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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Keplies by Prominent Apiarists. 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in tliis Department in less time 

 than one 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 ihem returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Journal. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Bees Haniing Out. 



Query, No. 286.— What would be the 

 best, under the present circumstances, to 

 prevent the bees in the entire apiary from 

 hanging out all over the outside of the 

 hives ? The weather is and has been very 

 warm the past week— say 90° in the shade, 

 from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then goes 

 down to 85° until 10 p.m. The operations of 

 the hives are nearly stopped during these 

 hours, although the bees have plenty of 

 brood and storage room. The hives have 

 pitch-roof covers, and are ventilated at both 

 ends with holes with wire-cloth over them, 

 and they are deep enough to hold a crate of 

 28 one-pound sections each. I have no 

 sections on the majority of them, but have 

 them tiered up two stories high, and work- 

 ing for extracted honey. They are pretty 

 well shaded, but I have enameled cloth over 

 the tops of the frames in the second story, 

 but still there is plenty of air-space between 

 ■ the cloth and the ventilating holes. I tried 

 a few by taking off ihe cloth, but they 

 crowded up in the cover. I smoked them, 

 but in vain ; tbey only work some from 4:30 

 a.m. to about a.m., and then from 4 p.m. 

 to 7 p.m. There is no eign of preparing to 

 swarm, or any other trouble, but simply 

 idleness and signs of suffocation. They 

 keep up a terrible hum, notwithstanding 

 there is plenty of bloom and nectar in the 

 fields.- Mississippi. 



Give them more air by raising the 

 hive off the bottom-board. Perhaps 

 there is no honey in the blossoms, if 

 they do not work.— Dadant & son. 



Try Mr. L. C. Root's plan, of a large 

 ventilator in the bottom-board, as 

 given in the Bee Journal not long 



ago.— G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



From the statements made I judge 

 there is no honey in the tields for the 

 bees to gather. If they are bringing 

 honey freely, give them another story 

 of frames. If the first supposition is 

 correct, there is nothing to do for 

 them, as there is nothing for them to 

 do.— J. E. Pond, Jk. 



I should give a large entrance, at 

 least 1 foot long and J^ inch vpide. I 

 should also cover above the liive with 

 a wide shade-board raised at least 

 4 inches above the hive. With this I 

 can always keep bees at work when 

 there is honey or nectar to gather.— 

 A. J. Cook. 



I should say that they want bottom 

 ventilation. Raise the hive up from 

 the platform from }^ to 1 inch high. 

 At least that is just what I would do 

 in this locality.— H. D. Cutting. 



You might try moving the second 

 story forward so as to leave chance 

 for a current of air through the brood- 

 chamber from the entrance to the 

 open space at the upper and back 

 part of the brood-chamber.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



I think all this is caused by the 

 lack of nectar in the flowers. 1 have 

 seen the same thing during a dearth 

 of honey in hot weather. It is not 

 objectionable, except that it shows 

 there is little honey to be gathered.— 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Use thin- walled hives; keep them 

 well shaded, and have no double 

 walls between the bees and " all-out- 

 doors " over either the brood or sur- 

 plus department. Give abundance 

 of lower ventilation, and try upper 

 ventilation, if you choose. With the 

 hives you have, adapt them to the 

 above conditions as nearly as possible. 

 Do not let your colonies " clog " the 

 combs with honey.— James Heddon. 



During such spells of weather as 

 you mention, my apiary presents the 

 very same appearance you so lucidly 

 describe. There is no help for it. 

 You are mistaken about there being 

 plenty of nectar in the flowers in the 

 heat of the day during such heated per- 

 iods. The absence of nectar at such 

 times is the main cause of bees cluster- 

 ing on the outside of the hives in idle- 

 ness—in my locality. Ventilation 

 below, and the admission of air be- 

 tween the cloth and hive-cover is the 

 best I can do under such circum- 

 stances.— G. VV. DE3IAREE. 



In your apiary I know of no infalli- 

 ble plan to prevent the bees from 

 hanging out. Give more shade to 

 your hives. This will relieve the in- 

 side heat to some extent ; but when 

 bees can only work a few hours in 

 the morning, before the hot, dry air 

 dissipates the nectar in the flowers, 

 and have to remain idle the balance 

 of the day, they will hang out for the 

 reason that it is more comfortable 

 outsiae than in. "Hanging out" is 

 not always a sign that the hive is 

 filled with honey or crowded with 

 bees. lu dull seasons, weak colonies 

 destitute of stores will often hang 

 out. Too close extracting will some- 

 times cause a sort of demoralization 

 of the bees, and they will cluster out. 



—J. P. H. I3R0WN. 



When the temperature is 90° and 

 above in the shade, it is too warm for 

 many bees to stay in a hive without 

 large bottom ventilation. We have 

 had such weather here, and I tind 

 the narrow, 7-frame, single-walled 

 hives cooler than any double-walled 

 hive. Raise the hives up from the 

 bottom-boards on blocks at the cor- 

 ners. There will be no danger of 

 robbing if a 2-inch space be given all 

 around. Let no bees intQ»the cap, as 

 they will be sure to go to the top and 

 build comb there. A cap to a hive is 

 a nuisance any way. With single- 



walled hives and plain covers, venti- 

 lation can best be given at the top at 

 high temperatures. — G. L. Tinker. 



The cause of the bees hanging out 

 and remaining idle, is because there 

 is nothing for them to do. It is no 

 proof of " plenty of nectar in the 

 fields" because there is plenty of 

 bloom. Give them a feed in the open 

 air at any time when they are hanging 

 out on the hives, and it will satisfy 

 you why they are idle.— H. R. Board- 

 man. 



Cause of f orlier-Bees Dying, 



Query? No. 287.— Last week I found a 

 couple of quarts of dead worker bees in 

 front of the hive of my first swarm of the 

 season. I had taken off 24 sections, and 

 have since taken 46, and more are nearly 

 ready to come off. No apparent harm has 

 been done, but I would like to know the 

 cause of their dying.— Grinnell, Iowa. 



Probably some other swarm tried to 

 join them and a fight ensued. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



In all probability the dead bees are 

 the remains of some stray swarm that 

 went into the hive and was killed. — 

 J. P. H. Brown. 



I should say that a stray swarm 

 tried to enter the hive and was killed. 



— G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The cause can only be guessed at. 

 It might have been a small swarm 

 that attempted to join the colony. — 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Perhaps a small swarm tried to 

 force an entrance and was killed. — 

 C. C. Miller. 



Probably some little after-swarm 

 tried to enter the hive of your " first 

 swarm of the season," and was dis- 

 patched by that colony.— James Hed- 

 don. 



Hard work and old age. I have 

 often found bees dead in the field, and 

 even on flowers. This is what we 

 might call " dying in the harness."- 

 A. J. Cook. 



Who can tell ? I confess I cannot. 

 It might be robbers or old workers, 

 and it might be many other things 

 that caused the trouble. From the 

 data given a guess only can be made. 

 —J. E. Pond, Jr. 



I had a like experience to the one 

 you describe, the present season. I 

 attributed it to the attempt of some 

 bees trying to enter the hive when a 

 swarm was in the air. Something of 

 the kind was the cause of the trouble 

 in your case. A colony that has a 

 queen will not tolerate the intrusion 

 of other bees.— G. W. Demaree. 



It not infrequently happens that a 

 colony of bees quarrel over the super- 

 seding of a queen, when a quart or 

 more of bees will be killed and scat- 

 tered over the ground in front of the 

 hive. Their contracted abdomens 

 will show that they have been stung. 

 Sometimes the party of discontent is 

 vanquished, but generally not. I have 



