THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



Mlhat and gom; 



ANSWERS BV 



James Eeddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Shall I Feed Sour Honey? 



Ill the fall of 1882 I put 6 colonies 

 of bees into the cellar in Langstroth 

 hives, 8 I [liickeil with chaff, and the 

 rest were not packed. I took them 

 out in January ; they had a cleansing 

 flight, and I replaced them. I took 

 them out again one year ago to-day, 

 and the\ had all died of diarrhcea. I 

 had purchased lu chaff hives, and so 

 I started again with .S colonies in the 

 spring of lisS3; 2 blacks and 1 Italian. 

 I divided the hlack.s ; and had bad 

 luck in introducing queens, losing 5 

 queens. The Italian colony gave a 

 swai m which went to the woods ; I 

 divided the Italians that were left, 

 and had 2 swarms from the blacks. I 

 had 8 colonies to put into winter quar- 

 ters, eacli having 2-5 or 30 pounds of 

 honey. I took off 50 pounds of comb 

 honey from 2 colonies. In October I 

 packed them with leaves and chaff, 

 with racks over the frames, and a 

 "Simplicity'' filled with leaves, and 

 chaff packed around the outside of it. 

 ■ There is not a single sign of diarrhrea. 

 They have been flying for the last 2 or 

 3 days. Question : Will it do to feed 

 the honey that was taken from those 

 old combs last year ? It is slightly 

 sour, and is candied ; if so, when and 

 how shall 1 feed it V O. J. Post, Jr. 



Chagrin Falls, O., March 17, j.S84. 



Answer.— I should have no fears in 

 feeding the partially soured honey 

 you mention anytime durin.^ the next 

 three months. Bring it to the boiling 

 point before feeding, and feed it right 

 away that it may be consumed before 

 the surplus season commences. Hriiig 

 it to tlie boiling point as quickly as 

 possible, removing it from the Are 

 immediately after it boils. I would 

 advise diluting it with pure water, to 

 the consistency of nectar, just before 

 you put it over the fire. In this di- 

 luted state it must be kept in a cool 

 place, and fed out as soon as possible 

 or it will sour again. 



No Winter Loss. 



My bees are in the best condition I 

 ever had them. Thev were wintered 

 on the summer stands, and without 

 any loss. I left jiollen and honey as 

 they gathered it from Spanish needles, 

 a frame in each hive, and there are no 

 signs of dysentery. WillMr. Heddon 

 please give (1) the inside measure of 

 the rough case for winter packing of 

 the Langstroth hive ? (2.) What sup- 

 ports it, besides the front entrance ? 

 (3.) How high is it above the brood- 

 chamber, wlien packed and set away 

 for winter ? (4.) Does it go below the 

 bottom of the hive ? 



D. C. McLeod. 



Pana, HI., March 21, 1884. 



Answer. — The rough packing box 

 for the Langstroth hive may be made 

 from 6 to 12 inches larger each way 

 than the hive. This would leave a 



space of from 3 to G inches all around. 

 The front part of the box rests upon 

 the bridge, while the sides and back 

 end rest upon the ground, or if shal- 

 lower, up upon blocks or stones, as 

 shown in the cut on page lfi9 of the 

 15ee Joi'KNALfor 1882. By looking 

 at both CLits you will see how much 

 the sides and' back end reach below 

 the bottom of the hive. If you pile 

 in chaff, leaves or sawdust, it runs out 

 on the ground until it piles up, when 

 the inter-space can be filled. This 

 packing comes above the hive, piling 

 up to tlie dotted line around the case 

 D. Many of our boxes have sides and 

 back ends enough deeper than the 

 front end that they rest on the ground. 

 All boxes go below the bottom of the 

 hive because the hive is upon a stand 

 6 inches high. 



Virgin ftueens in March. 



I want to ask whether such a queen 

 is profitable or not V I am aware there 

 are no drones yet ; but the question 

 arises here, whether such queens will 

 be as prolific as any other or not. The 

 cause of this queen is, that a colt got 

 among my hives and upset one of 

 tliem,"and'the next morning I found 

 the bees all on the ground. I gathered 

 up the bees and combs, put them in 

 the hive, and brought them in the 

 house by the stove, and brought them 

 to life. I noticed they had brood in 

 all stages, consequently they built a 

 queen-cell, and now they have a virgin 

 queen. I suppose the old queen per- 

 ished. L. B. Mellatt. 



