American Hee Journal 



V»s-' 



*^~ 



ocfor Niiierjs 

 %iesfioTi-S9x^ 



^^.:.-:c-.T*.^-^ .^^-.^;^^^:^^^h>^>,-,. . 



young queen Svith an afterswarm. 



5. Doesn't matter much when, but there are 

 less bees in the way during the gathering hours 

 than early or late. 



6. As much as you conveniently can of the 

 two wings on one side. Half of them will do. 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or to 



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



Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Relationships of Bees — In-breeding. 



:. What relation are the drones to the work- 

 er-bees of the same queen ? 



2. What personal relation is the drone in 

 the hive ? 



3. What do you call in-breeding? Give a 

 practical illustration. 



4. Why is a queen called a perfect mother 

 or female bee, when she gives birth to worker 

 bees only, by mating ? 



5. What is the nearest cross one can make 

 in in-breeding, and what relation are they to 

 each other? (It seems to me that an lincle 

 wedded to a niece is the nearest.) 



New York. 

 Answers. — i. The drone has the same 

 mother but not the same father. That makes 

 him a half-brother, doesn't it? But his father 

 is grandfather to the workers; that makes him 

 uncle to the workers, doesn't it? , 



2. He is not an illegitimate son; so not a 

 bastard. He is a parthenogenetic son. 



3. "In-brecd." says the dictionar>', means 

 "to breed or to follow a course of breeding, 

 from nearly related animals, as those of the 

 same parentage or pedigree; breed in-and-in." 

 It would be in-breeding to have a young queen 

 meet a drone from the same hive, or even with 

 the relation less close. 



4- The fact that she may give birth to off- 

 spring without mating only proves her a more 

 perfect mother, if that is possible. 



5. The mating of parent and child, or brother 

 and sister 15 probably as close as you can get. 



Sloping Cells — Full Foundation Sheets 



for Swarms — Too Much Honey 



in Brood-Chamber. 



When I hive swarms on full sheets of foun- 

 dation, they store a good deal of honey in the 

 brood-chamber when first hived, and the cells 

 arc built sloping up. or- slanting. 



1. Will cells thus built be as good for brood- 

 rearing later on as those built more horizon- 

 tally? 



2. How can I prevent them from building 

 sloping cells, or get them built more horizon- 

 tally? 



3. Do you use full sheets to hive swarms on? 



4. Do you advise the average bee-keeper to 

 use full sheets when hiving swarms? 



5. Do you use, and advise the use of, the 

 fufl number of frames, or contract the brood- 

 chamber for swarms, or how many frames 

 should be used? I use 10- frame Langstroth 

 hives. 



6. What ia the best way to prevent too much 

 honey going into the brood-chamber when 

 swarms are first hived? 



7. Do you consider it a disadvantage to have 

 swarms store much honey in the brood-chamber 

 when first hived? 



Bees swarm here on clover and buckwheat, 

 so we get swarms from June i to the middle of 

 August, and sometimes later. Buckwheat honey 

 seems to sell a little better* than clover in thi'^ 

 locality, although we manage to sell the clover 

 honey at the same price. Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — r. I think so. 

 2. I don't know. 



3' Either full sheets of foundation or drawn 

 combs. 



4. Yes. 



5. Some advocate giving only about half the 

 number of frames at first, each frame furnished 

 with only a shallow starter, and. when these 

 arc filled, giving additional frames filled with 

 comb or foundation. The idea ir. that when a 

 swarm is first hived the bees will build only 

 worker-comb, but not later on. I suspect that 

 for most it will be more satisfactory to givf 

 at the start frames entirely filled with comb 

 or foundation, in which case there would be 



no object in giving less than the full quota 

 at once. 



6. Give plenty of super-room. But unless a 

 queen-excluder is used, this super-room should 

 not be given for 2 or 3 days, for fear of the 

 queen going up into the super, for it is gen- 

 erally supposed that the super given to the 

 swarm is one that has already been on the old 

 hive, having a good start in it, and the queen 

 might prefer this to the bare foundation in 

 the brood-chamber. 



7. Too much honey would be bad, but I 

 don't believe there's generally much danger 

 of it. 



Catching Stray Swarms in Decoy 

 Hives. 



Suppose a person sets hives containing 

 frames with a trifle of foundation, in differ- 

 ent places about his farm to catch any swarm 

 of bees that comes. Is this right, or is it 

 wrong in any way? Illinois. 



Answer. — I think I've seen it condemned, 

 but I hardly sec how there can be anything 

 immoral about it. It does not entice bees 

 away from their owner; and a swarm that 

 goes into such a hive would leave its owner 

 anyhow. What difference does it make to 

 me where a stray swarm goes, if it soars off 

 anywav? 



Judging from Appearance when Bees 



are Working — When to Put on 



Supers — Clipping Queens. 



1. How do you determine by the appearance 

 of the bees when the gathering ot nectar com- 

 mences? Some bee-keeping friends of mine say 

 they can. Please give me the philosophy of it. 



2. Just how long after the commencement of 

 nectar-gathering shoould one wait before put- 

 ting on the supers? If this is governed by 

 conditions, please explain them. 



3. What would be the objection to honey 

 put into sections without separators? Some of 

 the prettiest section honey I ever saw was pro- 

 duced without separators. 



