GLEANINGS I N 15 E E C U L T U R E 



July. 1921. 



• luiioil for ripening either nectar or syrup 

 depends npon how thick it is at tirst and 

 the amount of moisture in the air during 

 Tlie ripening process. In dry climates the 

 nectar is sometimes so thick when first 

 stored that it is ripened and sealed within 

 .1 few days, while in a humid climate it may 

 require several weeks for the bees to ripen 

 .ind seal the honey if a large quantity is 

 gathered. 



URONESIZIO L-OUNDATION FOR SKCTIONS. 



Question. — Has extra thin foundation imprinted 

 with drone-cell ba.ses ever been manufactured for 

 u.se in comb-honey pioduction? 



MassacluLsetts. Arthur M. Southwick. 



AnsAver, — Yes, such foundation has been 

 made and used in comb-honey sections. The 

 greatest objection to combs having cells of 

 drone size in the sections is that the queen 

 may go into the supers to lay drone eggs 

 when tiiere are but few drone-cells in the 

 lirood-cliamber. When only full sheets of 

 foundation of worker siz(^ :;!e used in sec- 

 tions the queen seldom hn> eggs in them, 

 ;iiid a (pu'en-excluder is not needed. Some 

 have objected to the appear.ince of the cap- 

 pings when drone foundation is used. The 

 cappings and the attachment to the wood 

 are usually more nearly perfect wlien work- 

 er-size foundation is used, altho some like 

 the appearance of drone-cells better. 



FERMENTATION IN COMB UOXKV. 



Question. — What is the cause of honey in the 

 comb all capped over turning sour and when un- 

 capped to ferment and run? John L. Brunsou. 



Utah. 



Answer. — Either the honey was not prop- 

 erly ripened before it was sealed or it was 

 stored where it absorbed moisture after be- 

 ing sealed. Honey from some sources is 

 more inclined to sour than that from other 

 sources. Honey stored in bait combs, espe- 

 cially if the combs are not cut down so that 

 the cells are quite shallow, sometimes fer- 

 ments after being sealed, bursting the cap- 

 pings and oozing out on the surface of the 

 comb. Apparently, honey that is stored in 

 deep cells is often not ripened as thoroly as 

 when stored in shallow cells, which are 

 elongated as more honey is added. After 

 being removed from the hive, comb honey 

 .should be stored in a warm dry room and 

 not subjected to great variation in temper- 

 ature since if warm moisture-laden air 

 comes in contact with cold honey, some of 

 the moisture will be condensed on the sur- 

 face of the combs and later absorbed by 

 the honey. 



TO REQUEEN WITHOUT REMOVING OLD QI'EEN. 



Question. — If a queen-cell is put into an upper 

 story over an excluder and the excluder is taken 

 out about two days after the young queen emerges, 

 will the young queen usually kill the old queen? 



Minnesota. Joseph Lovergan. 



Answer.- — In some cases the old queen will 

 be killed, but probably in most cases the 

 virgin queen will be the one that disap- 

 pears. If the colony is in a condition to 

 supersede its old queen, the virgin queen 

 will often be accepted. Sometimes both 



the old and the young queen will be per- 

 mitted to remain in the colony for some 

 time, each laying eggs in a normal manner, 

 but usually after the close of the honey 

 How one of them disappears. Various 

 schemes have been tried to requeen colo- 

 nies without having to find and kill the old 

 (|ueen. Some have reported a high percent- 

 age of success by simply running a virgin 

 (jueen less than 24 hours old into the hive 

 at the entrance, followed by a little smoke; 

 but this can not be depended upon for re- 

 queening, unless the bees are ready to super- 

 sede the old (pieen. It has been suggested 

 that when clipping the wings of the queen 

 her sting should be clipped at the same time, 

 to permit her being superseded at any time 

 by running a recently emerged virgin queen 

 in at the entrance, the theory being that 

 the virgin queen would be accepted because 

 the old queen could not sting her. Appar- 

 ently this plan has not worked out in prac- 

 tice. He who discovers a succesful method 

 of replacing old queens by some simple 

 plan, without the necessity of finding them, 

 will contribute much to the industry. (See 

 May issue, pages 26(5 and 275.) 



FEEDING BACK EXTRACTED HONEY. 



(Question. — Is there a successful way to feed ex- 

 uacted honey to a colony or colonies, and let them 

 rebuild it or convert it into comb honey ? There is 

 no sale for extracted honey here. 



Florida. C. C. Langston. 



Answer. — Extracted honey can be fed 

 back and stored in the form of comb honey, 

 but there are so many difficulties in the 

 way of doing this that it would seldom be 

 found profitable. Comb honey secured by 

 feeding back extracted honey is usually not 

 as good as ordinary comb hone}'. It some- 

 times granulates badly if not consumed 

 early in the fall or winter, and is usually 

 jiot so fine in appearance, the bees being in- 

 clined to build somewhat irregular comb, 

 jilacing bits of wax here and there on the 

 surface. Feeding back extracted honey to 

 cause the bees to complete unfinished sec- 

 tions of comb honey at the close of the sea- 

 son was formerly practiced to some extent, 

 but even this has been given up by most 

 comb-honey producers, since unless the con- 

 dition of the colonies used for this purpose 

 is just right and the weather conditions are 

 favorable at the time the feeding is done, 

 much of the honey that is fed to the colo- 

 nies will be consumed by the bees instead 

 of being stored in the sections. Sometimes 

 less than half of the honey fed is actually 

 stored in completed sections. To feed back 

 successfully the colonies must be strong, 

 the brood-chamber must be filled with brood, 

 and it must not be too large for the queen 

 to keep well filled. The honey should be 

 tliinned down by adding about one-third of 

 its weight of water. It should be given to 

 the bees in a large feeder that will hold 15 

 to 20 pounds of honey, and arranged so the 

 bees will take it rapidly. The feeding 

 should be done during hot weather. 



