June, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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GLEANED BY ASKING 



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QUESTIONS. 

 (1) In a tinio 

 of cold wea- 

 ther some of 

 my bees destroyed 



a lot of drone ^ lona Fowk 



brood. Will they 

 destroy worker 

 brood at such 



times? (2) We ' Hi *^5s\> 



havei had a short 



flow which is now at an end. Several colonies 

 are killing drones. The main flow starts in throe 

 weeks. AVill the stoppina: of this flow have a bad 

 effect on brood-rearine .' I mean on the esss that 

 are alrwidy laid. They have plenty of honey. 



Arizona. Burns Wood. 



Answers. — (1) If boos begin brood-roaring 

 too early in the spring, and cold weather fol- 

 lows, it sometimes happens that the bees are 

 unable to keep the brood sufficiently warm 

 and that it becomes chilled. In such a case 

 the bees will be found carrying brood out at 

 the entrance. They do not themselves de- 

 stroy it, but simply remove it after it has 

 already been chilled. If at any time, how- 

 ever, a colony runs short of stores, the bees 

 do destroy the drone brood, and, unless pro- 

 vided with stores at that time, they will also 

 remove good worker brood. (2) When an- 

 other flow follows so soon after the first one, 

 it is often an advantage to feed colonies a 

 little during this time so that they will con- 

 tinue brood-rearing. If the second flow is 

 of long duration, the brood raised in the in- 

 tervening period might have time to develop 

 into field workers to gather honey in the 

 second flow; or, if the flow w^as shorter, the 

 brood might at least develop into nurse 

 bees that could take the places of other 

 young bees that could thus be liberated 

 from the duties of the hive and become field 

 workers sooner than they ordinarily would. 

 Furthermore, if the colony continues raising 

 brood during this period, the brood-nest will 

 be in more normal condition and will not be- 

 come crowded with honey; therefore, when 

 the honey flow begins, the honey will be 

 stored above where it should be. If there is 

 plenty of honey in the hive but the bees are 

 not fed, the bees will continue raising the 

 worker brood that is already started, but 

 the queen will not lay as rapidly as when 

 honey was coming in. 



Question. — If a queen is not mated and comes 

 thru the winter O. K., is it possible she will mate 

 in the spring ? Chas. H. Sladek. 



Illinois. 



Answer. — There is little likelihood that 

 she will be mated. In all probability she 

 will be a drone-layer, altho a very reliable 

 authority reported to us a case in which the 

 queen was apparently mated after this 

 length of time. 



Question. — Do bees put more beebread in combs 

 than they need ? Some of my combs are full. I 

 think I shall remove some of it. Ed. Coates. 



Oreeon. 



Answer. — In some locations where pollen 

 is very plentiful, bees do sometimes store 

 more beebread than they need, and in some 

 cases it is often necessary to remove noUen 



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from such combs; 

 but before re- 

 moving it one 

 should be cer- 

 tain that his lo- 

 cality is not 

 such that a pol- 

 len dearth might 

 occur before the 

 bees are able to 

 store pollen again. If there is any danger 

 of this, it would bo well to keep a few of 

 these pollen-ladon combs for use next spring. 

 For, during the breeding season, if the bees 

 are unable to gather sufficient pollen, breed- 

 ing will be curtailed and the result will be 

 fewer bees for the honey flow. 



Question. — In selecting a location for Iiee culture, 

 what are some conditions best to avoid.' 



Massachu.setts. Fred W. Stillman. 



Answer. — The bees should be so placed 

 that there will be no danger of their an- 

 noying passers-by. If it is necessary to 

 place them near a highway, a tall hedge or 

 building should intervene" so that the bees 

 will be compelled to fly high above the road- 

 way. A good location would have a wind- 

 break on the apiary's colder sides which are 

 usually the north and the west. A group of 

 trees or a hedge is a better windbreak than 

 a solid fence, which causes the wind to 

 shoot over it and then down upon the hives. 

 A little shade is an advantage in an apiary, 

 but it is better to have no shade than to 

 have too much. Apiaries should never be 

 located next to a field that is to be cultivat- 

 ed, as there might be some danger of the 

 bees' troubling horses when at work there. 



Question. — This entire country is covered with 

 live oaks — and such a pollen flow as they are giving 

 this year! The trees are just humming with bees. 

 You can strike a limb a sharp blow and the air 

 will fairly turn green with pollen. The other day 

 while walking around I was surprised to see a 

 number of bees flying along some of the bare limbs 

 that had shed their leaves, and I noticed they would 

 stop and seem to suck at something. When I in- 

 vestigated I found that at almost everj- place there 

 was a bud, there was a small drop of water, clear 

 fluid, and upon tasting it, it proved to be pure sugar 

 syrup, so thick it wouldn't run. I found one limb 

 about eight inches long that had five large drops on 

 it. I can't account for this, unless it was caused 

 by the buds' being bruised in a light hail about a 

 week before. John W. Hendricks. 



Texas. 



Answer. — Often we receive reports of 

 branches of oak trees being covered with 

 small galls from which a sweet liquid flows. 

 In reality these are not galls, but plant in- 

 sects that have an astonishing resemblance 

 to galls, and the liquid is only honeydew. 



Questions. — (1) Which is trie better, full sheets 

 of foundation or only one-inch starters? (2) How 

 does foul brood look? (3) If there are two queens 

 in a hive, which one will leave the hive in spring, 

 the old queen or the young one ? 



Pennsylvania. Norman .1. Lutz. 



Answers. — (1) The full sheets of founda- 

 tion are. greatly preferred to the inch start- 

 ers, for the full sheets result in much 

 straighter, more perfect combs. (2) There 



