394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1922 



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GLEANED 



Geo. S 



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QU E S TI O N. 

 — What part 

 of the bottom 

 of the cell 

 does a larva that 

 is three days old 

 cover? One that is 

 36 hours old? 

 W. Holmberg. 

 California. 



Answer. — Three-day-old larvae cover about 

 three-fourths of the base of the celL Larvae 

 36 hours old cover about one-fourth of the 

 base of the cell. 

 Comb-houey Supers and European Foul Brood. 



Question. — Is there any danger of spreading 

 European foul brood by the comb-honey supers if 

 •there is no honey in them? 



Minnesota. Ephraim Magnuson. 



Answer. — There should be practically no 

 danger of transmitting European foul brood 

 by means of empty comb-honey supers that 

 have been stored in the shop all winter. 

 Weight of Queen and Her Eggs. 



Question. — How much does a queen bee weigh ? 

 How many eggs does she lay in 24 hours and how 

 many of her eggs would it require to weigh one 

 grain ? John F. Johnson. 



California. 



Answer. — The weight of the queen bee 

 varies according to whether she is laying 

 heavily or not. During the winter when she 

 is not laying at all she would, of course, 

 weigh the least. Ordinarily, she weighs 

 about .25 of a gram or about three and one- 

 half grains. A good queen is capable of lay- 

 ing 3000 eggs in 24 hours, but she does this 

 only during a short period in the spring. 

 The eggs when first laid weigh about .00013 

 of a gram but weigh less when about ready 

 to hatch. It would therefore require about 

 500 of these to weigh one grain, or 240,000 

 to weigh one ounce. 



Bees Kill Clipped Queen. 



Question.- — Is there any danger of the bees 

 killing the queen having her wings clipped, after 

 a number of attempts to swarm ? 



New York. Roger C. Hinsdill. 



Answer. — Yes, if the queen is not lost dur- 

 ing an attempt to go with the swarm, the 

 bees after several attempts will give up try- 

 ing to swarm with the old queen and will 

 wait until one of the young queens emerges, 

 when a swarm will issue accompanied by a 

 young queen, the old queen having disap- 

 peared. 



Age When Young Bees Begin Field Work. 



Question. — How long is it after emergence be- 

 fore the young bees begin gathering nectar? 



South Dakota. E. A. Prey. 



Answer. — Young bees usually begin to 



work in the fields when they are about two 



weeks old, though under some conditions 



they begin field work sevei;al days earlier. 



"Put Up" Plan for Swarm Control. 



Question. — What is meant by the "put up 

 plan" for swarming? A. T. Cox. 



New York, 



Answer. — The "put up plan" is the name 

 used by Dr. Miller to designate a treatment 

 for colonies that swarm. The hive is moved 

 away and a new hive put in its place, the 



BY ASKING 



Demuth 



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new liive con- 

 taining two or 

 three frames of 

 unsealed brood, 

 but there must 

 not be any 

 q u e e n-cells on 

 these combs. The 

 old hive is then 

 set on top of the new one so that the 

 bees in returning from the field will all enter 

 the new hive. This so depletes the old hive 

 of its bees that the colony gives up swarm- 

 ing and the queen-cells are destroyed. After 

 about 10 days the old hive is put back in 

 its former position and the new oiie taken 

 away for increase. Instead of setting the 

 old hive on top, it can be placed at one side 

 with its entrance turned far enough away 

 so the returning bees will not enter it, then 

 a few days later, turned back so the en- 

 trances are close together before reuniting. 

 When the old hive is set on top, it is placed, 

 bottom and all, above the cover of the new 

 hive, there being no connection between the 

 two hives, each colony having its own en- 

 trance. 



Empty Chamber Below to Prevent Swarming. 

 Question. — What is your opinion of the efficacy 

 of placing a super containing only empty frames 

 beneath the brood-chamber as soon as winter is 

 over, to prevent swarming? F. H. Bunt. 



Mexico. 



Answer. — This will, of course, delay 

 swarming, and in some cases if this delay is 

 sufficient to carry the colony past the critical 

 period for swarming or to the close of the 

 honey flow, swdrming is prevented; but in 

 this country, especially in the North, it can 

 not be depended upon to prevent swarming. 

 This is the principle of the Simmins method, 

 the theory of which is that, as long as combs 

 are being built below the brood, there will 

 be no swarming. This plan was tried out in 

 this country many years ago and abandoned 

 as being not at all dependable when swarm- 

 ing is bad. 



Changing Supers to Another Hive Without Re- 

 moving Bees. 



Question. — When shifting supers from one col- 

 ony to another, is it necessary that the bees all 

 be driven out before putting the super on anotlier 

 hive? Frederick Spiker. 



West Virginia. 



Answer. — Not if there is a good honey 

 flow at the time this is done. During a 

 heavy honey flow it would not be necessary 

 to drive any of the bees out, so far as dan- 

 ger of their fighting is concerned. At other 

 times it is safer to drive most of the bees 

 out, but it is not necessary that all be 

 driven out. 



Cause of Loafing During Honey Flow. 



Question. — What was the cause of my bees 

 quitting work last summer while the honey flow, 

 was still on? J. E. Arnold. 



Oklahoma. 



Answer. — There are so many things which 

 will cause the bees to work with less vigor 

 during the honey flow that it is not possible 

 to tell what was the trouble in vour case. 



