182 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



ANSWERS BY G. 



DOOLITTLE. 



I should much prefer using the dum- 

 mies, for if the L size of frame is used, 

 six solid frames of brood will give as 

 many bees as can work to advantage 

 in one hive. If ten frames of brood 

 are given, the sections must of neces- 

 sity be carried quite a distance from 

 the brood by tiering up, or otherwise, 

 in order to accommodate all of the 

 bees, and bees will not work to as 

 good advantage when compelled to go 

 great distances from their brood. Be- 

 sides, when the brood hatches from the 

 outside combs, the queen would fail to 

 fill them with eggs again, so that stor- 

 ing in the brood chamber would com- 

 mence and in so large a comb space 

 below, the bees would now soon crowd 

 the queen in preference to extending 

 their operations in the sections. There 

 is a limit regarding size of brood 

 chamber beyond which we must not 

 go if we would reap the best results in 

 honey. My plan of working is as fol- 

 lows, and this plan I have adopted 

 after an experience of seventeen years 

 of trying all plans and ways devised. 

 I work the brood up to the fullest ca- 

 pacity of the queen, previous to ten 

 days before the honey harvest, which 

 capacity I hnd to be about eight Lang- 

 stroth frames as an average. A few 

 will do better, many not as well. Un- 

 derstand, these frames are to he full of 

 brood, not part full. When all hives in 

 the apiary are thus tilled, the sections 

 are put on, into which the bees will go 

 to store the first pound of honey, for 

 they have no other place to store it. 

 This storing will continue till the bees 

 swarm, at which time, while the bees 

 are out in the air, I go to the hive, re- 

 move the sections, take out the frames 

 of brood and the few adhering bees and 

 place them in a light box I have for 

 carrying combs about the apiary. I 

 now place in the hive five empty combs 

 and three dummies, placing the sec- 

 tions back in place again as they were 

 before I took out the eight frames of 

 brood. The swarm is now returned or 

 allowed to return, as I keep all queens' 

 wings clipped, so -that they return 

 about as soon as I can get the exchange 

 spoken of above accomplished. 1 next 

 take the eight comi)s of brood and 

 place them in an empty hive where I 

 wish the colony to stand, and the next 

 day give a just-hatching queen cell or 

 a very young, virgin queen to them. 

 They feel so poor both as to honey and 

 : bees at this time, that they are glad to 

 destroy their own queen cells for the 



young queen, so that all after swarm- 

 ing is done away with, and in ten to 

 twelve days we have a laying queen in 

 this hive together with a strong force 

 of bees of an active age. 



The sections are now put upon this 

 hive, and if the honey flow holds out a 

 few days longer, look out for sections 

 full of the nicest kind of honey. lu 

 twenty-four days, young bees will be 

 hatching plentifully in the hive where 

 the swarm was returned, at which 

 time I go and take out the dummies 

 and fill in the centre of the hive, three 

 eippty combs to take their place. This 

 is done for a three-fold purpose, first, 

 and foremost, to keep the bees from 

 swarming again as these five combs of 

 brood give a large increase at once ; 

 second, to give the queen room of a 

 fresh nature sp she will place her brood 

 in the centre of the hive; and third, 

 that sufiicient room be given for a win- 

 ter's supxily of honey from the fall 

 flowers, so that feeding need not be 

 resorted to. It will be seen that my 

 aim has been to get all the honey pos- 

 sible in the sections in the height of 

 the honey season and, later on, both 

 honev and bees in the hive for winter. 



FINDING A QUEEN. 

 QUESTIONS BY NOVICE. 



1. What is the best and quickest 

 method for finding a queen in a full 

 colony of bees? 



2. Is it not more difficult to find a 

 virgin-queen in a full colony than a 

 fertile queen? Please give the best 

 methods for finding either a fertile or 

 an unfertile queen in full or nucleus 

 colonies. 



ANSWERS BY DR. G. L. TINKER. 



1. To find a queen directly, open the 

 hive very quietly and without smoke. 

 The queen will be found, as a rule, on 

 the comb or combs, in which are 

 seen the fresh laid eggs, and they will 

 be the guide to her presence. But if 

 ajar be given to the hive, or the light 

 be admitted too suddenly, the bees and 

 queen will be excited, when the latter 

 will run from comb to comb and per- 

 haps be found on the outside of the 

 last comb. Smoke, especially with 

 black bees, generally causes the queen 

 to run off" from the combs on to the 

 side or bottom of the hive, where she 

 is found with difficulty. In searching 

 for laying queens, it is only necessary 

 to scan the portions of the comb con- 

 taining the brood, and the lower por- 



