September, 1909. 



American liee Journal 



He said that did tiKiii for bt>t!i bread and 

 niual. What do you think of tlie plan? 



2. How mucli sui^rar will it take to winter a 

 fair colony? 



i. How well have your bees done this year? 

 So far out of 25 colonies I have not sjot any 

 honey. Only a or 5 pounds in sigrlit yet. No 

 white clover as yet. 



4. Last winter I used some board sealed 

 rovers over the brood-chamber which were 

 tight, and I lost several colonies. I am now 

 making a ventilator hole 2x8 inches in the 

 same covers, with wire-screen over the hole, 

 and will lay some old carpet over it. How do 

 you think tliat will work to let off some of 

 the hot air? Will it keep tlie combs from 

 molding as badly as they did last winter? I 

 have a '4-inch space over the top-bars so 

 that tiie bees can go over from one to an- 

 other. Indiana. 



Answers.— I. Better leave out the' flour. 

 Although they might do with it. they will do 

 better without it. When they begin to rear 

 brood in the spring, then they will need 

 something as a substitute for pollen if they 

 have no pollen. Better feed the sugar syrui> 

 as early as possible, so it will be in good 

 shape for winter. 



2. About 30 pounds of honey is counted the 

 right thing. As 5 pounds of sugar and 2 of 

 water make a syrup about as strong as 

 honey, you will feed about 22 pounds of sugar 

 to equal the ^0 pounds of honey. Feed in 

 August or September, giving a pound or a 

 pint of water witli each pound of sugar. If 

 you feed later the syrup must not be so thin. 

 But better feed early. 



3. My bees are doing no better than yours. 

 If there is "no white clover as yet " in Au- 

 gust, you needn't look for any before next 

 year. 



4. It will probably work all right. 



Location of Hives in the Apiary 



I have an idea on which I would be pleased 

 to have your opinion before trying it myself. 



Place 4 colonies of bees as shown in ac- 

 companying diagram. Interchange at inter- 

 vals of a week or 10 days ,or longer, subject 

 to one's opinion;, as shown in the diagram. 

 Continue same through the entire honey 

 season. What, if any. effect will this have 

 upon swarming? 



Will this not have a similar effect tn 

 "shaking?" 



Would bees coming in hom the field load- 

 ed with pollen and nectar be molested? 



Changing the location of colonies is to be 

 done through the middle of the day, and 

 while the bees are busy in the field. 



Nebraska. 



Answer.— Continual changing of that kind 

 would probably interfere enough with the 

 plans of the bees to make swarming less, but 

 hardly enough less to pay for the trouble. 

 Bees returning from the Helds laden would 

 be kindly received, although there might be 

 some trouble if a dearth should occur. Very 

 likely the effect would be something like 

 shaking, but will shaking prevent swarm- 

 ing? If it gives as much energy to a colony 

 as some think, would that not be the very 

 thing to promote swarming? 



Italianizing 



-Rearing Queens- 

 Wintering 



-Swarming- 



1. What time of theyear is best to Italianize 

 bees? 



2. I wish to Italianize my bees, but do not 

 want to buy more than one-half dozen queens 

 and rear the rest, Could 1 do tliis as late as 

 August or September? 



^. In rearing queens where you liave black 

 bees, will not the youngqiieens meet with the 

 black drones? 



4. What is tin- best way to rear queens? 



5. Ht)w would it do to put queen-excluding 

 zinc between the hive and bottom-board to 

 prevent swarming? 



h. When wintering bees on the summer 

 stands, wliat is the best wav to pack or fix 

 them? 



7- I have a stone basement under our house, 

 but it is rather damp. Would it be a good 

 place (o winter my bees? Kansas. 



Answers, — I. That depends upon when 

 you ask the question. If you ask it in the 

 spring, the answer is. " Uon't wait till fall, 

 but get in your Italian queen at least as early 

 as the beginning of the honey harvest, so that 

 you can breed from her the same season." 

 But the right answer at the present time is: 

 '■ The sooner the better, so as to have your 

 new queen in a full colony in good working 

 order next season early." 



2. I'm afraid \ ou'll find it ratlier late to rear 

 queens by the time you get your new queens 

 established, but by all means don't wait till 

 spring to get the new ones. At the present 

 time you'll get good queens for less monev. 



