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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1922 



pecially if the honey flow is slow toward 

 the close of the season the Jumbo hive is 

 usually well provisioned for winter. The 

 large brood-chamber, as a rule, can not be 

 depended upon to have a sufficient supply of 

 honey for the bees at the close of the honey 

 flow, if extracting supers were given freely 

 during the honey flow. For this reason some 

 beekeepers use a shallow extracting super as 

 a food-chamber, this being filled early in 

 the season and tiered up above the queen- 

 excluder among the extracting supers dur- 

 ing the honey flow to insure sufficient stores 

 for winter, thus avoiding feeding in the fall. 



WINTERING IN TWO STORIES. 



Question. — Is there any advantage in using two 

 stories for wintering in the quadruple packing- 

 case when I can easily give a second story when I 

 clip my queens in the spring. S. H. Graham. 



New York. 



Answer. — Probably not in your locality. 

 In fact one would expect them to winter 

 better in a single story on account of the 

 smaller amount of space to keep warm. The 

 advantage of two stories is largely in sup- 

 plying a greater amount of stores and room 

 for spring brood-rearing. If a second story 

 two-thirds or more filled with honey is given 

 next spring in time for the heavy spring 

 brood-rearing, the advantages of the two- 

 story system will be secured, with the add- 

 ed advantage of having a smaller winter 

 chamber. The greatest trouble with this 

 plan is the temptation to extract this extra 

 honey when it is taken off in the fall to sell 

 with the surplus honey instead of storing it 

 in a warm room during the winter to be 

 given back next spring. The two-story 

 plan removes this temptation and usually 

 gives splendid results where the winters are 

 not too severe. 



FROTH ON HONEY IN BOTTLES. 



Question. — What causes honey stored in a cement 

 honey-house, which is rather damp, to form a white 

 froth when extractpd and placed in laottles ? It 

 looks as tho it is fermenting and is rather thin ? 



New York. W. Burden. 



Answer. — Your last sentence would indi- 

 cate that the honey may have absorbed 

 moisture before it was extracted, while 

 stored in the damp honey-house, for it 

 should not be thin now if it was well rip- 

 ened and mostly sealed before you took it 

 from the bees. Unless it was stored for 

 some time in this room before being ex- 

 tracted it should not have absorbed much 

 moisture in this way. You can tell by 

 smelling or tasting if any of it is ferment- 

 ing. Even a slight fermentation can be eas- 

 ily detected in this way. When heated hon- 

 ey is put into bottles the air bubbles rising 

 to the surface sometimes form froth on the 

 top, even on thick well-ripened honey. This 

 can be avoided by having the honey-gate 

 attached to a hose from the filling tank, the 

 honey-gate having a long snout by which 

 the stream of honey can be directed to the 

 bottom of the bottle, the gate being lifted 

 as the jar is filled. Honey that is slightly 

 fermented can be improved by heating not 



above 150-160 °F. to drive off the alcohol; 

 but, if there has been much fermentation, 

 the delicate flavor of the honey will be de- 

 stroyed. 



DURING WHAT MONTH DO QUEENS LAY. . 



Question. — Does the queen bee lay every month 

 in the year ? If not, during which months does she 

 lay? Mary Fisk. 



Texas. 



Answer. — Queens do not lay thruout the 

 year, but usually take a rest during the 

 winter. In your locality no doubt there will 

 be some queens laying every month in the 

 year in a good-sized apiary, but when the 

 colonies are normal in strength the queens 

 usually rest for at least a few weeks dur- 

 ing the winter even in the South. Brood- 

 rearing is usually suspended in the northern 

 portion of the United States sometimes in 

 September or early in October, and if con- 

 ditions are favorable it is not begun again 

 until sometime in March. Farther south of 

 course the broodless period is shorter, but 

 except in the extreme South brood-rearing 

 is usually suspended during November and 

 December in all colonies that are normal in 

 strength. Weak colonies usually have a 

 shorter broodless period than strong ones. 



PACKAGE BEES OR NUCLEI. 



Question. — Which would be better for me, to pur- 

 clia.se from the South in the spring three-frame nu- 

 clei or three-pound packages of bees at the same 

 price? A young laying queen is to be included in 

 either case. E. W. Wooster. 



Maine. 



Answer. — This will depend upon just how 

 much sealed brood would be included in 

 the three-frame nuclei as well as upon the 

 equipment you have ready for receiving the 

 bees. If three frames well filled with brood 

 nearly ready to emerge were included, the 

 three-frame nuclei would give you more bees 

 to start with than the three-pound packages, 

 for each frame would yield nearly a pound 

 of young bees. If, however, only a little 

 brood is included, the packages would, no 

 doubt, give you more bees to start with, pro- 

 vided, of course, the packages and nuclei 

 arrive in equally good condition. 



When you receive the nuclei, if you receive 

 in sealed brood and bees as many or more 

 bees after the brood emerges, you are ahead 

 in that you have three combs containing 

 some honey and pollen. If you do not have 

 combs containing some honey and pollen and 

 have to start the package bees on frames of 

 foundation, the nuclei should forge ahead of 

 the package bees; but if you can put them 

 on combs containing some honey and pollen, 

 there would not be much difference. 



Generally speaking, the three-frame nu- 

 clei should be better, but a serious objection 

 to the shipping of nuclei as a general prac- 

 tice is the danger of transmitting the brood 

 diseases thru the combs. Package bees be- 

 ing without combs avoid this danger when 

 provisioned with queen-cage candy in which 

 no honey was used. 



