1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



171 



needed. If your colony will be accommodating enough to swarm 

 in good season, all right. If not, you must take the matter into 

 your own hands. Take two frames of brood with the adhering 

 bees and the queen, and put them in another hive on a new stand. 

 That leaves the old colony queenless. but very strong, for you must 

 not think of doing anything until the colony has become very 

 strong. And it's so important to have good queens that you must 

 not think of a nucleus having anything to do with a queencell till 

 it's sealed. In about a week you may take the old hive from its 

 stand and put in its place the hive that has contained and still con- 

 tains the queen, filliDg up this hive with foundation if you haven't 

 done so before. You may now divide the contents of the old hive 

 into nuclei. Put one of them on the stand from which you have 

 just taken the queen, and the others in new places. Each nucleus 

 should contain two or three combs with adhering bees. One comb 

 well filled with brood may do for one of the combs, or if the combs 

 are not so well filled, it may need two or even three frames with 

 brood. Of course each nucleus must have a sealed cell. You now 

 have the old queen on the old stand with a fair supply of bees, for 

 many of the field-bees will go back to the old stand, and you will 

 have, perhaps, three nuclei. As soon as the old colony gets as 

 strong as it was before, you may repeat the operation, and in 

 course of time the nuclei first made may become strong enough so 

 they can be used to strengthen. Remember that " safety " is your 

 motto, and you're not to be fool enough to get a whole lot of weak 

 nuclei started, and have none of them strong enough to amount to 

 anything. Work your nuclei up into strong colonies as fast as you 

 can. and don't draw from any of them till they have at least five 

 or six frames of brood. You can go on making two or three nuclei 

 at a time if you have a long, good season, and you can do some- 

 thing toward making a good season by feeding. If you have an 8- 

 frame hive to begin with, it may be worth your while, before doing 

 anything in the way of dividing, to give it a second story and try 

 to have 10, 12 or more frames of brood. 



A Case of Bee-Diarrliea. 



A beginner in bee-keeping who is a neighbor of mine is in 

 trouble. His bees have the dysentery, and he knowing me to take 

 the Bee Journal, has requested me to write for advice as to what is 

 best to do. Iowa. 



Answer.— The disease called formerly dysentery, and now 

 generally called diarrhea, is perhaps hardly a disease at all. in the 

 strict sense of the word. It is a painful condition caused by the 

 overloading of the intestines of the bee, and that being the case, 

 the plain cure is to give the bees a chance to empty themselves. 

 That's the only cure. As soon as a warm day comes, the bees will 

 fly and empty themselves, for they are neat creatures and unwill- 

 ing to soil their hives as long as it can possibly be avoided. Some 

 have thought to hurry up matters when the weather was too slow, 

 by taking the bees in a warm room and giving them a chance to 

 fly. I'm not sure that it was ever a great success. But I have some 

 little faith in warming them up thoroughly. When bees are in the 

 cellar, it may be heated to CO or 80 degrees, and then allowed to 

 cool down again. If they are out-doors they can be brought in at 

 night into a warm room, and the room allowed to cool down before 

 daylight next morning, when they must be set back. But be sure 

 the room is perfectly dark when they are warmed up. Your great 

 hope will be in a warm day coming so they can fly. 



The Solar Wax-Exiraclor. 



Is the solar wax-extractor patented : 

 and how is it made ? 



If not, what is the size, 

 Illinois. 



Answer— I know of no patent on the solar wax extractor. 

 There are various sizes, and you can make them almost any way, 

 so you keep the main principle in mind. That is, to have an 

 enclosure covered with glass into which the sun can shine, with 

 opportunity for the melted wax to separate from the slum gum or 

 debris. A simple way is to have a box with a cover hinged on, a 

 large pane of glass in the top of the cover, in the box a pan with a 

 perforated bottom, in which to put the combs or scraps to be 

 melted, and underneath this a pan to hold the melted wax. 



Transferring and Dividins Colonies — Two-Slory 

 vs. One-Slory Elives. 



1. I have five box-hives with bees which I want to transfer in 

 the spring to Champion chaff hives. Could I make an artificial 

 swarm out of each colony at the same time when I transfer the 

 bees ? If so, please let me know how, and when would be 

 the best time '. 



2. Is the Champion chaff hive a good hive ! 



3. Is a two-story hive as good or better than a one-story hive ? 



New Jersey. 

 Answers.— 1. You could divide a colony into two or more at 

 the time of transferring, but it would hardly be advisable. You 

 may, however, reach the same end in a better manner. Wait till 

 the colony swarms, and hive the swarm in the new hive. Set the 

 swarm in place of the old hive, putting the old hive close beside it. 

