February, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



jng. and are inclined to rob, just set out a 

 few hive bodies of honey and get them started 

 on it on one side of the apiary, then have 6 

 men in all, and as soon as the bees get started 

 on the honey well, go to extracting, and as 

 fast as you have a few empty bodies set them 

 out for the bees to clean. If the bees get a 

 little ahead set out a few more bodies of honey, 

 but 6 men can keep 200 colonies of bees busy. 

 If it is late in the fall or winter, and you want 

 to heat the honey, stack up about 50 or 100 

 bodies in the honey-house, have a sheet-iron 

 stove good and hot for about 6 or 8 hours, 

 and then go to extracting, which we generally 

 do from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until per- 

 haps II at night." 



A Remarkable Overflow. 



Last May I experienced the most remarkable 

 overflow on record, I feel sure. The apiary 

 in question was located in a valley near a 

 little ravine, and was 100 yards from a little 

 gully, which was hardly noticeable. One late 

 afternoon a fearful rain fell, and the water 

 came up in the apiary and covered all the 

 bottom boxes, or brood-chambers, or over half 

 of the colonies. At this time a heavy honey- 

 flow was on, and the hives full of honey. 

 The flood came on Saturday afternoon. I knew 

 that the bees had been flooded, but never wtnt 

 to see about them until Monday morning, 

 and to my astonishment I found all in pretty 

 good condition. There had been only about 5 

 percent of the brood killed, and I saw no in- 

 dication that any honey was gone, although 

 Sunday was not a day for bees to gather 

 honey. Many of the hives had been under 

 water to 3 inches up on the super. As good 

 luck would have it, all the covers were bad 

 fitting, which gave the bees plenty of air and 

 means of escape, which saved the apiary. The 

 water stayed up an hour. One hive was com- 

 pletely washed out of the yard and turned 

 over, yet suffered very little damage. I at- 

 tributed the escape with so little injury to the 

 fact that the water could not enter the cells, 

 or did not. I am not afraid of a wash-out 

 now, and the destruction of the bees, if they 

 have a way of escape through the top of the 

 hive, and something to climb to if the hives 

 are stationary so that they will not wash 

 away. 



Bartlett, Tex. T. P. Robinson. 



It's "Fun" to Hdnt Bee-Trees. 



We have been having "lots of fun" and a 

 plenty of "wild" honey on our table, this 

 winter. The past season has been a great 

 year for swarms, and a great many swarms 

 have gone to the woods, with the result that 

 many "bee-trees" are to be found. We go to 

 the ranchmen here who own large pastures 

 that are used for grazing various stock, and 

 say something like this: 



"Mr. Brown, we should like to have per- 

 mission to hunt wild bees in your pasture. 

 We will use every precaution against danger 

 from fire while hunting and cutting the trees, 

 for we well know the seriousness of getting 

 these large pastures on fire these dry times 

 when the wind is blowing a gale." 



Then nine out of ten will say, "Go ahead, 

 Mr. Smith, all we ask is to be very careful 

 about fire." 



Then we saddle our horses when the day 

 promises to be fair and warm, get feed for 

 them, dinner for ourselves, and get our "bee- 

 hunting outfit," which consists of a bottle of 

 sweetened water made with honey, some old 

 pieces of empty honey-combs, several large 

 lumps of "slum-gum" from the wax-extractor 

 and the "bee-hunting" box, and we are off to 

 the woods. 



On reaching the spot we have reasons to 

 believe wild bees are near, we tie or hitch the 

 horse, select a clear place where no danger 

 of fire to the owner of the pasture would be 

 taken, build a small fire, lay on a lump of the 

 "slumgum," put out the pieces of comb with 

 sweetened water in them from the bottle. 

 Don't allow the "slumgum" to blaze and burn 

 up, but just keep it smoldering along to make 

 all the smoke and scent possible. If bees 

 are near they will soon be coming thick and 

 fast, and will find the combs of sweetened 

 water, and we will soon have a line started, 

 possibly several of them, and by moving up the 

 bait-combs on the line they can soon be lined 

 to the tree or cave, in which they have their 

 home. In this way we have found a number 

 of trees this winter. We cut 2 very "rich" 

 trees New Year's Day. We transfer all the 

 straight worker-comb to frames, and save all , 

 the bees. In this way we have stocked an 

 apiary of over 30 colonies this fall and winter. 

 I hunt bees for pleasure and not for profit. 

 As a rule, it is not profitable. 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. Smith. 



Moving Bees Short Distances, Etc. 



I should like to have Mr. SchoU or some 

 other practical apiarist here in the South, tell 

 mc the best way and time to move an apiary 

 of 60 colonies a distance of 200 yards, with 

 the least trouble and loss of bees returning to 

 the old stand. This is an out-apiary some 14 

 miles away. 



Pollen and Honey in January. 



This so far has been a very dry as well 

 as warm, open winter. There have been but 

 a very few days that the bees have not been 

 on the wing and gathered more or less pollen, 

 with perhaps a scanty supply of honey. Jan. 

 8 they were gathering from two different 

 sources — mountain cedar and mistletoe. 



Bees in the Best Condition. 