\. Yes. 



4. It takes a whole book to tell that. G. M. 

 Doolittlehas written an excellent book on the 

 subject. Doolittle's "Scientific Queen-Rear- 

 ing, " and he knows what he's talking about. 

 In " Forty Years Among the Bees ' you will 

 find particulars of the way I rear queens for 

 my own use. Also any good bee-book will 

 tell about it. 



=.. It doesn't wi^rk. 



ti. There are almost as many ways as there 

 are different bee-keepers. Use for packing 

 what you have convenient— cork chips, 

 leaves, planer shavings, rags, etc.. havings or 

 4 inches on all sides except the front, which 

 may have less packing or none, and 4 or more 

 inches of packing on top. well protected from 

 rain. A, place well sheltered from the wind 

 is desirable. 



7. Dampness is not generally good, and yet 

 with good ventilation and a temperature of 

 4.=^ to 48 degrees you may have good success. 

 At any rate it may do no harm for you to try 

 part of \niir colonies there. 



Putting on Supers— Colony Stopped Storing 



1. When is the IilsI tlriii- to put supers on— 

 how early in the spring? Would you put on 

 two supers at once, or wait till one is filled, 

 and then put on the other? 



2. 1 have one swarm that I caught last year 

 which filled the room about half, and win- 

 tered ail right, and seemed to do pretty well 

 for about ^ weeks, but seems to have stopped 

 while the other bees are storing honev in 

 the super. What is the matter? IoVa. 



Answers.— I. Don't put on supers till bees 

 gather enough to fill their brood-chamber. 

 About that time you will see bits of white 

 wax at the upper part of the combs and top- 

 bars. You are probably in a white clover 

 region, and should put on supers as soon as 

 chner is in bloom. 



2. Hard to say what is the trouble without 

 knowing more about it. Possibly the queen 

 played out. They may have reared a new- 

 one and will come up later. 



Getting Bees Out of Supers— Transferring— Keep- 

 ing Queens — Queenless Bees 



1. How do you get the bees (^ut of supers 

 when you are taking off honey? 



2. Do you use a queen-excluder on your 

 hives to keep the queen from laying in the 

 sections? If not. how do you prevent this? 



3. The bee-pasture I have is as follows: 

 Several large orchards of fruit-bloom, then 

 20 to 50 acres white clover, 5; to m acres 

 alsike. hundreds of acres of red clover, with 

 lots of wild flowers. With this pasturage 

 could I keep 50 to loo'colonies and make it 

 pay? 



4. How can I get the bees to build queen- 

 cells when I wish to form a nucleus? 



5. What is the best time of year to transfer 

 from box to standard hive? 



6. Where I wish to transfer and requeen on 

 full sheets of foundation, should I let the old 

 queen go in with the bees, or should I intro- 

 duce the new one at once? 



7. When one receives a queen by mail in 

 an introducing cage, and does not wish to in- 

 troduce her for a few days, how can he keep 

 her from dying? 



8. How long will a queen live in a cage on 

 the frames above the cluster, wliere the bees 

 have access to her? 



g. I have 2 colonies that I know are queen- 

 less, and still they are busy carrying in pol- 

 len. Some say they will not do tliis when 

 they have no queen. Is this so? If so. why 

 do these carry pollen? Missouri. 



Answers.— 1. First blow smoke lively for 

 a little while on top to drive a good share n( 

 the bees down. Then, if honey is coming in 

 a flood, the super may be set on end nn lop 

 nf the hive till the bees leave it. Generally 

 this would start robbing, so the usual plan is 

 [0 pile the supers ui) 10 to 15 high, put a Miller 

 escape on top. and let the bees come out at 

 leisure. You will find the matter fully illus- 

 trated in " Forty Years Among the Ht rs. " 



2, With />/// sheets of foundation in sec- 

 tions, and frames not too shallow in the 

 brood-chamber, the queen so seldom makes 

 trouble in the supers that I never use an ex- 

 cluder to keep her down. 



H. Xo. That is. if your bees have only 

 about an acre to the colony of white and 

 alsike clover, for red clover hardly counts. 

 But its prettv safe guess that more than you 



have stated is in reach of vour bees, for thev 

 spread out probably 2 miles on each side. At 

 best one can only guess at such things, but 

 I d put my guess at more than 50 colonies. 

