April 27, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



263 



somewhat more than a year ago. For some time questions rained 

 down in such lively style that this department overflowed the page 

 to which it was legitimately entitled, finally being satisfied with 

 nothing less than two pages. Then came a flood, and beginning 

 with the number for Feb. 38, smaller type was used to crowd as 

 much as possible on two pages. In spite of that the worlj began to 

 get behind, and only by continuing the fine print for U numbers 

 was the work caught up with, and with the month of May matters 

 returned to their normal course and the usual type was again use J. 

 No doubt, when the editor was struggling so hard to get all the 

 matter in, he would have been somewhat amused at the suggestion 

 that some one was making up questions; but the suggestion would 

 be no more true at the present time. 



The correspondent first quoted says I may refer to answers 

 given any time in the past five years. That might do in his case, 

 but would hardly do in general; for I may not know how long the 

 inquirer has lieen taking the paper, and. moreover, it /" should not 

 be able to find in back numbers just what might fit his case, it isn't 

 at all certain /should be able to do so. It is difficult, however, to 

 keep down a discouraged feeling when a question comes that is 

 fully explained in any good text-book on bee-keeping. There are 

 plenty of questions left after one has become familiar with his 

 text-book. 



Side-Entrance Hives— Self-Hivers. 



1. It is more convenient for me to usehives with side-entrances. 

 Do the bees do as well in such hives as with end-entrances ? If 

 they do. why is the entrance almost always in the end of the hive ? 



•3. In using the Pratt self-hiver, is it any practical hindrance to 

 the workers while gathering honey ? Is it practical ? 



Oklahoma Tebbitokt. 



Answers.— 1. In this country it is the almost universal custom 

 to have the ends of the frame running toward the entrance, mainly 

 because it is supposed to be better for ventilation, and because the 

 bees can go more directly to any one of the frames. It it's a mat- 

 ter of serious inconvenience to you to have them thus, the difl'er- 

 ence is probably not sufficient to have them the other way. 



2. I've had no experience. Perhaps some one else can tell. 



Getting Swarms— Eggs in ttueen-Cells. 



1. I have 11 colonies of bees, and would like to get all the 

 swarms I can by June 1. I have combs with sealed honey saved 

 from last fall. How can I manage to get a good many swarms by 

 that time ? 



2. How long after the first swarm will the second swarm issue? 

 also, how long after the second swarm will the third issue '? 



3. How do the eggs get into queen-cells ? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. Be sure that the bees have stores and to spare. 

 See that there are no cracks or holes thru which heat can escape 

 from the hives. Wlien a swarm issues, some advise putting the 

 swarm on the old stand and putting the old hive in the place of 

 another strong colony, setting the latter in a new place. In a week 

 or so a second swarm will issue, when the same old hive is to be 

 put in place of another strong colony, and so on as long as swarms 

 issue. 



2. A second swarm is likely to issue about eight days after the 

 prime swarm, but may be a little earlier or later. 



3. Probably the queen lays them there. 



Having Hives in Pairs in the Apiary. 



You stated somewhere in some paper that you placed two hives 

 as close to each other as you could and not have them touch, so I 

 thought I would make a double hive stand. I made it much like 

 the single hive-stand shown in my bee-supply catalog. The front 

 and back pieces are long enough "for two hives with a strip from 

 front to rear between the hives S'.; inches wide. 



The strip is to keep down the grass between the hives and to 

 help to place the hives true on the stand. Last year I used .5.5 

 stands of this description. Soon after putting the bees out of the 

 cellar (March 7), I saw the bees from one colony crossing the strip 

 between the hives and enter the other hive without opposition. I 

 lookt thru the visiting colony and found them queenless. In work- 

 ing among the bees I found four or five cases of the same kind, 

 that is, queenless bees visiting the neighboring hive. These were 

 all the queenless cases found in the spring. 



I placed my bees in this yard in the spring of ISSS for the first 

 time, having bought the place the fall before. There was not a 

 tree in it until I planted them in the spring. The stands are S feet 

 apart one way and 10 feet the other. I kept my bees all summer 

 just about as you see them in the picture I send you, except in rare 

 cases I used a shade-board. When the temperature was 90 degrees 

 the bees began to cluster out. and in several cases the bees from 

 both hives clustered together. This worried me for a time, but I 

 have failed to notice any harm coming from it. 



One end of the front of the stand is black and the other is 

 white. The stajid is kept level much easier than the single one. on 

 account of its greater length. You will see how much clustering 

 out was done, as this view was taken on a hot day in September. 



