Aucust, IQ09. 



American Hee Journal 



as yet drawn out any foundation. (I gave 

 them full sheets.) How can I get them start- 

 ed? Both colonies have their brood-frames full 

 of honey and brood in all stages. I placed 

 about bait-combs in each super. 



6. Would you advise me to prevent swarm- 

 ing if possible, or let the bees swarm natu- 

 rally and put them back again ? I can not 

 keep more than 4 or 5 colonies. Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. You removed the upper story 

 May 25. and the next day you found total 

 inactivity on the new stand. Just exactly 

 what you ought to expect, for the bees that 

 left for the field would all return to the old 

 location, none returning to the new place. 

 \ ou say tliere was a deficiency of bees at the 

 old stand. All the bees would still be there 

 tnat were there before, except the bees un- 

 der IC days old on the new stand. Vou would 

 hardly gain anything by giving a cell to No. 

 1. It has now very little brood, and if you 

 remove the old queen and give it a cell all 

 egg-laying will cease tor perhaps 3 weeks. If 

 you give the cell without removing the queen, 

 the bees will probably destroy the cell. 



2. A queen-cell is called ripe when the young 

 queen will emerge within a short time, per- 

 haps 3 or 3 days. About this time the bees 

 are likely to gnaw away the wax from the 

 point of the cell. The nearer maturity the 

 cell the deeper the pitting on its surface. 

 Watch the difference in appearance as a cell 

 grows older and you will recognize it better 

 than from any description. 



3. Your program is for the young queen to 

 hatch, and tnen the colony to swarm with the 

 old queen. The bees will not follow that 

 proeram. The young queen will not emerge 

 until a week or so after the colony swarms 

 with the old queen. But you can come some- 

 what near to your proposed plan. Remove 

 the old queen when the colony swarms, let- 

 ting the swarm return, and destroy all cells 

 at once. Then there ought to be no more, 

 swarming and the colony should devote its en- 

 tire time to storing honey. 



4. It is generally estimated that about 50 

 percent more extracted than comD honey can 

 be obtained. Some set the figure higher, some 

 lower. 



5. With the bait-combs present the bees will 

 probably store in the super as soon as the 

 brood-chamber is filled, providing there is 

 enough for them to store. If they are getting 

 only enough for their daily needs, of course 

 there can be no storing in sections. 



6. It doesn't matter much which, only if 

 you depend entirely on returning swarms you 

 may have to return the swarm several times. 

 Understand, however, tl.at you can not stop 

 swarming by merely returning the old queen, 

 nor can you stop swarming by cutting out 

 queen-cells, so long as the old queen remains. 

 But if you return the swarm every time it 

 issues, there will finally be only one young 

 queen left, and then your troubles will be 

 oyer for the season. If you listen each eve- 

 ning for piping, you will hear it a week or 

 10 days after the swarm issues with the old 

 queen. Then the next morning destroy all 

 queen-cells in the hive, and the young queen 

 at liberty will be laying within about 10 

 days. 



Honey-Dew — Unfavorable Year. 



Under separate cr.ver [ send you a sample 

 (It honey that has puzzled me. Can vou tell 

 me where the bees got it. as they stored it 

 after clover honey-flow, which is our only flow 

 tor surplus? The only bloom at this time was 

 cnestnut, of which there is a quantity, but I 

 did not think that it produced much honey, or, 

 at least, not such dark stuff. I also saw that 

 they worked very much so very early in the 

 morning for some time, but did not suspect 

 that thcv were doing such dirty work as carry- 

 ing such black stuff and mixing it with the 

 nice clover honey. Later in the day they did 

 not work so much. 



Another thing I thought of. and that is 

 honey-dew. but I do not know anything about 

 it. I have been keeping bees only 3 years 

 along with farming, so [ have not the time to 

 watch and study my bees as I might if it were 

 the only work I had to do. I noticed on the 

 leaves of the trees a shining, sticky stuff, but 

 did not see any bees on it. 



I>o you think it is good to use as a food. 

 and is it safe to feed to bees' Of course, if 

 you taste of it you will find it a poor product. 

 At least I do not want to cat it. I got about 

 Iftft pounds of the black stuff bv uncapping 

 the black onlv. then extract it. then extract 

 the clear. Of course it will not be nice and 

 clear anv more, as some of the other will get 



in. The year in general was not so favorable 

 as it migiii have been for a big crop. 



