1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



367 



does. We have had honey in the same pails 

 for as many as five years, and the tin was 

 as bright as new. However, there wotild be 

 rust in the joints of the tin, where t>'e iron 

 under it was exposed, if it was not fully sol- 

 rered. 



We had your experience exactly when we 

 tried to wash pails either before or aft^r using 

 them for honey. They rust readily then. The 

 tin which ts made nowadays does not com- 

 pare in quality with that of 50 years ago. 



Extractors — Removing Pollen 



1. Is the 25 M. D. P extractor . uitable for 

 extracting from full depth Modified Dadant 

 size aluminum honey combs? 



2. Would this extractor throw out all pollen 

 from cells? 



S.When the Deadman wet comb cleaner is 

 employed, if pollen were present in cells, 

 would pollen be cleaned out and stored in hive 

 of *'cleaned-up" colony ? 



4. Would pollen intermixed with honey re- 

 act chemically with it, or tend to produce a 

 change in its composition as catalyzers some- 

 times do. MINNESOTA. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, that extractor is of the 

 proper size for all frames 13J^ inches in depth, 

 or less, and of standard length. As to extract- 

 ing from aluminum combs, there should be no 

 difference in conditions between those and the 

 wax corahs. 



2. No extractor, as far as I know, ever threw 

 pollen out of combs. 



3. Pollen is never carried out by the bees. 

 as honey is. 



4: I have never known of pollen causing 

 any chemical reaction in honey, though it 

 might, perhaps, if it was in great amount di- 

 luted in the honey. We have never had any 

 trouble with it. except when bees fed on honey 

 containing many grains of it, are confined to 

 the hive for several weeks in winter. Then 

 the pollen consumed evidently loads their in 

 testines and causes diarrhea. 



Transferring in Virginia 



What is the latest date, in Virginia, that 

 one can drive bees into a new hive and they 

 will make honey enough to live through the 

 winter? VIRGINIA. 



Auswer. — The latest date, at which bees can 

 make enough honey to winter, depends upon 

 the blossoms of the locality. If you have 

 asters, goldenrod, boneset, etc., in your vi- 

 cinity, the bees may make enough to winter 

 after the first of August. But if you live in 

 a location where the tulip tree and white clover 

 are the only sources of honey, your bees will 

 make but little honey after the 15th of July. 



The proper time to transfer bees from box 

 hives or gums into movable-frame hives is the 

 spring, just about the time of fruit bloom. At 

 that time there is the least honey in the combs, 

 and yet the crop is only a few days away. 



Vinegar From Honey 



I have about 50 5-pound pails of last year's 

 honey on hand, and I fin . that some of it is be- 

 ginning to ferment. 



Can I make it into vinegar, and if so, how 

 shall I go about it to do it? 



I did not extract until real late in the fall, 

 and thought it would be all right, although a 

 few comos were not well filled and capped. 

 and some others only partly capped. IOWA. 



Answer. — Yes, you can readily make vinegar 

 out of that honey. It takes from 1^ to 2 

 pounds of honey for each gallon of water. We 

 find that it is better that it should be *'eated. 

 to kill the very diverse germs in the honey. 

 Then mix with the liquid a small portion of 

 fruit juice, after the honey is sufficiently 

 cooled. An alcoholic fermentation will begin 

 which will soon change into acetic, especially 

 if you mix some vinegar or vinegar mother 



with the liquid after the first boiling. The 

 more air it gets, the quicker tli; acetic fer- 

 mentation will come. 



If you do not care to make so much vinegar. 

 you may be able to save a part of that honey. 

 That which is at the bottom of the pails is 

 bound to be thicker and better. So you may 

 use only the thin honey for vinegar, then melt 

 the other slowly over hot water, which will 

 help evaporate any ferment that may exist in 

 it. Do not heat it over 160 degrees. You will 

 find it much thicker than before, after it 

 cools down, for some of the moisture it con- 

 tains will evaporate during the heating. 



You may make vinegar out of a liquid con- 

 taining only 1 pound of honey to the gallon, 

 but we have never thought it w..s strong 

 enough. 



Dead Brood — Miscellaneous Ques- 

 tions 



1. Is ther ever any dead brood in a healthy 

 colony not affected with foulbrood? 



2. When i^ the best time to requeen or 

 Italianize? 



What plan would you recommend for trans- 

 ferring a colony from an old box hive, and 

 what time of year? 



4 When there is some dead brood that is 

 about ready to emerge, is there danger of dis- 

 ease of any kind? 



5. Is there any kind of disease that affects 

 the brood when it is almost ready to emerge? 

 MISSOURI. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, there may be tarved 

 brood or chilled brood. In either case, it usu- 

 ally dies in large patches, all at one time, 

 while the brood which has died from foulbrood 

 dies in irregular spots, one here and one there, 

 till all are dead, but at different stages of 

 growth. 



2. Requeen or Italianize at any time during 

 the summer. It is better to do it during the 

 honey crop, because at that time the bees ac- 

 cept a new queen more willingly. 



3 It would take several pages to give ex- 

 plicit instructions on transferring bees. It 

 had best be done in spring at the time of full 

 bloom of fruit. But it may be done at any 

 time if you do not care to save the combs. 



