634 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



KlcBSKil^ ®{f (^[PSiDm (F[P(i)DDO [EniJlfcgD^cimll \FmM 



When to Ship Full Colonies; Fat versus Slender 

 Queens ; When does Supersedure Occur ? Send- 

 ing Queen-eggs by Mail for Grafting, etc. 



1. What time oJ the year is best to ship full colo- 

 nies of bees ? how best to prepare for shipment ? 



2. Are drones reared from pure queens that mat- 

 ed with black or hybrid drones pure ? If so, why 

 are they darker in color than pure drones ? 



3. If it Is necessary to have a good flow of honey 

 coming in to rear good queens, why do the bees al- 

 ways wait until alter the flow to supersede their 

 queens ? 



4. Which will give the most surplus honey where 

 you have to build your combs — when all colonies 

 are strong, take half of them and shake bees and 

 queens into empty hives with starters or full sheets 

 of foundation, taking their brood and combs to the 

 remaining half, to be filled as fast as the brood 

 hatches, or take the queens from the whole num- 

 ber and put them below ex<luders on foundation? 



5. Can I use thin super foundation one inch wide 

 in brood-frames, without trouble ? 



6. Are not queens with abdomens with plump fat 

 bodies better than those having long slender slate- 

 pencil-like bodies? I notice that all of my queens 

 reared by up-to-date methods are shaped like the 

 latter; and those reared naturally are shaped like 

 the first named. 



7. Why do queens reared from a purely mated 

 queen vary in color ? 



8. Can fresh-laid eggs be kept away from the bees 

 four days and then be given back if not allowed to 

 get too warm or too cold ? 



Keysville, Va., Aug. 18. S. H. Crymes. 



1. There is no particular time of the year that is 

 more advantageous than another, except that it is 

 wise to avoid very cold and extiemely warm weath- 

 er. The spring of the year, or early summer, is a 

 good time, because the hives are light in stores and 

 the weather Is favorable. During .July and August 

 the weather is liable to be quite warm. The fall 

 months are very good, but hives then are often 

 heavy with stores. This increases the express rates 

 and the liability of comb-breakage. 



2. According to the Dzierzon theory, the drones 

 reared from pure queens mated with black or hy- 

 brid drones would be pure. We did not know be- 

 fore that such drones would be darker in color than 

 drones from a queen mated with a pure drone. We 

 doubt if it is true. 



3. It is not true, according to our experience and 

 observation, that the " bees always wait until after 

 the How to sup. rsede their queens." As a general 

 thing, bees will start supersedure cells at any time 

 of the year when queens begin to show signs of 

 failure, or after a period when the queen has been 

 doing extremely heavy work. It transpires, there- 

 fore, according to our observation and experience, 

 that supersedure takes place during the honey- 

 flow: but the fact does not become known to the 

 apiarist until after the honey-flow. This possibly 

 accounts tor your mistake. Supersedure cells that 

 are built during the honey-flow might be mistaken 

 for natural swarm ing-cells. While both such cells 

 are exactly alike, the cause that starts the one is 

 different fmm the cause that starts the other. 

 And. again, it is not essential to have a good flow 

 of honey in order to rear good queens. Just as 

 good or better queens can be reared under the im- 

 pulse of vrie/i'/.ffe feeding. The amount of food giv- 

 en during feeding can be rontr'li'-<i to a nicety, 

 while the amount of food tha^ comes in from a nat- 

 ural honey-flow can not. A heavy honey-flow al- 

 ways stops queen-rearing, while a light one. i/con- 

 tini'ons, win give just as good results as scientific 

 feeding. 



4. We don't know that we can answer this ques-. 

 tion, as so much depends upon conditions. Gene- 

 rally speaking, convenience would favor the sec- 

 ond plan, as it could be more easily carried out. 



5. Yes. 



6. There is a difference of opinion on this point. 

 We don't think that the shape of the queen's body, 

 or abdomen, has so much to do with her egg-laying 

 as the -size of it. Eastern races of bees have uueens 

 with long slender slatepencil-like bodies. Nearly 

 all of these queens are very prolific. Another 

 thing, up-to-date methods of queen-rearing have 

 very little to do with the shape of queens' bodies. 



