September. loco. 



American Tiee JonrnaJj 



surprised to find tlic Italian queen— iin- 

 clipped— laying, and I supposed It to be tlie 

 Queen first introduced. I looked at colony 

 Xo. 2 in a week and found ty fine queen-cells. 

 1 fed colony No. 2 pint of syrup every even- 

 ing^. In feedinj^ I thought they would prob- 

 ably receive the new queen better. After I 

 made a mistake in No. i. I looked more cart- 

 fully throuK^h No. 2. and found her layint; 

 ejiys in one side of the hive and the queen- 

 cells were on the other side. 



1. Does the above often occur when no 

 honey is coming in. wliile untested queens 

 are introduced? 



2. Would the queen have destroyed the 

 cells if they were not destroyed by me, or 

 would they have superseded the queen? 



This is a very poor year— not enough honey 

 for bees to live right. Ohio. 



Answers. — i. Yes. when a new queen is in- 

 troduced, of course she can not lay while 

 she is in the cage, and even after she is out 

 of the cage she does not lay for several days. 

 This state of things makes the bees get busy 

 starting queen-cells, so as to make sure of 

 having something that will lay eggs. 



2. The cell would probably Iiave been de- 

 stroyed by the bees or tile queen, but possi- 

 bly the queen may have been superseded. 



Honey-Dew 



I put some supers on my hives in June, and 

 the 26th of July I looked to see if they had 

 any honey in the super, and I found a whole 

 lot of black honey, about 30 pounds, which is 

 a good bit for one colony this year. 



1. Will this black honey, which most peo- 

 ple call honey-dew. hurt the bees if I winter 

 them on it? It is not fit to eat. and I won- 

 dered if it would not hurt the bees. 



2.' Will the bees gather sucli stuff? Do bee- 

 keepers know anything about it-- I am afraid 

 that I will have to feed my bees if there is 

 not a fall honey-flow. Ohio. 



Answers.— I. Honey-dtw is not generally 

 good for winter stores. 



2. Honey-dew is not always alike. The 

 probability is that the disagreeable kind yon 

 have is the secretion of aphids. or plant-lice. 



Hive-Location— Caucasians, Carniolans and Banats 



1, Which is hi'st foi f;itu_> < oinh liom-N !»> 

 the comjilele Dan/.eiibakei svsleni. an ex- 

 posed sunny location, or a sheltered valley 

 on which the sun shines only part of the day? 



2. Can the queen be taken from a swarm at 

 the time of hiving and a valuable queen in- 

 troduced? If so. what is the method of pro- 

 cedure? 



V Do Caucasian bees cap their honev 

 whiter than other bees, as a rule? Two col- 

 onies I liave certainly do. and store more of 

 it also. 



4. I would like your opinion of Carniolans 

 and Banats also, for fancy comb honey. 



California. 



Answers. —I. Not sure I know: but I'd take 

 n\y chances on the valley, oilier things being 

 equal. I don't know, however, that the Dan- 

 zenbaker system would require a different 

 location from any other. 



2. Yes. in a queen-cage the same as an in 

 troduction at any other time. But the swarm 

 might object to remaining with a strange 

 queen in a cage. A frame of brood would 

 help matters. 



3. Your 2 colonies are probably fortunate 

 exceptions. Still, something depends upon 

 what vour " other bees " are. 



4. I have had no personal experience. 



Removing Crooked Honey from Hive 



Sections I ordri I'd rlirl no! come fur 7 

 weeks. Honey was comuig m. and the bees 

 tilled the empty supers with honey In alt sorts 

 of shapes. Running a bread-knife under the 

 cover I cut the honey loose from the cover, 

 and put sections on the top. Bees have not 

 done a great deal since, but the puzzle is to 

 get off that crooked honey without killing a 

 lot of bees. Can you help me out? Ohio. 



