22 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 10, 



( l)NI)CCTf;D IIV 



iJK. C-. C MII.r.BR, M.\RI£]!fGO, U.K. 



[Queslions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Bees Affected with the Diarrhea. 



What can I do for bees that have the diarrhea ? 



E. L. 



Answkr. — Generally nothing but to fervently hope for a 

 day to come warm enoush for them to have a good flight. See 

 that the hive is not closed up too tight, and if they are in the 

 cellar il may be a good plan to warm up the cellar to 50° or 

 more. 



How a Queen Should Be Clipped. 



On clipping queens, what is the right way — to clip two 

 wings or only one ? Belgium. 



An.swkr. — I believe some clip four wings, and some only 

 one. I prefer to clip the two wings on one side. It is just as 

 good as to clip all four wings, ana is easier. Moreover, you 

 may sometime want to catch a queen by her wings. If you 

 clip the larser wing on one side, it prevents the queen flyirig 

 as much as if you clipped two, and the queen looks better; 

 but then you cannot tell so quickly at a glance whether the 

 queen is clipped or not. 



Grantilated Honey for Winter Feeding. 



One thing Is sure to me, that maple syrup is not good for 

 winter food for bees : I mean positively maple syrup fed to 

 the bees in August or September. I suppose it is a too excit- 

 ing food, causing diarrhea to confined bees. I wonder whether 

 granulated honey (that is, if you can afford to give it in pref- 

 erence to cane-sugar cake) would do for winter feeding (in 

 December, January, etc.). Fearing lest it would not, I gave 

 my bees capped honey in one-pound sections. H. D. 



Montreal, Canada. 



Answer.— Granulated honey of good quality makes good 

 food, only the bees would waste a great deal of it. 



About Moving Bees in^Winter. 



I am starting to keep bees, and have bought seven colo- 

 nies, expecting to get them home on sleighs, but we have had 

 no snow yet, and I do not know what to do. The hives are 

 out on the summer stands yet. They are chaffed up to the 

 top of the lower hive, with chaff hives over all. Now had I 

 better wait until later for sleighing, or attempt to move them 

 on a wagon ? I have to move them about Ave miles on a pretty 

 rough road. W. J. U. 



St. Joseph's, Pa. 



Answkr. — If there is no necessity otherwise for removing 

 the bees before spring, then 1 would wait till weather for 

 them to fly, unless sleighing comes. But the probability is 

 that by the time this gets into print you may have enough 

 sleighing. 



Bees Out-Doors and Dying — Sourwood. 



1. Is It best to leave bees out as long as there is a day 

 once every week or two that they can fly? 1 live in central 

 Iowa. My bees are out yet, and they had a good tlight yester- 

 day (Dec. 19), and to-day also. 



2. What is the cause of so many of the bees dying in some 

 of the hives '? About half of my 120 colonies have a great 

 heap of dead in front of the entrance. If they do not stop, 

 there will not be a bee alive in those hives by spring. I ex- 

 amined some of them a short time ago, and found that fully 

 one-half the bees in each hive were dead. Why do some of 

 the colonies die that way, and others are all right? Can the 

 fault be with the queen ? Their stores are basswood honey, 

 of No. 1 iiuality, and granulated sugar syrup. 



8. Will sourwood trees grow as far north as central Iowa? 

 If so would they bloom at a different time than the linden ? Is 



there any tree that blooms after linden that will grow this far 

 north, that would make a nice shade tree or grove for wind- 

 break ? C. P. M. 

 Bangor, Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. This has been an unusual winter, and bees 

 loft out till late ;jre better off than they usually would be. 

 The prospect now is that the rest of the winter will not be so 

 mild, and I would get them into the cellar. If you were sure 

 they would have flights every week or two, of course they 

 would be better out. 



2. Without knowing more about the case I cannot an- 

 swer, and possibly I couldn't if I knew all about it that you 

 know. It is possible that the ones that are dying off had older 

 bees than the majority, and, on the other hand, that may have 

 nothing to do with it. Sometimes some colonies have different 

 stores from others, and that may mdke a difference. 



3. I don't think sourwood will grow there, and I don't 

 know of any good honey-tree that you could have to bloom 

 after linden. Chestnut might be tried, which blooms later, I 

 think, but I'm not sure. But it's no such honey-tree as linden, 

 neither in quality nor quantity. 



A liate-Reared Queen. 



I bought a colony of bees three years ago last June, and 

 they have never swarmed. Dec. 1, 1894, they carried the 

 old queen out of the hive with her wings partly torn off. She 

 was dead when I found her. There were no drones. If the 

 old queen was superseded by a young one, how will she 'be- 

 come mated to do any good next season ? It is a strong col- 

 ony of bees, with plenty of honey. I want to know what to 

 do with them — whether to give them a queen or let them 

 alone. I have never seen anything of this kind in the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal or "A Year Among the Bees," so I thought I 

 would write you. W. J. H. 



Fortville, Ind. 



Answer. — Better let them alone till bees begin rearing 

 brood next spring. If there is no brood in the hive after other 

 hives contain sealed brood, or if their brood when sealed shows 

 by its cappings that it is all drone-brood, then your colony is 

 queenless, or worse than queenless, and you must act accord- 

 ingly. More likely, however, your colony has an all-right 

 queen. 



Colony Permits Robbing — Late Queen. 



1. I have a colony of Italian bees that will not defend 

 themselves against robbers. The bees from other colonies 

 will come to this hive and alight right at the entrance and 

 remain still for about a second, and then sneak in and get the 

 honey. They do not rob it fast, but slowly. They have been 

 robbing it for about two months every day that they can fly. 

 I tried to unite another colony with it but failed. This colony 

 that is being robbed killed every bee of the other colony. It 

 has a good, young queen and is an average colony in numbers. 

 Please tell me what to do for it. 



2. I have a colony that hatched a queen just about frost, 

 and the time the others quit laying. There were a very few 

 drones flying when the queen was hatched. Will she come 

 out in the spring fertilized and all right? or will she be 

 worthless ? A. T. M. 



Knob Creek, N. C, Dec. 11. 



Answers. — 1. Try closing up the entrance quite small, 

 but look out you don't smother them. It might work to place 

 at the entrance a piece of coarse wire cloth having three 

 meshes to the inch, or, still better, a piece of excluder zinc. 



2. Maybe, and maybe not. Let her alone till spring, then 

 look at the first sealed brood, and if it is sealed flat, all right; 

 but if the sealing is different from that in other hives, being 

 more like a lot of little marbles, then you have a queen that is 

 a fair candidate for decapitation. 



Feeding and Protecting Bees in Winter. 



1. Would it be a good way to pnt honey in a top-box and 

 set it on the hivS next the bees, for the bees to eat in winter ? 



2. Do they need any protection here in winter? If so, 

 please state how it would be best to protect them ? A bee- 

 hive is only one big box, is it not ? Colorado Friend. 



Answers. — 1. Generally it is not a good plan, for it is so 

 cold that the bees will starve rather than to leave the warm 



