THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



725 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How and Why I Clip (Jueen's Wings. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



While writing ray series of iirticles, 

 I mentioned liaving my queens' win^s 

 clipped, in connection with natural 

 swarming. At that time, I was re- 

 quested by several to tell how I clip- 

 ped tlie queens' wings, and wliy I did 

 so, which I will now try to do. 



The lirst thing to be done is to hnd 

 the queen. This is quite easily ac- 

 complished at anytime during the lirst 

 rush for pollen or early honey in the 

 spring, for, at this time, tlie major 

 part of tlie bees are old. or Held bees, 

 ilence, during the middle of tine days 

 but few bees are at home to hinder 

 our seeing the queen; the rest being 

 busy bringing in the lirst forage. I 

 take advantage of tliis fact, and make 

 sure that all queens are clipped, the 

 knowledge of wliich makes me feel 

 sure that no swarm can steal a march 

 on me and get to the woods. 



Before starting for the apiary, we 

 want a pocket knife, the blacle of 

 which should be as sharp as possible ; 

 then we are ready for tinding the 

 queen. Having found her, I hold the 

 frame in my right hand, and with tlie 

 thumb and fore finger of my left liand, 

 carefully lift her from the comb, by 

 taking hold of her wings. Now put 

 down the frame and hold the queen 

 within two inches of the tops of the 

 frames in the hive. Take the knife 

 and carefully draw it across the wings 

 till the queen drops, and the work is 

 done. 



There is no danger of cutting your- 

 self, for the knife will not cut your 

 finger till the queen's wings are off, 

 and as soon as she drops you will stop 

 cutting, of course. I generally cut all 

 the wings 1 get between my thumb 

 and finger, if it takes all the wings, 

 for the reason that a queen without 

 wings is much more easily found. If 

 she can't fly with a part of one wing 

 off she may as well have all off, for 

 wings were created for the purpose of 

 Hying. 



Now I come to why I clip them. 

 The third year I kept bees, about two 

 o'clock in the afternoon, a large nice 

 swarm came out which was hived. At 

 four o'clock they were busily at work 

 and continued thus the remainder of 

 the day. The next morning 1 was 

 called from home till nine o'clock, and 

 upon going to the apiary to look for 

 father's swarms, I saw tliat scarcely a 

 bee was to be seen about this new 

 hive. I at once opened it and found 

 it deserted, except a few bees which 

 had returned from the field after the 

 swarm had left. During the night 

 several pieces of comb had been built 

 and the queen had laid a few eggs 

 therein. I was very much disap- 

 pointed and vexed at the loss of my 

 swarm, and vowed then and there that 

 this one should be the last which 



should leave in that way, which has 

 proved true. I at once clipped all my 

 queens' wings, and soon found that I 

 had not only made sure that no bees 

 could go to the woods, but I also had 

 made a saving as regards the trouble 

 of hiving swarms ; for before, I often 

 had to climb tall trees to get swarms, 

 or what was still worse, bother half an 

 hour or more, trying to get a swarm 

 out of the forks of a tree or off the 

 body of tlie same. 



Now, all I had to do when a swarm 

 issued, was to go, with a wire cloth 

 queen cage in my hand, to the front 

 of the hive casting a swarm, and 

 when tlie queen came out let her run 

 into the cage, into which she was fast- 

 ened. Then the hive was moved to a 

 new location, and a new hive, all ready 

 for the bees, was put in place of the 

 old one. Missing the queen, the bees 

 would soon return, when the queen 

 was liberated and all entered the hive 

 or hived themselves, as it were. No 

 cl'inbing of trees, cutting off limbs, 

 or lugging a cumbersome swarming 

 box about, was necessary. If, for any 

 reason, I wished to have the swarm 

 stay out awhile, I would hang the cage 

 containing the (jueen, with the alight- 

 ing swarm, and thus hold them until 

 I was ready for them. If 1 did not 

 wish to cut off the limb when I was 

 ready to hive them, the changing of 

 hives was done as before, the queen 

 taken from the cluster, and soon the 

 bees would return. 



Again, when two or more swarms 

 came out together, by having the 

 queens back in cages, they could be 

 made to go back to the place they 

 came from, by a little trouble being 

 taken to spread a sheet over the hive 

 likely to receive the most bees. As 

 the iiives were changed wliile they 

 were out, each swarm was secured 

 where I wished them. 