 4- Make a strong colony »iueenless. 



5. Wlien tlie bees swarm naturally. Hive 

 the swarm in the hive desired, and 21 davs 

 later there will be no worker-brood left, and 

 you can then cut out the combs and dispose 

 of the remaining bees as you think best. 



6. You may do either way. but the bees 

 will be better satisfied with their new quar- 

 ters if their old queen is with them. 



7- Leave her in the cage in the house, lie 

 ingsure there is enough food present. It 

 may be still better to put her in the hive 

 where she is eventually to be introduced, 

 only not allowing the bees of the colonv to 

 get at the candy to let her out. 



8. I don't know. I never tried it more than 

 3 or 4 weeks. 



tj. Queenless bees do carry pollen; but 

 after they have been queenless for a time 

 they have a surplus of pollen on hand, and 

 then they carr>- less pollen and smaller 

 loads. 



Foul Brood Origin and Treatment 



I noticed VDur reply to "Michigan" on 

 page 27'i. I will say that "Michigan" is not 

 alone in his belief. His idea has been creep- 

 ing in my gray matter for many years. I am 

 not a scientific man. but I have great respect 

 for it. If I am rightly informed, the germs 

 of all diseases are in our system all the 

 time, and arc only waiting for the proper 

 conditions to arise, when they will get the 

 best of us. Then we are sick. 



I think the easiest and safest way for you 

 to handle your foul brood is to remove the 

 queen, and when dark comes so no bees will 

 possibly fly, take tlie hive in the shop and let 

 the bees fly out of the window, having a bee- 

 escape to it. When the brood is all hatched 

 out. and the bees all out, melt up the comb. 

 This is a perfectly safe plan, for there'll be 

 no tinkering, and no bees will get any of the 

 honey. I would like to have just one " fill " 

 of nice white clover honey of this year's 



vintage. 



Illinois 



Answer.— It is quite true mat germs abound 

 and are kept in subjection in a healthy body; 

 but don't you think it's rather sweeping to 

 say that germs of all diseases are in our sys- 

 tems? I am loth to believe that germs of 

 yellow fever are keeping company with you 

 and me. It is also true that some of the 

 scientists across the water have said that 

 the miscreant that causes foul brood is 

 nothing but a common bacillus that is to be 

 found everywhere. But Dr. Phillips and his 

 ■■gang" at Washington don't tell us any- 

 thing of the kind, and Ive great faith that 

 they know what they're talking about. They 

 tell us that foul brood is due to a specific 

 bacillus, and if I understand rightly it is iio( 

 common everywhere. If it were, why did it 

 never attack my bees till now? In my ex 

 perience of nearly half a century, I feel sure 

 that, especially in my first years, my bees- 

 were many a time in as good condition to be 

 overcome as this year. Why didn't they 

 have foul brood? Certainly they should 

 have had it if the proper germs are every 

 where present. But when the right seed 

 came along, it grew and flourished, much to 

 my sorrow. 



Your plan of shutting up the diseased col- 

 ony in a shop and letting the bees make 

 their exit through an escape in the window 

 seems to provide against spreading the dis- 

 ease, but I don't quite see how it will come 

 out at the last. Of course you can furnish 

 water, which bees must have, but what will 

 become of the bees that have never flowa 

 to mark the old location? Will they be scat- 

 tered about among the hives of the apiary, 

 or will they stay clustered on the shop-win- 

 dow ? 



Drawn Combs— Queens Graded "Breeders" 



I frequently need "drawn combs " in 

 frames, and want your plan to get as many 

 as needed— 



1. At or around swarming season. 



2. At anv time during the "working sea- 

 son" that ! may need them, up to Octooer. 



V Best plan to get bees to enter supers. 



4. How and when can i have extra drawn 

 combs in supers of sections, and how late 

 will bees draw out foundation? Having a 

 good ' fall flow." I would like to have sec- 

 tions drawn and ready for this, if I can have 

 it done in June. July and August. 



<;. " Extra-select queen) breeders." Prices 

 run from "virgins" up to extra-select breed- 

 ers. The grades up to breeders I under- 

 stand: but the breeders and grades I do not.. 