I am of the opinion that young queens often entered the wrong 

 hive, as I lost quite a number during the summer. I understand 

 all the losses cannot be charged to having hives in pairs, yet that 



and the regularity of the rows are somewhat to be blamed. I have 

 left out one row of hives in the center which makes the central 

 rows 16 feet apart in the rows. I am thinking of taking the central 

 row out of each section of the yard, which will make five divisions 

 instead of two, the hives removed making the filth. 



If you think my hives are far enough apart for safety to the 

 queens and bees, will you kindly let me know, as they are much 

 more easily cared for as they are. 



It appeared to me that the central colonies were much weaker 

 than those on the outside. 



I want to thank you for kindly consenting to correct the state- 

 ment in regard to granulation of honey. It is quite apparent that 

 there is quite a diflference in the character of honey gathered from 

 like flowers in different localities. Nebraska. 



Answer.— Allow me to congratulate you in the first place on 

 the neat appearance of your apiary. I think it never struck me 

 before that an apiary is improved in hjuks by having the hives in 

 pairs. 



If 1 ever said that hives should be as close as possible without 

 touching (and quite likely I did) I hereby take it back. I prefer to 

 have them about four inches apart. Your S^.^ inches will do 

 nicely. 



The only grave charge. I think, that can be laid to having two 

 hives on the same stand is the fact that under certain circumstan- 

 ces a queenless colony will unite with another. I think this will 

 not happen in the summer if a colony becomes queenless in the or- 

 dinary course of aff'airs. as after swarming; but if you take away 

 suddenly the queen, or if you take away all the broOd and combs, 

 there is danger sometimeti of uniting. It may also happen in the 

 spring when bees are first put out of the cellar. At such a time I'm 

 not sure that anything better could happen, and it is so rarely that 

 uniting occurs nt any other time than in the spring that I have 

 never considereii it a serious matter. 



I have never taken the precaution to have one end of the stand 

 differ in color liom the other, but it can do no harm, and may do 

 some good. 



The clustering together of two colonies side by side is a com- 

 mon thing when hanging out, but. like you, I've never seen any 

 harm from it, and I don't believe any harm ever happens. 



With regard to queens being lost on returning from the wed- 

 ding-flight, 1 am very positive that putting the hives in pairs is not 

 responsible for that, but. on the contrary, that there is much less 

 danger of loss than if the same ground is occupied with the same 

 hives placed singly at equal distances. Suppose on a treeless plain 

 with no surrounding objects by which the bees can mark their lo- 

 cation, you have a straight row of hives with a space of four feet 

 between each two hives. A young queen can get into the wrong 

 hive by going four feet out of her way. Now move each alternate 

 hive so they stand in pairs, with eight feet between the pairs. A 

 queen will go into the wrong hive only by going eight feet out of 

 its way. That makes the chance ot going wrong only half as much 

 as it was when the hives were placed singly. 



I think I hear some one say, " But the queen can get into the 

 wrong hive by going out of her way only a few inches into the 

 other hive of the pair." Listen. liees don't make mistakes of 

 that kind. Try this ■. In the spring close the entrance to a hive all 

 but three inches at one end. When the bees are accustomed to 

 that, so that each bee on returning to the hive goes straight to the 

 part of the entrance that is open, change the place of entrance to 

 the other end. closing up the end that has been open and leaving 

 open three inches at the other end. If you never tried it before, 

 you will be surprised to find what difficulty the bees will have in 

 finding their entrance. I formerly kept two colonies in one 10- 

 frame hive, a division-board in the "middle, the entrances separated 

 at the front six or eight inches. 1 have had many colonies in that 

 way. and bad many queens fertilized in them, and I think there 

 was less mixing than with colonies in separate hives. 



Suppose 30 colonies in a straight row in pairs, eight feet be- 

 tween the pairs. A worker or a young queen flies out from No. 15, 

 the hives facing east and the numbers running south. If she 

 makes any mistake at all, she is more likely to go into No. 13 or 

 No. IT than to go into No. 10, the other hive on the same stand. 

 For she has markt the right hand hive, and there's no danger of 

 her going into the left hand hive, but some danger that she may go 

 Into the right hand hive of an adjoining pair. 



If there were no other advantage in having the hives in pairs 

 than the one of having bees more easily find their own hives. I 

 should consider that advantage very far outweighs the disadvan- 

 tage of the few occasional cases in which a queenless colony may 

 unite with its neighbor. 



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 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

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