324 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



at uud |toi\). 



ANSWERS BY 



James Ecddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



1^ Several liave asked questions 

 upon the following topics, which I 

 hereby endeavor to answer : 



Introducing Queens. 



I practice two methods. If I have 

 a very choice one, and wish to talie 

 very little risk, I operate as follows : 



1 kill the reigning queen, and put the 

 new one to be introduced into a wire 

 cage between the combs, and atfer 

 24 hours I open the hive, and if I see 

 the bees " balling " the cage (that is, 



2 and 3 deep upon it, savagely trying 

 to force an entrance), I close the liive 

 for 24 hours more, and so on till I see 

 the bees crawling over the cage iu an 

 unirritated manner, then I pull the 

 stopper to the cage, the open end 

 placed close to the entrance, and with 

 smoker in hand, smoke the queen in, 

 and smoke the bees, by puffing right 

 in after her. 



If the queen is of only ordinary 

 value, I smoke her right in without 

 any of the previous caging. I have 

 had almost uniform success with the 

 latter method, what little I have used 

 it. Two points of caution are in or- 

 der. Never introduce any workers 

 with the queen— just the queen alone. 

 Never open or otherwise disturb the 

 colony under live days from the date 

 of introduction. 



Using Comb FoiiiKlntioii. 



In using comb foundation I al- 

 ways use it in full sheets above and 

 below. Any person who has ever 

 used a Parker foundation fastener, 

 will never mention melted wax or any 

 thing of the sort. Next to the Parker 

 fastener is a good strong putty knife. 

 Beeswax at a temperature of about 

 100^ can be mashed on to smooth 

 wood much firmer than it can be 

 melted on. 



Good comb foundation, to use in 

 brood frames and sections, is worth to 

 the user §2 or §3 per pound. As 

 guides and starters it is worth more 

 than $5 per pound, which, if granted, 

 shows how much they lose who fail 

 to use it in full sheets, and how much 

 tnore they lose wlio do not use it at all. 



One word of caution here too. 

 Never fail to use foundation, full 

 size, in sections resting upon a liive 



that has all worker combs below. If 

 you do, and thus give the bees a 

 chance to build drone comb in the 

 sections (one that they will surely 

 improve), there being no chance for 

 drone brood below, you will be almost 

 sure to be annoyed with it there. 



Capping Honey, Ants, Feeding, etc. 



1. Please tell me what I can do to 

 make my bees cap their comb V They 

 are dravvn out. until they are all out 

 of shape and joined to the separators. 

 What can I do to make them cap it V 



2. Will salt, to keep off ants, injure 

 the bees at all y 



3. Shall I feed any now, in New 

 England States '? I am a beginner, 

 so please answer questions which 

 seem simple to others, but not to me. 



Helen L. Richards. 

 Longwood, Mass., .June 15, 18S3. 



1. Never having seen such a case, 

 where all was normal, I can hardly 

 tell you how to proceed. I think if I 

 knew all the conditions, I could advise 

 what to do. 



2. No ; it will not injure bees ; and, 

 I fear, not keep off the ants eitlier. 



3. I would advise you not to feed 

 except at times when stores are needed 

 to prevent starvation. Such can hardly 

 be the case with you, after the date of 

 your question. 



Wliere is the Old (Jueeu J 



On April 10, 1883, my Italian colony 

 No. 1 swarmed, and I hived the 

 swarm in hive No. 2. Colony No. 1 

 has swarmed twice since ; I put them 

 in hives No. 3 and 4, as they came off. 

 Now, colony No. 2 has swarmed twice 

 also, which"! put in hives No. 5 and 

 (3 as they came off'. What I wish to 

 know (as I am an ABC scholar), 

 where is my old queen y As she is 

 very prolihc, I wish to rear queens 

 from her to Italianize my blacks 

 with, as I think it probable that the 

 young queens became fertilized by 

 my black or hybrid drones. Colonies 

 No. 3, 4 and o will, from present indi- 

 cations, swarm in a few days. The 

 gentleman whom I bpught my hive of 

 Italians No. 1 from, last year, had 

 only 2 colonies, in the spring of 1882, 

 which were in patent hives, and they 

 were glued up so that the bees were 

 allowed to swarm as they thought 

 best. They began swarming in April, 

 and continued, they and their in- 

 crease, until Aug. 15, at which time 

 they had increased to 27. Seven of 

 them went to the woods. This is no 

 hear-say or exaggerated bee tale, but 

 is a positive fact, and I would say 

 (lest some one should think tliis a 

 cheap advertisement), that the gentle- 

 man or myself either have no bees to 

 sell, nor do we rearqueens to sell, but 

 we wish to keep our stock for rearing 

 as near their present condition as pos- 

 sible. I have several colonies of 

 blacks and liybrids that have not 

 swarmed this year. Some I divided, 

 but I prefer to let them swarm them- 

 selves, unless I had a gnod Italian 



queen to give them. I found 4 colo- 

 nies of bees in trees lately, one of 

 which was yellow bees, and the most 

 peaceable colony I ever handled, and 

 the queen was the largest insect I 

 ever saw in the shape of a honey bee. 

 Almost all the trees I cut, were very 

 rich in honey. 



Mr. Ileddon's answer to my 4th 

 question in the Bee .Journal of May 

 23, is not exactly correct, for the bees 

 liad plenty of room inside, for some of 

 the colonies were new swarms that 

 had been hived but a few days ; nor 

 was it hot weather that caused the 

 bees to lay out, for, on the contrary, 

 it was moderately cool. Try again ; 

 I confess I cannot tell. 



Wehaveplenty of rain; wheat andoat 

 harvest is almost over, and we are 

 expecting a continued honey harvest, 

 from the buckwheat, as well as the 

 wild flowers, which are kept bloom- 

 ing by the bountiful seasons, 



D. F. Marks. 



South Bosque, Texas, June 11, 1883. 



Your queen went with your first 

 swarm from No. 1 to No. 2. When 

 colony No. 2 swarmed the first time, 

 your old queen went into No 5, where 

 she now is, if no mishap has occurred. 

 My answer to your 4th question, which 

 I have just re-read, is the best I can 

 give, unless perhaps I were on the 

 ground and looked more closely into 

 details. 



Why is This J 



I have a first swarm of Italian bees 

 with a fine 2-year-old queen, came off 

 the middle of May ; her young brood 

 that she is hatching, is as black as 

 any black bees I ever saw. They 

 were as fine looking Italians, when I 

 hived them, as I ever saw, I know it 

 was a first swarm, for in 9 days I got 

 a second swarm from the same hive. 

 How do you account for it ? 



Frank A. Eaton. 



Bluffton, Iowa. 



By some "hook or crook," either in 

 hiving or otherwise, your "2-year-old" 

 Italian queen got displaced by a black 

 one, and this black one can hardly be 

 the daughter of the "2-year-old," or 

 some "bands" would show upon her 

 workers. 



A Diseased Colony. 



I have a colony of bees in my apiary 

 that are sufferiiig from some cause 

 which I am unable to help. Young 

 bees, unable to lly, crawl out of the 

 hive and die ; their bodies are dis- 

 tended and apparently filled with 

 honey. My bees are working well on 

 white clover, and liave been tor a 

 week ; still there is no change in this 

 colony. What is the cause, and what 

 the remedy ? W, 1). Simonds, 



Augusta, Mich., June 12, 1883, 



Having never had a case of the 

 kind mentioned, from all I can imag- 

 ine, by the symptoms given, I am 

 unable to say what the trouble is. 

 Were the case mine and I had confl- 



