1911 



GLEANINGS EST BEE CULTURE 



151 



Comb-honey Separators of Perforated Galvanized 

 Iron. 



Instead of wire-cloth separators in comb-honey 

 supers, why not use separators made of galvanized 

 Iron, the spaces punched out, for which an Inex- 

 pensive machine could be used? I should think 

 they could be made cheaper than of wire cloth, and 

 be easier to clean when necessary. 



Fredericktown, Mo., Jan. 18. J. Backler. 



[A few years ago perforated metal separators were 

 discussed to a considerable extent in these pages, 

 and many thousands of them were sold, and used 

 by bee-keepers, especially in Great Britain; but in 

 late years, on account of their coldness, wooden 

 separators or fence separators have very largely ta- 

 ken their place. A wire-cloth separator does not 

 have the same body of metal for the surface that a 

 perforated metal separator has, and, consequently, 

 it is not as objectionable from the standpoint of 

 cold. From our general observation of the use of 

 the two kinds of separators it is our opinion that 

 the wire-cloth separators are so -far ahead of the 

 perforated metal ones that the latter ought not to 

 be considered at all. — Ed.] 



The Shaken-swarm Plan Without Increase. 



Here is a plan for preventing increase on which I 

 should like your opinion: Having all hives set in 

 pairs during fruit-bloom, place a super of sections 

 on each one, allowing the bees to draw out the 

 foundation. At the beginning of the clover flow 

 place a third hive between each two, putting the 

 two supers on it. Then shake the bees and queen 

 from hive No. 1 before the entrance of this third 

 hive, as well as all the bees from No. 2 except one 

 frame, with the adhering bees and queen. Place 

 this frame of bees and queen from No, 2 back in its 

 own hive, and set this hive away, putting a queen- 

 excluder over it, and then hive No. 1, with all its 

 brood, on top, all unsealed brood to be placed be- 

 low the excluder, and the sealed above, the object 

 of this being to get the upper hive ready for remov- 

 al as soon as possible. 



Would not this last colony build up very quickly? 

 and should there not be enough bees to take care of 

 the brood? A double hive of brood should make a 

 rousing colony. 



The shaken swarm, having practically all the 

 bees from two hives, ought to do well. If I am 

 wrong, please let me know; but the plan appears 

 very simple to me, and one that promises much. I 

 use Danzenbaker hives. 



Frankfort, N. Y. W. E. Bennett. 



[The plan you propose is feasible, except that 

 there will be danger that the brood in No. 1, moved 

 to a new location, would become chilled on account 

 of the lack of sufficient bees to take care of it. If, 

 however, when the flow opens up, the nights are 

 hot the young hatching bees will take care of the 

 unsealed brood in the lower story. It would be far 

 better for you to put In No. 1 more bees if you wish 

 to carry out the plan. 



Yes, colony No. 1 will build up very rapidly after 

 the young bees begin to hatch, and the hive on the 

 old stand ought to do well also. As a general thing, 

 however, you would do better to follow some one 

 of the plans for shaking laid down in our text-books, 

 or, better, try your plan and one of these others, and 

 compare results. — Ed.] 



Bees Clustering Below the Frames in Outdoor 

 Wintering. 



On page 32, Jan. 15, Dr. Miller says the colonies 

 which look "goodest" to him in his cellar are those 

 which cluster below the bottom-bars, etc. The edi- 

 tor answers this by saying that in outdoor winter- 

 ing if the entrance is of the usual size the bees would 

 hug up against the top of the hive. My experience 

 with some of my colonies this winter convinces me 

 that there are exceptions to this rule. Every fort- 

 night or so I take a stove-hook and push it into the 

 entrances of my colonies to rake out the dead bees. 