 A week later, remove the old hive to a new place. Two weeks later 

 still, or three weeks from the time of swarming, all the worker- 

 brood will be hatcht out in the old hive, when it can be transferred 



to a new hive. The first one will be strong, and will give a good 

 account in surplus honey if the season is favorable, the other one 

 ought to satisfy you it it gets in proper condition for winter. Of 

 course in a remarkable season it might yield surplus, and in a poor 

 season it might have to be fed. 



2. I have no practical acquaintance with the Champion hive, 

 but I suppose it is a good chaff hive. 



3. It all depends upon circumstances whether one story is as 

 good as two. It only eight frames are in a hive, there are times 

 when it will be much better to have two stories. With 10 or 1'3 

 frames in a hive, there is no great need of a second story, unless it 

 be for surplus honey. Of course, if surplus receptacles are counted 

 as second stories, then no one would think of doing with only one 

 story, unless the long-idea hives are used, having perhaps 20 frames 

 in one story. 



^ I ■ 



Transferrins — Cyprian Bees. 



I have five colonies of black bees in box hives, and I want to 

 transfer them as soon as possible into S-frame dovetailed hives. 



1. When is the best time to do it ? 



2. What time after transferring can queens be introduced ? 



3. Would you recommend Cyprian queens ? Sdbscrieer. 



Answers. — 1. The time usually considered best is in fruit- 

 bloom, but the belief is constantly gaining ground that it is better 

 to wait till the colony swarms. 



2. Any time. 



3. I should not prefer them, but some like them. 



Gathering Pollen Early — Perforated Zinc. 



I purchast two colonies of hybrids in January, weighing about 

 50 pounds each, and moved them home, a distance of about 400' 

 yards, the weather being brisk for about a week, then it moder- 

 ated. They came out, and in a day or two they began bringing in 

 pollen in large quantities. What were they gathering it from, as 

 trees had no chance to bud or sprout ', Or did they rob other bees ? 

 At the same time I found young brood which they had carried out, 

 one of them matured only a crippled wing, showing they were 

 rearing brood some time before. 



2. I want to transfer them into movable-frame hives in the 

 spring, and am making excluding-boards of perforated zinc-strips 

 and wood-slats, alternately, the strips perforated with one row of 

 square-cornered holes 17-100 x HIO. Are they as good as two 

 rows and round ends ? Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. The pollen carried in could not be from robbing 

 other bees. When they rob it's honey they're after, not pollen, 

 and the pollen that's in the hive they couldn't pack on their legs. 

 It isn't easy to say what the pollen was gathered from without 

 knowing the resources of your neighborhood. Pollen may be had 

 from some plants and trees when you would think not a bud has 

 started. Willows and hazels blossom and yield much pollen when 

 the leaf-buds show no sign of starting. In some places skunk- 

 cabbage is the first thing to yield pollen. 



2. I doubt if you can detect any difference between one row 

 and two rows, or between holes with round and square ends. 



management of Transferring. 



1. I have 20 strong colonies of bees in large box-hives where I 

 want to start an out-apiary. I have S-frame dovetailed hives on 

 hand to transfer them in next summer. I don't want them to 

 swarm, as I could not be there to care for them. When would you 

 transfer ? 



2. Can I "drive" them ,iust before the swarming-season, and 

 get nearly or quite as good results as by natural swarming ? 



3. Would you wait three weeks before making the next 

 "drive." or drive out a few every week for three weeks f 



4. Hived on starters, how many days would you wait before 

 putting on the boxes, not using any excluders '. 



5. Do you think they would swarm during a honey-flow of 

 about six weeks ? 



6. Can you suggest a better plan to get a crop of honey and 

 keep down swarming f Conn. 



Answers.— 1. Transfer in fruit-bloom. 



2. In most cases probably not quite as good, but nearly so. 



3. You were talking in the first place about transferring, but 

 this is a different thing. It will be simpler to wait three weeks in- 

 stead of making several " drives," and perhaps better. 



4. Perhaps two. 



5. Hardly, after being thrown on starters. 



C. That's a hard question, to know how best to keep down 

 swarming and get the most honej' if you're running for comb 

 honey. Study thoroughly your textbooks, and have the general 

 principles as familiar as A B C, and then you'll be better able to 

 know .iust what will suit your case. If you are running for ex- 

 tracted honey it's much easier. In that case a plan highly com- 

 mended by some, is to put one comb of brood with qyieen and ad- 

 hering bees in the lower story, filling up with frames ot foundation, 

 and putting the remaining brood and bees in a second story with 

 an excluder between. 



0F" See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 125. 



