c 



GLEANED 



Geo. S 



ur 



FisuRUARV, 1922 



QUESTION. 

 — If . a colony 

 has good, 

 straight combs, 

 is it necessary to 

 cut them out when 

 they get old and re- 

 place them with 

 new ones, or will 

 it be all right to 

 continue using 

 them after they are black with age ? 



Colorado. Vernon L. McClure. 



Answer. — No. It is neither necessary nor 

 advisable to discard brood-combs simply be- 

 cause of their ago. Good, straight combs, 

 having nearly all cells of worker size that 

 have had brood reared in them to the top- 

 bar, so that they are strengthened thruout 

 by cocoons, are valuable property and should 

 not be. melted up on account of their age. 

 For discarding combs there are plenty of 

 other reasons, which are much more impor- 

 tant than that of age. Many combs are dam- 

 aged for brood-rearing purposes by the 

 stretching of the cells in the upper portion 

 before this part of the comb has been 

 strengthened by cocoons, because honey is 

 stored in the upper part of the comb the first 

 year, leaving about two inches of tender 

 comb. When the cells are stretched too 

 much out of shape they can not be used for 

 brood-rearing, thus greatly reducing the 

 value of such combs for use in the brood- 

 chamber. 



You probably have in mind the reduction 

 in the size of the cells by the addition of the 

 cocoons, as brood is reared in them time 

 after time. Theoretically the addition of 

 layer after layer of cocoons would soon so 

 reduce the size of the cells that they would 

 become too small for brood-rearing; but, in 

 practice, combs that have been in use 30 

 years or more are apparently just as good 

 for brood-rearing as new ones. The bees 

 evidently gnaw out the cocoons at the sides 

 of the cells, leaving them at the bottom. 

 This accumulation of material in the bottom, 

 of course, would make the cells shallower, 

 but the bees extend them to full depth as 

 cocoons accumulate in the bottom. Old 

 brood-combs are, therefore, thicker than 

 new ones. Sometimes the bees tear down 

 the walls of the cells to the base and then 

 rebuild them. This is usually done in 

 patches instead of over the whole comb. 



SNOW CLOSING THE ENTRANCE. 



Question. — Will it injure the bees for the snow 

 to drift high enough to cover the hive entrances, or 

 will enough air pass thru the snow to supply the 

 needs of the bees ? G. C. Morrison. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — Loose snow does not injuje the 

 bees even when it covers the hives com- 

 pletely. In fact, during cold weather the 

 the snow affords additional protection. 

 The bees do not need much oxygen during 

 winter if they are quiet and wintering well. 

 Plenty of air would pass thru the snow to 

 supply all of the oxygen needed for strong 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BY ASKING 



. Demuth 



^^^^^^^^^ 



-1 



K 



99 



colonies that are 

 quiet. If wet, 

 slushy snow is 

 driven into the 

 entrance by the 

 wind and then 

 freezes, closing 

 the entrance en- 

 tirely, there 

 .!„ ^ ., , would be some 



danger of the bees smothering, especially if 

 the colony is abnormally active and not win- 

 tering well. When the bees are as quiet as 

 they usually are in November and Decem- 

 ber, the entrance could even be sealed with 

 ice tor some time without smothering the 

 bees, since they use so little oxygen when 

 quiet that probably enough would pass thru 

 the walls of the hive to prevent smother- 

 ing for several days. As soon as the bees 

 discover that they are confined, however 

 they immediately become excited and would 

 then need many times as much oxygen as 

 when quiet. 



DO BEES NEED POLLEN FOR WINTER* 



Question.— Some of my colonies are going into 

 the winter with little or no pollen, while others 

 have a good supply. Does this make any differ- 



^°,f.- . . J. A. Satterwhite. 



Virginia. 



Answer.— Apparently bees do not need 

 pollen during the broodless period of win- 

 ter but they will need it when brood-rearina- 

 IS begun in the spring. At this time, how- 

 ever, they are usually able to gather some 

 pollen from early flowers, so it should not be 

 necessary in your locality to have a store 

 of pollen in the hives during the winter for 

 spring use. In localities where early pollen 

 IS not available, combs of stored pollen 

 would of course be advantageous, but these 

 could be given in the spring if necessary. 



THE JUMBO HIVE. 



Qu^tion— Does the Jumbo hive have enough 

 room for the queen so that an excluder is not need- 



brood-chamber of these hives so that feeding is not 

 '^^SJan. 



Answer.— The Jumbo hive has enough 

 rooni for the most prolific queens if the 

 combs are all good, having nearly all cells 

 o± worker size; but when producing extract- 

 ed honey this does not insure that the queen 

 will stay below, especially if any old dark 

 combs which have previously had brood 

 reared in them, are used in the supers Bv 

 using only white combs in which no brood ha''s 

 ever been reared in the supers, there would be 

 less trouble from queens going above In 

 comb-honey production, of course, the queen- 

 excluder is not needed, even with a smaller 

 hive. The amount of honey stored in the 

 brood-chamber at the close of the season de- 

 pends largely upon the character of the 

 honey flow. In some locations there is but 

 iittle honey in the brood-chamber at the 

 close of the season in extracted-honey pro- 

 duction, even when hives larger than the 

 Jumbo are used; but, in other locations, es- 



