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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Replies by Prominent Apiarists. 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this 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 them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Joubnai,. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 . 



Transferring Bees, etc. 



Query, No. 324.— 1. Will bees do as well 

 transferred in the fall on full hives of foun- 

 dation and fed back honey, or syrup from 

 sugar, to winter, as if transferred early in 

 the season? 2. Is 1,000 square inches of 

 comb large enough for a brood department, 

 and surplus added as needed for honey 

 storing ? Here in Texas the winter is merely 

 nominal, only about one month of freezing 

 to kill grass.— D.. Texas. 



We think your plan will do very 

 well in Texas.— Dadant & Son, 



1 I would hardly feel as safe about 

 it. 2. I think so ; although I doubt 

 if the mildness of the winter makes 

 less room needed.— C. C. Miller. 



1. In your locality, "yes." 2. It 

 may do in the hands of some, but 

 with my method of management, it 

 would be too small for me.— H. D. 

 Cutting. 



1 It would need repeated trials to 

 show the truth in the matter. In the 

 North I should suppose so much labor 

 late in the season might be an injury. 

 2. I think not.— A. J. Cook. 



1 Yes, if done suflBciently early so 

 that the bees can get things in shape 

 before winter. 2. Yes, unless it is in 

 the spring before swarming time.— 



W. Z. HUTCHnSfSON. 



1. For this locality I should prefer 

 to do it early in the season, but the 

 proposed plan may work well m 

 Texas. 2. My experience says that it 



is.— G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



1. They will do just as well. But 

 then it should be upon frames of nat- 

 ural comb and not foundation. I 

 transfer hundreds of colonies every 

 fall and winter, and prefer it to the 

 spring. 2. I consider 1,000 square 

 inches of comb not sufficient. I would 

 not want less than 1.500 square inches. 

 —J. P. H. Brown. 



1 I think not, as there would be too 

 little time given for rearing brood, 

 and new comb does not answer as 

 well as old, particularly that in which 

 brood has been reared. 2. Yes, I 

 think so. I winter my bees on from 

 3 to 7 Langstroth size combs, such 

 combs contain about a square foot of 

 cells on each side. I winter my bees 

 on the summer stands. More stores 

 would be required for successful win- 

 tering in a warm than in a cold 

 locality, the reason for this being ob- 



vious. So that where only 1,000 

 square inches is given for brood-nest, 

 considerable surplus should be added. 

 —J. E. Pond, Jr. 



1. I prefer spring to fall trans- 

 ferring, although I have seen each 

 result in success. I prefer sugar 

 syrup to any honey for winter stores 

 for bees. 2. I prefer to give colonies 

 breeding room larger than you men- 

 tion (1.000 square inches of comb) 

 during a portion of the breeding sea- 

 son, and smaller than that during 

 another p»rt of that season. I prac- 

 tice the contraction method with the 

 most gratifying results. This con- 

 traction should be governed by 

 locality.— James Heddon. 



1. You may transfer bees at almost 

 any time if you give them proper 

 attention ; but spring is the best time, 

 and as you put the question I answer, 

 no. Bees will not build comb or draw 

 out foundation late in the season like 

 they will in the early part of the 

 season. 2. If you mean actual comb 

 surface, 1,000 square inches will an- 

 swer for brood alone, but in a South- 

 ern climate the ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive is none too large, which has 

 comb surface of at least 1,440 square 

 inches.— G. W. Demaree. 



1. If not too late in the fall I think 

 they would. 2. This is a query of 

 more than usual importance to bee- 

 keepers. My opinion is that 1,000 

 square inches of comb is too large for 

 a swarm, and not large for building 

 up in the spring in working for comb 

 honey. A swarm does best on about 

 700 square inches of comb, according 

 to the time it issues, and the length 

 of the honey-flow. After much ex- 

 periment I prefer 750 square inches of 

 comb, allowing the bees to build it 

 from starters 2 inches wide in a shal- 

 low reversible frame. For spring 

 management the brood-chaaiber 

 should be just double the capacity 

 allowed for a swarm, or 1.400 or I, .500 

 square inches of comb. — G.L.Tinker. 



