February, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



the common black bees. He lives half a mile 

 from me. Do you think they would mix that 

 far with my Italians? Missouri. 



Answers. — i. Yes, if you can. 



2. I don't know of any way for him to 

 prevent all swarms, but I'll tell you how he 

 can generally prevent all after-swarms. When 

 the prime swarm issues, hive it and set it on 

 the old stand, with the old hive close up to it. 

 A weelT later move the old hive to a new 

 place distant from the old stand 6 feet or 

 more. That's all; the bees will do the rest, 

 and you will generally have no second swarm. 



3. After leaving the hive for her wedding 

 flight she is not expected to leave it again all 

 her life, unless she goes out with a swarm. 



4. I don't see very clearly what you're try- 

 ing to get at. I suspect from the previous 

 question that you have an idea that the queen 

 comes out now and then, which she doesn't 

 do. The only time you would trap her would 

 be when she takes her wedding flight, or 

 when she swarms. Yoii would hardly find it 

 satisfactory. 



3. Yes. 



6. Not so sure about the prejudice part, 

 but I know I'd start with Italians. 



7. He would probably send one that had 

 been in existence for some time as a full 

 colony; although I don't know why the other 

 might not be just as good. 



8. Yes. you can bank on it. 



Transferring from Frame Hive. 



I have a colony of bees in a home-made 

 hive. The hive is not quite as large as an 

 8-frame hive. How would you transfer them 

 into an 8-frame hive? When is the best time 

 to transfer? Iowa. 



Answer. — Wait till the colony swarms, hive 

 the swarm in a proper hive, setting the swarm 

 and the old hive close together, and 21 days 

 later cut up the old hive, add the bees to the 

 swarm, and melt up the old combs. Or, if you 

 want to have another colony, at the end of 

 the 21 days transfer from the old hive into a 

 new hive, according to instructions for trans- 

 ferring in your bee-book. Another way is not 

 to wait for swarming, but to trans'fcr from 

 the old hive in fruit-bloom. 



Clipping the Queen. 



In clipping a queen, what wings should be 

 cut off. and how much should be cut off? 

 How should I hold her to clip her wings? 

 Last Spring I bought a colony of bees on 

 May 13. Tb'ey swarmed, and then on the 

 nth day they swarmed again. I had bad 

 luck. They both got away from me. The 

 first 3 or 4 days before the first swarm they 

 stored 2 or 3 pounds of honey, and then 

 came out and left. Marvland. 



Answer. — It doesn't matter much how you 

 do, so the queen can't fly. A queen has 4 

 wings, a big one and a little one on each 

 side. If you cut off one of the big wings, 

 that's enough to stop her flying, but when 

 you get a mere glimpse of such a queen as 

 she runs, it is not so easy to tell whether 

 or not she is clipped as when both wings on 

 one side are taken off. I'll tell you how I 

 clip a queen. I hold her between thumb and 

 finger of the left hand, not by the abdomen 

 or soft part, but by the thorax, the hard 

 part that is between the head and tlic abdo- 

 men, with her head looking toward my left» 

 and then with a pair of gentlemen's pocket 

 scissors I cut away as much as I conveniently 

 can (generally more than half) of the two 

 wings on one side. 



Getting Increase of Colonies. 



1. 1 am just starting in with bees. I 

 bought 2 colonies of Italians with the honey, 

 so i think it would be best for me to try 

 to get as many swarms as I can. How can 

 I do it? They have 2 supers to the colony, 

 one on top of the brood-chamber and one 

 under, and they are loaded with honey. I 

 was thinking of taking off the supers and 

 cutting them down to the brood-chamber so 

 I would get more swarms. Will it work all 

 right? I think it will not be wise for me to 

 shake or brush swarms until I know more 

 about bees. 



2. I think it will be best for mc to get 

 queen-cages for the hive. When should I 

 >ut there on, or can I just put them on and 

 [eavc them all the time? I know how to 

 handle bees in swarming time, for I have 

 had one colony of black bees for 4 years, but 

 can't )zet any swarms, and when they do 

 swarm I can't keep them. I will hive them. 



and the next day they leave me. So what is 

 wrong? I will have the frame-hive now. 



