462 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1922 



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GLEANED 



Geo. S, 



LJr^ 



pulleys or is a countershaft 

 H. V. Wilson. 



QUESTION. 

 — If I install 

 a n electric 

 motor hav- 

 ing a speed of 

 about 1700 R.P.M. 

 to run my Buckeye 

 extractor, is it 

 practical to obtain 

 the necessary 

 seven-to-one reduc- 

 tion in one set of 

 necessary ? 

 "Wisconsin. 



Answer by H. H. Eoot. — You can accom- 

 plish this in one reduction, putting a two- 

 inch pulley on your motor and a fourteen- 

 inch pulley on your extractor shaft. Some 

 do this, but it does not 'get the full efficiency 

 of the motor, owing to the sharp bend of 

 the belt around so small a pulley. You may 

 be able to purchase a special low-speed mo- 

 tor for this purpose. Eeally the most satis- 

 factory way is to accomplish your reduction 

 by using a jack shaft, possibly on the ceil- 

 ing. By this plan you do not have to have 

 your belt so tight, you really get more 

 efficiency out of your motor, and you do not 

 have to have a large pulley on the extractor 

 shaft, which frequently is considerably in 

 the way. 



Work of Bee Moth Larvae. 

 Question. — The bee moths have gotten into my 

 bees and are killing them. What can I do to get 

 rid of them? S. B. Hendrickson. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — The larvae of the wax moths 

 do not attack strong colonies of Italian bees. 

 They usually enter the hive after the colony 

 has become weakened from some other 

 cause such as queenlessness, lack of stores 

 or one of the brood diseases. It will be well 

 for you to examine the combs carefully to 

 see if the colony is queenless. or to see if 

 there is any indication of brood disease. If 

 you find any dead or discolored larvae in 

 the brood-combs, it will be well to cut out 

 a piece of comb containing these dead lar- 

 vae and send it for examination to Dr. E. 

 F. Phillips, Bureau of Entomology, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Building Up Two-Frame Nuclei for Winter. 

 Question.- — -Will a two-frame nucleus made in 

 the middle of July build up strong enough for 

 winter without any help ? Merritt Oplinger. 



Indiana. 



Answer. — Yes, if it has sufficient food at 

 all times. Unless there is a fall honey flow 

 a two-frame nucleus made after the middle 

 of this month would have to be fed enough 

 |o that there is at all times a supply of food 

 in the hive in order to keep up brood-rearing 

 during late summer. If there is a fall honey 

 flow sufficient in amount, of course feeding 

 would not be necessary. 



Different Classes of Queens. 

 Question. — What is the meaning of tested, un- 

 tested, select tested and select untested as ap- 

 plied to queens ? Thomas R. Peel. 

 Maryland. 



Answer. — A tested queen is one which 

 has been kept long enough for some of her 



BY ASKING 



Demuth 



3 



iU 



young bees to 

 emerge in order 

 that the breeder, 

 judging from 

 her offspring, 

 can be sure that 

 she is purely 

 mated. An un- 

 tested queen is 

 one that is tak- 

 out of the hive and sent to a customer with- 

 in less than three weeks after she began to 

 lay, and is therefore not tested as to purity 

 of mating. Select tested and select untested 

 queens are simply the finest in appearance 

 of their respective classes. 



Requeening Without Dequeening. 

 Question. — If a queen-cell is given in a spiral- 

 cell protector to a queenright colony, what will 

 be the result? C. F. Strahan. 



Nebraska. 



Answer, — The young queen will usually be 

 killed soon after she emerges. Occasionally 

 the bees will accept the young queen, per- 

 mitting her to supersede the old one, but 

 this cannot be depended upon as a method 

 of requeening. 



Queen Lays Eggs on Side of Cells. 

 Question. — What is wrong with the queen when 

 she lays her eggs on the side of the cell instead 

 of on the base? Harry R. Weiss. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — Sometimes young queens deposit 

 their eggs irregularly for the first few days 

 and afterward lay normally. Queens that 

 continue to lay their eggs on the side of the 

 cells are imperfect in some respect and 

 should be replaced. 



When and How Often to Requeen. 

 Question. — When is the best time to requeen 

 any colonies and how often should I requeen them? 

 North Carolina. J. L. Murray. 



Answer. — In many locations, the best 

 time to requeen is near the close of the 

 early honey flow. If this is done before the 

 honey flow ceases it is much easier to work 

 with the bees than when nectar becomes 

 scarce; and a young queen that begins to 

 lay in July or August will lay more eggs 

 in September than an old queqn, thus mak- 

 ing a better colony for winter on account 

 of the abundance of young bees. In locali- 

 ties wliere the fall honey flow begins early 

 in August, this would be a good time to re- 

 queen; but the young queen should begin 

 to lay not less than six or eight weeks be- 

 fore brood-rearing ceases in the fall, for 

 this much time is needed to furnish suffi- 

 cient young bees for winter. 



Sealing Honey at Close of Season. 

 Question. — Will the bees seal the honey that 

 is not quite finished at the close of the honey 

 flow? S. M. Wilkman. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — They will not seal all of it even 

 if the supers are left on several weeks after 

 the close of the honey flow. For extracted 

 honey it does not matter if it is not all 

 sealed, but it should be left on long enough 

 so that it will be thoroughly ripened. For 

 comb honey it is important to have as many 