 I have 20 colonies, 18 packed in leaves with tar-pa- 

 per covering, and 2 which I bought later are news- 

 paper wrapped with a grocery box telescoped over 

 them. Each time when I did this cleaning, in 3 of 

 these 20 colonies I pulled out iire bees with the dead 

 ones. I can't see the cluster in those covered with 

 tar-paper, becau-se of the air-space between the same 

 and the entrance further in; but the one packed in- 



dependently, with an entrance % x 4 (which I think 

 is a usual one) has the cluster directly in front over 

 the entrance clear down to the bottom-board. It was 

 there when I purchased them early in December, 

 and has remained there until now. This is a 1910 

 swarm, in fine shape when I bought them in a ten- 

 frame hive filled full of honey. I conclude that the 

 two packed under the tar paper have the cluster in 

 the sajne position. The entrances there are about 

 ^ x3 inches. 



Ashton, 111., Jan. 23. Rev. Geo. A. Waltek. 



[A good deal wlil depend on the temperature out- 

 side when you rake the dead bees out of the en- 

 trance. The average position for a cluster of bees 

 for outdoor-wintered colonies is in the front part of 

 the hive and directly over the entrance. As the 

 weather warms up, the cluster will naturally ex- 

 pand, reaching down to and possibly coming in con- 

 tact with the bottom-board. It is presumable that 

 you would not attempt to rake out the dead bees 

 on the coldest days, but only during moderate 

 weather. If so, it is not at all surprising that you 

 would rake out some live bees. We would not sup- 

 pose that you would care to disturb the bees in zero 

 weather, and hence we assume that the time for 

 raking out the bees would be when the weather had 

 moderated. — Ed.] 



Number of Bees in a Quart; When to sow Buck- 

 wheat. 



I have had quite a curiosity to know how many 

 bees there are in a full-sized swarm. A day after 

 some very cold weather it was warm enough for the 

 bees to clean house, and from one hive abovit half a 

 pint of dead bees were carried out; and on making 

 a count I found there were 737, which would be 

 nearly 1500 bees to the pint, or about 3000 to the 

 quart. When I examined the dead bees I found 

 that not many of them were bloated. 



What kind of meal is best to use for artificial pol- 

 len? We never have enough natural pollen; and 

 when should this artificial pollen be supplied? 



How late can buckwheat be sown for honey? I 

 care nothing for the grain. It is the blossoms I 

 want. 



By looking at the map I find that our location 

 here is a little south of Medina, so the weather con- 

 ditions must be very nearly the same so far as tem- 

 perature is concerned. 

 Goodland, Ind. Dr. M. L. Humston. 



[Your count of the number of bees in a pint or 

 quart is about right according to the count made 

 by our Mr. A. I. Root many years ago. A quart of 

 bees weighs ahout Ji of a pound. We figure in 

 round numbers that 5000 bees make a pound. 



Theoretically the best meal to feed for artificial 

 pollen is a pea or bean meal, because both are rich 

 in nitrogen; but for all practical purposes a coarse- 

 ly ground rye flovir answers very well. Usually 

 this will have to be fed outdoors from trays where 

 the sun strikes it. As a general thing it is not prac- 

 ticable to give a nitrogenous food in the hive ex- 

 cept by giving the bees a candy made of meal and 

 granulated sugar. Rye meal in trays should be 

 given if the weather warms up suddenly and there 

 are no natural sources of pollen. When bees need 

 pollen they will be found frequenting stables and 

 chicken-houses, or a place where mixed chop feed 

 is given; but as a general thing nature supplies 

 pollen about as soon as the bees can use it to ad- 

 vantage. Ordinarily we do not fuss to give artificial 

 pollen. 



We have sown buckwheat as late as Aug. 15, and 

 secured a good crop of seed. If one does not care 

 for the seed, and is willing to risk an early frost, he 

 can sow as late as Sept. 1. or possibly as late as the 

 15th. Much will depend on the locality. Buck- 

 wheat is a rapid grower; but if it should be touched 

 by a frost it would be well to plo v it under imme- 

 diately; for the wilted stalks do not do very much 

 good to the soil.— Ed.] 



Reo Runabout for the Apiary. 



On reading your article about the Rears automo- 

 bile I decided to drop you a line. I have a smgle- 

 cylinder Reo Runabout that I find very handy for 

 bee-work. I can put on 400 lbs. behind the seat and 

 make 25 miles an hour. I have made 175 miles In a 

 day. „ 



La SaUe.LCoL. Jan. 25. W. T. Brand. 