Kansas. 



Answers. — i. You will probably get as 

 many swarms as you want, or at least as many 

 as it is profitable to have, if you let the bees 

 swarm naturally, not moving the old hive, and 

 putting each swarm on a new stand. The 

 bees will be more certain to swarm if you 

 remove one or both supers, as a large amount 

 of room tends to limit swarming. 



2. I'm not just certain what you mean by 

 having queen-cages, but suspect you mean to 

 have queen-traps to put on the entrances of 

 your hives so the queens can not abscond 

 with the swarm. That is hardly necessary, 

 and in some cases might not work satisfac- 

 torily. It's a pretty safe guess to say that 

 your trouble from having all your swarms leave 

 comes from too much heat and lack of air. 

 When you first hive a swarm, let the hive be 

 raised from the bottom so as to allow plenty 

 of air, and also let the cover be partly open. 

 It will do no harm if an opening of 2 or 3 

 inches is left at the top for the first week. 

 If the hive can not be set in a cool, shady 

 place, shade it in some way. A big board 

 held down by a stone on top will do. Also, 

 a perhaps better shade is made by an armful 

 of long grass on top and held down by 2 or 

 3 sticks ot firewood. Some prevent swarms 

 from absconding by giving each swarm a frame 

 of brood. 



T-Tins in Supers. 



I am informed that_you use nothing but the 

 T-tin in your comb-honey supers. It looks to 

 me that they should be the best all around, 

 but they say that the weight of honey will 

 make the tins give or bend. What is your 

 experience? The bees glue the wood- holders 

 very tight in this locality. The wood separa- 

 tors are also troublesome. Mississippi. 



Answer. — Whoever they are that "say that 

 the weight of honey will make the tins give 

 or bend," it must be that they have never 

 seen a T-tin, or else they are poor judges of 

 the strength of ordinary tin. On the con- 

 trary, it would take a much greater weight 

 to bend a "I'-tin than to bend any wooden 

 support in use in supers. Remember that 

 there are two thicknesses of tin standing '/i- 

 inch upright. I have had 3.000 T-tins in 

 use for many years, and have never known 

 one to be bent the slightest by the weight 

 of honey. It would probably be all the same 

 if the honey were 5 times as heavy. 



Southern or Northern Queens. 



1. Do you consider it advisable to send 

 South for a breeding-queen to rear queens 

 for my own use in an apiary of 50 to 60 colo- 

 nies, or would you consider Northern-bred 

 queens superior? My objecf in sending South 

 would be to get a breeder cheaper. 



2. Would you advise having her mailed, or 

 sent in a nucleus, in order to have her ar- 

 rive safely ? 



3. Would I be safe in depending upoii a 

 Northern queen-breeder to furnish a breeding- 

 queen by May i to 15, or_ in time to rear 

 queens from her for early increase the same 

 season? or would I have to wait for them 

 to rear young queens to take the place of 

 breeders as sent out? Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— I. Other things being equal, I 

 don't see why it should make any difference 

 whether a queen is reared North or South. 



2. 1 should have the queen mailed in a 

 shipping-cage. "The other way is too expen- 

 sive. 



3. Yes, you would be safe if he agrees to 

 send one as early as that. For you prob- 

 ably intend to get a tested queen as a 'breeder, 

 and he could send you one reared the year 

 previous. If vou mean to buy an untested 

 quetn, I wouldn't want one reared in the 

 North as early as May 15. 



K 



Solar Wax-Extractor — Uniting Weak 

 Colonies in Spring. 



1. I think it would be an impossibility for 

 me to get along without the American Bee 

 Journal. I think it fills the bill in every 

 respect, although there are some things a per- 

 son would like to know that I have not 

 noticed in the Bee Journal. One of them 

 is how to make a solar wax-extractor without 

 much expense. Does the solar wax-extractor 

 take out all the wax, especially out of old 

 combs? 



2. How would it do to unite weak or light 

 colonies of bees in the spring, immediately 



upon taking them out of the cellar, and let 

 them mix while taking their cleansing flight, 

 and let the queens settle their part of the 

 question; then after a few days drive the 

 bees below, and put below what honey is in 

 the upper hive? Iowa. 



