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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1920 



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GLEANED 



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QUESTION. 

 In my four 

 years of bee- 

 keeping I have 

 never been baffled 

 like I was last 

 spring. My T) e ei.s 

 were weak, very 

 much so, as the 

 winter' w:is 1 o n g 

 a n d h :i r d. Tills 



year, before .swaniis generally issue, a tiny swarm, 

 not longer than my hand, left their hive, taking 

 every bee except, by actual count, ten little new 

 nurse bees, and .iust a little brood no larger than a 

 silver dollar. I thought this a strange freak of 

 theirs; but when I found two more empty hives. 

 and in the same condition, and, I forgot to mention, 

 not even a queen-cell, or anything that looked like 

 one, I gave up the problem. There were plenty of 

 eggs in each hive, but just a tiny little bit of sealed 

 brood. If they had been strong, I should have ex- 

 pected it; but, as I say, they were a long way from 

 swarming condition. I can't make them out. You 

 see they leave nothing behind them; no queen-ceH. 

 no brood — only five or ten little bees. What do 

 you think of those queer bees of mine? 



Indiana. Mrs. Rose Moller. 



Answer. — Very weak colonies often do 

 swarm out in the spring just as you describe, 

 sometimes leaving none but hatching bees in 

 the hive; at other times leaving no bees 

 whatever. Also when colonies run short of 

 stores in the spring they often leave in this 

 way, sometimes even leaving brood. From 

 your description we think that the bees 

 probably left because the colonies were too 

 small. The brood-nest should have been 

 contracted to only as many combs as the 

 bees could easily cover, or else the colonies 

 united with others. A colony may leave 

 the hive in this way when there is appar- 

 ently no unsatisfactory condition such as 

 weakness or shortage of stores to explain 

 tlie matter. We had a strong colony in a 

 •'lean hive with enougli stores and suflScient 

 room, that this spring left their hive witli 

 six frames of brood mostly capped, and yet 

 there was no qiieen-cell in the hive. We 

 have never heard of a similar case and do 

 not know why the colony left. 



Question. — -In your plan to prevent swarming do 

 you give the hive containing the raised brood an 

 entrance? Alexander insists in all his writings the 

 bees from the raised hive must work thru the en- 

 trance to the bottotn hive. 



New York. K. 1>. Howell. 



Answer. — Wo leave iio u[i]jer entrance. 



Question. — After .Tuly the bees here seem to kill 

 all the drones. Is it possible to raise good queens 

 after thi.s date and be sure of mating? (2) After 

 supers are put on <lii bees keep brood-chamber filled 

 with honey? 



Alabama. . W. C. Smith. 



Answers. — (1) Yes, we do not think you 

 will have any difficulty in getting your 

 queens mated. The bees will see to it that 

 drones are also raised at the s;ime time i)i 

 order that the (|ui'ens will be jiroperly mated. 

 (2) After the supers are on, the bees ma.%' 

 still store a little honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber; but, as fast as the queen needs the 

 room for laying, the bees will remove the 

 honey from the lower story and carry it up 



BY ASKING 



Fowls 



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into the supers. 

 In rare cases 

 bees do not re- 

 move the honey 

 quite as fast as 

 they should and 

 such colonies be- 

 c o m e " honey- 

 bound. ' ' In such 

 cases we would 

 suggest removing a few frames of honey 

 and rejiiacing with drawn comb next to the 

 brood. Or, in case the queen seems at fault, 

 she should be replaced. 



Question. — How could I rear queens and requeen 

 100 colonies after the honey flow ? 



Ohio. D. Smith. 



Answer. — A method that was recommend- 

 ed to us by J. E. Thompson of Medina and 

 one that we have used with satisfaction is 

 as follows: To make a cell-tinishing colony, 

 choose a strong colony, preferably hybrids, 

 and place several combs of capped brood (a 

 little unsealed brood will do no harm if one 

 tears down those queen-cells that will be 

 started in it) in the upper story above an 

 excluder, leaving the queen below. Feed 

 this colony continuously with a Boardman 

 feeder, using three holes in the cover. A day 

 or two later prepare the queenless colony. 

 To do this, take a strong hybrid colony and 

 place the queen and two or three frames of 

 brood with honey in a nucleus at one side 

 of the old stand, and leave on the old stand 

 the queenless bees together with a frame of 

 new pollen, some honfty, and one or two 

 frames of capped brood. These queenless 

 bees should be sprinkled with water and fed 

 freely. Four or five hours later change the 

 feeder-cap, giving three holes, and give the 

 queenless colony cell bars with 60 to SO 

 cell cups with young larvae from any colony, 

 crowding the cells close together on the bars. 

 The next day put these cells in the cell fin- 

 ishing colonies, three bars of ten each be- 

 tween frames of brood. The next day take 

 out the graft and replace the larvae witli 

 young larvae (18 to 24 hours old) from a 

 choice colony, and replace this second graft 

 in the cell-finishing colony between frames 

 of brood. (Altho we also made this second 

 graft we question whether it is really worth 

 the extra trouble.) 



Now while the cells are being finislied, 

 ]irepare the nuclei, of three to five frames, 

 using mostly capped Vjrood, but a few eggs 

 and larvae, and a few extra bees besides 

 those adhering to the combs used. Provide 

 these nuclei with covers and bottom-boards 

 and place each of these nuclei above a col- 

 ony that is to be requeened, leaving the en- 

 trance contracted and facing in the oppo- 

 site direction from that of the lower hive. 



After the cell-linishing colony has had the 

 cells ten days, take tln-ni out and distribute 

 one apiece to the nuclei prepared two or 

 three days before, giving the queen-cells in 

 cell protectors. If any queen-cells are found 

 in the nuclei they should be torn down when 

 giving the cells. 