Answer.— Pry up carefully the lower super. 

 blowing in a little smoke, and if the honey is 

 attached to the tops of the frames you must 

 rut in the same as vou did to get the cover 

 off. Understand thai in doing this you leavi- 

 on the cover and the upper super. If you 

 have cut any comb so as to set honey to run 

 ning. lei down the super again and let all 

 stand quiet for an hour or so to let the bees 

 clean up tlie drip. Take off the cover and 

 blow smoke down from above, so as to drive 

 down a good part of the bees. Now takeoff 



both supers together. There will still be 

 bees to get out. You can set the supers in a 

 cellar that is darkened only in one little spot 

 through which the bees can get out. put the 

 supers so far from this spot that the bees 

 can not find their way back in the dark. Or. 

 put the supers in a big box outdoors, cover 

 over with a sheet, and as the bees gather on 

 the sheet from time to time turn it over to 

 let the bees out. 



Bees Act Oueerly 



The weather is very hot and sultry at this 

 place, and about the hottest part of the day 

 from noon until 4. tliere is a peculiar condi- 

 tion present among some of my bees. A part 

 of the bees issuing from the hive seem to be 

 unable to i\y. There are no outward signs of 

 any ailment, but they seem to have no wing- 

 power. They crawl about for something like 

 5 minutes, and then after having made many 

 vain attempts, they f\y away. This condition 

 affects different colonies at different times. 

 and never more than 2 or ^ at once. 



Missouri. 



Answer.— That beats me. Sounds a little 

 like paralysis, only if it were paralysis the 

 bees would hardly fly away after crawling 

 about. Moreover there is a [leculiar tremb- 

 ling in paralysis, and you make no mention 

 of this. Bees that are kept too close and be- 

 come sonaewhat suffocated, act somewhat as 

 you say. It is barely possible that the hive- 

 entrances are not large enough, and then the 

 trouble comes in the hottest lime of day. 



Milkweed^Requeening 



1. I enclose wliat we call milkweed. The 

 bees work on it hard. A magnifying glass 

 shows a sticky substance on it. Is it a good 

 honey-plant? 



2. Why do iiees stick to it? 



1. Why do bees act as if they were intoxi- 

 cated? 



4. I have found some dead drones on the 

 flowers- They seem to stick, and cannot get 

 away. 



5. What month is best to requeen? The 

 bees seem to be crazy. Wisconsin. 



Answers. — I. Yes. except for the trouble 

 you mention in next question. 



2. The pollen-masses get fastened to their 

 feet and stick so tight that the bees pull 

 them from the plant and carry them away. 



.1. Not sure what you mean. Perhaps tumb- 

 ling about on the ground. They do that when 

 they have paralysis. 



4. No. they do not have too heavy a load. 

 They are probably on the milkweed, held 

 fast there in the way already mentioned. 



5. No better lime than last of liarvest or 

 later. 



Feeding for Winter — Bee-Books 



1. i will have lo feed my bees. What should 

 I feed, and how often? 



2. If pollen is short, what can I give in its 

 place? 



3. In putting in comb foundatiiiu. where 

 should it be j)I;iced when first put In? 



4. Would ■ A BC of Bee Culture" be as 

 good a bee-book as I can buy? If not. please 

 mention another. North Carolina. 



.\nswers, 1. Sugar syrup should be fed 

 until the bees have all togetlier in the hive 

 al>out 3i> pounds of honey and syrup. For 

 full particulars sec your bee-book. 



2. You can hardly give in the hive anything 

 to take the place of pollen, but you can feed 

 in boxes, in the open air. some substitute. 

 Rye-flour is used— all the better if unbolted. 

 You can use corn and oats ground together. 

 and after the bees have used the fine parts, 

 the balance may be fed to stock. 



). I suppose you mean when the hive al- 

 ready has some combs, in which case put the 

 foundation between the combs, 



4. Yes. it is good. Also Dadant's " Lang- 

 stroth." and Cook's "Manual." After you 

 have one or all of these, you can get Hutch- 

 inson's "Advanced Bee Culture" and 

 " Forty Years Among the Bees." 



Italian Bees Moving Bees — Other Questions 



1. Am- III.- Ii.ili.in jpcis imoss' .\h- they 

 largi- bees- 



2. I will move niy bees this fall about a 

 fjuarter of a mile. Will I lose many by their 

 returning to the old location? 



i, I winter tlie bees on Ihe summer stands. 

 atui I never lose to amount to anything. Will 

 snow smother bees when the hive-entrance 

 is full? I always keep it clear from snow 

 and ice. 



