C84 



a LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1920 



morniiis early juist at liioak of thiy lo the liives 

 and noticed a bee on the front of one hive, and 

 just above it was a green lizard intently watch- 

 ing thei bee. I killed the lizard, fearing it would 

 get away. I have killed about a dozen this 

 spring on the hives. 



North Carolina. J. E. Turner. 



Answer. — Lizards do eat bees,' ;ind some- 

 times are quite troublesome about tlie nj)! 

 ary. If you had opened this lizard, you 

 would likely have found the bodies of dead 

 bees within. 



MVIDING INTO NUCIjKI FOR WINTER. 



Question.— What advice could you give me on 

 the following jilan of manipulations of the "Long 

 Idea Hive" ? 



During the late flow of honey in the fall an ordi- 

 nary swarm of bees is placed in the "Long Idea 

 Hive," which is divided by means of close-fitting 

 frames covered on each side by wire screen or 

 slieet queen-excluder, making a double eoccluder 

 or screen on each frame. Two such screens are 

 provided, dividing the hive into three parts. In 

 each part is placed a queen which has just started 

 to lay, thus making three colonies in one, each 

 having honey sufficient to last until the clover 

 bloom the following spring. At the approach of 

 spring the three queens begin laying (and due to 

 the boat of so many bees in a one-story double- 

 walled hive this would begin early), and by spring 

 or fruit bloom these bees would be in condition to 

 gather some surplus (the season being normal). 

 Shortly after fruit bloom or before the clover flow 

 the queens are removed and placed in common 

 hives as nuclei, which would be self-supporting 

 and thus form the increase. By eliminating theKe 

 two queens we have disposed of the care of so 

 many larvae and given more bees a chance to 

 gather honey. Huge supers can be provided ; or, 

 letter, the hive body may be made so that the 

 ten-frame supers exactly fit on top. The queen 

 thus left to keep up the supply of bees would be 

 unable to do so; and, as a consequence, the brood- 

 frames would be filled and left for the next season, 

 while llie bees that placed the honey there would 

 die, and the beekeeper would fall heir to lots of 

 honey. I almost forgot to say the cost of these 

 surplus bees would be the two queens. I am only 

 a beginner, but it looks better than bees at $2.50 

 per pound in packages. 



Ohio. Chas. O. Wilkes. 



Answer. — If the colony was large to be- 

 gin with, you could perhaps winter them 

 successfully in this way, but our experi- 

 ence in wintering small nuclei in this way 

 has not always been successful, so that it 

 is quite possible you may find few^er divis- 

 ions in the spring than you left in the fall. 

 Even if we intended wintering the colony 

 as three nuclei, we would jjrefer thin wood- 

 en division - boards rather than screened 

 division-boards. The use of the thin wood 

 still gives the advantage of warmth from 

 the adjacent nucleus, and at the same time 

 j)revents a circulation of air thru the divis- 

 ion-board. Yet our experience has been 

 that a colony winters better all together 

 than it does divided into nuclei. If you 

 try the experiment, we shall be interested 

 in knowing your results. It may be that 

 .you will decide it better to wait uwtil 

 spring before dividing your colony, in 

 whii-'h case, of course, you will need to feed 

 in order to build them to sufficient strength. 



Your ])lan of uniting tlic colotiios into ex- 

 tra-large ones is similar to tliat practiced 

 by Harry Warren of Nevada, who finds the 

 plan quite satisfactory for his locality. 

 The extra cost • of this method, however, 

 would be more than that of two queens, 

 for considerable honey is always consumed 

 in I'earing and maintaining a large force 

 of bees. 



.M.\TKRIAL FOR BEE SUITS. 



Question.— -I want to get material in white to 

 make myself some sting-proof bee-suits. I don't 

 know what to buy. My own bees are not bad to 

 sting, as I keep them pure Italians; but I have 

 taken up the work of caring for other people's 

 bees, requeening, etc., and most of them are blacks 

 or hybrids and often very vicious. If you will 

 kindly advise ine I shall be most grateful. 



Answer. — You have certainly given me a 

 hard task this time, to name a cloth that 

 the bees can 't sting thru. You see they 

 can sting, thru leather shoes. One proved 

 it to me this summer. But such behavior, 

 of course, is not usual. Ordinarily khaki 

 proves suflSciently thick for a bee-suit, and 

 is much more serviceable for this purpose 

 than white cloth would be. Of course, 

 there is a pleasure in working in a white 

 bee-suit — all .spick and span; but, if one 

 really buckles right down to work, it will 

 be found that in a deplorably short time 

 the spick-and-s])anness disappears. If I had 

 but two or three colonies I might wear a 

 wliite bee-suit, but for real work with the 

 bees I prefer a khaki bee-suit. 



■STOKK.S FOR Y.INTKK. HIVKS .MADK OF CVl'RESS. 



Questions. — (1) In using sugar to feed how 

 sliould the syrup l)c made? How much will be 

 required to winter one hive? (2) Can I winter 

 my bees on full combs of honey or should there 

 be some empty cells in the comb.s ? (3) Will 

 soured houey or combs two years old hurt the bees 

 if I see nothing wrong except sour honey in the 

 cells? (4) Will bees work in hives made from 

 cypress or any other kind of wood? 



Illinois. Otis W. Jones. 



Answers, — (1) When feeding for winter the 

 syrup should be made of two parts of sugar 

 to one of water. Every colony should be 

 left with 30 to 40 pounds of stores. (2) 

 The bees will naturally cluster toward the 

 center of the hive where there are a few 

 empty cells. The frames at both sides of 

 the brood-nest may be completely filled 

 with honey. In fact, some beekeepers would 

 not hesitate to leave their colonies with all 

 the frames filled with honey. We, however, 

 would prefer a few empty cells toward the 

 center of the hive for a brood-ncst. (3) Old 

 combs are even better than iieAV since they 

 arc warmer. Sour honey would be very 

 poor for winter stores, and would doubtless 

 cause dysentery and death of the colony 

 before spring. But the soured honey may 

 be given to the bees during the summer 

 time with no danger as the bees will use up 

 the honey or change it before winter. (4) 

 Bees work quite readily in cypress hives or 

 hives made of any other wood of which we 

 liavc ever heard. 



