GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



42 



QUESTION.— 

 I have 

 w a t c hed 

 car e f u 1 1 y 

 this summer for 

 traces of disease, 

 but saw no trouble 

 until cool fall 

 weather came. This 

 morning with a 

 wire I pulled out 



a small saucer of dead bees, nearly all of which 

 are young and some are undeveloped. If the bees 

 continue to die, would you destroy them this fall 

 and extract thei honey ? Earl A. Walldorflf. 



New York. 



Answer.— The undeveloped bees which you 

 found dead on the bottom-board do not in- 

 dicate that the brood is diseased. It fre- 

 quently happens in the fall that some of 

 the last brood in the hive, even when nearly 

 mature, is abandoned by the bees. It is not 

 known why bees should ever do this, but it 

 is probable that during cool nights, in form- 

 ing a cluster, they leave some of the brood 

 exposed which is then chilled and afterwards 

 carried out. 



Question. — I intend to buy package bees in the 

 spring and hope to get some surplus honey from 

 them. Will five pounds to the colony in ten-frame 

 hives be enough for this? Theodore Robinson. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — The number of pounds of pack- 

 age bees which you will need in each hive de- 

 pends upon what time they are received in 

 reference to the honey flow. Five pounds of 

 bees at the beginning of a short honey flow 

 would not ^e enough for most profitable 

 honey production, since the honey flow 

 would probably close before young bees in 

 sufficient numbers would be ready for field 

 work. After you put the bees in the hive, it 

 is three weeks before young bees begin to 

 emerge and about two weeks more before 

 these young bees begin to work in the fields. 

 Therefore the field force would be constantly 

 reduced by the old bees dying off_ for five 

 weeks after the colonies are established. 



If the package bees are received five or 

 six weeks previous to the beginning of your 

 main honey flow and each colony is supplied 

 with an abundance of stores as well as empty 

 combs, so that brood-rearing can be carried 

 on extensively, there should be a great 

 horde of young bees ready to gather the 

 crop of honey; and, in this case, their num- 

 bers are increasing instead of decreasing. 

 Three pounds of bees should build up to 

 sufficient strength in time for the honey 

 flow, if the packages arrive six weeks pre- 

 vious to the honey flow and even two-pound 

 packages should give good results. 



Question. — What do you think, for winter, of 

 a hive with brood-combs running cross-wise with 

 the entrance at the side of the combs instead of at 

 the ends? And how would it be for summer? 

 Montana. E. A. Tropp. 



Answer- — Years ago this arrangement of 

 combs was thought to be important for win- 

 ter. It was called the warm way, and many 

 of the earlier types of movable-frame hives 

 were arranged as you suggest. The plan has 



.January, 1921 



been abandoned 

 by most bee- 

 keepers, h w - 

 ever, and it is 

 probably of no 

 great impor- 

 tance, especially 

 when the en- 

 trances are clos- 

 ed down to a 

 small opening for winter. During the sum- 

 mer, it may be easier for the bees to venti- 

 late the hive if the entrance is at the end 

 of the combs, but the chief reason for hav- 

 ing the entrance at the end of the hive is 

 because it is desirable to have the bottom 

 or floor of the hive slope toward the en- 

 trance so that water will run out. This would 

 throw the combs out of plumb if the en- 

 trance is placed at the side. 



Question. — The combs in my hives appear to be 

 of considerable age. Would you advise that I re- 

 place these old combs with new foundation in the 

 spring? N. E. Anderson. 



Virginia. 



Answer.-— It is not necessary to destroy 

 combs because of their age. You probably 

 have in mind the fact that the cocoons are 

 left within the cell when the young bees 

 emerge, thus making the cells a trifle small- 

 er. After many generations of bees have 

 been reared in the same comb, the bees may 

 tear away the walls of the cells and rebuild 

 them. In doing this, the base which is now 

 greatly strengthened by cocoons, is not torn 

 away, thus making the overhauled comb 

 stronger than a new one. Drone-comb, of 

 course, should all be removed except the few 

 small areas usually found in the lower cor- 

 ners of the frames. 



Questions. — How would this plan work in run- 

 ning for comb honey? Use % x 14-inch entrance, 

 place upon the bottom-board a queen-excluder, then 

 an empty shallow super (without frames), then 

 tlie regular brood-chamber, and add comb-honey 

 supers as needed. (1) Would not the empty shal- 

 low super underneath the hive give clustering space 

 to the extent of controlling swarming? (2) If a 

 swarm did issue, the queen being detained by the 

 excluder, would she not, after two or three at- 

 tempts at trying to swarm, kill all cells and aban- 

 don the swarming idea ? Ralph Gaston. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — (1) One difficulty with this 

 plan is that the empty space for clustering 

 provided below the brood-chamber would not 

 remain empty very long during the honey 

 flow, but it would be filled with combs- 

 Swarming might be delayed while this space 

 is being filled, but later such colonies would 

 probably swarm during seasons favorable 

 for swarming. Another objection to giving 

 this extra room is the delay in the begin- 

 ning of work in the comb-honey supers be- 

 cause of the room for comb-building below. 

 This delay in the beginning of work in the 

 supers until considerable honey is stored in 

 the brood-chamber would, in fact, increase 

 the tendency to swarm. In order to use this 

 principle in comb-honey production, it would 

 be necessary to fill the shallow extracting 



