788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1917 



weather, provided the weather is warm 

 enough during the middle hours of the day 

 so the bees can take in the syrup. If the 

 weather is quite cold it is advisable to have 

 the syrup heated as hot as one can bear the 

 hand in. 



J. E. M., White Cloud, Kansas. — Will you please 

 tell me why some of the three-banded Italians in a 

 colony are so dark and some so yellow? 



A. There are some queens which do not 

 breed true. Some of them will show quite 

 light-colored Italians, and some will show 

 darker ones. It is possible the queen was 

 crossed with a yellow drone. Some of the 

 bees may take after the father, some after 

 the mother. The same peculiarity occurs in 

 many animals as well as among bees. 



C. H. H., Wisconsin. — What have I to do to 

 have my e-xtracting-combs go thru the winter al- 

 right? Should they be cleaned by the bees, or 

 left just as they come from the extractor? 



A. If the combs are left sticky after 

 extracting, there is greater danger of their 

 becoming infested with moths and also a 

 chance that honey may granulate in the 

 cells. It is a good plan to have the bees 

 clean out the combs. The easiest way is to 

 stack them in piles as high as one's head, 

 leaving a small opening at the top and bot- 

 tom of the pile. A bottom-board may be 

 placed underneath to catch the small parti- 

 cles of w-ax that will accumulate there. 

 However, it would be rather risky to em- 

 ploy this method if there chanced to be any 

 diseased bees in the locality. In that case, 

 we woukl advise putting the supers directly 

 on the hives, four or five supers to a colony, 

 the supers being separated from the bees by 

 an eseape-board, with the escape removed 

 and the hole contracted to a space large 

 enough for only a bee or two to pass thru at 

 one time. With this arrangement, the bees 

 think the honey docs not belong to them, 

 and therefore proceed to clean it out, carry- 

 ing it to the brood-chamber below. 



J. K. D., Ohio. — ^Will white clover yield honey 

 every season? Some years I remember when there 

 was very little white clover, and yet there was a 

 good deal nf white-clover honey. At other seasons 

 I have noticed that fields were white with it, but 

 not very much nectar in it. , 



A. When it rains almost every day, white 

 clover v/hile in full bloom may and probably 

 will have a little nectar. The white needs a 

 great deal of moisture, but the wetting down 

 should come in intervals of at least a week 

 apart. If white clover is out in heavy bloom 

 by reason of heavy rains almost every day, 

 •it probably will not yield unless there is a 

 prolonged spell of hot weather of at least a 

 week or ten days without rain, at the end of 

 which time there must be rain or the flow 

 will be over. 



M. A. C, Wisconsin. — I liave a lot of wooden 

 feeders, and some of them leak. What is the best 

 way to make them ti?ht? 



A. They can be coatod on the inside witli 

 hot paraffine or beeswax — preferably the 

 former, as it is much cheaper. They can 

 also be piiiiited on the inside with white 



lead. Unused feeders should always be 

 stored in a dry place after using. If left 

 outdoors they will soon be rendered useless, 

 and even paraffine may not make them per- 

 fectly tight. 



1. S. B., Maine. — Some years ago I used to hear 

 a good deal about the importance of spacing combs 

 wider apart during winter than the regular distance 

 used in summer. Why don't I hear anything about 

 it now ? 



A. It was found that bees winter well on 

 summer spacing. There was no proof that 

 the wider spacing resulted in better winter- 

 ing. The question of whether the combs 

 should be spaced, either summer or winter, 

 1% or lyo inches from center to center is 

 not fully decided. Bees winter well both 

 ways, and probably there is no difference. 

 At all events, there was no gain in spacing 

 the combs 1% and even 2 inches apart. 



P. L. W., Pennsylvania. — Is it possible to make 

 a sugar syrup at an outyard and feed it to the bees 

 direct? What I am trying to do is to avoid carry- 

 ing the water. I hare an outyard located near a 

 stream, and I do not wish to carry any more than I 

 actually have to. Will you explain how I can make 

 the syrup ? 



A. You can make the syrup by using a 

 galvanized iron wash-tub, and setting it up 

 on three bricks or stones. Fill it one-third 

 full of water, and then build a fire under 

 the tub. In the mean time put on the 

 feeders. In the course of half an hour the 

 water will be hot enough so you can stir in 

 the sugar, which should ordinarily, for feed- 

 ing, be in the proportion of two of sugar to 

 one of water. Syrup made out of doors this 

 way should be made when the weather is 

 too cold for the bees to fly to avoid robbing. 

 Usually a cold morning can be selected, even 

 as early as September in most localities' in 

 the North. 



L. H. S. Iowa. — 1. In case of ordinary uniting 

 of bees the tees moved will go back to the old stand 

 - — at least the old ones will. Among other plans to 

 prevent this you recommended a year ago uniting the 

 colonies of one outyard with the weak ones of an- 

 other yard. Do you still advocate the plan ? 



2. Where one has his bees all in one yard how 

 would you recommend uniting the weak ones ? 



A. 1. The plan of uniting weak colonies 

 from two separate yards we still consider to 

 be most excellent. It prevents all returning, 

 and makes good colonies to go into winter. 



2. Where two colonies to be united are in 

 the same yard side by side they can be put 

 together A-ery readily by placing all the bees 

 and combs in one hive and removing the 

 other. Where the two colonies are remote 

 froni each other, the process is not so simple. 

 Dr. Miller recommends putting a single thick- 

 ness sheet of newspaper between the two 

 hives at the time the uniting is effected. As 

 it will take several days for the bees to gnaw 

 a hole thru, the bees get together very gradu- 

 ally; and after being confined they do not go 

 hack to the old stand to quite the extent that 

 they do when the uniting is done without 

 the paper. We have tried the plan lately, 

 and it works very satisfactorily. But be- 

 gijiners should be cautioned about using thf 