4. I leave some comb honey on each colony 

 all winter. Is that a good idear- My bees all 

 face the southeast, and have no shade at all. 



5. In moving my bees a quarter of a mile I 

 will put a board in front of each hive for 

 them to bump against. Will that do anv 

 good? 



6. Is it best to take honey off as soon as the 

 super is full? 



7. Will a queen sting if you don't mash or 

 squeeze her? 



8. Tell me what to do with a cross colonv 

 of bees. I have one that will attack me a 

 hundred feet from the hive? 



0. What makes bees cluster on the outside 

 of the hive? They have room. Only one lot 

 does that. Illinois. 



Ansvveks. — I. No. Italians are considered 

 good-natured, but the cross between Italians 

 and blacks is vicious. You will see no differ- 

 ence in size. 



2. If moved at a time when they are still 

 gathering, a good many will return to the old 

 place. After honey ceases to yield, very few. 



3. Soft snow at the entrance will do no 

 harm. If it becomes partlv thawed and then 

 freezes into ice that prevents the entrance of 

 air, it is bad. 



4. It's all right for the bees, but bad for 

 sections, if you leave it in that shape. 



5. Yes. 



f). Yes. if it is comb honey. The comb be- 

 comes darkened, and it does not sell so well. 

 But the taste of the honey is as good as that 

 in the whitest comb, perhaps better. 



7- No. 



8. Give it a queen of gentler stock. 



y. Likely the colony is very strong, the hive 

 pretty close, and the weather hot; so they 

 cluster outside where it is more comfortable. 



Why Loss off Queen ? 



1. Some time ago I received an Italian 

 queen, and introduced her successfully. On 

 removing the empty cage and finding her 

 laying, I clipped her wings very closely. 

 After 18 days I went to the hive and found 

 young bees hatching. No unsealed brood, 

 numerous young drones, and a virgin queen 

 in possession of the hive. Do you think that 

 clipping the queen's wings caused super- 

 sedure? If so. what explains the presence 

 of the Italian drones in the colony? 



2. Is it probable that I killed the queen in 

 replacing the frames, or would that conflict 

 with the presence of drones? Louisiana. 



Answkrs.— I. The queen may have been 

 killed, not because of the loss of wings, but 

 because of strange odor from handling, or 

 merely because of the disturbance. N()th- 

 ing strange about the presence of drones. 

 They may have been from the previous 

 queen, or from the new queen. 



2. Possible; hardly probable- 



Disinfecting Combs — Bait-Sections 



1. What i-^ the lust nietlmd to treat brood- 

 combs, so as to be doublv sure that there 

 will be no chances of foul brood getting into 

 the apiary from those bought brood-combs. 

 as I have a chance to buy old combs. 



2. How would you treat sections partly 

 filled, or how would you use them in the su- 

 pers? On the outside rows, or in the center 

 as baits? I have no extractor lo extract these 

 bait-sections In the fall, so have to keep tliem 

 until spring for baits and feeding. Some 

 years I am caught with a lot of them on my 

 hands. Last spring I put a lot of them in the 

 supers that had the honey granulated, and 

 put the top side of the section down, so as to 

 get the section built out at the top and bot- 

 tom. The bees did it. and this granulated 

 honev left a dark color in the center of the 

 section. New York. 



Answers, -i. I don't know of any way. At 

 one time it was claimed that formaldehyde 

 would disinfect them, but I think that is 

 given up. Your only safe way is to buy them 

 where you A-z/mv there has been no disease. 



2. As soon as Ihe harvest is over, get the 

 bees to empty them out. covering them up so 

 that only one or two bees can enter at a time. 

 Then the bees will not tear them to pieces. 

 Some put them around the outside of the 

 super. I prefer them in the center. 



Feeding a Weak Colony— Winter Hive-Ventilation 



I. An old bee-keeper told me a good way to 

 feed a weak colony of bees through the win- 

 ter, was to make a thick syrup and then take 

 rye flour and mix it up until it was as thick 

 as putty and lay a big bunch un the top-bars. 



