NOVEMBER 15, 1916 



1087 



When Shaking to Cure Foul Brood, What 

 About the Drones? 



I bought the bees near me two and three 

 years ago, and burned and burned and burn- 

 ed to free the country from disease. I also 

 shook and shook and shook, and it took me 

 three seasons to learn that bees with drones 

 had better not be shaken. When shaken on 

 to starters the old drones just starve out and 

 go right into some other hi\e and take the 

 disease on their feet or bodies right along all 

 over the yard. What becomes of the drones 

 when bees are shaken for American foul 

 brood? 



Where should a frame be placed after 

 drone comb has been cut out to prevent the 

 rebuilding of drone comb? 



Bradshaw, Neb. C. B. Palmer. 



[When there are many drones in a hive it 

 w^ould be possible, after the shaking, for 

 them to spread the disease right and left. 

 During certain seasons of the year when the 

 breeding season is on, drones will be accept- 

 ed in almost any hive; and after a general 

 shake-up the presumption is that many of 

 them will go into other hives and be accept- 

 ed, while the worker-bees themselves from 

 the diseased hive would be barred entrance; 

 but in modern apiculture an excess of 

 drones is not very common. In any case, 

 the hives adjacent to a colony after shaking 

 should be examined carefully for two or 

 three weeks afterward, to jnake sure 

 stray drones or other bees have not carried 

 the disease. — Ed.] 



Do Bees Shift Stores During Winter? 



There is a statement in the ABC and 

 X Y Z which I believe to be an error; and 

 if not too late 1 hope to see it corrected in 

 the new edition. On page 627, second col- 

 umn, near the bottom, js this statement: 

 ' ' The long-continued cold has given them no 

 opportunity to warm up and shift the cluster 

 over in contact with the sealed honey. ' ' I 

 think the bees usually shift the honey over 

 to the cluster — always do, in fact, if they 

 have the least particle of brood. Possibly 

 3^ou did not intend the statement to be con- 

 strued in that way; but I believe most be- 

 ginners in beekeeping would so understand 

 it, and feel as I did, when w^e had a mild day, 

 say in February, that the cluster had moved 

 over to the stores and was safe. Eeally 

 their safety was in proportion to the amount 

 of honey they had been able to uncap and 

 carry over to the clustei. E. M. Cole. 



Audubon, Iowa, Oct. 20. 



This was forwarded to Dr. E. F. Phillips, 

 of the Bureau of Entomology, who replies: 



Mr. Cole is probably incorrect in believing 

 that bees regularly shift honey during win- 

 ter as they do in the fall, the fact doubtless 

 being that the cluster is slowly moved 

 toward the stores. The cluster is normally 

 formed below the stores over empty cells 



(usually to the front); and as the honey is 

 consumed the cluster moves upward. If 

 brood were present, as it should not be in 

 mid-winter, they might move stores if the 

 temperature within the hive were high 

 enough. Under such conditions brood would 

 probably not be present except in badly 

 packed or unpacked hives, since brood-rear- 

 ing often begins in response to cold within 

 the hive and outside the cluster. We would 

 expect, of course, that honey is moved from 

 the edge to the inside of the cluster as 

 needed. 



There is much evidence that bees starve if 

 they are not adjacent to honey, in case the 

 temperature within the hive remains for 

 some time too low to shift the cluster. This 

 also would happen only in hives that were 

 insufficiently packed and unprotected from 

 wind. 



Mr. Cole does not say what evidence he 

 has of the moving of stores, as he seems to 

 claim. If he has such evidence it would be 

 well worth while for him to present it. The 

 fact that the bees stay rather close to one 

 place during winter is not proof of this, how- 

 ever, for in good wintering the amount of 

 honey consumed is reduced. 



The movement of the cluster is probably 

 upward so long as there are stores above. 

 When they reach the tops of the frames they 

 go to the second story, if one is on, but in a 

 one-story hive they move backward or for- 

 ward more easily than to one side. 



E. F. Phillips, Apiculturist. 



Foul-Brood Law in New South Wales. 



The following is a copy of subsection, 

 section 12, of the apiaries act, 1916. 



"1. Every beekeeper shall each year, on or 

 before a day in the month of September, 

 to be fixed by the minister, apply to the 

 Under Secretary and Director of Agriculture 

 in the form prescribed, give in writing such 

 particulars of and concerning his apiary as 

 may be prescribed, including the number of 

 colonies of bees in his apiary on the first day 

 of the said month of September, and shall 

 with such application forward a registration 

 fee amounting to one penny for each colony 

 of bees in his apiary on the said day. If 

 any beekeeper fails to make such applica- 

 tion, or fails to give such particulars as 

 aforesaid, or gives any particulars which are 

 to his knowledge untrue, he shall be liable 

 to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds." 



We had a very poor honey harvest last 

 year. We extracted 3720 lbs. from 74 colo- 

 nies, three-fonrths of which was gray-bcx 

 honey (fall flow). Yellow box yielded little, 

 and redgum turned out a failure. My bees 

 have wintered well, coming out with no loss, 

 in absolutely perfect condition. Bees are 

 now (Sept. 25) just about to begin swarming. 



I sold all my honey last season at 6 pence 

 per lb. A. P. Haberecht. 



Ilenty, N. S. W., Sept. 25. 



