MAY 15, 1914 



Meads of Gram frdDim Differeett Fields 



Too Much Honey in the Brood-nest for Satisfactory 

 Breeding 



We have a yard of 108 colonies in which the beoi-' 

 are very strong for this time of the year, having at 

 this ^^Titing an average of four frames of l.rood: in 

 fact, they have ahnost every empty cell filled with 

 brood, The other four combs are solid v^'ith honey to 

 the bottom-bars. There is, of course, some honey in 

 the frames having brood. In this locality the fruit 

 bloom is on about May 5 to 10, to be followed im 

 mediately by locust, then clover and sumac, with 

 practically no playspell between. Now, in your 

 .iudgment which would be the best — to extract about 

 two combs or put on supers early and have them 

 carry up the honey in order to give the queen room 

 for laying? We run this yard for comb honey. Do 

 you think the queen shoiild have six combs for brood 

 two weeks before fruit-bloom ? Last fall these bees- 

 had every frame solid with honey to bottom-bars 

 with an exception in most cases of a small nest ex 

 tending about three inches from the Ijottora-bar in 

 two combs. They wintered finely. 



Conneaut Lake, Pa., April 8. R. A. Nusbaum. 



[We are a little in doubt as to what kind of 

 answer to give. As a general proposition, plenty of 

 honey in the brood-nest, where there are at least six 

 frames of brood is a pretty good asset. In the two 

 weeks intervening, considerable of this extra honey 

 will be consumed in brocwl-rearing providing there i? 

 no source of nectar at the time. That being the 

 case, we would not advise disturbing the brood-nest 

 You have an almost ideal condition. 



You might try taking away two comljs of stores 

 from a few colonies, but we would not extract, be 

 cause you may desire to give them back to the bees 

 later on, and there is nothing like combs of honey 

 for brood-rearing. Of course, the two combs removed 

 should be replaced by empty combs in which the 

 queens could lay. 



It is Tery doubtful if the bees would carry the 

 honey up into the supers, although they might do so 

 — Ed.] 



Plan for Requeening 



Referring to the article, page 234, in the March 

 15th issue, " To make increase and prevent swarm- 

 ing," I should like to inquire how it would do to 

 place the old queen above with a queen-excluder 

 between the brood-chambers, with only one frame of 

 eggs below. The excluder would prevent the old 

 queen from coming out with a swarm. When the 

 young queen below would begin laying, the old queen 

 could be destroyed. Would not this be a good way 

 to requeen each year and prevent swarming? 



Gardner B. Willis 



Providence, R. I., March 20. 



[We can see no good reason why you should not 

 be able to requeen your bees successfully by the 

 method which you describe, providing the colony is 

 very strong and honey is coming in every day 

 Without these conditions the lower story might not 

 start cells. However, in case the honey-flow should 

 be cut short before the young queens hatch, you 

 might awake some morning to find them all de- 

 stroyed. — Ed.1 



A Swarm that Stored More Honey than old Colonies 



I have some strong colonie.s that make Ijut little 

 honey. Last year we caught a swarm on May 1 as 

 it came over our farm. It filled its hive and two 

 full supers and part of another. My old colonies. 

 apparently as strong, filled only one super with hon 

 ey, and two did not make any surplus, though 

 sirong. These were very cross. In the fall we could 



detect a sour smell about the hive. Can you tell me 

 what to do? Do I need new queens? 



Roxbury, Ohio, April 7. G. E. MORRIS 



[For some reason a swarm, as a rule, works with 

 a vim not known to the colony which does not 

 swarm. This will partly account for the fact that 

 your newly hived swarm produced more honey than 

 your old colonies. They should have produced some 

 hioney ; and since some of them did not, it would 

 appear that there must be something wrong. Some 

 colonies of bees, although strong, never do much in 

 the supers, and in such cases it is wise to requeen. 

 It may be that the queens are old ; and while your 

 colonies were apparently strong, yet the failure of 

 the queens to keep the brood-nest filled with eggs and 

 voung brood would allow the bees to store the lionet 

 there instead of in the supers. Requeening would 

 be the remedy for that also. Since you detected a 

 sour odor in the fall we would advise you to look 

 sharp for European foul brood, although this odor 

 may have come from a honey-flow from fall astei's or 

 goldenrod. — En. ] 



More about that Peculiar Disease 



The editor asked for information, pages 547, 548. 

 Aug. 1, 191?!, regarding a peculiar disease appear 

 ing in Colorado and California. We have the same 

 trouble around here. It starts about the last of .Tunc 

 or first of July, and lasts six or seven weeks. I fi"st 

 noticed it three years ago. I thought the bees were 

 robbing. The front of the hive would be covered with 

 bees, and the ground alive with crawling bees toe 

 weak to fly. Each hive seemed to be killing its own 

 bees. They kept at it till all or almost all the old 

 bees were killed. The combs were well filled with 

 brood of all ages. There was no honey coming in 

 at the time, and the strongest would rob out some of 

 the weakest. 



Napa, Cab, Feb. 19. W. E. Griffin. 



Satisfactory Experience with Light Brood Founda 

 tion in Sections 



Referring to Geo. T. Whitten's article, Feb. 15 

 page 139, I have had three years' experience with 

 light-brood foundation in sections. My bees work 

 this more readily, and have very much increased mj 

 honey crop since using this foundation. I can also 

 do a faster and better job by putting it in the sec 

 tions. I have tested the honey by cutting out the 

 partly filled sections, and I find the midrib at the 

 top slightly heavier than in sections. Where I used 

 super foundation, especially next tO' the wood, when 

 cut Vs inch below, I can tell no difference. I have 

 asked my customers if they have any complaint 

 about the midrib, but none have had any so far. 



Ceres, Va., Feb. 25. F. A. Crabtree. 



A Note of Appreciation from a Back-yarder 



I have, for several years, been a subscriber to 

 your paper, and have always read it with consider- 

 able interest, but never before have I felt it my duty 

 to make any special comment on it. However, I feel 

 quite confident that the last issue, that of April 1, is 

 by all odds the most valuable and interesting to bee- 

 keepers of any periodical I have ever read on the 

 subject of beekeping. I enjoy very much the expe- 

 riences of those old tried beekeepers, and their ex- 

 planations are of such a character that almost any 

 person, though quite young in the beekeeping game, 

 could surely understand them. 



I am what is commonly called by the big men in 

 the game one of those back-yarders ; that is, I have 

 what I think is the nicest little apiary of its size, 

 from every standpoint, located in Nebraska. I have 

 seventy colonies of bees, all in up-to-date ten-frame 



