694 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



J^ovember 3, 



Dr. Mason — I have had a great many colonies swarm 

 without making any preparation whatever for reariDg queens. 

 This year about 20 percent of my colonies swarmed. The 

 first one was a strong, pure Italian colony that made no prep- 

 aration whatever for rearing a queen. Dr. Miller speaks of 

 workers laying eggs above. Mr. Taylor says the same, too, 

 and that it is not a fertile egg that is laid above. I do not 

 know how it happened, but I reared two queens in the second 

 story when there was no queen there and no comb there that 

 had had eggs in it. There were only those two eggs that I 

 found In the upper story ; they both reared queens. 



Mrs. Acklin — We have had cases this summer of that 

 kind, with no eggs in the hive at all. 



Mr. Danzenbaker — People think that bees can't be con- 

 trolled in swarming, I hold that the natural reason for their 

 swarming is to Increase. It Is as natural for them to swarm 

 as it is for a grape-vine to run, or for anything to increase. 

 Can the swarming be controlled ? I think we can do it. The 

 way I have managed bees I have furnisht the hives and taken 

 all the honey they could store in a certain time, for the hives. 

 I do not want swarms. I have managed 110 colonies, and 

 have had only two swarms out of them, and I think those two 

 swarmed because I did not quite keep up with them. I put 

 on supers and got them to start work as quick as I could, 

 gave them plenty of ventilation, and watcht to see if they 

 started queen-cells. As soon as I saw the cups with eggs in 

 them I didn't wait any longer, but went to work to change the 

 condition of the hive. I contend that a colony will not swarm 

 without there Is brood there — hatching brood and larva;— 

 brood in all stages, and plenty of bees. I would leave one 

 comb of brood and put In only starters In the brood-frames, 

 and take the sections that were already on the hive, and that 

 were half full, and shake off the bees that were there and put 

 them to work on starters, and give them plenty of room. 

 They don't swarm ; no danger of It at all. Some times, if I 

 had two colonies standing together I would double them up ; 

 sometimes I would make three Into two, and take a super 

 from one that was very strong and put it over one that was 

 not so strong. In that way I have managed to control swarm- 

 ing. I have stackt three tiers over one hive, and after awhile 

 take and shake the bees down in front of the hive — add bees 

 to one hive or another, as many as I wanted. I have had 

 them working two and three tiers high in the supers. I have 

 had some correspondence with Mr. Mendleson, of California, 

 who said he had supers built up 5, 6 or 7 high. I feel that I 

 can safely control swarming. 



Dr. Miller — Will you tell us what you think the advan- 

 tages of that plan are over natural swarming? 



Mr. Danzenbaker — When I have bees two miles away I 

 don't want them to swarm. The old bees are the field-work- 

 ers, and I didn't want them to swarm. I was to have all the 

 honey they produced by May 20. I had 14 hives in one place, 

 and from them I got 900 pounds of section honey. They 

 didn't swarm. I didn't have anybody there to watch them at 

 all. I knew by the condition of the hives that they hadn't 

 swarmed. The queens were dipt; and I changed all those 

 queens and gave them new, young queens. 



Mr. Rauchfuss— Didn't you get considerable drone-comb? 



Mr. Danzenbaker — No, sir. I advocate the idea that if 

 you give the bees some drone-comb to start with that they 

 have sense enough to know that they have enough. They 

 want about 800 cubic inches for workers ; they must have It. 

 Give them one drone-comb to start, and they will hardly build 

 any more. Drone-combs that have honey in them do just as 

 well. I don't give full sheets of foundation in the brood-nests ; 

 the bees will bring It down. 



E. R. Root — Isn't that method the same as Mr. Hutchin- 

 son's — that is, the idea of putting the bees on mere starters ? 



Mr. Danzenbaker — Yes, sir. I got the idea first from Mr. 

 Hutchinson's book, "Advanced Bee-Culture." If you will 

 take it and read it, and practice it, I think you will like it. I 

 am more indebted to Mr. Hutchinson for that book than to 

 any other source, and I succeed with it. 



Dr. Mason — What do you do with brood-combs when you 

 take them away ? 