In one case I had as high as eight or 

 ten swarms out all together, and one 

 of the queens was placed with them 

 till I could get the eight hives changed; 

 when I shook all into a large basket 

 and put them into the different hives 

 till I had an equal amount of bees in 

 each hive. 



In all cases I have observed, a part 

 of the bees, upon returning, will Hnd 

 the queen and cluster upon her, if no 

 one is present to cage lier when the 

 swarm issues ; so there is little danger 

 of losing a queen. If I am called 

 away from home during swarming 

 time, and if Mrs. D. is absent also ; 

 when I return I go through the yard, 

 looking about, and, if any colony has 

 swarmed, I readily find thislittleclus- 

 ter of bees with the queen. Now, to 

 lind where she belongs and which one 

 has swarmed, take the queen, after 

 caging her. and put her where the bees 

 cannot find her, when they will soon 

 return to the hive from which they 

 issued, thus showing where the queen 

 belongs. 



Much has been said about the 

 fountain pump to keep bees from 

 decamping. The reader will ie:'.dily 

 see that the clipping of queens' winas 

 does away with that expense. If you 

 wish to use a fountain pump for other 

 purposes, it might pay for such, but 

 the clipping of queens' wings is a more 



effectual preventive to keep the bees 

 from going to the woods. Other rea- 

 sons might be given why I clip the 

 queens' wings, but the above are the 

 most of them. I will say that I would 

 as soQn think of going back to black 

 bees and box hives as I would of leav- 

 ing the wings of my queens so that 

 they could fly. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



For the American Bee JoumaU 



How I Winter My Bees. 



IRA BARBEK. 



As the time is now at hand for get- 

 ting our bees into safe quarters for 

 winter, and as the plan that I have 

 practiced for the last twenty years has 

 not failed to bring them through safely, 

 and nearly as strong as when they 

 were put into winter quarters, unless 

 they starved, I give it for the benefit 

 of those that have failed to winter 

 their bees successfully. 



Any warm cellar, under a dwelling 

 house, occupied by a family, no mat- 

 ter how damp, if the water does not 

 reach the bees, I consider a safe place 

 for them ; while a cellar that freezes 

 and thaws, at every change in winter, 

 I should consider a very unsafe place 

 to risk them. I have wintered bees 

 in wet cellars (so wet that water stood 

 all over the cellar bottom, all tlie win- 

 ter), and have had them come out in 

 fine condition, after remaining there 

 from the middle of November until 

 May 10. Bees will winter in a warmer 

 atmosphere than many suppose, as 

 they will stand more heat than cold, 

 where the atmosphere is kept pure. 



Where small lots are kept, there is 

 no necessity of ventilating a cellar, 

 but when a'cellar is to be filled with 

 bees it is necessary to ventilate from 

 the top of the room. I use a three- 

 inch tin pipe. 24 feet long, witli an 

 elbow at the bottom, long enough to 

 reach through the wall. This pipe 

 goes up on the outside of the building 

 and enters the cellar ne->r the top of 

 the room, where the bees are kept. I 

 have no draft of fresh air coming in- 

 to the room from any quarter, and 

 have found that if I wisti the bees to 

 keep quiet I must keep fresh air away 

 from them. 



I carry my bees into the cellarabout 

 the middle of November. My hive is 

 the t^uinby eight-fiame hive. I do 

 not use any division boards, neither 

 do I punch holes in the combs to make 

 passage for the bees, but all are put in, 

 just as tliev were when the honey was 

 taken olf, "with a cloth on the top of 

 the frames, all covered with bee glue, 

 and a board on the top of that. I use 

 no iilank or benches to put them on 

 in the cellar, but pile up in columns, 

 four deep ; the first, or bottom tier is 

 placed on cajis from the hives, ten in- 

 ches high, this brings tlie bottom tier 

 about one foot from the cellar bottom, 

 and every colony on the bottom tier 

 are raised up from the bottom board 

 one-half inch, while all the rest are 

 left just as they were when in the 

 yard ; entrance all open and top of 

 hive tight as glue, cloth, top board and 

 the weight of the pile will make them. 



