May n, 1899. 



:an bee journal. 



295 



CONDUCTED UV 



OR. O. O. AlILI^ER, A/areng-o, ///. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not .ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. ^Editor.] 



Supplies Enough, Perhaps Transferring. 



1. I have six 8-frame Langstroth hives, IJi stories, 

 complete with sections and starters. Five of the brood- 

 frames ill each hive have full sheets of foundation, and 

 three have 3-inch starters. I have one colony of bees in an 

 odd-sized hive, which I will transfer and make two colonies, 

 on the Heddon plan. I will then have four einpty hives. 

 I will g-et first swarms in three of those (from a neig-hbor. ) 

 The question is, have I enough supplies for this summer ? 

 I have a good location for bees. 



2. In transferring, can't I set the hive I want the bees 

 in, over the old hive and drive them up into it, as well as to 

 drive them into another box and empty them in front at the 

 entrance ? 



3. Will there have to be queen-cells in the old hive be- 

 fore I transfer in order to make the second drive into an- 

 other hive ? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. In all probability you have supplies 

 enough, unless it be for surplus, about which j'ou say noth- 

 ing. If the season be favorable, you ought to need some 

 sections or extracting-stipers. 



2. That will be all right if your hives are constructed 

 to make it convenient. 



3. It isn't absoluteU' necessary, but you'll have better 

 queens if started for swarming than you will have by for- 

 cing a weak colonj' to start cells. 



« » » 



How to Get Along Without Transferring. 



I have six colonies of bees in common boxes, nailed all 

 around. I am a beginner and know nothing about trans- 

 ferring. I am told by experienced bee-men that I will prob- 

 ably fail and sincerely regret it if I should attempt to trans- 

 fer. The experienced bee-men are too busy with their bees 

 to do it for me. I have three or four swarms that I caught 

 the other day, in 10-frame Langstroth hives. If there is 

 any way of making the old colonies help these new ones, or 

 nuclei, swarms that I maj- form from the new ones, without 

 getting' the old ones out of their old hives, say for instance 

 by changing stands, I should be very glad to have you tell 

 me. I have one small new swarm. I thought to change 

 places with it with one of the strong old colonies, but feared 

 for the queen of the new swarm. California. 



Answer. — Some who do not care to transfer manage 

 very profitably by keeping their colonies in box-hives as 

 breeders. Wait till the bees in a box-hive swarm. Hive 

 the swarm in a frame hive, setting it on the old stand and 

 the old hive close beside it. In six or seven days remove 

 the box-hive to a new place, at a time of daj' when the most 

 bees are out. This will throw a large number of bees from 

 the old hive into the new one, making the latter good for a 

 big surplus. You may leave the old hive to breed up for 

 winter, or you may drum out the remainder of the bees 21 

 daj's from the date of the first swarm. 



Fears Foul Brood from Dead Brood. 



In the][first place, about Jan. 26, or a few days before, 

 there was a warm spell here and a maple-sugar camp was 

 opened, and the bees carried in some sap which caused the 

 queens to laj- from two to four frames of brood ; then I be- 

 lieve the cold weather commenced on the 26th and continued 

 until about Feb. 14, and that remarkable cold weather 

 was during that time ; a number of colonies were caught on 

 one side of the hive when the brood was away from the 

 honey. Each colony that died had from 15 to 30 pounds of 

 honey. Now the question : This brood has been hung up 

 and dried in the combs. Would j-ou be afraid to use these 

 combs to put into hives to hivB swarms on, or to put in col- 



onies now in place of combs that have drone-brood in them ? 

 Would vou be afraid of foul brood ? 



You understand that so much is said pro and con about 

 dead brood starting foul brood, by the bee-keepers of emi- 

 nence, that it is hard for a man who never had' a case of 

 foul brood to understand what to do. Some claim dead 

 brood will, and some say it cannot, start foul brood. 



Ohio. 



Answers. ^If I had such combs, I would most certainly 

 use them, and would have no anxiety as to results. Whether 

 it would be safe for every one is another question. In my 

 case there is no foul brood in the vicinity, and has never 

 been any. In a place where foul brood is more or less com- 

 mon, there would be danger that some of the colonies which 

 died on these combs might have been infected, making it 

 unsafe to use the combs. But if I thought there was no 

 foul brood in those combs at the time the bees died on them, 

 I wouldn't hesitate to use them. Even those who believe 

 that foul brood may start spontaneously would hardly ob- 

 ject to it, for you say the combs have been kept dry, and I 

 think no one has ever claimed that foul brood could origi- 

 nate from dead brood unless it was moist and rotten. I've 

 used hundreds of combs containing dead brood, and never 

 had any harm from it. 



Moving Bees a Few Rods Feeding for Pollen Candied 



Sections of Honey Frames of Comfi 



and Dead Brood. 



1. I have 16 colonies of bees, wintered in the cellar. I 

 took them out April 1. My bee-yard was full of snow, so I 

 had to put them in the garden about four rods away. I will 

 have to move them just as soon as I can hear from you. 

 What time of day is best to move them, and what can I do 

 to keep them from returning to the old stand ? • 



I have been feeding them some corn-meal and sugar- 

 syrup in a tin-pan— one-third sugar and two-thirds water. 

 The 16 colonies will carry away three gallons a day. Can I 

 give them too much of it ? 



3. I have some sections of candied honey that are not 

 finisht. What can I do with them ? 



4. I have some brood-frames of comb and some dead 

 brood in them. Can 1 use them this summer ? Minn. 



Answers.— 1. It probably doesn't make much difference 

 what time of day vou move them. When you move them, 

 take awav all hives, stands, or anything that might make 

 the place' seem like home. After moving, set up boards in 

 front of entrances, making it as troublesome as possible 

 for the bees to get out, in hopes they will mark their en- 

 trances when they come out. If, in spite of all you do, some 

 of the bees persist in going back to the old place, put a 

 comb for them to cluster on, and in the evening give them 

 to some colonv that needs them. 



2. There i'sn't much danger of feeding too much, altho 

 you might look occasionally to see that too much of the im- 

 itation pollen is not stored. Of course it would iiot do to 

 feed them so much of the syrup that the queen would be 

 crowded. 



3. Sprinkle with water, and let the bees eat them out. 



4. Yes, but let the bees have them to take care of as 

 soon as possible, by putting a hive full of the combs under 

 a colony. 



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