The writer has never seen bees in the 18 

 years he has lived in this locality (Lampasas 

 County, Tex.) in better condition than at the 

 present time. They are moderately strone in 

 Dees, and extra-well supplied with stores. This 

 is the result of the long and steady honey- 

 flow from broom-weed in the late fall and 

 early winter, which lasted, in all, over 2 

 months. The quality of the honey is not the 

 best, but it is "legal tender" in a poor year 

 for honey of a better grade, like the past sea- 

 son has been here. 



Skunks Troubling the Bees. 



The skunks have been troubling the bees 

 of one of my out-yards considerably the past 

 month or two. I told the owner of the ranch 

 about it, and he said: 



"I never knew before that skunks in any 

 way bothered bcres. Although I have heard my 

 little dog out where the bees are, barking for 

 several nights, and had noticed the strong odor 

 of the skunk more than once, I never thought 

 of his skunk-ship depredating on the bees. I 

 shall take my shotgun and go to the dog next 

 time." 



I have since learned that 3 of '.be little 

 "varmints" have been killed on *'.ic spot, and 

 there arc still signs of othci. 



Several of my yards have been moved 

 at various times short distances varying 

 from 50 to 300 yards and more, and 

 after trying a great many ways, I have 

 of late years used the following one as 

 the best and easiest, in my mind at 

 least. The moving can be done at any 

 time when the weather is not too hot 

 and sultry. The entrances of the hives 

 are stuffed with moss, or green grass, 

 or weeds are preferable, early in the 

 morning, before any bees have gone out. 



Wait until the day has warmed up, 

 until 10 or n a. m., and then haul the 

 colonies to the new stands, handling 

 them roughly to stir them up well. 

 When all are moved, use a smoker to 

 smoke at the entrances, which are now 

 all opened so only one bee can pass at 

 a time, by pulling the weeds slightly at 

 one side of the entrance. 



The bees are much stirred up and 

 would rush out, but are kept from do- 

 ing so by the smoke and the very small 

 entrance. This causes them to come out 

 with some difficulty. They notice their 

 new location, and do not rush off to 

 the old one, thus saving the usual loss 

 of jeturning bees. The green grass or 

 weeds will soon begin to wither and 

 dry up, and is in due time removed 

 by the bees, allowing them the full use 

 of the entrance without further atten- 

 tion from the apiarist. It is the cheap- 

 est and most easily obtained at almost 

 all times, here in the South, and when 

 not dry, grass or moss works just as 

 well. It is "just the thing" for such 

 moving at out-yards, etc. 



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Send Questions either to the ollice uf the American Bee Journal or to 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Marengo. 111. 



Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Bee-Spaces in Hives — Color of Italian 

 Queens. 



I began last spring with one colony in a 

 regular dovetailed hive, increased to 5 colo- 

 nies, and got 100 pounds surplus, which, for 

 a beginner, I think is good enough to blow 

 about. But I guess "location" counts for a 

 great deal. The hay meadows are thick with 

 dandelion. The railroad right of way, ^-mile 

 from my colonics, is a jungle of sweet clover, 

 and I have 40 acres of alfalfa. My experi- 

 ence, however, is that alfalfa is second to 

 sweet clover, or else this year was an ex- 

 ception. The sweet clover just hummed with 

 the bees all summer, while very few were 

 seen on the alfalfa, though some of it went to 

 seed. I have some troubles. That is why 

 I write the "Trouble-mender." I got along 

 making nuclei, and successfully introduced a 

 queen. But I killed bees and was awfully 

 bothered with propolis. I killed bees in put- 

 ting on supers and covers, and, in taking off 

 a top super, I tore up parts of sections in 

 the lower super, and some brood- frames were 

 stuck fast to the section-holders of the lower 

 'pr first) super, and lifted up with it. I 

 uc*"'! think my hives arc properly bee-spaced, 

 or t'*e our dry climate has shrunk them. 



I. J. :T understand it, a square laid across 

 a hive 'd have a H-inch space left be- 



tween it and the top of the frames. Is that 

 right? 



2. Should there also be a ^-^-inch space above 

 the tops of the sections in a super? If not, 

 how can I prevent the sections being stuck 

 fast to the section-holder above? 



3. If there should be a bee-space above the 

 sections in a super I have been thinking I 

 could remedy that in my supers by using 

 T-tins, as they would eliminate the section- 

 holder bottom (l4-inch thick); but how about 

 the section-holder ends? Without them four 

 4'4 X 4l4 sections won't reach across the su- 

 per by an inch, unless the T-tins are made of 

 sheet-iron, and take up some space, and if they 

 do take up space and crowd the bottoms of 

 the sections apart, isn't there a space left 

 between the tops for bees to daub propolis 

 in? 



4. How high up between the sections do 

 your T-tins come? and don't you have to saw 

 a place for them in the separators? 



5. I am told that "the color of a queen 

 has nothing to do with the bees she will 

 rear;" that "pure Italian queens may be 

 yellow, leather-colored, or jet black, but their 

 bees will be yellow." Is this so? 



6. My nearest bee-keeping neighbor is iJ4 

 miles. If I stock up with Italians, is there 

 much danger of my queens being fertilized 



