GLEANINGS IN BEE C I' L T U K K 



GLEANED 



Geo. S 



364 



QUESTION. 

 — What is 

 your opinion 

 of using inch 

 starters or hajf 

 sheets of founda- 

 tion in extracting; 

 supers 1 



Oscar Nelson. 

 Wisconsin. 



Answer. — This . 



is not advisable, because when only inc-h 

 starters or kalf sheets of foundation are used 

 in the supers, the bees build chiefly drone 

 comb. When drone combs are used for ex- 

 tracting combs, if no queen-excluder is 

 used, the queen usually lays drone eggs in 

 them; and, if the queen-excluder is used 

 to prevent this, the bees usually leave many 

 cells vacant, apparently expecting the 

 queen to come up to lay drone eggs m them. 

 In extracted-honey production, at least, the 

 first super given should contain worker 

 combs, because it is usually desirable to per- 

 mit the queen to have a free range thruout 

 the hive early in the spring. Later, after 

 the queen has been put below the excluder, 

 drone comb is not so objectionable in ex- 

 tracting supers, especially if they are far 

 enough above the brood-chamber so that 

 the bees do not leave cells vacant. 



DO QUEEN TRAPS HINT>EE WOEK OP BBBS 1 



Question.— Is it advisable to use the wire queen 

 trap to put on the hive before swarming, or will 

 it interfere too much with the coming and gomg 

 of the bees? W. R. Thorpe, 



Ohio. . ,, 



Answer.— If the queen trap is on the 

 hive only during a week or ten days there 

 will probably be no noticeable difference m 

 the amount of honey gathered by the colony. 

 Even when left longer it may not make 

 much difference; but, of course, thoretically 

 at least, the colony is better off without 

 any obstruction over the entrance. Chp- 

 piiig the wings of the queen to a large ex- 

 tent accomplishes the same purpose as a 

 queen trap; but, when swarms issue during 

 the absence of the beekeeper, clipped 

 queens are frequently lost by returning to 

 the wrong hive or thru some other accident. 



<\V|-ET CLOVER IN WHITE CLOVER REGION. 



Question.— Does the introduction of sweet clover 

 into white clover territory reduce the quality ot 

 the honev gathered in this location? 



Kansas. F- ^ Poister. 



Answer.— Much depends upon the prefer- 

 ence of the individual who eats the honey. 

 Some prefer straight white clover or white 

 and alsike clover, while others may prefer 

 a blend containing some sweet clover. Buy- 

 ers are usually willing to pay a little more 

 for straight white clover or white and al- 

 sike clover honey than for either straight 

 sweet clover, or a mixture of sweet clover 

 and white clover. 



Sweet clover is apparently at its best as 

 a honey plant outside of the best white 

 clover territory. I«iinediately west and 

 south of the region best suited to white and 

 alsike clover and in the irrigated districts 



BY ASKING 



. Demuth 



Junk, 1921 



f a r t h e r west, 

 sweet clover is 

 now furnishing 

 large quantities 

 of honey of ex- 

 cellent quality. 

 Within the white 

 clover district 

 proper the in- 

 t r o d u c tion of 

 of sweet clover may result in honey from 

 the two sources being mixed; but usually 

 if white clover yields well tliere is but lit- 

 tle if any mixing until near the close of 

 the season, and the beekeeper can often ex- 

 tract this separately. 



QUEENS MATED IX UPPER STORV. 



Question. — Suppose I lift the back end of the 

 cover at the close of the main honey flow and put 

 a good ripe queen-cell in every super, would the 

 young queen mate and go back into the super with 

 out swarming? .Tack Walterhouse. 



Ontario. 



Answer.- — Yes, in many cases at least, es- 

 pecially if a frame of sealed brood is placed 

 in the super when the ripe queen-cell is 

 given, or shortly before. Soon after the 

 close of the honey flow, however, these 

 young queens may disappear, or the old 

 queen below may disappear. When more is 

 learned about the conditions necessary 

 for the successful mating of queens in an 

 upper story above a queen-excluder, while 

 there is a queen in the brood-chamber be- 

 low, it may become a useful method for re- 

 queening full colonies at the close of the 

 main honey flow. 



ITALIANIZING WITH VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Question. — Would buying virgin queens give sat- 

 isfaction where one wants Italian stock exclusive 

 ly for honey production? 



Iowa. Lawrence E. Molgard. 



Answer. — Tlie introduction of virgin 

 queens of pure Italian stock would not re- 

 sult in pure Italian workers if the drones 

 in your apiary and your neiglibrhood are 

 blacks and hybrids, for these virgin queens 

 would, of course, mate with drones from 

 your own vicinity. The drones from these 

 mismated Italian queens would be pure 

 Italians, however, and by requeening again 

 with pure Italian virgin queens the follow- 

 ing year, the chances of pure mating would 

 be greatly increased. It is difficult, how- 

 ever, even for an experienced beekeeper, to 

 introduce virgin queens that are more than 

 three days old. 



TREATMENT FOR SAOBROOD. 



Question. — Please tell me how to cure sacbrood. 

 Will changing the queen help? 



Virginia. Henry W. Weatherford. 



Answer. — Sacbrood usually disappears 

 during the season without treatment, espe- 

 cially if the colony is strong and has a vig- 

 orous queen. While this disease sometimes 

 greatly weakens the colonies and may in se- 

 vere cases even prevent them from storing 

 surplus of honey, it is best simply to see that 

 the afflicted colonies have plenty of stores 

 at all times as well as a vigorous queen. 



