July, 1909. 



American lee Journal 



only the new white wax. But as a matter of 

 convenience or economy they are quite apt to 

 take bits of dark wax from old comb to mix 

 in with the new wax, whenever such old comb 

 is close at hand. Whsn I used wide frames 

 for sections, I practised putting brood-combs 

 in the super, between the frames of sections, 

 in order to start the bees more quickly in 

 the sections. It had the desired effect, but 

 if the brood were left in the super until the 

 bees began to seal the st ctions. they were 

 sure to mix the old, black wax in the cap- 

 pings. 



4. No, I don't for a minute believe that 

 bees ever carry a queen. Of course I don't 

 know, but I would need proof to convince 

 me. If I had a colony with a clipped queen, 

 and a swarm from it should leave for good 

 and all, I should think that a young queen 

 had been reared, or that a queen with whole 

 wings (perhaps with ?. little afterswarm) had 

 joined the swarm and gone off with it. 



Hauling Bees for Wintering. 



1. As I understand it, you run one or more 

 out-yards, hauling your bees in every fall to 

 be wintered at home, and out again in the 

 spring. When do you haul your bees home — 

 at the close of the honey season, or when it 

 is time to cellar them? That is, do they have 

 a flight before going into winter quarters, and 

 in the spring are they given a flight and then 

 hauled out right away, or do you wait until 

 €ettled warm weather? 



2. Using plain irames, how do you man- 

 age to keep them from swinging and killing 

 the bees when hauling over rough roads? 



3. Do you produce extracted honey at the 

 out-yards: Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. This year, for the first time in 

 many years I am running only one apiary, the 

 home apiary. But I can answer your question 

 all the same. I haul my bees home in the 

 fall whenever it is convenient after the close 

 of the season, making sure that it is early 

 enough for the bees to have a good flight, 

 before going into cellar. In the spring it 

 would be practically impossible to haul them 

 before having a flight, for they generally fly 

 within a few minutes after being taken out of 

 cellar. It would be bad, even if possible, to 

 haul them without having had a flight. They 

 are hauled as soon as convenient, weather and 

 other things considered, perhaps in a day or 

 two, perhaps not for 2 or 3 weeks. 



2. In the stnse you seem to mean, I don't 

 use plain frames. Nothing can be plainer than 

 the Miller frame, except that there are common 

 nails, as I have often explained, used as side- 

 spacers, and staples as end-spacers. Nothing is 

 needed at any time to prepare the bees for 

 hauling; except to close the entrance with 

 wirecloth. 



3. Comb honey entirely. But it's much easier 

 to run an out-apiary for extracted honey. 



Feeding Bees in Winter. 



1. H(Av .shall I ftcd bees in winter? A 

 neighbor has (j" colonies, all short of stores. 

 They winter in a wooden building, and are 

 put 3 or 4 on top of one another. Six colo- 

 nies have already starved, and the rest are 

 starving. Of course, your answer will come 

 too late, but 1 should like to know what 

 ought to have been done. We have tried to 

 use candy, but it was a failure, as we have 

 no recipe for it. Then we took slices of loaf 

 sugar, dipped them in water and put on 

 the top of the iramcs. The bees took some 

 of the sugar while it was wet, but more than 

 half of it dried and the bees can not take it. 

 Then some one advised my neighbor to cook 

 sugar syrup, pour it in empty combs and put 

 one comb in each hive near the division-board. 

 But this is a great derangement for the bees, 

 as he is obliged to carry hom° each hive for 

 this operation, as the temperature in the bee- 

 house is too low to allow opening the brood- 

 ncst there. And it is extremely slow work. 

 What would have been the right way to feed 

 the bees? Although it is already April 13, 



, there seems no possibility of getting them out 

 earlier than in 2 weeks, as there is much 

 snow and the temperature is very low. 



2. My own bees seem to have enough stores, 

 but there is another misfortune. They are 

 ill with dysentery, and I fear they will die of 

 it f»}or\i-r than they can have a flight. The 

 bee-house is very small. Seventy-three colo- 

 nies are niled up in it, and, of course, the air 

 is not pure. I open the door at night, but 

 every day a new colony begins to be noisy. 

 The bees crawl out on the front of the hive 

 and soil it. And the smell of such a hive 

 fouls the air of the whole bee-house. Why 



are my bees ill with dysentery, while my neigh- 

 bor's bees, which are starving, do not suffer 

 from it? Is it because his bee-house is much 

 larger and the air purer? Or is it because 

 1 left in the winter too small entrances in the 

 hives, and ventilation was bad? I will be 

 very thankful if you explain where the fault 

 was. The bees here had their last flight the 

 end of September. That makes already 61/2 

 months in the hive, which is, of course, a long 

 time for the bees to be housed up. 



