170 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 17, 



CONDUCTED BY 



r>K. O. O. JvmtEK, atitREKGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Building a Bec-Hou§e. 



If a bee-house is built with drop-siding and building-paper on 

 the outside of the studding, and shiplap and building-paper on the 

 inside of the studding, with building-paper between the root-board 

 and shingles, ceiling boarded with shiplap and building-paper, with 

 Tentilator on top, will it winter bees all right ? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — So far as the bouse is concerned, it's probably all 

 right. But you can't depend upon a house alone. Some kind of 

 proper packing must be used, at least over the hives. The house 

 will not keep the bees as warm as in a cellar. 



Pulling Bec§ Out of liic Cellar. 



My bees in the cellar are doing well. Would it be advisable to 

 take them out when sap flows from soft maple ? I have quite a 

 grove of maples, and could tap and let the bees work on it if it 

 were prudent. I know bees work on the maples, but I am at a loss 

 as to when would be best to turn them out. I am experimenting 

 with top ventilation of hives instead of bottom. Iowa. 



Answer.— Better not take them out tillyoursoft maples bloom, 

 according to some, and according to others take them out about 

 the first of April whether maples bloom or not. 



Tell us how you come out about your ventilation. You'll likely 

 find that in the cellar your bees will be all right if other things are 

 right, whether the ventilation be at the top, bottom or middle. 



Wintering in a Bee-Shed— Black Drones. 



1. I have a bee-shed 10 feet long, three feet at the back and four 

 feet at the front. I have a trap door to let down on the south side, 

 aud it is fastened up by strap hinges. I have my bees in dovetailed 

 hives, and they are all packt in the shed with fine straw two inches 

 thick. A part of my bees have plenty to go on. The hives will 

 weigh all the way from 50 to 60 pounds. Where is it best to winter 

 bees, in a shed or out in the open air ? 



2. What would you do with the drones from black bees if you 

 were to give them Italian queens— trap them, or not ? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. It isn't easy to tell without trying, but very 

 likely they'll winter all right in the shed. Look out that the 

 entrances don't get clogged. 



3. What is best to do with the black drones depends on circum- 

 stances. It there are plenty of black drones within half a mile or a 

 mile of you, it isn't worth while to do very much about your own. 

 If you have only your own to contend with, then it will be well to 

 trap them. But in this ca^e prevention is better than cure, and it 

 will be well to get as nearly as possible all drone-comb out of the 

 black colonies. 



■ w 



Candied Honey for Honey-Vinegar. 



I have some brood-frames full of candied honey. Will it be fit 

 to make into honey-vinegar ? Colo. 



Answer.— It will be excellent for that purpose if the combs 

 are clean. 



Hives Under Api>le-Trec§— llnfinisht Sections. 



1. I have no bee-shed, so I set my hives under the shade of 

 apple-trees, where the apples, in falling, hit the hives. Will this 

 disturb the bees enough to make it advisable moving them out in 

 sun ? Apple-trees are all ihe shade I have. 



3. What would be the best way to dispose of partly-filled sec- 

 tions ? Would it be advisable to put them where the bees could 

 clean them up— I mean out-doors \ If so, when would be the best 

 time ? The bees have plenty of stores and could do without any 

 feeding, but I would much rather the sections be cleaned up if it 

 would be advisable. Kentucky, 



Answers. — 1. I have had bees under apple-trees for years, and 

 while I'd a little rather the apples wouldn't thump the hives, yet I 

 don't believe it does much harm, and 1 expect to continue using 

 apple-trees for shade. 



'3. It is quite possible that the best thing you can do with those 

 sections, if there isn't enough honey in them for table use, is to 

 melt them up, taking pains to melt them ivry slowly, no matter if it 

 takes two or three days for it; then when melted and cooled, take 

 off the cake of wax. For the honey is probably more or less gran- 

 ulated, and if it is, the bees are not likely to clean it out so clean 



that not a particle of the grains of honey will be left, and any 

 grains of honey will be a damage to the new honey stored in them. 

 Of course it will be all right to feed them to the bees before melt- 

 ing, if you like, in which case it will be well to have something 

 placed under to catch the chips of wax and grains of honey. If 

 you had allowed the bees to clean them out last summer or fall, 

 then the sections would be good to use this summer again. 



