1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



187 



out. A small thick-walled hive, which 

 would just take easily three Hoffman 

 frames, was constructed. Into this 

 hive were placed two frames of hatch- 

 ing brood and one frame (in the mid- 

 dle) of young brood and honey, all 

 with adhering bees. Enough bees 

 were included to thickly cover all 

 three of the frames. Of course, care 

 was used not to take the queen from 

 the full colony. This three-frame 

 queenless nucleus was not set aside 

 to establish itself in the usual way. 

 That is, the entrance was screened 

 and the nucleus left in a cool shaded 

 place until the third day, when it was 

 set in the location desired and the en- 

 trance opened. Most of the bees re- 

 mained with the nucleus and by about 

 the fifth day the greater part of the 

 sealed brood had emerged so that the 

 little hive was crowded and running 

 over with bees — a large proportion 

 of them young bees. The older bees 

 were at work bringing in nectar and 

 some pollen. The middle frame, with 

 its young brood which had served to 

 start the little colony off right, was 

 now gently lifted up and the adher- 

 ing bees shaken down between the 

 other two frames. Any queen cells 

 started on this frame were destroyed 

 and it was returned to its original 

 hive. In its place in the little colony 

 were placed gi-afted queen-cell cups 

 on cell bars supported in a specially 

 prepared Hoffman frapie. The tops 

 of the frames were sprinkled with 

 thin syi-up and covered, and thus was 

 established the swarm-box hive — a 

 permanent cell starter. 



Once established, the swarm-box 

 lasts the whole queen-rearing season 

 through, and under proper manipula- 

 tion it will yield a daily quota of 80 

 per cent to 100 per cent of started 

 queen cells fi-om grafted cups. It 

 pi-oves to be practically as efficient as 

 the original swarm-box or the ideal 

 strong queenless colony, and, as will 

 be readily seen, it is much more eco- 

 nomical in the matter of time and 

 bees. In daily practice it is certainly 

 more dependable as a cell starter 

 Ihan the upper story of a queenright 

 colony separated from its brood- 

 chamber by a queen excluder. Mr. 

 Doolittle showed how such a colony 

 might be prepared for use both as a 

 cell starter and a cell finisher. Under 

 ideal conditions his plan with the 

 queenright colony does yield excel- 

 lent results. In practice day after 

 day, however, colonies kept by this 

 plan are apt to prove much more de- 

 pendable at cell finishing than at 

 cell starting. That is to say, they will 

 finish cells well that are already 

 started when they will not accept and 

 start a very large percentage of 

 freshly grafted queen-cell cups. Mi-. 

 Wing uses such colonies, therefore, 

 for finishing the queen cells that have 

 been started in his swarm-box hives. 

 After a little practice, it is easy to 

 keep the swarm-box hive in perfect 

 working order as a cell starter. We 

 may designate its two combs as No. 

 1 and No. 2. As soon as all the 

 brood has emerged from one of these 

 combs (say No. 1) this comb is lifted 

 up and its adhering bees shaken 



down into the box. The comb is 

 then taken to a strong colony (pi-ef- 

 erably from the colony from which 

 it was first obtained) and exchanged 

 for one of sealed brood that is 

 ■iiU'rged or almost ready to emerg'' 

 By this time part of the bees will 

 have emerged from comb No. 2 of the 

 swarm-box and the field bees will be 

 filling the newly vacated cells with 

 fresh nectar and pollen — the ideal 

 food for the nurse bees. During even 

 a very moderate or slow honeyflow, 

 the food presented the nurse bees in 

 this way is so abundant that feeding 

 is entirely unnecessai-y. During the 

 time of the manipulation when start- 

 ed cells are taken from the swarm- 

 box hive and newly grafted queen- 

 cell cups are being prepared for it, 

 the bees fill up on their freshly-stored 

 food so well that they are all ready 

 to cluster in masses on the queen 

 cups as soon as these are given, and 

 the nurse bees begin immediately to 

 furnish the little larvae with royal 

 jelly. If, for any reason, abundance 

 of new honey is not present during 

 the manipulation just described, the 

 tops of the frames should be sprinkled 

 with thin syrup when new queen cups 

 ai'e given. As the brood in the new 

 (omb, which was placed in the posi- 

 tion of No. 1, emerges, the bees will 

 begin storing vacated cells with nec- 

 tar so that there will be plenty of 

 fresh food in this comb by the time 

 it is necessary to take No. 2 away and 

 exchange it for a new frame of sealed 

 brood. By changing the frames al- 

 ternately and working thus as occa- 

 sion demands, the swarm-box hive 

 may be kept constantly in prime state 

 for cell starting as far as proper 

 food and abundance of bees are con- 

 cerned. 



