Gleanings in Bee Culture 



movements. A colony was split into five 

 parts, the old queen and a frame of brood 

 being left on the old stand as one part. 

 The cage method of introduction was fol- 

 lowed. The perfect queen was killed, the 

 others accepted. A week or so later the 

 cripples were removed, and new and perfect 

 queens in cages given to the four small col- 

 "onies. Three were killed. 



The three cripples were taken to another 

 yard, run directly into the parts of a simi- 

 larly divided colony, and still were accept- 

 ■ed. Later, good queens were substituted. 

 ■The bees and queens were golden Italians. 

 "The nectar-flow during all the time was 



The bee-keeper who did the M-ork is fairly 

 skillful, and has had quite a number of 

 years' experience. 



A queen's behavior may be influenced by 

 her personal condition, such as being hun- 

 gry, crippled, ailing, or actively laying, etc., 

 or it may be influenced by external condi- 

 tions, as by the noise or odor emitted by a 

 highly disturbed colony, by being daubed 

 with honey or dusted with flour, or some 

 similar treatment. Or she may be quietly 

 trying to pursue her normal duties as when 

 under a wire cage pushed into the comb, 

 and she continues thus when the bees cut 

 the comb away so she can walk out. This 

 wire-cage plan, the "pipe-cover cage," the 

 English bee-keepers call it, perhaps brings 

 the new queen to the most nearly normal 

 condition of any method we have. It is 

 old, and it is good. 



Providence, Rhode Island. 



FINDING QUEENS WITH CARBOLIC ACID. 



Driving the Bees up through an Excluder into a 

 Wire-cloth Cage Above the Brood-chamber. 



BY GEO. H. BBDFOED. 



The plan mentioned by J. L. Byer, for 

 finding black queens, page 619, Oct. 15, al- 

 though effective, as he says, is unnecessarily 

 laborious. With the following system he 

 would have saved half the work and would 

 have made much quicker time. 



Make a crate of IX 2-inch lumber, same 

 dimensions as the hive-body. On the four 

 sides tack wire cloth, and on the bottom 

 queen-excluding zinc. For the top, make a 

 frame of inch stuff, of the same size as the 

 top of the hive (or crate) , and tack on wire- 

 cloth. Next, remove the cover from the 

 hive to be searched; take out two combs, 

 and after shaking or brushing the bees back 

 into the hive place the combs in the wire 

 crate and put on the wood-bound wire-cloth 

 cover, and place the crate on top of the hive. 

 Put three or four drops of carbolic acid in 

 the smoker on top of the fuel; light it and 

 smoke at the hive entrance. Immediately 

 the bees will rush up through the excluder 

 into the wire-cloth fresh-air chamber. When 

 they are about all up (which takes less time 

 than to write it) the queen will be found un- 



der the excluder after tilting up the wire 

 crate. If she is not detected at once, glance 

 on top of frames, and, failing to find her 

 there, the frames can be taken out and ex- 

 amined quickly, as they are practically clear 

 of bees. However, it will be seldom that 

 the queen is not discovered trying her bes>t 

 to get through the zinc, and possibly wish- 

 ing she could return to her original virgin 

 slimness. 



The beauty of this method is, first, that it 

 requires very little labor. Second, there is 

 but small chance for robbers to work, even 

 without a tent; and, third, by using wire 

 cloth on the sides the bees are kept out of 

 the way of the operator. It was found easi- 

 er to drive them up than down; and the 

 fumes, naturally rising, were more effective 

 than smoking downward. 



At first I used an ordinary hive-body with 

 zinc on the bottom and wire on top; but 

 with a strong colony the bees covered the 

 wire on top, preventing the smoke from es- 

 caping; and since it was stronger there than 

 lower down, they ran back to the frames. 

 With wire on top and sides, the air is com- 

 paratively fresh on top, and there they will 

 cluster. 



The crate should be nailed rather strong; 

 for, after finding the queen the wire top 

 is lifted off, and the crate turned upside 

 down and given a bump on the ground in 

 front of the hive, and it is ready for the next. 



A note of caution should be sounded re- 

 garding the amount of carbolic acid to be 

 dropped into the smoke. .Tust enough to 

 give a rather rank odor should be used — usu- 

 ally three or four drops, according to 

 strength. Too much is liable to kill very 

 young brood. 



East Stroudsburg, Pa. 



[This seems like a simple and rapid meth- 

 od. We should be pleased to hear from any 

 who may have an opportunity to try it. — 



Ed.] 



Do Bees Rest Between Trips to the Field ? 



la the Oct. 1st issue, p. 602, the editor states that 

 he does not Icnow whether bees take a rest between 

 trips to the field. There was a very interesting ar- 

 ticle in Gleanings on this subject at least ten 

 years ago. It was an account of an observatory 

 hive. The observer had colored several workers 

 differently, so that he could identify them. If my 

 memory serves me, he found that his bees rested 

 one or two hours between trips. 



CROSS BEES AS HONEY-GATHERERS. 



That gentleness in bees is a great thing, every- 

 body will admit: but I have been gradually coming 

 to the conclusion that bees with an edge to their 

 temper are usually the best honey-gatherers. The 

 three colonies that did best for me this year are the 

 only ones that I do not care to handle without 

 having a smoker near. Two of them strike as soon 

 as the cover is oflf. The third seldom stings, but 

 bluffs. As soon as one touches a frame the bees 

 crawl over his hands, up the sleeves, and make 

 frantic dashes everywhere, stopping just before 

 they hit; and after the hive is shut up, a number 

 will follow a iierson all around the apiary. The 

 blufBng bee is a nuisance. In my experience, the 

 bee that keeps following one around is practically 

 always a bluffer. I have put up my veil and stood 

 quite still to see if it would sting, but I have never 

 known it to do so. I think this pest is quite often 

 a bee that has lost Its sting. 



Hatzic, B. C. Wm. L. Couper. 



