c 



GLEANED 



Geo. S. 



Januarv, 1922 



QUESTION. 

 —If I lend 

 my extractor 

 to my neigli- 

 bor, liow can I 

 clean it so that I 

 may be sure that 

 there is no danger 

 of foul brood if any 

 of his colonies hap- 

 pen to have either 

 kind of the disease? 



Colorado. Vernon L. McClure. 



Answer. — Tlie iinportant thing in cleaning 

 an extractor, which has been used in ex- 

 tracting honey stored by colonies having 

 American foul brood, is to wash off thoroly 

 every particle of honey from all parts of 

 the extractor. It is safer to wash away 

 every particle of honey, thereby removing 

 the medium by which the disease may be 

 transmitted, than to try to sterilize the 

 transmitting medium. To make sure that 

 the extractor is thoroly clean it will be nec- 

 essary to rinse it out with clean water after 

 it has been thoroly washed, in order to take 

 away any remnant of honey that may be 

 left after the first washing. Hot water is, 

 of course, better than cold for this purpose, 

 because it more readily takes up the honey. 

 Scalding out the extractor with boiling wa- 

 ter will not sterilize an extractor contami- 

 nated with American foul brood, but a 

 thoro cleansing should render it safe. In 

 the case of European foul brood there is 

 not much danger of transmitting the disease 

 thru the extractor. 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES IN WINTER. 



Question. — I shall have to move my bees about 

 a quarter of a mile. When is the best time to do 

 it, now or later? F. R. Davis. 



New York. 



Answer. — The bees can be moved short 

 distances, without much danger of many 

 going back to the old location, any time dur- 

 ing the winter after they have been confined 

 to their hives for a few weeks. Probably 

 March or early April will be as good a time 

 as any to do this successfully in your local- 

 ity. They should be moved before they be- 

 gin to fly freely in the spring, because if 

 left until spring activity begins many bees 

 would go back to their old location. They 

 can be moved in midwinter if more conveni- 

 ent. 



CAUSE OF HEAVY LOSS IN CELLAR. 



Question. — I have been losing from 50 to 75 per 

 cent of my colonies in the cellar. The temperature 

 never goes below .38 degrees and never above 45 

 degrees. The inside of the hives is always wet 

 and mouldy. What causes this trouble? 



W^isconsin. C. H. Gebhardt. 



Answer. — It is not possible to tell from 

 your question what caused such a heavy 

 winter loss. The mould and dampness which 

 you noticed in the hives tell us that the 

 bees were too active to winter well, and also 

 that the temperature of the cellar was too 

 low to prevent the condensation of tlie mois- 

 ture within the hive. Increasing the tem- 

 perature of the cellar a few degrees above 



G L E .V N I N G S IN B K E CULTURE 



BY ASKING 



Demuth 



1 



37 



that which you 

 liad, will reduce 

 the condensation 

 of moisture 

 within the hive 

 and at the same 

 time reduce the 

 activity of the 

 bees in keeping 

 warm, thus re- 

 ducing the amount of water vapor which 

 they give off. While the temperatures you 

 mention are rather low for best wintering, 

 the temperature alone is not a sufficient ex- 

 planation of a winter loss of 50% to 75%. If 

 your colonies wore strong in vigorous young 

 bees in the fall and were put into the cellar 

 just after a good cleansing flight, about the 

 only explanation of the heavy winter loss is 

 that of inferior winter stores. No matter 

 what temperature is maintained in the cellar, 

 if the stores are poor the bees become active 

 from discomfort caused by indigestible ma- 

 terial in the stores, and of course wear them- 

 selves out rapidly, giving off much moisture 

 as their activity is increased. Those who 

 are most successful in wintering bees in cel- 

 lars, are careful to see that their colonies 

 are supplied with the best of winter stores, 

 such as the best white clover honey or sugar 

 syrup. When the bees gather inferior hon- 

 ey from fall flowers late in the season they 

 store this between their clustering space 

 and the earlier-gathered honey above, which 

 arrangement causes them to use the last- 

 gathered honey first. When they do this the 

 trouble can be corrected by feeding each 

 colony about 10 pounds of thick sugar 

 syrup after brood-rearing has ceased but 

 before the bees are put into the cellar. The 

 bees will then put this syrup where it will 

 be used first, leaving the poor stores until 

 spring when no harm results from their use. 



CHICKENS EATING BEES. 



Question. — Will chickens eat bees or disturb 

 them in any way if the hives are located in the 

 chicken run? Ruth Nicolls. 



New York. 



Answer. — Usually chickens do not eat 

 worker bees. Sometimes a few chickens 

 of the flock will learn to catch and eat 

 drones, but carefully avoid the workers. la 

 doing this they do not disturb the colonies 

 to any extent, for in catching the drones 

 the chickens learn to be stealthy and care- 

 ful. If many chickens are confined in a 

 small run, they sometimes learn to eat the 

 workers, usually catching them as they are 

 returning heavily laden with nectar. For 

 this reason it is not advisable to have colo- 

 nies of bees in a run where many chickens 

 are confined, but when the chickens have 

 the freedom of a large run or an orchard 

 they do not often bother the bees. 



DO PACKED COLONIES BECOME TOO WARM? 



Question. — After packing my bees for winter 

 this fall I noticed some bees at the entrance fan- 

 ning their wings. The entrance is reduced to % x 

 3 Vi inches. Is there danger of their becoming too 



