or letting it be sold on commis- 

 sion See quotations in bee journals for pres- 

 ent prices. 



6. Get all the information you can from 

 books on beekeeping, from bee journals and 

 from attendance at bee conventions, and then 

 from all this select the plan or plans that you 

 think best fitted to your conditions. 



7. The same as for any other winter. You 

 cannot tell in advance whether a winter will 

 be wet or dry, cold or hot — although winters 

 are not likely to be hot in your locality. 



8. Yes, the greater the dissimilarity in ap- 

 pearance the better; although for the con- 

 venience of the beekeeper I prefer regular 



