708 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Keplies by PromineEt Apiarists. 



pt is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 than one mouth. 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 ; gret them returned, and then And 

 Bpace for them in the Joubn.uj. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Pollen Alone for Bees, 



Query, No. 332.— Can bees live on pollen 

 alone, or will they starve during a drouth, 

 or when the flowers yield no honey, if they 

 have plenty of pollen but no honey ?— Daw- 

 son, Ky. 



Bees cannot live on pollen alone.— 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I think they would soon starve.— A. 

 J. Cook. 



No, sir, they cannot live on pollen 

 alone.— J. F. H. Bkown. 



Bees will not live on pollen alone.— 

 H. D. Cutting. 



I had bees starve with plenty of 

 pollen in the combs.— C. C. Millek. 



They would starve every time, 

 according to several tests which I 

 have made.— G. M. Doolittle. 



They will starve on pollen, but 

 when there is pollen in the held, there 

 is almost always some honey. — Da- 

 DANT & Son. 



I have never witnessed such a test, 

 but 1 believe that ihe bees will starve, 

 though the pollen would prolong 

 their life some.— James IIeddon. 



Bees cannot live on pollen alone in 

 winter couhnement. 1 cannot say as 

 to summer lime, as we never had a 

 time here when the flowers yielded 

 nothing. 1 have noticed that when 

 bees swarmedout from nuclei, that 

 they leave no pollen.— (i. L. Tinker, 



They cannot live on pollen alone at 

 any time of the year. 1 have had 

 ample opportunity to test this matter. 

 There is nothing wliatever in the 

 whole pollen business except that 

 pollen is the natural food of the 

 honey-bee while in the larval state.— 

 G. W. Demakee. 



Bees cannot live on pollen alone. 

 They will starve unless tliey have a 

 supply of honey or its equivalent for 

 food.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Do Drones fori? 



Query, No. 333 Have you ever seen a 



drone on bloom at work ? I have always 

 heard that drones did not work or gather 

 anything from bloom. This is a question of 

 Bome importance here.— B. S. F., Indiana. 



No.— C. C. Miller. 



No.— J. P. 11. Brown. 



No.— H. D. Cutting. 



Drones do not work on blossoms, or 

 otherwise. They feed in the hive. — 

 Dadant & SON. 



No, I never have seen drones work, 

 and I am quite firmly impressed that 

 1 never shall be able to see it. — James 

 Heddon. 



I have never seen a drone at work 

 on flowers. It is not their work. — A. 

 J. Cook. 



I never have, nor do I believe they 

 ever do so long as they have the "run" 

 of the hive.— G. M. Doolittle. 



I have never seen a drone upon a 

 blossom, and I am at a loss to know 

 why the question is of raore impor- 

 tance in Indiana than elsewhere.— W. 

 Z. Hutchinson. 



I have never seen a drone on a 

 flower sipping nectar, and I do not 

 think any one else ever did. They, 

 however, have a use in the hive that 

 has been grossly berated. — G. L. 



TlNIiER. 



No, nor no other living man ever 

 did ; all due respect, however. In the 

 Middle States there is a bee belonging 

 to the " Carpenter bee " tribe so 

 nearly like a drone (Apis) that a 

 novice of considerable experience 

 might mistake it for a drone. They 

 live a hermit's life, and feed their 

 young on pollen.— G. W. Uemaree. 



I never saw a drone at work on 

 bloom, or anything else for that mat- 

 ter. With their physical conforma- 

 tion, they cannot do it, for the reason 

 that " they are not built that way." — 

 J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Prevention of SwarniinE. 



Query, No. 334.-1. How would it be if 

 I should put a queen-excluding honey-board 

 on the bottom- board of each hive to prevent 

 swarming before the season starts, and 

 stand two cases ot brood-frames on this, 

 then another excluding honey-board on top 

 of these, and confine the queen in these two 

 cases, and then pile up cases on top of these 

 as soon as necessary? 2. Will it keep the 

 queen from swarming ? 3. Is it advisable to 

 do so if you want a good harvest and no 

 increase '/—F., New Jersey. 



1. I would not like this method. 2. 

 If the queen could not get out, it 

 would keep her from swarming.— H. 

 D. Cutting. 



It will keep the queens and the 

 drones inside the brood chamber. As 

 to the result, you can better tell after 

 trying. We should not like to do it. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



I think that there would be no ad- 

 vantage gained by the plan proposed. 

 It is the bees which control the 

 swarming-impulse more than the 

 queen.— G. M. Doolittle. 



The best way to get an answer to 

 this question would be to " try it on." 

 If the queen is prevented from issu- 

 ing, of course no swarming would 

 take place ; at least the bees would re- 

 turn if they did swarm out. I do not 



think such a plan would be advisable- 

 at all. I should fear that the bees- 

 would kill the queens after trying 2 or 

 3 times unsuccessfully to swarm. — J^ 

 E. Pond, Jr. 



The bees would swarm, and finding; 

 no queen with them return, then a- 

 young queen would be reared and the 

 old one generally destroyed, and if 

 the young one could not leave, the 

 colony would dwindle.— C. C. Miller. 



Of course it would prevent the bees 

 from going off, although they might 

 swarm out. I doubt if it would be 

 desirable. If bees really get the 

 swarming fever, they had better 

 swarm and be done with it. Much 

 room often keeps back the desire to 

 swarm. — A. J. Cook. 



Your plan probably might prevent 

 the issuing of a fertilized laying 

 queen with the swarm, and thus hold 

 the swarm for a time in abeyance. 

 But in many such cases the bees be- 

 come angry at such perverse and 

 obstinate queens and " ball" them to 

 death, and then turn in and make 

 queen-cells. The most of virgin 

 queens could pass your honey-board 

 with a swarm.— J. P. H. Brown. 



In one case where I tried a similar 

 plan the bees reared cells and swarm- 

 ed at the proper time. They came 

 out twice and went back. A few 

 days after a young queen was found 

 dead in the excluder. I then re- 

 moved it, and in about two weeks 

 they swarmed, the old queen with 

 clipped wing leading. 3. I do not 

 think it the best plan to prevent in- 

 crease.— G. L. Tinker. 



The plan you mention will keep the 

 queen from going with the swarm, 

 but the bees will swarm just like they 

 will when the queen's wing is clipped,, 

 and if the swarming impulse runs- 

 high, the old queen will be killed in 

 her confinement, and the slender 

 virgin queen will slip out through 

 the perforation, and you will have- 

 lots of swarming, of the kind I most 

 dread, i.e., after-swarms. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



It would act the same as an en- 

 trance-guard, keeping both queen 

 and drones in the hive. The drones- 

 would die in the hive, the bees would 

 swarm, and in time would probably 

 kill the queen because she failed to 

 follow them. To be a success there 

 should be a drone-trap used in con- 

 nection with the queen-excluder, and 

 when the bees swarm some one must 

 be in attendance to hive them and 

 give them their queen. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



It would do first-rate, and you 

 would be using one of the important 

 functions of my new hive, and what I 

 believe to be tlie best non-swarming 

 arrangement yet devised ; one which 

 I have tested and wrote about, and 

 you will find it described on page 104 

 of my book, wliere I briefly state the 

 reasons of its superiority, and men- 

 tion a drone and queen catcher used 

 in conjunction with the device, and 

 attached to the side of the hive;— 

 James Heddon. 



