April, 1920 



Ct t, e a n I n Ct s in bee culture 



227 



c 



GLEANED 



lona 



LJ 



QUESTIONS. 

 ( 1 ) The 

 booklet , 

 "Building Up 

 Colonies," contains 

 an extract from Mr. 

 Alexander on 

 "Ron ring Queens 

 for Early I n ■ 

 crease." On page 

 11 he speaks of the 



subject as foUo^vs : "Then about May 15 we bor- 

 row the bees from several of our strongest colonies 

 for one dav to .start queoncelLs, as is now prac- 

 ticed by Mr. Pratt, etc." How does he " borrow 

 the bees." and how does he start queen-cells in one 

 day .' I have raised many queens but do not know 

 how to start queen-ccUs in one day without queen 

 jelly. By this method can cells be grafted from se- 

 lect stock? (2) Suppose I have a two-story colony, 

 each story having about the same amount of lirood. 

 I divide them by inserting an excluder between the 

 two stories. In 10 days I wish to transfer the queen 

 to the queenless portion of the colony. Is it safe 

 to do so without destroying the queen-cells if any 

 are built? (3) Suppose the queen is confined in a 

 cage within her o^vn colony for 10 days may she 

 be released without destroying queen-cells, or even 

 if cells are destroyed may it be done immediately. 

 omitting the regular nieithod of introduction? (4) 

 What is the best way of cleansing old hard propolis 

 from an Alexander honey sieve pail? 



Indiana. H. B. Wilson. 



Answers. — (1) On page 494 of the August 

 issue of Gleanings for last year you will find 

 these questions answered in an article on 

 the Pratt or Swarthmore System. Mr. Alex- 

 ander, when transposing the young larva?, 

 took up a little food with them, and there- 

 fore did not need to use royal jelly from a 

 queen-cell. (2) It may be that you will find 

 no queen-cells have been started; but if any 

 are present, they should be destroyed before 

 the queen is released above. (3) If the 

 queen is confined in a cage within her own 

 colony for 10 days, it would be safer to de- 

 stroy the cells and introduce in the regular 

 way. Otherwise the queen may be balled. 

 (4) An easy way of cleaning the propolis 

 and wax from an Alexander sieve pail is to 

 immerse the surface in a hot solution of lye. 



Question. — Last spring I had a hive that sent 

 out a swarm one day, but thej- remained only a 

 short time in a cluster when they returned to the 

 parent hive, probably because the queen was not 

 with them. The next day I watched them closely 

 expecting them to swarm again. Fortunately, I was 

 right at the hive when they began to issue. Pres- 

 ently I was surprisfd to see the queen coming out 

 very reluctantly, being pushed along by the work- ■ 

 ers. When about two inches from the hive entrance 

 on the alightin«^ board she escaped from her cap- 

 tors and rushfd back into the hive, but in a few 

 seconds they poshed her out again, and then I pick- 

 ed her up in my fingers. However, thi.s being the 

 first queen that 1 had ever held in my hand, I let 

 her escape and she joined the swarm. Now, is it 

 the usual thing for the workers to force the queen 

 out with the swarm or does she usually come out of 

 her own will? I have never seen anything about 

 this subject in the books or journals. 



Arkansas. C. M. Tliompson. 



Answer. — We have never noticed the bees 

 actually forcing the (lueen from the en- 

 trance. Are you certain the bees deliberate- 



BY ASKING 



Fowls 



1 



TU 



ly attempted to 

 push her out, or 

 in the bees ' mad 

 scramble in leav- 

 ing the hive, 

 was she uninten- 

 tionally jostled 

 out of the en- 

 trance? 



Question. — ■! was working with a hive one day 

 when I saw the queen on a comb that I was holding 

 in my hands. I called my w'ife. We watched and 

 admired her as she moved about the comb. She 

 was a beautiful thing and did not appear the 

 least alarmed by being held up to the light to be 

 inspected, but moved about as if nothing unusual 

 was happening. The workers were quietly walking 

 around with her when, to our surprise, she began 

 to depa-iit eggs in the cells. She would examine a 

 cell and then draw up her abdomen under her and 

 thrust it down into the cell and deposit the egg and 

 then move on to another. Tliis continued for several 

 minutes right there under our eyes while I was 

 holding the frame in my hands. The moving of 

 the frame about did not seem to disconcert her in 

 the least. Do queens often do this or is this an un 

 usual thing? C. M. Thompson. 



Arkansas. 



Answer. — Yes, queens may often be seen 

 laying eggs, especially if one has a good 

 strain of Italians and does not smoke them 

 too much. In fact, we have even watched 

 laying workers deposit their eggs and have 

 seen as many as three laying in cells on the 

 same side of the comb, all three laying at 

 the same time. 



Question. — "Between the upper and lower hives 

 may be placed a screen" (page 674, October Glean- 

 ings). Do you provide an entrance for the nucleus 

 during the two days the screen is between? If so, 

 how? " C. E. Hinds. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — An entrance is left above at the 

 back of the hive. 



ONE .\NSWEB BY DR. C. C. JIILLEK. 



Question. — Having become satisfied in my own 

 mind that I have discovered and formulated your 

 will-o'-the-wisp, namely, the primary cause of natu 

 ral swarming of bees, I am writing to tell you about 

 it. I am having this formula as discovery certified 

 with my attorney under date of Jan. 15, 1919, as 

 that is the date I reached my conclusions — 'not that 

 I expect to make any money out of it, for I do not ; 

 and I want every one who is interested to try out 

 plans to make it a success. Swarming is due to the 

 accumulated irregularity of the emergency of brood. 

 To explain, first comes the lack of larvro to receive 

 the larval food. This, in turn, is due to a decreas- 

 ing number of eggs laid by the queen, which is due 

 to the scattering condition of vacant cells, and this 

 is due to the acctimulated irregularity of the emer- 

 gence of brood. I am quite satisfied that this ex- 

 plains why .Mexandor's plurality of queens produc- 

 ed non-swarming colonies. .\ number of queens 

 could keep up the supply of larvae, even tho the 

 vacant cells were scattering. 



Wisconsin. Edward H. Burns. 



Answer. — Your theory is just a little after 

 the manner of a theory advanced some years 

 ago in Germany, which holds that the nurse 

 bees become too numerous for the brood, or 

 the brood too small in amount for the num- 

 ber of nurse bees, the nurse bees become 

 overloaded with prepared pap, and the use 



