Nov. 30, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



759 



Trouble in Rendering Beeswax. 



I have had some trouble in rendering my beeswax this 

 fall. The oftener I boil it the darker it gets, and when I 

 put it in the molds it cracks, is hollow in the center, and 

 sticks to the sides, altho the pans are greast. What is the 

 matter with it ? California. 



Answer. — It is probably always the case that the 

 oftener you boil beeswax the darker it gets, and one way to 

 avoid hav.ing it so dark is not to boil it so often. There is 

 no need of repeated boilings. You will do well to try a so- 

 lar wax-extractor. With the glorious sunshine you have in 

 California there is no trouble about getting heat enough. 

 The vessel in which you boil it may have something to do 

 witli darkening it. Cooling slowly will help against crack- 

 ing. The larger the body of wax, the slower the cooling. 

 A lot of water in the vessel with the was will be much the 

 same as a larger quantity of wax. It may be made to cool 

 more slowly by covering close while cooling, or by putting 

 it in the oven of the stove, with a low tire, letting- the fire 

 die out, and not removing the wax till the stove is entirely 

 cold. 



Starting witli Bees Transferring, Etc. 



I am reading the American Bee Journal with great in- 

 terest. I am glad the editor adopts the new orthography. 

 It shows he believes in progression all around. The good 

 fello%Tship manifested by bee-keepers with each other makes 

 me like the company. 



I have caught the bee-fever. I had S colonies in Lang- 

 stroth hives, the combs, I presume, being somewhat crooked. 

 Being a novice, I did not start them right. I had 6 colonies 

 given me. They were in old boxes and weighed from S3 to 

 to 94 pounds each. Thev did nothing for their owners, of 

 course, because they had no care. I moved them home 

 lately. One colony I had boxt tight for three miles, still 

 the bees are alive. I moved them about 12 miles and they 

 seem to be all right. 



1. How can I tell if the queen is alive or not ? I had a 

 terrible time moving them. The rotten hives had holes all 

 over them, and I was stung over a hundred times, and was 

 advised seriously by friends to give it up ; but never — not I. 

 I washt in soda and salt, and used ammonia, and the stings 

 amounted to nothing. 



2. How and when can I transfer the bees— after they 

 swarm or before ? and about what time in the spring? I 

 want as large an increase as possible, and I want to intro- 

 duce good queens. I am handicapt too much at present to 

 make a success. I have to depend on my neighbors to 

 hive the swarms for me. I am working at the State peni- 

 tentiary, and can only go home on Sundavs and nights. 

 My wife is afraid of bees. It seems to me I could just place 

 an old hive of bees on top of a new hive with starters and 

 stop up the vacant places. After a few days or weeks place 

 a bee-escape between them, and when thev all have gone be- 

 low take off the old hive. If the queen did not go below, so 

 much the better; I could then introduce a new queen ; or, 

 if a part of the bees did not go below, I could then divide. 

 We have moderate winters here and do not need to house 

 our bees. 



3. Can I have starters in hives a month or two, all 

 ready ? Would they become too dusty or harmed in any 

 other way ? 



4. Can I buy and keep on hand a dozen or more queen- 

 "bees. a month or longer, ahead of time, so as to be sure of a 

 good queen in an emergency? On account of freight, etc., 

 hives will cost me considerable, and I believe I can make 

 them cheaper. 



5. There are several persons in this part of the country 

 who destroy their bees for the honey. I don't suppose 

 there is any way of saving the bees at this time of the year, 

 is there ? Washington. 



Answers. — You say the bees seem to be all right, from 



which it is probable that not many were lost in the haul- 

 ing, in which case you need have no particular anxiety 

 about the queen. In case of smothering, starvation, etc., 

 she is among the last to succumb. You will do well not to 

 try to find whether the queen is all right at this time of 

 year, when no brood is likely to be present, but wait till 

 brood is present next spring, and then if any colony has no 

 brood at a time when you find brood in all other hives, you 

 may judge that no queen is present. 



2. You will probably do well, especially if you have not 

 had much experience, to wait for the bees to swarm. As 

 you are anxious for increase, let the colonj- swarm as many 

 times as it will, setting the swarms on new stands and 

 leaving the old hive untoucht till 21 days after the yfri/ 

 swarm, %vhen you can transfer according to the instructions 

 in your text-book. A safer plan will be to set the swarm 

 on the stand of the old colony, putting the old colony close 

 beside the swarm, a week later moving the old colony to a 

 new stand. But this way would give you only one new col- 

 ony for each old one. It would give you more honey than 

 the first way, however. 



As you are not at home to hive swarms, it may be that 

 your plan might suit you better, providing the old hive is 

 not too large. If the comb is not built clear down in the 

 old hive, cut off the lower part of the hive that contains no 

 comb. If that cuts away some empty comb at the lower 

 part it will do no harm. Don't put an escape between the 

 two stories. That might result in starving the brood 

 above. The bees will not use the lower hive till the upper 

 one is crowded, so the less spare room there is above the 

 sooner will they build below. Wait till you find brood, or 

 at least eggs, in the lower hive, and then you can set the 

 old hive on a new stand. It will be better to have full 

 sheets of foundation than starters, for in the latter case 

 you would have too much drone-comb. 



3. Yes, you may have it five years ahead. If it gets 

 dusty the bees can clean it off. 



4. You cannot keep queens on hand very satisfactorily 

 unless you have at least a nucleus for each queen. 



5. It is somewhat doubtful whether you could make use 

 of such bees so late in the year without having franjes of 

 honey for them : still, you might give them frames of 

 candy as described in your text-book. 



Wax-Moth— Killing a Colony Without Injuring the 

 Honey— Extracting-Frames. 



1. Is the wax-moth poisonous ? 



2. How can I kill a colony of bees and not spoil the 

 honey ? 



3. How can I get the extracting-frames cleaned out so 

 that they can be stored away for winter ? Minn. 



Answers. — l. The wax-moth is not poisonous, it has 

 no sting, and you need have no fear of its biting you. The 

 only danger from it is the danger of damage done to the 

 combs bj' its larva, the wax-worm. When in sufficient 

 numbers, these worms will destroy the combs of a colony 

 in a short time. 



2. The usual way, and perhaps as good a way as any, 

 is to brimstone the bees. There may be some danger of 

 discoloring the combs of honey, but these are not generally 

 of virg-in whiteness in the brood-cliamber. and you will 

 hardly notice any discoloration made by the brimstone. 

 You may get what honey there is in the brood-chamber 

 without first killing the bees, by drumming out the bees if 

 a box-hive is in the case, and if it is a movable-comb hive 

 all you have to do is to take out the frames and brush off 

 the bees. Nowadays ver3' few bee-keepers kill bees design- 

 edly, altho there may be exceptional cases in which it is 

 profitable to destroy the bees. With the careful study of a 

 good test-book, you will probably find plans by which you 

 will do better than to kill bees. 



3. Pile up the supers of extracting-frames some rods 

 distant from the apiarj', and give the bees free access to 

 them. That is the best, and probably the only way in 

 which you can have the work thoroly done. Lately, how- 

 ever, it was advised by one of the best European journals — 

 the Revue Internationale — not to have the combs cleaned 

 out after the season of extracting was over, but after the 

 last extracting to put them away in their dauby condition. 

 It was said that they will keep in good condition so, and 

 when given to the bees the following season they would be 

 more prompt in filling them. A question might arise, how- 

 ever, whether there would not be danger that honey stored 

 in such combs would not granulate more quickly, as the 

 granules in the cells might favor granulation. 



