394 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June. 20, 



to change from one comb to another ? This would fjive a hive 

 with about the same number of cubic inches. Bees in this 

 latitude have to be confined from 532 to 6 months. 



My bees are all blacks, but I intend to introduce some 

 Italian blood this summer. W. D. L. 



Frankville, Ont., May 29. 



Answers. — 1. You'll probably find it pretty slow work to 

 pick out dead bees. If you put the combs where mice can get 

 at them, they may pick out the dead bees, but look out they 

 don't also dig the combs to pieces. If you soak the combs and 

 let them stand a day or two, the pollen will fermeut and swell, 

 and a fresh addition of water may clear out most of the pol- 

 len. If they are not very bad, give them to the bees just as 

 they are. If the pollen is not spoiled it may be worth as 

 much to the bees as honey. But if the combs are moldy and 

 the pollen soured, the swarm may desert the hive. Better 

 give one or two frames at a time to a strong colony (not a 

 swarm) to be cleaned out. Or, put a hive full of the combs 

 under a hive of bees, so the bees will have to go up through 

 the empty combs, and they will clean them. 



2. Some honey will hardly granulate at all, and some will 

 granulate in the hive before winter. Just what makes the 

 difference I don't know. The weather and the thoroughuess 

 of ripening may have something to do with it. 



3. I doubt if you would like a hive of the proposed form. 

 Better not try more than a single one at first. Some have 

 wintered successfully in very shallow hives. 



Does Flax Yield Honey ? 



Does flax-bloom yield honey ? and can bees gather it? If 

 so, what color is the honey? M. R. 



Answer. — I'm sorry to say I don't known anything about 

 it. Will some one who lives in a flax region please tell us ? 



A Swarm that Hived Themselves. 



I had, in the spring of 1S94, one good strong colony left 

 out of three. That colony sent out the first week in June, 

 1894, a very large swarm of bees ; they settled so high up on 

 an apple tree that I could not hive them, so they went to parts 

 unknown. The parent colony all died the past winter — not a 

 bee was seen about the hive all this spring, until last Satur- 

 day, Juno 1. I was in my garden and heard many bees buzz- 

 ing and flying about. I went to the old hive and there found 

 that a large swarm of bees had taken possession. There are 

 no bees nearer my home than one mile. Can they be part of 

 the swarm that I lost in 1894 ? Or are they a new family ? 

 They appear to be at home. The old frames were left in the 

 box until now. J. H. 



Marietta, Ohio. 



Answer. — Your unoccupied hive acted as a decoy hive, a 

 swarm looking for new quarters found it to their liking, and 

 made themselves at home. The swarm may have come from 

 some place a mile or five miles away, or it may have come 

 from some colony in the woods near by. 



Increase — Bearing Queens. 



I have three colonies of bees, two in chaff hives, and one 

 in a single-walled hive. On April 13 I took frames from the 

 single-wallod hive and put them into the chaff hive, and they 

 are doing all right. On May 10 one colony swarmed. I cut 

 the swarm from a tree, and put it into a new hive, and put a 

 super on full of sections. The next day I looked at them, and 

 most of the bees had left, and went back in the old hive. 

 What was the cause ? Did I do right ? 



2. On May 18 I examined the colony that had swarmed, 

 and found 5 queen-cells. I then took out 4 frames of brood, 

 one with 8 queen-cells on it, and put them into a new hive. 

 They seem to be all right to-day. Did I do right ? 



3. Can I take, say three frames of brood and put in a new 

 hive without any queen-cells in them, with plenty of bees? 

 Can, and will, they rear a queen ? L. E. S. 



Ewing, Nebr., May 20. 



Answers. — 1. Bees are so freaky at times that it's hard 

 to tell why they do certain things, but ii is possible that in 

 some way they were without a queen, and so returned to the 

 old hive. A queen may be accidentally killed at swarming, or 

 she may be unable to fly with the swarm. Your proceeding 

 was all right, at least it was not the cause of the bees desert- 



ing the new hive, although It is generally preferred to have 

 the swarm set on the old stand, the parent hive being set on a 

 new stand. 