4. Which queen leaves the hive at swarm- 

 ing — the young or the old one? 



5. What is the best time of the day to hunt 

 the queen to clip her wings? 



6. How much do you cut off? 



Bees are wintering fine. Mine arc out-doors, 

 and I have 100 percent alive yet. Utah. 



Answers. — i and 2. I don't determine by 

 the appearance of the bees. I watch for the 

 appearance of the very first white clover blos- 

 som, and as soon as I see it I begin putting on 

 supers, although bees don't really begin stor- 

 ing until about 10 days later. I woudn't want 

 to wait a day after they begin storing, and pre- 

 fer to have supers on at least 2 or 3 days 

 before, so the bees may make a start at stor- 

 ing in supers rather than in brood-combs. If 

 I were not in a clover region, I'd try to learn 

 when blossoms first appeared on whatever I 

 expected a crop from. You can tell something 

 about it by watching the bees. There's a lively 

 getting around that shows there's something 

 doing. You will also see the bees carrying 

 in pollen. One of the surest ways to tell is by 

 taking out a brood-comb and giving it a hard 

 shake, when the thin nectar will fly out in 

 p. shower on the top-bars. A common rule with 

 some is to put on supers when the bees begin 

 to put white wax along top-bars and upper 

 part of combs. I'd rather nave supers on a 

 little before that. 



3. Without separators sections are built out 

 more plump, ana don't look so lean, but if you 

 try to pack them in a shipping-case the bulged 

 places will crowd into their neighbors and 

 cause leaking. 



4. The old queen with a prime swarm; a 



Foul Brood from Dead Brood. 



In the summer when the weather is very 

 warm, and the inside of a hive becomes so hot 

 as to kill the brood and it rots in the combs, 

 will that cause foul brood? 



Michigan. 



Answer. — Did you ever know the bees to 

 let :t get hot enough to kill brood. And if 

 the heat should kill the brood, the bees 

 would clean it out before it would rot. And 

 if they did let it rot it would not cause foul 

 brood. 



Exchanging Queens from Hive to 

 Hive. 



What is the best way to exchange queens 

 from one colony to another, the hives not 

 bemg of the same make so that the brood 

 can not be exchanged? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — You can exchange queens by 



introducing each queen into the other hive 

 with an introducing-cage, just as you would 

 introduce a queen in any case. A little 

 safer way will be to exchange both bees and 

 queens. Shake out into any empty box both 

 bees and queen of one hive, letting the box 

 stay on the stand. Do the same with the 

 other. Now exchange hives and let each 

 set of bees run into its new set of combs. 

 Thus each colony remains on its old stand but 

 has a new set of combs. 



Returning Swarms. 



What is the best manner of returning a 

 swarm to the hive from whence it issued, so 

 as to make it stay, no further increase being 

 desired ? Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — It doesn't matter how you re- 

 turn the swarm; it will stay as well for one 

 kind of returning as another. It is the con- 

 dition of things in the hive that decides wheth- 

 er the swarm will issue again, and it isn't 

 the easiest thing in the world to prevent it. 

 The old-fashioned way was to return the swarm 

 every time it issued, and if you don't mind 

 the amount of work involved in returning it 

 half a dozen times or more, the old way is 

 good. Here's another way you may like 'bet- 

 ter: When the swarm issues, return it and 

 kill the old queen. A week later destrov all 

 queen-cells but one. If you miss no 'cells 

 there ought to be no more swarming. 



Moths in Combs and Honey, Etc. 



1. Last year I liad several hives full of 

 brood-combs and honey that I was saving to 

 put my swarms in. Result of my saving — 

 fat moths. This year I have 2 hives with 

 brood-combn and honey, and what I want to 

 know is liow to keep the moths out until the 

 middle of May or the forepart of June. If I 

 smoke them out with sulphur will that help? 

 and how often will I have to do it? 



2. The moths even got into my comb honey 

 which 13 upstairs. How can I prevent them 

 from getting in there? 



:l. Is it true that moths can not live on 

 comb honey in sections alone? The other day 

 while looking over my comb, I found two. al- 

 though they were not large, but they had been 

 able to work a web in the comb clear across 

 the section. 



4. In cellar wintering in a damp cellar, do 

 the bees need a larger entrance than other- 

 wise? and should it be cooler, or warmer than 

 45 degrees? 



5. Does the bluish-looking mold on top of 

 the frames of a colony in a cellar indicate 

 dampness in the cellar or not enough venti- 

 lation in the hive? 



Wisconsin Subscriber. 



Answers. — 1. As late as the fore part of 

 June there ought to be little trouble in any 

 part of Wisconsin to keep them in a cool cel- 

 lar. At least the worms would make very 

 slow work there. You could take a look at 

 them every week or two. You can also treat 

 them to sulphur fumes (carbon bisulphide mav 

 be still better.) After giving them one good 

 dose of sulphur, repeat it in about 2 weeks. 

 If you use carbon bisulphide there ought to 

 bo no need of a second dose. 



2. The easiest way is to get Italian blood. 

 You sec, the eggs arc in the sections when 

 taken from the hives. Of course you can 

 treat the sections with sulphur or carbon bisul- 