The strain of bees used — or, rather, the breeder 

 used — is the real factor that decides this. 



7. While the bees of a pure Italian queen may be 

 uniformly marked, the queens and drones from 

 such queens may vary considerably. Some queens, 

 however, will rear uniformly marked queens, as 

 well as uniformly marked bees ; but yet such 

 queens are no better nor purer than the other type 

 just mentioned. But queen-breeders as a general 

 thing prefer queens that rear uniformly marked 

 daughters — not because they are purer, but because 

 the public demands the yellow-all-ov( r queens. 



8 Yes. It has been done a good many times. 

 Fresh eggs have often been sent by mail some three 

 or four hundred miles, and, when grafted into cells 

 at the end of destination, rear good queens. Some 

 breeders, quite a number of years ago. used to do 

 quite a little business in selling fresh eggs in little 

 patches of combs. The practice has been generally 

 abandoned because of so many failures. — Ed.1 



The Heddon Method of Transferring; Questions 

 Concerning Eight v. Ten Frame Hives. 



Is there any new method of transferring better 

 than the Heddon? 



Is there any better way to requeen a colony that 

 has been queenless for some time, and will not 

 unite with nuclei, than to give them a frame of 

 brood and eggs to raise one, shaking ovit bees and 

 queen from a box hive on to full sheets of wired 

 foundation, putting the box on top of the hive, 

 with a queen-excluder between? Will the bees un- 

 cap the honey and put it below where the queen is, 

 or will they require feeding vintil brood is hatched 

 out in the box hive? There is very little coming in 

 now. CJoldenrod and buckwheat will soon be in 

 bloom here. Clover and basswood are not half a 

 crop here, on account of drouth. 



What hive do you consider best for comb honey — 

 the eight or ten frame ? Does it pay as well as ex- 

 tracted ? 



In buying Italian queens would you advise get- 

 ting tested or untested ? 



Aylmer, Ont., Aug. 4. R. H. Lindsay. 



[We know of no better method for transferring 

 than the Heddon. Late in the fall or early in the 

 spring it is advisable to cut out the combs and in- 

 sert them in the frames by the directions given in 

 our standard text books. 



Under the conditions named we would advise 

 giving the colony a ripe cell if you can find one. If 

 none are to be had, give the bees a frame of young 

 larva' and let them rear a queen of their own. 



The bees probably would not carry the honey 

 from the box hive down into the lower one. They 

 might do so, however, if you could uncap the 

 combs: but when they are in a box hive, of covirse 

 you can not do that. As soon as the brood hatches 

 out we would advise cutting combs out, extract 

 them piece by piece, or mash them up and squeeze 

 out the honey, and then feed the honey to the bees 

 in the lower hive, with frames of foundation, until 

 some of the combs are drawn out and brood started. 



As a general thing we recommend ten-frame 

 hives in place of the eight-frame. It is much bet- 

 ter for your climate, and sometimes will produce 

 more comb honey than the eight-frame. For ex- 

 tracted honey it is certainly ahead of the eight- 

 frame hive. 



As a matter of economy, it Is cheaper to buy un- 

 tesced Italian queens of some standard breeder, for 

 probably 9o per cent of the untested will prove to 

 be purely mated. For this time of the year (Au- 

 gust), a young queen is far better than a tested one 

 that is probably a year old.— Ed.] 



Ants, while Not Troubling the Bees, are a Nuisance 

 to the Bee-keeper. 



I am annoyed by tiny black ants congregating 

 with their cocoons under the covers of some of my 

 hives. 1 have a painted cloth between the frames 

 and the cover, and the ants are on top of the cloth. 

 They do not go into the hives: but as soon as I 

 raise the cover they run all over my hands. I have 

 used fine salt, sprinkled on the cloth, which often 

 drives them away, but not always. They are par- 

 ticularly bad this year. Can you tell me whether 

 " Avenarius carbolineura " would be objectionable 



