1S07 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



417 



J. 37., Flii.—Wa should be glad to hear from 

 you further in regard to how you cured bee- 

 paralysis; but, as you know, this disease very 

 often goes away itself, and comes back again 

 in some mysterious way which no one can ex- 

 plain. We should be very much inclined to 

 question whether you have a remedy which is 

 infallible. 



G. W. M., Pa.— It is the usual rule among 

 some honey-producers to kill all queens over 

 two years old, as it has been found more profit- 

 able to do so. \oung queens are more prolific, 

 and consequently the colonies are stronger, and 

 strong colonies mean honey; but where a 

 queen-breeder has a valuable queen as a breed- 

 er, it is usual to keep her just as long as she 

 will live, as her daughters of the last year are 

 just as good as the daughters raised during the 

 first year. 



C. H. P., Xeb.— We can not explain why the 

 bees should be robbing the colony if, as you 

 say, it is strong and the entrance contracted so 

 that only two or three bees can pass at a time. 

 Possibly they are black bees. Such bees usu- 

 ally do not make a very good defense. If you 

 can put in a frame of hatching brood from a 

 pure Italian queen, shortly after the young 

 Italians hatch out, they will begin to defend 

 the entrance. Italian bees are very much bet- 

 ter than black or hybrid for defense. 



M. D., Ohio.— It will be a good plan to cut out 

 all queen-cells just before swarming-time, be- 

 fore putting on the supers. Some cage their 

 queens at that time and then cut out the cells 

 again. This effectually prevents swarming, 

 and at the same time puts the bees into that 

 condition where they will keep on storing hon- 

 ey in the supers. If the bees swarm out from 

 under the super, you can take the queen out, 

 as you suggest, or you can cage her; but you 

 will need to cut out the cells in about eight or 

 nine days, otherwise they will swarm out as 

 soon as one of these cells hatches. To make 

 sure that you miss no cells, shake the bees all 

 oflf the combs, and then scan them very care- 

 fully, destroying all cells that you discover. 



C. H., Miyin.—lt is quite a common practice 

 to hive two swarms in one hive, especially if 

 both are not quite as strong as the average, Of 

 course, one of the two queens will be killed. It 

 very often happens during swarming time that 

 several swarms will come out at once, and then 

 when they cluster together in one place It is the 

 practice to take out enough to make one swarm 

 and put them into a hive, and then another, 

 and so on until there are as many swarms as 



originally came out into the air. When they 

 unite in this way there is no fighting; but there 

 is a liability of there being a loss of some of the 

 queens, owing to the fact that one or more 

 queens may got into one bunch of bees and be 

 put into the same hive. 



C. P., ^riz.— The only satisfactory way to 

 disinfect hives in which there has been foul 

 brood is to immerse them in boiling water and 

 keep them there for a few seconds. Some have 

 advocated smearing the inside of the hive with 

 kerosene, and then touching a match to it, and 

 letting the fire char the inside out; but this 

 blackens and disfigures the inside of the hive. 

 For further particulars regarding foul brood, 

 see the article under that head in our ABC 

 book. 



C. R. B., 0.— Twenty- five colonies of bees at 

 $1.00 apiece is very low, and I do not see why it 

 would not be a good bargain for you to take up 

 with— that is, providing you have had experi- 

 ence, as you say you have. You will find very 

 full particulars in regard to shipping bees un- 

 der the head of " Moving Bees," in the ABC 

 book, which you have just purchased. The 

 frames or combs in the hives should be held se- 

 curely in position by sticking up. If they are 

 not already fast. It is best to remove the cover 

 of the hive and tack mosquito-netting over the 

 top, or, better yet, wire cloth. The entrance 

 should be closed. The hives themselves should 

 be set upon loose straw in the bottom of the 

 car, with the frames running' parallel with the 

 rails of the track. If they are crosswise there 

 is a liability of the combs breaking out when 

 the car bumps against another. 



M. B., Texas. — Referring to the short method 

 of transferring, as given in our catalog and our 

 ABC book, I would state that queen-cells, 

 of course, will start in the old hive having the 

 remnant of bees to take care of the brood. If 

 you wish to prevent these from making any 

 trouble at the last shaking out, in about eight 

 days drum the bees out again, cut out the comb, 

 and then destroy what cells may be built. 

 These loose pieces of comb you can put on top 

 of the colony that has been transferred and is 

 in the new hive. When the brood hatches out, 

 remove these pieces of comb and render them 

 into wax; but it will do no harm, ordinarily, to 

 let the cells be completed and hatch out young 

 queens. At the end of three weeks, in this 

 case, drum all the bees out; and if there are any 

 young queens they will go into the new hive. 

 Either the old queen and bees will kill the 

 young queens or else one of the young queens 

 will supersede the old queen. In either case 

 the result will be that only one will be left, all 

 the others being destroyed. When colonies are 

 transferred from box hives, the probabilities 

 are that the bees will be blacks or hybrids, and 

 the young queens would not be very valuable. 