Honey in Drone-Conili for Winter. 



Query, No. 325.— I have quite a number 

 of frames of drone comb filled with dark 

 sealed honey. Will they do to put in a hive 

 for winter stores, or had they better be ex- 

 tracted and fed into worker comb ? I shall 

 have to use three or more of them for each 

 hive. Will bees cluster on them as well as 

 on worker comb ? I mean for them to pass 

 the winter on the drone comb the same as if 

 on worker.— Granger, N. Y. 



I think I would use them as they 

 are.— C. C. Miller. 



Yes, they are all right provided the 

 honey is of good quality.— H. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



If you remove them in the spring it 

 will be all right, for they must be re- 

 placed by worker comb by the time 

 the bees breed in the spring.— Da- 

 dant & Son. 



I should use the frames of honey as 

 they are without extracting for win- 

 ter stores. It does not matter if the 

 comb is drone.— J. P. H. Brown. 



As far as my knowledge goes bees 

 winter as well on drone comb as on 

 worker comb.— G. M. Doolittle. 



I know no reason why the bees 

 need not winter as well on drone as 

 on worker comb.— W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son. 



They are just as good for winter. 

 In the spring worker comb should be 

 placed in the centre for brood.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



I have used drone combs full of 

 honey for winter stores many a time, 

 but I always have some worker combs 

 between them for the queen to com- 

 mence brood-rearing in the latter part 

 of the winter. For winter stores they 

 are just as safe as worker combs are. 

 — G. W. Demaree. 



Put them in as they are. Who ever 

 heard that drone cells were not as 

 well adapted to wintering as worker 

 cells y Thousands of colonies have 

 wintered well with hives replete with 

 drone combs.— James Heddon. 



1. If the honey is well ripened and 

 pure I see no reason why it will not 

 prove safe for winter stores. 2. Bees 

 will cluster as well on drone as on 

 worker comb, but when brood-rear- 

 ing begins trouble will arise. If 

 worker comb is given early in the 

 spring, perhaps (Ylit may come out 

 all right to use the drone now, but I 

 myself should prefer the stores to be 

 in worker comb. — J. E. Pond, Jr. 



They will do just as well on the 

 drone comb for winter, and with 

 some strains of bees, and plenty of 

 worker comb, a large amount of 

 drone comb is not objectionable un- 

 less it be for the space it occupies. — 

 G. L. Tinker. 



Wintering Bees in tlie Cellar. 



Query, No. 326. — I can put my bees into 

 a cellar the temperature of which does not 

 vary more than two or three degrees 

 throughout the year from .52°. Being un- 

 connected with any building, bees in it 

 would not be disturbed by noises or 

 other outside intluences. It is, however, 

 very damp, but can be well ventilated. 1. 

 How will this cellar answer for wintering 

 bees ? 2. How much would such a cellar 

 be worth to the man owning 150 to 200 colo- 

 nies of bees ? I have always wintered my 

 bees out-of-doors, heretofore, very success- 

 fully.— G., Illinois. 



1. Not very well. 2, If we were in 

 your place we would keep on with the 

 wintering that gave you satisfaction. 

 —Dadant & Son. 



From the statement I should say it 

 would be all right. How much it 

 would be worth would depend upon 

 circumstances.— H. D. Cutting. 



1. I think it ought to be a good 

 cellar, but I would not pin my faith 

 to any cellar without actual trial. 2. 

 That depends altogether upon circum- 

 stances.— C. C. Miller. 



1 have never wintered my bees in 

 a cellar, so my opinion would be of 

 no value, as it would be drawn en- 

 tirely from my reading of the experi- 

 ments of others.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



