1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



185 



Heads of Grain 



from Different Fields 



Getting Rid of Dark Honey in Bait Sections. 



When putting my colonies into the cellar for win- 

 ter I removed the supers, intending to put them 

 back on in spring. On examination I found the 

 sections partly filled with very dark honey, w hich, 

 if put on, would spoil the first crop of sections next 

 summer. Would these be fit to use again if left to 

 the bees In soring to be emptied, and stored in the 

 brood-chamber, which would Insure plenty of food? 

 Any information will be esteemed a favor. 



Novice. 



[This question was referred to Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 who replies:] 



It would be a nice thing if you could put on the 

 super in the spring, and count on the bees to empty 

 out all the dark honey before tilling the sections 

 again. But they will hardly do that unless the 

 brood-chamber be emptier of stores than is advisa- 

 ble. They seem to think that the super is the prop- 

 er place for some extra honey, and will be slow 

 about cleaning it out unless hard driven for stores. 



If you set the supers out in the open, the bees will 

 rob out the honey; but they will also tear the sec- 

 tions — that is, the comb— to pieces. To avoid that, 

 you must cover up the supers and allow an en- 

 trance for only one bee at a time. If there are 

 many supers in the pile, allow such an entrance for 

 every three or four supers. Your neighbors' bees, 

 however, may get the lion's share. If there is dan- 

 ger of that, start the bees at work in the evening. 

 Put one or more sections at the entrance of one or 

 more hives, and, when covered with bees, remove 

 to the pile. That ought to start the work. Then 

 after flying has ceased in the evening, or before it 

 starts next morning, remove the supers or close up 

 tight, and expose again next evening, just before 

 fiying stops. Or you may extract most of the hon- 

 ey, leaving the bees to do the final cleaning A 

 special holder may be made to hold the sections in 

 the extractor: or you may get along with merely a 

 frame two inches wide to hold the sections. But 

 you must handle them carefully so they will not 

 tumble out. In any case, there is danger that some 

 of the honey is candied, and it is possible that the 

 best thing may be to melt the sections, lifting cflf 

 the cake of wax when cold. Next time be sure to 

 get such sections cleaned out in the fall, before the 

 honey candles. C. C. Miller. 



Rearing Good Queens in March in Texas ; Making 

 Increase for an April Flow. 



I intend to rear a few queens in March, but I do 

 not know whether I can rear good ones so early; 

 therefore I have decided to ask you a few questions: 



1. On Jan. 28 my bees began to gather pollen. Do 

 you think I can rear good queens in March by put- 

 ting one story of sealed brood on a strong colony, 

 and, ten days later, removing the queen and giving 

 them a comb with young larvae from my best 

 queen, as Dr. Miller describes in his "Forty Years 

 Among the Bees," and trim the comb as he does? 

 In addition to this I wish to feed them half a pint 

 of thin syrup every night. 



2. If I begin to teed my bees now, will it be possible 

 to make two colonies from one by the Alexander 

 plan and have them strong enough for the first 

 honey-flow, which comes in April? 



Brenham, Texas. J. R. Kubitza. 



[This was referred to Dr. Miller, who replies:] 

 1. You ought to be able to rear fine queens in that 

 way, but likely you have set the date rather early. 

 No amount of feeding can get you In much ahead 

 of the usual time when bees prepare queen-cells for 

 swarming. Likely you will find the mo.st difiicult 

 part the getting of the right kind of a comb from 

 your best queen. If you take an old comb you will 

 probably get but few cells started on it — possibly 

 none, for the bees will be just as likely to start cells 

 on any other comb in the hive. But if you have the 

 young and tender comb, as described In my " Forty 

 Years," there will be no cells worth minding any- 

 where except on that one comb. So you must try 

 to get that comb started some time In advance. If 



you have your best queen in a strong colony, and 

 give an empty frame with mere starters, you will, 

 as likely as not, have the frame filled with drone 

 comb. You can avoid that, of course, by giving a 

 fiame filled with worker foundation; but you will 

 have better results by taking away most of the 

 combs from your best colony. If they have only 

 three or four frames of brood, and an empty frame 

 be put In the midst, you may count on the prompt 

 building of just the kind of comb you want. If the 

 bees are getting natural stores, the feeding you 

 mention will not make any difference. 