Pennsylvani.\. 



Answer.^ — I'm nut the best judge of honey 

 in the world, not half as good as Editor York, 

 but I have little hesitation in pronouncing your 

 saniole honey-dew. Chestnut doesn't grow here, 

 so I've no personal acquaintance with it, but 

 from what I have read I have an idea that it 

 is a good yielder of fairly good honey. The 

 bees may have got some good honey from the 

 blossoms of the chestnut, and a larger amount 

 of honey-dew from it. Honey-dew is all right 

 to be used as human food if any one likes it. 

 The trouble is that no one likes it, at least 

 "- ly tew, but it is possible that some may like 

 it. You know there is a wide difference in 

 tastes. '1 here is some fall honey whose taste 

 is offensive to me. but I've known others to 

 prefer it to the best clover honey. Some honey- 

 uew, however, is said to be of good taste. 



It is safe to feed it to bees in spring, to be 

 used up in brood-rearing, but not for wintering. 



6. Ordinarily only one queen will be allowed 

 in a hive, and a weak colony will build up 

 just as rapidlv with one as with a dozen. 



7. No. 



8. It may be as well to furnish new queens 

 for only a part of your colonies. Then you 

 can encourage the new blood in the increase. 



9. It may be that the queen is faulty, if it 

 happens in a strong colony; or it may be that 

 she is a good queen in a weak colony with not 

 enough bees to care for the eggs as fast as she 

 lays them. 



Using Double T-Tins. 



T notice in your reply to question No. 2 of 

 a Pennsylvania gentleman, you state that you 

 don't know ot any remedy but to get better 

 sections. I wonder if you have ever tried 

 double T tins; that is. T tins on top to hold 

 the sections down as well as underneath to hold 

 them up. 1 have neen usine them this way for 

 years and find them very efficient and practical, 

 anu with the addition of a 2-penny nail driven 

 1-3 of the way in Tin the crease of the top T 

 tins) to the side of the super, it makes a good, 

 tough arrangement for practical handling, haul- 

 ing to out-apiaries, etc. I use 4'/2x7-to-the-ft. 

 sections scant. 28 to the ordinary 8-frame Lang- 

 stroth. Possibly the way you make your supers 

 the sides would not be heavy enough to liold 

 .i-.ii.: _\ smaller nail would do of course, 

 but we like the 2-penny as we can handle them 

 better. Colorado. 



Answer. — Thanks for your suggestion, which 

 would hold Sf|uare the most refractory sections. 



1 have never tried it. because I have never felt 

 the need of it. Of course there would be a 

 little objection because there would be more 

 tendencv to put^ propolis at the edges of the 

 upper T-tins. The sides of mv supers are 7^. 

 so there would be no trouble about using good- 

 sized nails, and the longer the nail the more 

 easilv pulled out with the fingers. A slim nail 



2 inches long ought to work well. 



More Bee:inners* Questions. 



I am a beginner in bee-keeping, and don't 

 understand everything yet. I have 6 old col- 

 onics of bees in box-hives, and 6 in frame 

 hives now. and will have the rest of them in as 

 soon as they swarm, if I live and they do. 



1. If I get an Italian queen that is tested 

 from those who have pure Italian bees, and 

 introduce her tn black bees, will I get pure 

 stock of bees from her? 



2. How many times does a queen mate in 

 her life? 



3. Are there any bees that will work on red 

 clover? 



4. Are noplar and blackberry good honey- 

 flowers? They are plentiful here. 



'). Mv bees are black, and some are mixed 

 with Italians. Bee-keepers never change 

 queens here, for thev keep almost all their 

 bees in box-hives and my bees never were 

 changed. T guess T have bees from 4 different 

 places. Will that help any? 



6. Can I keen 2 queens in one hive? Will 

 that help to build up a weak colony? 



7. Will it help my bees any to change 

 frames of brood? 



5. Will it pay me to buy queens for all 

 my bees this year rather than to keep those 

 I have ^ 



0. What is the cause of a nueen laying 2 or 

 3 eggs in one cell sometimes? Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. Yes. if you introduce her dur- 

 ing the busy season, you will find the black 

 bees will die off as they get old, and in some- 

 thing like 6 weeks there will be onlv Italians 

 in the hive. 