Russia. 



Answers. — My good friend, I have never yet 

 refused to answer a question in this depart- 

 ment, and I'm not going to begin with one 

 of the craft in far-off Russia. While your 

 writing has the ear-marks of a foreigner, I 

 only wish that all the bee-keepers in this coun- 

 try wouia write as clearly as you. 



1. As a rule, reeding in winter is very un- 

 desirable, and every effort should be made to 

 have enouch food in the hives to last through- 

 out the time of confinement and beyond it. 

 Still, it will sometimes happen that feeding in 

 winter is necessary. Although I do not mean 

 to have any need for it, still, if at any time 

 I should want to feed in winter, it is a very 

 simple thing. Simply push in at the entrance, 

 under the bottom-bars, a frame of sealed honey, 

 or even a section of honey. I always have 

 the combs of sealed honey on hand, not for 

 the sake of feeding in winter, but to use in 

 spring. This plan, however, was probably not 

 available with your neighbor, first, because 

 he probably had not a 2-inch space under his 

 bottom-bars; second, because he had no combs 

 of sealed honey; and, third, because his bee- 

 house was colder than my cellar, and the bees 

 would not have come down to help themselves. 

 But being now warned, you provide in ad- 

 vance to have sealed combs. Then one uf 

 them can be put in the hive next the bees, 

 or one can be laid flat on top of the frames. 



In the absence of combs of honey, resort may 

 be had to candy. There will be plenty of 

 time between now and next winter to learn 

 how to make candy, but any candy you would 

 buy at the candy-shops could be used rather 

 than to have the bees starve. But it's an 

 easy thing to boil sugar in water to make 

 candy, only you must be very sure not to burn 

 it, for burnt candy is death to bees in win- 

 ter. A cake of candy may be laid on top of 

 the frames. 



All of this is equivalent to saying that^ you 

 better not think of needing to feed in winter. 

 and in any case it is a good plan to save up 

 combs of sealed honey. 



2. Either or both of the conditions you men- 

 tion may have made the difference between 

 your bees and those of your neighbors. It is 

 possible you might help matters in such a 

 case by heating the room; if in no other way, 

 by putting in it heated stones. 



Swarming — T-Supers and Scraping 

 Sections — Sloping Cells. 



1. Wlien making examinations unly every 

 10 days, don't some of the colonies swarm 

 before you get arounrl. or before the 10 days 

 arc up? It workr. that way with me when 

 cells were found and destroyed and also 

 when none were found 10 days before. Ten 

 day.i seems rather long to leave mine. 



2. I use the T-super as described by you, 

 and like it very well, but I have trouble to 

 keep the sections down to their place; one 

 corner ir. likely to stick up above the other 

 sections. A few sectionr. in nearly every 

 suner act thir. way. I tried some section- 

 holder supers and had the same trouble. 1 

 use 2 and 3 springs to the super, and usually 

 let the scctionn dry a day or two after wetting 

 the corners and folding, so that the corners 

 are no: so tight, but this does not entirely 

 remedy the trouble. Can you suggest a rem- 

 edy? I have tried wedged strips both 3-39 and 

 J-i-inch thick. 



3. I gn over each .super after it is on the 

 hive long enough for the bees to glue the 

 section*! a little, and press down all sections 

 that stick up, hut after doing this the sections 

 seem so uneven that I make slow work at 

 scraping sectionr. while in the super as de- 

 scribed by vou and Miss Wilson. The sides 

 and ends of the sujier also seem to interfere 

 by beint» in the way of the scraper. Can 

 you make the plan any i)lainer? 



4 J Do you clean the little wedge-shaped 

 stripji uscfl at the top of the supers, or throw 

 them away each fall? If you clean them, 

 what ii the best way to do it? 



5. I have noticed that cells not used im- 

 mediately for egys arc built more slojiinfj or 

 pitching uDwari', than those us?d by the (|iu-en 

 at once; then ai the brood-ncst enlarges, these 

 sloping cells arc used for brood, or become 



a part of the brood-nest. I use full sheets 

 of foundation largely, so of course my cells 

 arc usually all worker size. Are these sloped- 

 up cells considered as good for brood as these 

 built more horizontally ? 