2. The probability is that you will find the plan 

 for early increase a dead failure with you. It is 

 easy, however, (or you to make a trial of it with one 

 or two colonies, and then you will know better than 

 any one could tell you. C. C. Miller. 



Feeding Molasses and Sugar in North Carolina. 



To prevent bees from robbing each other when 

 being fed is a serious matter. I have some colonies 

 that must be fed not later than February 15, and 

 P'lsslbly before then, and I dread it, because of sud- 

 den changes in temperature. After a few warm 

 days there may be cold north winds; and If there Is 

 no honey-flow it is necessary to keep up feeding aft- 

 er it Is once begun. Would it be safe to feed sugar- 

 cane syrup or molasses, diluted with sugar (gran- 

 ulated) and water to be equal in density to 3 parts 

 sugar and 2 water? Would it be less exciting to the 

 bees? 



How many pounds of sugar would be required to 

 make, say, twenty pounds of sealed stores, such as 

 bees need for winter food? 



Honda, N. C. J. R. Bryant. 



[If you have much trouble from robbers while 

 feeding, feed toward night or after the bees have 

 stopped flying; and do not give any more feed than 

 the bees can take up in one night. For your pur- 

 pose we would use a Doolittle division-board feed- 

 er, or a bread-pan and cheese-cloth, placed In a su- 

 per or upper story above the frames. In any event 

 we would not use an entrance feeder; and it Is bet- 

 ter not to use even an Alexander feeder, because 

 the odor of the syrup so near the outside of the 

 hive would have a tendency to attract robbers. 



We have had no experience In feeding a combina- 

 tion of molasses and a syrup made of granulated 

 sugar and water. If your bees can fly during the 

 time they are fed we would use the cheaper feed or 

 molasses: for we assume that a syrup made of gran- 

 ulated sugar would be more expensive than the un- 

 refined molasses direct from the sugar-cane. If, 

 however, you wish to make a mixture of the two, 

 we would prepare the granulated-sugar syrup so 

 that Its body or consistency would be the same as 

 that of molasses — that is, mix the sugar and 

 water, two parts of sugar to one of water; then stir 

 the two syrups together. 



As to how many pounds of granulated sugar it 

 would take to make 20 lbs. of sealed stores, this de- 

 pends, A good deal would depend on how thick 

 the syrup was when it was fed. A syrup of two 

 parts sugar to one of water, when fed to the bees 

 and capped over In the combs, has shown a loss of 

 about ten per cent. In other words, for about ev- 

 ery 10 lbs. of two-to-one svrup fed, you might expect 

 about 9 lbs. of sealed stores; or, again. 6/^ lbs. of 

 granulated sugar would make about 9 lbs. of stores 

 when sealed. If you fed a syrup of equal parts of 

 water and sugar the loss due to the expulsion of 

 water would be much greater of course — just how 

 much we can not say.— Ed.] 



The Proper Paint for Hives. 



Several articles have appeared relative to paint- 

 ing hives; and as I have had twenty-two years of 

 experience, sixteen of which was house and ship 

 painting, I will offer a few suggestions. 



To get the best results when no color is used, mix 

 carefully 80 lbs. of pure white lead and 20 lbs. of the 

 best American zinc. Put the Japan (not patent 

 drier) in with the lead and zinc, and mix all togeth- 

 er with a small portion of oil to make a stiff batter. 

 The zinc is light er than the lead, and it will require 

 considerable mixing to have the materials blend 

 well. For this amount of material, use one quart 

 of good Japan, and thin with pure raw linseed oil, 

 using about four gallons to the hundred. Boiled 

 oil should not be used, as manganese is used 

 form the drier, and this is destrvictive to the 

 ment. If the painting is done close to salt wate/ 