In carrying out the above practice, . 

 however, care must be used to avoid 

 two other possible conditions which 

 could cause failure or partial failure. 

 First, in a yard where many virgins 

 are mating, it not too infrequently 

 happens that a young queen having 

 missed her own nucleus on returning 

 from a flight, approaches the swarm- 

 box hive and is accepted there. This 

 circumstance, of course, quickly 

 changes the functional attitude of 

 the entire unit of bees, and the 

 swarm-box hive vdll be a failure at 

 cell starting until the young queen is 

 removed. Trouble of this kind may 

 usually be avoided by fitting the en- 

 trance of the swarm-box hive with a 

 queen excluder. In the second case, 

 the bees sometimes find a young larva 

 and start a queen cell on one of the 

 newly introduced frames of sealed 

 brood. This will cause partial fail- 

 ure on the day after the cell was 

 started. On each succeeding day, if 

 this cell is not destroyed, fewer and 

 fewer grafted cell cups are likely to 

 be accepted by the bees until prac- 

 tical failure results. Trouble on this 

 account does not often arise. It may 

 be avoided entirely by examining the 

 frame of sealed brocfd again on the 

 second day after it has been given 

 to the swarm-box hive, and destroy- 

 ing any such cell before new queen- 

 cell cups are given. 



ARGENTINE ANTS 



By C. S. Ford 



Have just finished reading 

 "Glimpses of California Beekeeping," 

 by Bevan L. Hugh, in the March is- 

 sue. 



Argentine ants do not destroy 

 strong colonies, sometimes small nu- 

 clei. I have known a queen and es- 

 corts in mailing cage to stand them 

 off for hours. They go right over 

 crude oil, nectar flow or no nectar 

 flow. It is coal oil that stops them, 

 and then, if the coal oil is not at least 

 an inch deep, they bring little pieces 

 of rock and build a bridge. The flow 

 of nectar does not have anything to 

 do with it, as they live on other 

 things. They are very fond of 

 sweets, but dead bees and meat are 

 what will attract them most of all. I 

 have seen strong colonies brush aside 

 a dozen trains of ants and the colony 

 still keep right on working. The ants 

 are very small and light, and the 

 draft from the enti'ance blows them 

 away. However, why have ants at 

 all? 



These ants ti-avel in long trains and 

 pack food back to the young all day 

 long. Take a small stick or tooth- 

 pick and dip it in Kellogg's ant paste 

 and make two or three marks across 

 the line of march of the ants, and the 

 deed is done. Come back in an hour 

 and the ants are done for. If the 

 ants are on the hive and it is difficult 

 to find their main line of march on 

 account of the grass, take an old 

 queen cage, close it all up tight and 

 put in a little of Kellogg's ant paste; 

 the ants will go through the screen- 

 ing and the result is the same as 

 crossing their line. In the evening, 

 after the bees have gone in, draw a 

 few lines of the paste on side of the 

 hives, and you have same result. But 

 get this: Argentine ants do not hurt 

 strong colonies. 

 California. 



(In 1913 a bulletin of 98 pages was 

 issued by the Bureau of Entomology 

 at Washington, dealing with these 

 ants. Wilmon Newell and T. C. Bar- 

 ber, who made extended studies of 

 the species in the Southern States 

 were the authors. The following 

 statements are quoted from the above 

 publication : 



"The keeping of bees is made well 

 nigh impossible in sections heavily in- 

 fested by the Argentine ant. Single 

 colonies of ants often contain more 

 individuals than a colony of bees, and 

 in addition the colonies of ants are by 

 far the most numerous. The Argen- 

 tine ants are not only exceedingly 

 fond of honey, but they attack the 

 bee larvae in the cells with a ferocity 

 that is amazing. Thousands upon 

 thousands of the ants will enter the 

 hive, carrying away honey and at- 

 tacking the lai-vae. The bees are 

 themselves unable to cope with such 

 small enemies." 



"The number of apiaries destroyed 

 in southern Louisiana has been con- 

 siderable, and one of the first lines of 

 experimejital work was to devise some 