Italani:eing — Carrying Out Bits of Comb. 



1. I want to Italianize my apiary next season. Not desiring 

 any increase, how would it do to remove the black queens when 

 they begin making preparations for swarming, and give the queen- 

 less colonies queen-cells in a day or two afterward ? 



3. Could as much comb honey be produced in this method as 

 by waiting till the honey harvest is over and then requeen ? 



.3. My bees are wintering on the summer stands. Some of them 

 seem to be carrying bits of comb or wax out upon the alighting- 

 boards. Are those that are carrying out the comb doing as well as 

 those that are not ? There is no moth. Beginner. 



Answers. — 1. It will do all right if you're sure to give them 

 good cells and not have them swarm. 



i. Keeping the force together in this way ought to give good 

 results in honey, perhaps better than if you let them swarm and re- 

 queened after harvest. 



3. That's nothing against them it it's the bits of capping and 

 refuse from the bottom of the hive. If it's pieces of comb broken 

 from the cell-walls, there is danger that mice may be troubling. 

 It's a good plan to have the entrances closed with wire-cloth having 

 three meshes to the inch ; this will allow free passage for the bees, 

 but bar the mice. 



Foul-Broody Combs. 



I sent to Arkansas for a queen and introduced her all right. 

 This was the beginning of June. I put a second story on with 

 drawn combs, that I got from a neighbor. The bees cleaned them 

 up and fixt them ready to fill with honey. That was all they ever 

 did. I took off the second story to examine them, and I found four 

 frames with a great number of cells not hatcht out, and all brood 

 dead. I stuck a splinter into it to see if it was ropy ; it did not draw 

 out much ; the cell-cappings were shrunk a little. I think it was 

 foul brood. I got a clean hive with starters and shook the bees off 

 in front, and after the bees had quit flying they seemed to work a 

 couple of days, then the next time I lookt the bees had fled. I 

 lookt over the orchard expecting to see them, but that was the 

 last of them. I was not a bit sorry. 



Would it be safe to use those combs that the bees cleaned up ? 

 They did not put a particle of honey into them, and they are nice 

 and clean. I would not like to melt them up. How would carbolic 

 acid and water do ! Ontario. 



Answer. — If I had those combs I wouldn't be a day older till 

 I'd cut them out. and use the frames for fuel to melt the combs. 

 Too much risk to fool with anj- kind of drugs in a case of that kind. 



Using Combs o\\ Which Bees Died. 



1. My first winter with bees, I find one colony as "dead as a 

 door-nail," as Dickens puts it. It was well covered with pine 

 needles, except the front of the hive ; had two frames of honey left ; 

 bees were clustered on top and near the top of three empty frames. 

 and in each cell under the cluster is a bee wedged clear into the 

 cell. I tried to cut them out, but couldn't cut across the top as the 

 top row was full, and the pressure would make the foul contents of 

 bees squirt all around. Are those combs of any use ? 



3. Can the bees be gotten out ? 



3. The colony was not a very strong one. What caused them 

 to die ? Mass. 



Answers. — 1. If the combs were good beforei the bees died, 

 they are still of value. _rj 



2. Yes. Some say mice will clean them out." If you keep the 

 combs in a good, dry place, the bees may be pickt out with a pin 

 after they are well dried, and some of them may even shake out. 

 Or the bees themselves will make a pretty good job cleaning them 

 out after they are dry. 



3. Perhaps diarrhea. Possibly they starved. Even with plenty 

 of honey left in the hive, they could make no use of it during a 

 cold spell if it was out of their reach. 



^Nucleus method of Increase. 



I have one colony of bees, and want to increase them as many 

 times as can be done with safety, next season. I do not want 

 honey, but increase. Nebraska. 



Answer. — In the matter of trying to makeiincrease there are 

 things to be taken into account that are all the time coming up, 

 general principles that should be fully understood, or there's a 

 chance to make a mess of it in a hundred different ways. As you 

 mention the matter of "safety" — a thing often too little consid- 

 ered — perhaps the best way will be to work on the nucleus plan. 

 The supposition is that your colony is in a frame hive. If the 

 season is not a good one, you must count on feeding whenever it is 



