October, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



645 



queenless because you do not find brood in 

 the hive at this time? Colonies that have 

 been queenless all summer would not have 

 many bees left in the hive, for most of them 

 would have died of old age by this time. If 

 your colon}'- has really been queenless for a 

 long time, you may as well unite it with 

 some colony that needs more stores. The 

 bees are of no value. 



BEES TEARING OUT BROOD. 



Question. — Why do my bees uncap the brood- 

 cells and kill the young larvae, both drones and 

 workers? S. S. Wilson. 



Mississippi. 



Answer. — No doubt your colonies were 

 threatened with starvation at the time you 

 saw them uncapping some of the brood and 

 dragging out the immature young. During 

 cool nights in early spring or late in the fall 

 it sometimes happens that some _of the 

 brood is chilled, in which case the bees will 

 carry out the chilled larvae or pupae. In 

 the fall just at the close of brood-rearing, 

 bees often neglect some of the brood in 

 more remote portions of the hive when they 

 first form a cluster, leaving portions of the 

 brood outside. 



STRANGE ODOR IN APIARY. 



Question. — What causes the peculiar odor about 

 my hives ? It does not smell like foul brood altho 

 I can smell it 20 feet away. D. D. Houghton. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — The odor which you notice is, 

 no doubt, from the ripening of nectar gath- 

 ered from fall flowers. Sometimes when 

 bees are working on fall flowers the odor 

 given off while ripening the nectar can be 

 detected a considerable distance from the 

 apiary. 



SWARMING OUT WHEN WELL SUPPLIED WITJI 

 HONEY. 



Question. — Why should my bees swarm out in 

 August, deserting their hive and 20 pounds of 

 honey ? O. A. James. 



South Dakota. 



Answer. — Bees will swarm out and desert 

 the hive even when they have plenty of 

 honey, if badly infected with American 

 foul brood. It will be well for you to ex- 

 amine the combs to see if they contain evi- 

 dences of this disease. If you are unable 

 to recognize American foul brood by an ex- 

 amination, it will be well to send a sample 

 of comb containing dead larvae and pupae 

 to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Bureau of Entomolo- 

 gy, Washington, D. C, for examination. 



WHY NOT PACK EARLIER? 



Question. — In the literature I have read, I don't 

 see any advocacy of early packing and would like 

 to know what is the objection, if any. 



New Hampshire. R. O. Ring. 



Answer. — There is no objection to pack- 

 ing the bees early provided you can have 

 a large entrance until the arrival of colder 

 weather. Some prefer to pack their colo- 

 nies in September, tho most beekeepers pre- 

 fer to do this early in October. In some 

 cases the packing is built in as in double- 

 walled liiN'os, so tliat tho bees are really 

 jiacked all summer but the entrances arc 

 enlarged during the summer. 



USING E.XTRACTING COMBS FROM DISEASED 

 COLONIES. 



Question. — Would it be safe fo extract the honey 

 find use the combs again that were taken from a 

 colony having American foul brood but above a 

 queon-excluder ? Harrison Robertson. 



Kentucky. 



Answer. — It would not be safe to use 

 these combs again. The queen-excluder 

 does not prevent honey from being carried 

 above after having been stored below tem- 

 porarily. The honey in these combs could 

 easily be a source of infection, even tho no 

 brood has been reared in them. 



SAWDUST OR FOREST LEAVES FOR WINTER PACKING. 



Question. — Ls sawdust just as good for packing 

 bees for winter as forest leaves ? 0. H. Gebhardt. 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — There is probably but little dif- 

 ference in insulating value between sawdust 

 and forest leaves. Sawdust is more inclined 

 to absorb moisture than forest leaves, if 

 the winter case is not properly constructed. 

 Some beekeepers prefer a mixture of saw- 

 dust and planer sha^dngs. When forest 

 leaves are used they should be crushed as 

 fine as possible, so that the packing is not 

 too loose. 



STORING COMBS OF HONEY DURING WINTER. 



Question. — What is the best way to store combs 

 of honey during the winter to be given to the bees 

 in the spring? J. E. Fenton. 



Michigan. 



Answer. — The combs of honey should be 

 stored, if possible, in a warm room where 

 the temperature does not run below freez- 

 ing. If a heated room is not available the 

 combs may be stored in a basement, prefer- 

 ably near the furnace. If they are stored 

 in a cold room there is danger of the honey 

 granulating during the winter. Combs of 

 honey should never be stored in a cellar 

 that is very damp, for in this case it would 

 absorb moisture from the air and might be- 

 come so thin that it would sour. A closet ad- 

 jacent to a chimney would be an ideal place 

 to keep combs of honey, especially if the 

 supers of honey can be piled against a chim- 

 ney that is warm all winter. 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 



Que.stion. — How can I move my bees a short 

 distance (15 to 60 feet) in order to have them in 

 groups of four to pack in quadruple winter cases? 



Connecticut. Harry S. Ferry. 



Answer. — You can move the bees a few 

 feet each day that they fly freely until they 

 are finally where you want them. You can 

 even turn some of them around to face in 

 the opposite direction by turning them a 

 little each day. When the hives are so far 

 apart as yours are, they can be moved from 

 three to five feet at a time, if there are no 

 trees or other objects to help the bees locate 

 their old position. Another way to do this 

 is to move the bees to another location sev- 

 eral miles away, leaving them there for a 

 couple of weeks, after which they can be 

 brought back and placed where desired. In 

 the meantime the bees will have forgotten 

 their former location and will mark their 

 new location when released. 



