436 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Replies by Prominent Apiarists. 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries In this Department in less time 

 than fne month. They have to wait their 

 turn, be put in type, and sent in about a 

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 them ; get them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Jouksal. If you are 

 in a "hurry" for replies, do not ask for 

 them to be inserted here.— Eel 



Seprating Swarms, 



Query, Ko. 277.— 1. At swarming time it 

 often happens that two or more swarms 

 issuing at the same time settle altogether ; 

 what is the best plan of separating them? 

 2. Is it true that they will separate them- 

 selves if put in a very large box so that they 

 might be dipped up, each swarm by itself, 

 and hived ? But is it not possible that the 

 bees of several swarms being rai.xed up, that 

 any or all of the queens may get killed V 

 I mean all these swarms to be prime swarms 

 with laying queens. 3. Or is it necessary or 

 best to divide them immediately, giving a 

 queen to each division made ? This latter 

 plan 1 have practiced, but 1 tind it very 

 inconvenient in the middle of the day, and I 

 am afraid to postpone the operation until 

 evening. What can you offer as better or 

 best ?— C. W. 



Clip all the queens' wings, then the 

 queens can be caught, and all will be 

 well. This tact alone is enough to 

 make clipping desirable, were this all. 

 —A. J. Cook. 



1 . Keep them apart with the Foun- 

 tain Pump, if possible, and when they 

 do get together, just how to perform 

 is too long a story for this department. 

 2. Sometimes. Experience and tact 

 are needed in these cases, and each 

 case may need different treatment.— 

 James IIeddon. 



It would take a long article to 

 explain all the methods of dividing 

 two swarms. But it should be done 

 when hiving, as they will risually mix 

 and kill either queen, or both.— Da- 

 DANT & Son. 



The answer to this would require 

 an article to do the subject justice. 

 1. Put one-half in one hive and one - 

 half in another hive. Catch a queen 

 if you see her. When one swarm 

 shows signs of queenlessness give it 

 the queen cauglit. 2. 1 have heard 

 so, but 1 have never tried it. There 

 would be danger of the queens being 

 killed. .3. I can offer no better plan.— 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



1. My plan is to hunt up the queens, 

 cage them and divide the bees as 

 nearly equal as possible. 2. Some- 

 limes they separate, but more often 

 they do not. Many tilings in bee- 

 keeping will be found inconvenient; 

 so they will in any otlier business. 

 We must take things as they come, ; 



and be thankful that they are no 

 worse.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Divide all swarms as soon as pos- 

 sible ; for directions see any of our 

 leading works on bee-culture. 2. This 

 is not true in my experience. 3. This 

 would be my plan of operation. It 

 may be a little inconvenient, but it 

 will be successful.— H. I). Cutting. 



It is easy enough to divide them if 

 a swarming-box is used and a queen 

 given to each ; but my plan has been 

 to hive all together, taking away all 

 but one queen in hiving. The con- 

 tracted brood-chamber is used with 

 queen-excluding honey-board (zinc 

 and wood), and enough section-cases 

 piled upon it to accommodate the 

 whole part of the cases being taken 

 from the hives of the colonies casting 

 the swarms.— G. L. Tinker. 



1. I think I should hunt out the 

 queens and divide the bees equally 

 among them. 2. They might happen 

 to separate, but I .should generally 

 expect all but one queen to be killed. 

 8. I doubt if you can better your 

 present plan, but as my queens" are 

 clipped, I have had little experience. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



1. Every one will have to decide 

 this for himself. 2. Yes, as a general 

 thing. On several occasions I have 

 lost queens from this cause. 3. I used 

 to practice the same plan you here 

 mention, but not with uniform suc- 

 cess. I now keep a wide hive that 

 will hold 20 frames, that has an en- 

 trance extending the full length of 

 the hive. I lill it with combs, and 

 hive the whole of the " pile " in the 

 wide hive, strewing them all along 

 the entrance. After they have 

 divided off I lift out each division 

 on the combs and put them where I 

 want ihem.— G. W. Demaree. 