2. Once, as a rule, but rare cases of sec- 

 ond mating have been reported. 



3. Yes. and almost any bees will be found 

 occasionallv workinc on it. 



4. Yes, but the word poplar is used for dif- 

 ferent trees in different places. What you call 

 poplar in Virfinin is probably I.iriodendrou 

 tulipifcra. which is also called tulip tree and 

 whitcwood. It is a good honey-tree, although 

 the honey is dark, I think. 



Ti. Yes, there may be advantage in getting 

 bees from different sources, thus introducing 

 fresh blood. 



A Beginner's Questions. 



1. What is the best kind of bees? 



2. Is there any difference in eyes for bee- 

 keepers? I heard brown eyes will affect bees. 

 Is this true? 



3. How can we get comb straight in the 

 hive? Three combs are not straight. 



4. How can we tell hybrids from black 

 bees? 



5. Can I keep Italian bees when there are 

 no bees within 2 miles? 



n. What is the best way to swarm bees? 

 . ".■ .^^ '" h^^?. bring just as much honey by 

 dividing as by clipping the queen's wing? 



Minnesota. 

 Answers. — 1. The general opinion is that 

 Italians are best. 



2. I don't believe there's any difference. 



3. Use full sheets of worker-foundation. 



4. Hybrids are generally a cross of blacks 

 and Italians, and a hybrid of that kind has 

 one or 2 yellow rings. However, in the first 

 cross you may find some bees with 3 yellow 

 bands and some with none, and the presence 

 of these different kinds in one colony shows 

 the hybrid blood. 



5. There is some danger of mixing at that 

 distance. 



6. I suppose you mean what is called arti- 

 ficial swarming. What is best for one may 

 not be best for another. Study what is said 

 in your bee-book, and you can tell better 

 than any one else what is best lOr you. if 

 you haven't such a book it will be big money 

 in your pocket to get one. 



One of the easiest ways for a beginner is the 

 following: 



Take half the combs with adhering bees 

 from hive .\. and put them in hive B. Fill 

 up each hive with empty combs or with 

 frames filled with comb-foundation. Set the 

 2 hives side by side, and the queenless part 

 will rear its own queen. You may leave 

 them without doing anything further. Or, a 

 week later you may look into the hives and 

 yiu will find in one eggs and young brood in 

 plenty, and in the other only advanced brood 

 and some queen-cells. Take from the hive 

 with young brood all the frames that have 

 any sealed brood, and swap them for as 

 many frames in the other hive with no brood 

 at all. Now move the hive that has all the 

 sealed brood and queen-cells to a new stand 

 10 feet or more away. That will throw all 

 the field-force into the hive with the queen, 

 and the colony in that hive will be in fine 

 condition for surplus. 



7. I don't understand your question, but 

 you will likely get the largest amount of honey 

 by keeping the whole force of a colony to- 

 gether if you can. without any dividing. 



Bees Deserting Hive for Lack of 

 Pollen. 



Your answer to "Kentucky" in the Mav 

 number induces me to give a little experience 

 I have had in bees deserting their hives. A. 

 [. Root in "A B C of Bee-Culture," savs it is 

 caused by the bees being weak and discour- 

 ageu. pestered with ants, lack of stores, too 

 much or too little ventilation, and I think 

 some other causes. I have not the book bv 

 me. I would like to ask Mr. Root if he has 

 positive proof that a colony ever deserted a 

 hive for any one of those causes. 



Some 3.J or more years ago I was very anx- 

 ious to increase my stock of bees, so in the 

 fall after the honev season was over, which 

 was very early in I^Jastern Nebraska, when the 

 country was new and the climate very dry, 

 1 fed sugar syrup to induce breeding, and also 

 in the spring, and one pleasant day in spring 2 

 colonics came out and went into other hives, 

 and the next pleasant day others did the 

 same thing, and this continued till my 17 colo- 

 nies were reduced to probably 5 or 0. I do 

 not remember exactly. This trouble ceased 

 as soon as pollen commenced coming in. The 

 deserting colonies were not very weak, were 

 not pestered with ants, not too much nor too 

 little ventilation, but on examination of the 