G. If not, please give us your way of get- 

 ting all cells built horizontally, both when 

 hiving swarm;; ( if you ever hive a natural 

 swarm) and when increasing by nucleus plan, 

 and any other plan you use to get combs drawn 

 out or built. 



7. What is the best method of managing 

 swarma when using full sheets of foundation, 

 and running for comb honey, where the flow 

 is rather short, as it is here, more especially 

 our fall or buckwheat flow, beginning about 

 August 1 ? The clover flow, beginning about 

 June 1, is somewhat longer, lasting a month 

 or more. 



8. I believe you use and advise full sheets 

 of foundation in brood- frames at all limes. 

 If not, when and how do you think ic ad- 

 visable to use starters ? 



9. Do you ever hive a natural s- arm, or 

 do you let every one that issues return, and 

 treat them afterward as you describe? 



10. I have Root's "A B C" book, 1903 edi- 

 tion, but have not your "Forty Years Aincng 

 the Bees," and can not get and read it now 

 because I have too much other reading to do, 

 but I hope to get and read it some time in 

 the future, for I am following your plans, etc., 

 to some extent. If I had your book perhaps 

 I would not send in such large volleys of 

 questions. Pennsyi^vania. 



Answers. — 1. If you have gbt it into your 

 head that I attempt to keep down swarming 

 by destroying queen-cells every 10 days, better 

 get the notion out of your head. Ncr sure 

 that you have, but it sounds just a little tha: 

 way. If I to-day find queen-cell i n:t very 

 far advanced in a colony where 10 days ago 

 there were none well advanced, I destroy 

 them and take my chances of the colony for 

 another 10 days. Generally it will w^z swarm 

 in that tirtie. Sometimes it will, but even 

 if it should swarm within ^'1 hovirs, the 

 queen is clip[ied and no swarm can go off 

 with her. and in that 10 days no young 

 oueen can be sufficiently matured to go off 

 with the swarm. Even if I should get around 

 once every 5 days, I could not be dead cer- 

 tain that no swarm would issue. So I wouldn't 

 gain enough by the shorter time to pay for 

 the increased amount of work. 



2. It must be that your sections are pretty 

 bad. I seldom have any trouble, and I use 

 only one S|)ring in a super, that being at the 

 middle of the follower. If I understand cor- 

 rectly, you crowd in between the secti .ns 

 ac the toj' little strips 3-33 or 1-8 inch thick, 

 and pcrhajjs !4-'"ch wide, and long enough 

 to reach across the width of the 6 sections. 

 When these arc crowded in so as to take up 

 all empty space, no respectable section ought 

 to be able to rise above its fellows. If, liow- 

 ever, the section is sufficiently crooked, it 

 inav force itself up in spite of being thus 

 wedged down, and T don't know of any rem- 

 edy but to get better sections. 



3. We don't scraps the sections in the super; 

 can't do it with the sides and ends project- 

 ing above the sections. We have ?. frame 

 about the size of the super, only ^ or 1 inch 

 shallower. The sectionn are thrown out of 

 the super, this frame is put in place of the 

 sui»er, the sectionr. wedged in. and then you 

 can scrape to your heart's content. 



4. You say "wedge-shaped." Although 

 used a;i wedges, they're not wedge-shaped, but 

 simply plain sticks 11 f4 x '4 x 3-32. Its an 

 easy jol> to clean them. Throw them into a 

 kettle of hot lye, or a solution of concentrated 

 lye, then take them out and put in a vessel 

 of clean water, then take them out to dry. 



5. Yes. 



0. t leave it entirely to the bees. If you 

 examine closely. I think you will not find cells 

 much out of horizontal so long an ihey are 

 only deep enough for brood, say less than ^- 

 inch deep. It's the deeper cells that get the 

 upward slant, and of course thir. sloping part 

 is cut down if the cell:; are used for brood. 



7. I don't know of any change I would 

 make for those special conditions. 



8. I don't believe it i.i advisable for me to 

 use less than full shcctr. at all times. If you 

 want to try anything else with a natural 

 swarm, give it only half the full quota of 

 frames when hiving, or at least reduce to 

 that number within a day -^r so after hiving, 

 having onlv starter o in the frames. After 

 these are filled, give the rest of the frames 

 filled with worker-comb. The idea is that 

 when a swarm in first hived it will build only 

 worker-comh for ,". few days, but afterward 

 more or less drone-comb. 



9. Possibly I hive as many as 2 swarms 