4 and 5. American foulbrood attacks brood 

 after it is sealed in the cell, but not when it 

 is "just ready to emerge." Get a text book 

 and learn to recognize the difference between 

 the different brood diseases. 



Getting Bees From Trees 



The writer has just come into possession of 

 a piece of country property which has six colo- 

 nies of yellow bees (the oldest 3 years old) in 

 large oak shade trees, which to cut down 

 would hurt the appearance of the grove. Scaf- 

 folds can be built so as to cut into hollow of 

 tree and get the honey. I would like very 

 much to drive the bees into hives and try to 

 save them. Will you please refer this letter 

 to the right department with request that I be 

 advised as to best way to get bees into hive 

 and whether or not July 15 will be too late for 

 them to be transferred? ALABAMA. 



Answer. — It is difficult to advise correctly, as 

 we are not acquainted with the position of the 

 bees, height of tree at the hole, etc. Assum- 

 ing, however, that the bees are within reach 

 with an ordinary scaffold or table. I would ad- 

 vise that you cut a hole above the swarm. The 

 hole through which they enter is usually at 

 tlie base, but if the swarm should be below the 

 entrance, then cut the hole at the lowest point, 

 where the swarm is, so as to have one hole 

 above and one oelow. 



Then, with a bee smoker, drive the bees out 

 by forcing smoke at the lower hole. If you 

 do it right, by not giving too much smoke at 

 first, and if you place a hive above the upper 

 hole, the bees will crawl out in mass and 



will readily cluster in the hive in question, pro- 

 vided the smoke does not also enter it, 



After driving the bees, open the cavity, re- 

 move the combs and fasten into frames, for 

 the use of the bees, all the worker brood and 

 as much of the honey as may' be handled un- 

 broken. With this method, if the weather is 

 not too hot for handling the combs, you may 

 transfer the bees into good hives, with enough 

 honey to winter them. W« cannot advise you 

 as to the best time to do it, as we are not ac- 

 quainted with the best honey season of your 

 locality. 



Requeening 



I have been attempting for two years to re- 

 queen some colonies of hybrid bees which I 

 have with Golden Italians, but they are very 

 defiant and obstinate in the matter and kill 

 the new nueen each time. 



I have your book, "One Thousand Questions 

 and Answers," and have followed all the differ- 

 ent methods very closely and carefully, out 

 cannot have them accepted successfully. I have 

 twenty colonies which I wish to requeen in an 

 outyard, and have a few fine golden ones in 

 my back yard in the city, from which I expect 

 to raise the queens to requeen the outyard. 



After raising the queens and having them 

 mated in the nucleus hive, could I shake the 

 adhering bees from the brood frames in hives 

 in the outyard and then add these frames to the 

 nucleus? Of course, I would close the en- 

 trance to a small opening for some time. I 

 would place the hybrid bees on empty comb 

 in same hive as before and place on the old 

 stand. In three weeks I could repeat this op- 

 eration and place these frames'in another hive 

 body and place this body over the nucleus, and 

 in this way could have a populous colony for 

 winter. I have plenty of frames of honey to 

 add for winter feeding in case of no fall flow. 

 I run the hybrids for extracted honey ttiis 

 year and have about 150 full-depth frames full. 

 I also have a good cellar in which to winter 

 them. If I wished, I could let the hybrids die 

 this winter if I succeeded in this plan. vVhat 

 do you think of this plan? 



Could I do the following, if I do not suc- 

 ceed in raising enough queens of my own. 

 purchase new queens and release them from 

 their cage on a full frame of hatching brood 

 from the hybrids, with all adhering bees 

 brushed off, and place this frame in a hive- 

 body over a colony with a screen between 

 them so they will be kept warm for a week or 

 so and then lemove to a stand of its own and 

 then proceed as above? OHIO. 



Answed. — If I understand you correctly, 

 what you propose to do, instead of introducing 

 queens, is to strengthen the nucleus in which 

 such queen is reared until it makes a good 

 colony. That is ill right and very practical. 



The releasing of queens on frames of hatch- 

 ing brood is also very practical. The method 

 of introduction used by most people by caging 

 the new queen after killing the old one and 

 keeping the new nueen between two frames 

 of brood for 2 days is quite simple. But since 

 you do not appear to succeed with it, the meth- 

 ods you suggest will both do. 



Keeping Comb Honey 



Is is necessary to treat comb honey, if kept 

 in a room where there are no fiies or millers, 

 and if nothing shows up -n the way of moths 

 after it has been off the hives for two or three 

 weeks? 



What about using the meth :1 of G. H. Cale. 

 explained in the July number of the American 

 Bee Journal? Would carbon bisulphide be 

 all right to use in that case? 1% there any 

 danger of it coloring the honey combs as there 

 is from the smoke of sulphur settling on them? 



I haven't a large stock of como honey, but 

 am selling some to private customers which 

 they will keep for many months, and don't 

 want moths to hatch out in it after it leaves 

 my hands. SOUTH DAKOTA. 



Answer. — It is always best to fumigate comb 

 honey after it is removed from the hive , al- 

 though if it is taken from a strong colony 

 and placed away from exposure to moths with- 

 out delay, there may be but very little danger 