1. Have the queens' wings clipped, 

 and you can handle them as you 

 please. 2. This is very doubtful. 3. 

 Hive the two together, giving lots of 

 surplus room if you do not care for 

 increase. Having the queens' wings 

 clipped does away with all this 

 trouble. I have had as many as 11 

 swarms all together, but as I had all 

 the queens, it was easy putting one- 

 eleventh of the bees and one queen 

 into each hive.— G. M. Doolittle. 



Paralyzed Bees, 



Query, No. 278.- A colony of bees in a 

 log sawed oS and set upon end has wintered 

 well for seven winters, and came out strong 

 this spring, apparently prospering, until 

 seven days ago when the bees began to 

 crawl out in a paralyzed condition, with 

 their tongues run out. They would turn 

 over, and kick, and soon expire. A quart of 

 bees each day for seven days past has 

 crawled out and died. I broke out some 

 comb, and found from the egg to the full- 

 grown bee in apparently healthy condition. 

 There is plenty of sealed stores in the hive. 

 What ails the bees ?— Maine. 



If a colony of my bees acted that 

 way I should suspect poisoning.— G. 

 L. Tinker. 



I do not know unless they are pois- 

 oned.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



This seems a disease which ought 

 to be carefully investigated. It has 

 appeared in many States, from Iowa 

 to Maine.— A. J. Cook. 



Take some of the honey and feed to 

 some nucleus, and see if it is poison- 

 ous. If it does not affect them, then 

 you will know that it is not the honey 

 that is at fault. — H. D. Cutting. 



I could not judge the case at this 

 distance. I prefer to believe that 

 robbing was going on, and the bees 

 that crowded out in a paralyzed con- 

 dition had been stung. Sometimes 

 bees carrying on robbing in a stealthy, 

 mysteriousway,and may puzzle almost 

 any one to discover the trouble.— G. 

 W. Demaree. 



This peculiar disease has been 

 mentioned several times, but as yet 

 no one has either ascertained the 

 cause or made public a remedy. It is 

 one of those things that cannot be 

 explained without an examination, 

 and possibly could not even then. 

 Are the stores pure V or may not the 

 bees have brought in some poisonous 

 honey V— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Ants in tlie Hiyes, 



Query, No. 279.— Upon examining a 

 colony of bees the other day, I discovered 

 countless numbers of small black auts in 

 the top part of the hive. (I have tried salt 

 and chalk-marks, but they do not seem to 

 mind it). What is the remedy ?— W. M. B. 



Try borax. I have never found 

 that the ants did any harm, except 

 the annoyance on opening the hives. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



They are there for warmth. I find 

 it easy to dislodge them by simply 

 brushing them off.— A. J. Cook. 



Give the ants no lurking place. 

 Have no crack where the ants can go 

 and the bees cannot follow. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



They get tliere for warmth, and do 

 no injury except to annoy tlie opera- 

 tor when the hives are opened. I 

 know of no remedy except to be happy 

 in thinking the ants are having a 

 good homel— G. M. Doolittle. 



Put green tansy in the top of the 

 hive and you wili not have any ants 

 to trouble you. They do not seem to 

 disturb the bees. It is such a uice 

 place for them to hatch their eggs 

 over a good, warm colony. — H. D. 

 Cutting. 



I have seen ants around my bee- 

 hives, but never experienced any loss 

 from them. A good colony will not 

 let them enter tlie hive ; they lodge 

 in its crevices about the outside to en- 

 joy the heat from the bees. Trouble 

 from ants is mostly imaginary. — 

 James IIeddon. 



I use loet salt and find it effective. 

 Dry salt is of no value for this pur- 

 pose, and I infer that many have failed 

 to derive benefit from the use of salt 

 because they use it in a dry state. 

 The adult ants do not care for salt 