Mr. Danzenbaker — I want to rear all the bees I can until 

 the white honey-flow is ready. I swap and exchange from one 

 hive to another until I get them all strong. Some will be 

 stronger than others. The first one I discover starting queen- 

 cells I take the brood away from it, making it weaker, and 

 dividing it around. And I may say I never use an excluder 

 unless I am going to catch a queen. I think I have found It 

 makes a difference of 50 percent In comb honey to use an ex- 

 cluder, and I don't do it. 



Dr. Mason — I believe it makes a difference of 50 percent 

 in favor of extracted honey to use an excluder. 



"Feeding Bees for Best Results" was the title of a paper 



that was to have been presented by W. Z. Hutchinson ; but 

 the Secretary read a letter from Mr. Hutchinson, excusing 

 himself from the preparation of his paper on account of sick- 

 ness. 



The convention then adjourned until 9:30 a.m. the next 

 day — Sept. 14. 



LContlnued next week.l 



CONDnCTBD BY 

 X>K. O. O. aULLER. BULEtENGO, XLI,. 



[Questions may be mailed to tbe Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller dlreot.1 



Weight of Bees and Comb in lO-Frame Hives. 



What is the weight of the bees and comb In a 10-frame 

 dovetail hive ? I have empty hives I can weigh, but no combs. 

 I wish to weigh my colonies now to see if they have the 30 

 pounds of honey. S. C. 



I don't know. I have at different times weighed combs, 

 but I don't remember what they weighed, and I don't know 

 that it would serve your purpose very well If I could tell you. 

 When the honey is all eaten out of combs there's a big differ- 

 ence in their weight. Some will weigh four times as much as 

 others and yet both be free of honey. A comb may owe its 

 weight largely to the pollen that's in it. While that pollen Is 

 of much more value than most bee-keepers' suppose, it cannot 

 take the place of honey for wintering, and bees will starve, 

 leaving plenty of pollen in the hive. An old comb Is much 

 heavier than a new one. Taking all these thlcgs into consid- 

 eration. It is not hard to see that two hives with their con- 

 tents may weigh exactly the same, and yet one have enough 

 honey for wintering while the other will allow the bees to 

 starve. 



Perhaps, however, I can help you out to some extent. 

 Taking into account the possibility of old combs and much 

 pollen, I hardly feel safe to have an 8-frame hive with Its con- 

 tents weigh less than about 50 pounds. If there is a little 

 pollen In the hive and the combs are new. that will allow the 

 bees more honey than they need, but it will not be wasted, 

 and In the spring there seems a real advantage in having a 

 good supply of honey. That means 50 pounds for hive, cover, 

 bottom-board and all. A 10-frame hive should probably 

 weigh somewhere from 55 to 60 pounds. 



^ 



Feeding Bees for Winter, Etc. 



1. In feeding bees which would you prefer, sugar or ex- 

 tracted honey, for the benefit of the bees ? 



2. Count the sugar at five cents a pound, at what price- 

 would It bring the honey to be about equal in price for feeding ? 



3. In this locality the mercury goes down to 36^, which 

 is about the lowest. Would it make any difference In feeding 

 sugar or honey in warm or cold climates ? I mean for those 

 who winter their bees in double-walled hives on the summer 

 stands, well packt. 



4. Will you describe the Hill's device? What is the 

 length of the cross pieces, how far are they put apart, and are 

 they straight pieces? What is the size of each piece? Do 

 you recommend it, or have you something better? 



5. Will a colony of bees winter as well on as many combs 

 as they occupy, as they will If the hive is full of comb ? Ought 

 each hive to be full of combs and bees to winter well ? 



Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. If it's a question between sugar and honey 

 of best quality stored by the bees sufficiently early in the sea- 

 son, I think I'd take the honey. 



2. I think five pounds of sugar and two pounds of water 

 will make a syrup about equal to honey for feeding. At five 

 cents a pound for sugar that would make the syrup cost 3 4/7 

 cents a pound. 



3. I don't know that there would be any difference. 



4. I never used a Hill's device, and can only describe it 

 from memory, so I'll not warrant an accurate description. 

 Take four pieces of wood eight inches long, % Inch wide, and 

 3g inch thick. Let them be sawed curving, say having the 

 curve of the staves In a miniature barrel. Lay the four pieces 

 on a table with the hollow side up, each piece 3>4 inches from 

 its neighbor, and nail upon them a piece 12x%xJi. Lay this 