2. There is some danger that you are dividing up too 

 much. Under ordinary circumstances, unless you have an 

 unusually good location for a long honey-yield, you will find 

 that the mother colony will not build up any too strong for 

 winter. When it is divided, as you have done, of course each 

 part will be weaker then if left undisturbed, and you will 

 need perhaps to feed and strengthen if you want to make sure 

 of the two pulling through the winter. 



3. They probably would rear a queen, for of course you 

 would take with each comb its adhering bees, but many of 

 the bees would return to the parent colony, leaving your 

 nucleus very weak, and a queen reared by them would not be 

 such as it would be profitable to keep. The queen is the most 

 important factor in a hive, and it pays to be at great pains to 

 have queens of the best sort. A queen reared in a full colony 

 is none too good. 



What Ails These Bees ? 



Last Friday afternoon I had a strong colony of Italian 

 bees apparently in good condition. To-day (Monday) there is 

 but a mere handful of discouraged looking bees, and without 

 a queen. They are in a chaff-hive containing 10 Langstroth 

 frames. I had been feeding them a little syrup made from 

 granulated sugar, each evening to stimulate brood-rearing as 

 fast as possible. They build up very fast, and two weeks ago 

 had brood in eight frames, and bees covering well nine frames. 

 Then the queen nearly stopped laying, and on Friday last 

 there was but one little patch of eggs. They had plentv of 

 honey in the hive, and have yet. I found larvw in the cells 

 without any food, and they looked as if they were starved to 

 death. I do not understand why a strong colony should let 

 the larvffi starve when they have plenty of honey in the hive. 



The bees crawl out of the hive on the ground and finally 

 die. When I first noticed it, the ground for several feet 

 around the hive was covered with bees, and are that way yet. 

 They keep crawling out in this way, one at a time, never to 

 return. The hive-entrance and the ground in front of 

 the hive is spotted with a yellowish substance, but was not 

 noticeable the first day. 



Is this dysentery ? and what has caused it ? The hive 

 has been kept dry and warm, having a chaff cushion over the 

 frames until the present time. Is dysentery the same as bee- 

 paralysis ? Is the so-called " nameless bee-disease" anything 

 like this ? J. W. P. 



Omaha, Nebr., May 30. 



Answer. — I must confess I don't know enough to answer, 

 and should be glad if any one can give some light. Bee-paral- 

 ysis and the " nameless disease" are the same thing, but dif- 

 ferent from dysentery. The spotting looks like dysentery, 

 but bees don't have trouble with dysentery when they can fly 

 freely. The crawling out of the hive is a little like bee-paral- 

 ysis, but that disease doesn't make such rapid progress so far 

 North as Nebraska. I might say it looks like a case of pois- 

 oning, but that's only another way of saying I don't know 

 anything about it. I wish you would tell us how the case 

 terminates. 



Ten "Weeks for Ten Cents.— This is a "trial 

 trip" offer to those who are not now subscribers to the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Undoubtedly there are thousands who 

 would take this journal regularly if they only had a " good 

 taste" of it, so as to know what a help it would be to them in 

 their work with bees. In order that such bee-keepers may be 

 able to get that " taste," the very low offer of " 10 weeks for 

 10 cents" is made. 



Now, dear reader, you cannot do a better service than to 

 show this offer to your neighbor bee-keeping friends, and urge 

 them to send on their 10 cents and get.the next 10 numbers 

 of the old American Bee Journal. In fact, you could afford 

 to send the 10 cents for them, and then after the 10 weeks 

 expire, get them as new subscribers for a year. They will be 

 easy to secure then, for the 10 numbers will be a fair trial, 

 and they will want the Bee Journal regularly if they are at 

 all interested in bee-keeping. 



Remember, it's ojity JO cCTils /or /() iccc/is, to all not now 

 subscribers to the Bee Journal. 



