January, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



43 



super with slats, so spaced that no combs 

 would be built between them but leaving 

 room for a large number of bees between 

 the slats. Dr. Miller used a deep bottom 

 which provided a two-inch space under the 

 brood-combs, and a rack was used in this 

 space to prevent its being filled with combs. 

 Such an arrangement should reduce the ten- 

 dency to swarm, but cannot be depended 

 upon to prevent swarming in comb-honey 

 production. (2) The old queen would prob- 

 ably not have an opportunity to kill the 

 young queens in their cells, but after two 

 or three imsuccessful attempts to go out with 

 the swarm she would be killed by the work- 

 ers. Later, when the young queens begin to 

 emerge, the colony would attempt to swarm 

 again, and, unless a virgin queen should es- 

 cape thru the excluder, the colony would 

 attempt to swarm every day or so until but 

 one virgin queen remains alive. In the mean- 

 time, with so many attempts to swarm, the 

 colony would not accomplish much in the 

 way of work in the supers. 



Question. — At the close of the honey flow, I left 

 with each of my two colonies a half-depth extract- 

 ing super ahout three-quarters filled with honey. I 

 have contracted the entrances and wrapped the 

 hives with tar paper. The temperature seldom 

 reaches the freezing point here in southern Cali- 

 fornia. I wish you would criticize my methods and 

 advise how to operate in springtime. 



California. Dr. W. G. Chambers. 



Answer. — -Leaving a shallow extracting 

 super full of honey, or even three-fourths 

 full, for each colony in addition to the honey 

 they may have in the brood-chamber at the 

 close of the season and contracting the en- 

 trances for winter are both steps in the 

 right direction for good wintering. "Wrap- 

 ping the hives in black paper, however, may 

 not be good practice for southern Califor- 

 nia, since the black paper may absorb too 

 much heat from the sun during the day and 

 induce the bees to fly at times when it would 

 be better if they would remain quiet in the 

 hives. If some kind of packing material is 

 placed between the hive and the black paper, 

 the day and night temperature within the 

 hive would not vary so much, which should 

 result in greater quiescence and therefore 

 better wintering. Unpacked hives which are 

 painted white will have less daily variation 

 of temperature than dark-colored hives, es- 

 pecially in your climate, on account of the 

 dark-colored surface absorbing more heat 

 from the. sun than a light-colored surface. 

 The important thing about spring manage- 

 ment is to see that each colony has an abun- 

 ance of stores in advance of immediate 

 needs as well as plenty of room for brood- 

 rearing during the six or eight weeks just 

 preceding the beginning of the honey flow, 

 in order that brood-rearing may proceed at 

 its maximum rate during this period. If the 

 bees cannot gather nectar from some minor 

 sources, you should see that each colony has 

 never less than 15 to 20 pounds of honey 

 thruout this important brood-rearing period. 

 In order to supply sufiicient room for the 



greatest development of the colonies pre- 

 vious to the honey flow, you may find it nec- 

 essary to add a second full-depth hive-body, 

 since the single brood-chamber and the shal- 

 low extracting super may not afford suf- 

 ficient room for both brood-rearing and a 

 supply of honey, especially if the bees are 

 able to gather nectar from minor sources. 



Question. — I haVe one colony which covered only 

 six frames this fall. They have about 15 pounds of 

 stores but were packed with about eight inches on 

 all but the front. Will they need to be fed early in 

 the spring? Theodore Robinson. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — -While 15 pounds of stores may 

 be sufficient to last a well-protected colony 

 until brood-rearing is begun, it is not at all 

 safe to depend upon this amount for winter. 

 Your bees will probably begin to rear brood 

 in March, and from that time on they will 

 consume their stores rapidly. By selecting a 

 warm day in March, you may be able to 

 feed warm sugar syrup by placing the feeder 

 immediately above the cluster, then replac- 

 ing the packing around the feeder. The ordi- 

 nary friction-top pail with small holes 

 punched in the cover may be used for this 

 purpose- In the meantime, it will be advis- 

 able to give the bees a cake of hard candy, 

 to be sure that they will not starve before 

 you can feed them sugar syrup. 



Question. — I have my bees in the cellar with, I 

 believe, enough stores for winter. Would you advise 

 me to look about the last of January to see how 

 much honey is left for their use ? 



Iowa. Edward Melsh. 



Answer. — Usually it is best not to disturb 

 the bees while they are in the cellar; but, if 

 there is danger that they will run out of 

 stores, it is better to examine them and sup- 

 ply stores, if necessary, than to let them 

 starve. With only a slight disturbance to 

 the colony, you can lay a frame of honey or 

 a cake of candy on top of the brood-combs 

 to make sure that the bees will have enough 

 food ■ to last until spring. In this case the 

 cover being removed, the top of the hive 

 should be covered with a blanket or some 

 old clothes to prevent the escape of too 

 much heat from the hives. 



Question. — I want to start bee culture and would 

 like to get Cyprian bees. I have had experience 

 with other breeds, and I think I could manage the 

 Cyprians. If you would know where I could pur- 

 chase them, write me the address. 



Ohio. James A. Wolfe. 



Answer. — We do not know at present 

 where you can obtain any pure Cyprian bees. 

 They were sold in this country to quite a 

 considerable extent along in 1884, 1885, 

 1886, and 1887, but the bees were so hor- 

 ribly cross that almost everyone was obliged 

 to give them up. They are good honey- 

 gatherers, however, but they will sting on 

 the least kind of provocation, and smoke 

 is utterly useless in the handling of them, 

 and because they gather no more honey than 

 good Italians they have been generally aban- 

 doned. There is so little demand for them 

 that no one has offered them for sale, 