Answer. — i. Any kind of a box, and of any 

 size, covered with glass, so placed that the 

 rays of the sun shall shine directly into it, 

 will become hot enough on the inside to melt 

 wax. A single pane of glass will do if large 

 enough, or a common window-sash may be 

 used. To hold the pieces of comb to be 

 melted, you may have a plain sheet of tin, 

 slanting i to 3 inches (according to the 

 size of the box) from rear to front, so that 

 the melted wax will run down into a vessel 

 that you will place under to catch the wajt. 

 Or, you may use a sheet of wire-cloth, so the 

 wax will run through. This will work very 

 nicely with cappings and bur-combs, but a 

 good deal of wax will be left in old brood- 

 combs. Especially will this be so if one 

 brood-comb lies "over another. 



2. That will work all right, only it is bet- 

 ter to do such uniting in the fall, for two 

 weak colonies will winter better united than 

 separate. Even when you have united in the 

 fall, there may turn out some weak colonies 

 that should be united in the spring, and then 

 your plan will work. 



Rearing Queens — Selling Bottled 

 Honey. 



1. By taking the queen away from a strong 

 colony of bees in the midst of a good honey- 

 flow, and allowing the bees to build queen- 

 cells, would you get as thrifty, long-lived, pro- 

 lific queens as from cells built under the 

 swarming impulse, or artificial means? 



2. What do you think of the plan of bot- 

 tling honey and making it an expensive lux- 

 ury so that the consumer can just taste of it 

 occasionally? Would there not be more of the 

 spirit of "loving our neighbors as ourselves" 

 to cut out the middle system of bottling, and 

 sell it to him at a figure so that he can make 

 it ail article of every day diet? In the long 

 run, would there not be more dollars and 

 cents for the bee-keeper? New Mexico. 



.^NSWF.I!S. — I. Yes, especially if you give to 

 vour queenless colony a frame partly filled 

 with freshly-built comb containing eggs and 

 young brood. At least that is my private opin- 

 ion, based upon a good deal of experience 

 with the different kinds of cell-rcarhig, only 

 I have not' had much experience with natu- 

 ral-swarming cells. Vet some, perhaps many, 

 hold different views. 



2. The way to do is to sell honey in as 

 large and inexpensive containers as possible, 

 so as to make as little expense as possible for 

 each pound sold. That ought to give the con- 

 sumer the most honey for his money, and the 

 producer the most money for his honey. Un- 

 fortunately, however, we are often controlled 

 by conditions and circumstances. A large 

 part of the consuming public are in the habit 

 of buying in small quantities. A Chicago re- 

 tail grocer who s'liould keep honey only in 

 20 to 60 pound packages would probably sell 

 very little honey, whereas plenty of custo- 

 mers will buy a pound at a time, even if they 

 must pay for a bottle of no value to them. 

 Wiiat better can he do than to keep the small 

 packages? 



Experience of a Beginner. 



1. 1 purchased a colony of bees in the spring 

 of 1907. This colony cast 2 swarms the first 

 season, and from this colony and the first of 

 the new ones, I took off one super each of 

 comb honey, and the other about 2-3 of a 

 super. The old colony weighed, with brood- 

 chamber only, 76 pounds. The 2 new colonies 

 weighed, respectively, 55 pounds and 37 

 pounds. I wintered them in my coal-house. 



1 know practically nothing about handling 

 bees or examining Iheni, so in the spring I 

 put them on the stands again and awaited 

 results, r.ast spring the old colony again cast 



2 swarms which I secured. In the fall when 

 I took off the supers to put them into winter 

 quarters, I got from the first new swarm 

 about 25 pounds of comb honey. But when 

 1 took off the super from the second new 

 swarm 1 found there had been nothing doing. 

 I then examined the hive-body, and found 

 it deserted, with an amount of comb left be- 

 hind which would indicate about one week's 

 work. What was the cause? The hive was 

 a new one. 



2. When I came to put in the 3 old colo- 

 nies, 1 found only about 10 pounds of comb 

 lioney in the 3 suiicrs combined. Why thir 