Baker, Kans.. March 17, 1884. 



ANh;WER.— Queens seldom become 

 fertilized after they are 20 days old, 

 in which case they are of no value. 

 If, however, they become fertilized 

 before that age, I have no knowledge 

 that they are in any way inferior. 



The Cause of Dysentery. 



I will give my experience with it, 

 for we all want to find what is its 

 cause and cure. It is not a disease, 

 but is the result of long confinement. 



1 have now kept bees for 7 or 8 years, 

 and, of course, I have made some ob- 

 servations. In the spring or fall, if 

 the bees are kept in a few days by 

 cold or wet weather, they will act the 

 same as they do when we set them out 

 in the spring ; not so much, but you 

 will see a few specks on the hives and 

 boards around. Bees take a flight 

 every day ; most people call it playing, 

 but I do not. It is the young "bees 

 taking a flight to exude their feces. 

 They do this every day w^hen it is 

 good weather, and if they are kept in 



2 or 3 weeks, they will have dysentery. 

 The young bees have tliese "flights in 

 the fall. They do not have young 

 bees from October till January. Old 

 bees pass it off when flying after 

 stores. Last spring a colony reared 

 a few drones in 'the winter ; they did 

 not allow them to live, but threw 

 them out at the entrance. In March 

 or April they tried to rear a young 

 queen ; after she was from 1 to 8 days 

 old, when I was watching the bees, I 

 saw her come in. She was not in 

 more than 2 or 3 minutes when she 



came out again. There was no young 

 bees in the hive for 2-j or 30 days, and 

 one-fourth of them were drones. 

 About the first ot June they reared 

 another queen, and I killed the old 

 one, whose wings were all in strips 

 and broken. The young queen hatched 

 all right. The old queen's bees were 

 one eighth black or Italian-hybrids. 

 The young (|ueen's bees are all Ital- 

 ians.'aud arc as yellow as I ever saw. 

 Did they kill the old queen in the first 

 place, or did they kill the young 

 oneV I think they killed the young 

 one and kept the old one, as the bees 

 all looked alike. I had a colony that 

 had the dysentery last spring ; the hive 

 was clogged with rubbish and dead 

 bees, so that only a few bees could 

 come out at a time. I drew the nails, 

 and 2 or 3 frames fell down to the 

 bottom of the hive. A little knot- 

 hole under the honey-board they made 

 black with their faces. 

 Borcoe,Ill. David Watterson. 



Answer.— As it is more convenient 

 to handle every thing by its proper 

 name, let us first settle the question 

 of "disease." Webster defines it 

 " lack of ease ; uneasiness ; distress ; 

 trouble ; trial ; derangement of any of 

 the vital functions, causing or threat- 

 ening pain and weakness ; morbid or 

 unhealthy condition ; disorder." If 

 bees, possessing what bee-keepers call 

 diarrluea, dysentery and cholera, and 

 a something which Mr. Watterson 

 proposes to prevent and cure, is not 

 properly a disease, then what is it ? 

 Whatever it may be would it be likely 

 to destroy the life of the bees and yet 

 never become a disease V (See Web- 

 ster. ) We frankly admit the disease 

 is produced by too long containance 

 of residue f roin food eaten. We know 

 that a short confinement in the spring 

 will be more productive of the disease 

 than one of much longer duration in 

 winter. 



If confinement alone was the cause 

 of dysentery, there would be no such 

 difference in time. If cold or humid- 

 ity were the cause, the facts would 

 reverse and accumulation of feces 

 would take place in a shorter time in 

 January and February than in April 

 or May. If the " pollen theory" be 

 correct, we should expect a much 

 more rapid loading of fecal matter 

 during the breeding season, and this 

 is just what we realize. We cannot 

 see from what source your colony 

 could rear a queen, as we understand 

 the first young queen was never fer- 

 tilized or "laid eggs. The only way out 

 is to suppose that a young Italian 

 queen came to the hive of her own 

 accord and was accepted. 



Keeping Moth Out of Combs. 



Please tell me through the columns 

 of the Weekly Bee .Journal what 

 will prevent moth from getting into 

 the combs, as I have lost several colo- 

 nies 'i* D. F. Palmer. 



Yorkville, Ills., March 16, 1884. 



Answer.— Keep the bees strong in 

 numbers in proportion to the amount 

 of comb they have in your possession. 

 Keep bees \vith enough Italian blood 

 in them to make them excellent guards 



