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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 27, 



CONDUCTED BY 



JL>R. C. C. MILLER, Af AREA'GO, Itl-. 



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



Taking Honey from the Brood-Chamber. 



If a " fellow " don't know, and won't ask, he will not find 

 out much about bees. 



What I want to know is this : Should I take any honey 

 from the bottom part of the hives? I use the dovetailed hives. 

 I have no e.xtractor, but expect to have one another year., I 

 have taken a good supply from the upper story. The bees are 

 strong and doing well. How would it do to take the two out- 

 side frames fram each hive and replace with starters ? Please 

 inform me when and how to proceed. 



I have had two swaf-ms so far this season. I transferred 

 one colony from an old box-hive to the dovetailed hive, which 

 I don't think will swarm. R. F. C. 



Leavenworth, Ind., June 11. 



Answer. — Yes, you can find out a good deal by trj-ing ex- 

 periments with bees, but it's often a very expensive way, and 

 I'd a good deal rather you'd ask — if you don't ask anything 

 too hard. 



I don't believe I'd take any honey out of the brood-cham- 

 ber. Don't begrudge the bees their share, and I suspect they 

 have it in just the best shape to suit their winter needs. You 

 may think they're going to gather more, and can just as well 

 spare some that's in the brood-chamber. Well, if they need 

 any more room, give the room above, all they need, and as 

 often as they need it. I'm glad yon haven't any extractor this 

 year, for if you had I'm afraid you'd empty every drop of 

 honey out of the brood-nest, and perhaps empty out a good 

 share of the brood. 



Bees Smothered in Moving. 



I bought a colony of bees from a neighbor, which swarmed 

 yesterday. This morning I went and hived them — a powerful 

 bunch of them — and brought them home, and set them on a 

 stand in my bee-yard, and went to the house for a hatchet to let 

 them out with, but did not go back for an hour. When I opened 

 them, to my surprise I found them drowned with honey, and 

 nearly all dead. This is the third hive I have brought home 

 in the same way, and the other two are doing nicely. What 

 was the cause of this great calamity '? And how shall I get 

 bees moved, and not stand the chance of losing them in this 

 way ? There was no honey in the hive. E. 0. S. 



Rosebud, Tex. 



Answer. — I know just exactly how to sympathize with 

 you, for I once lost a remarkably strong colony in the same 

 way. The bees smothered for want of air. You say the bees 

 drowned in honey, and afterward you say there was no honey 

 in the hive. Perhaps some may not understand this. There 

 was no honey in the hive in combs, but the bees had a good 

 store of honey in their honey-sacs, and when they began to 

 smother they " threw it up," and so appeared drowned in it. 



Knowing that the trouble was smothering for want of 

 air, the remedy is plain. Don't shut them up so tight that 

 they cannot get plenty of air, and if the whole top is coveretr 

 with wire-cloth, it will do no harm. It will help matters to 

 throw cold water on them. 



Plans for Getting Increase of Colonies. 



I have three colonies of bees in 10-frame dovetailed hives. 

 One is an old colony transferred with its combs and brood 

 from a box-hive about two weeks ago ; the other two are this 

 year's swarms, hived respectively May I8th and June 1st. 

 The old colony has not swarmed this season on account of its 

 being transferred. 



From these three colonies I wish to increase to five, put- 

 ting the increase also in the 10-frame dovetail. All are in 

 pretty fair condition ; the swarm that was hived May 18 has 

 done good work on nine of its frames. Several of its combs 

 are capped over for a few inches below the top-bar. The old 

 colony seems to have a good amount of brood, but not so much 

 honey. 



I have thought of the following plan : Take the queen 

 and a frame of brood with the bees adhering, from the old 



colony that was transferred, and put them in a new hive, re- 

 placing the frame thus taken with a frame of foundation. 

 Then take a frame of brood and bees from the best of my 

 other two hives, and, say a frames of honey and about three 

 frames of foundation. Then set the new hive in place of the 

 old one, removing the old one to some distance (that is, the 

 one from which the queen was taken), and so catch any bees 

 returning from work. I do not altogether like this scheme. 

 You will notice there are brood and bees from different hives 

 in the new hive : 



1. Will these bees stay together peacefully ? or will they 

 return to their own hives? 



2. Had I better brush the bees from the frame of brood 

 that comes from the hive of the strange queen ? 



3. Will the bees in the old hive from which the queen 

 was taken return in too great numbers to the new hive which 

 has been placed on their old location ? and which contains 

 their old queen ? The hives are all exactly alike. 



4. If the plan works well in other respects, how about the 

 old colony which is deprived of a queen until they can rear 

 one from their brood ? and it would be a long while before 

 they could get new bees from their new queen, though of 

 course the old brood would be hatching for 21 days. 



Suppose this plan worked all right for one swarm, but I 

 want to get two. 



Please criticise this plan, and I would be very much 

 obliged if you would detail a better. H. P. J. 



Ben Avon, Pa. 



Answers. — 1. The nurse-bees, or those under 16 days 

 old, will probably all stay, but most of the field-bees will 're- 

 turn within a day or two to their old home. 



2. Perhaps you better not brush off the bees, as the young 

 bees that you would brush off are just what are needed. 



3. The only danger could be that so many bees would 

 desert the old hive that the brood would be chilled. I think 

 you will hardly find they will leave to such an extent as that. 



■i. It would leave the old colony in such bad condition 

 that the whole scheme is thereby rendered objectionable. To 

 make your three colonies increase to five, it would be neces- 

 sary to make another colony queenless for a long time, and to 

 have two queenless for so long is objectionable. 



Here's a plan that would perhaps suit you better : Sup- 

 pose your colonies are numbered 1, 2 and 8. Take from No. 



1 a frame of brood with adhering bees and its queen, putting 

 them in an empty hive No. 2, filling up the hive with empty 

 combs or foundation. Set No. 4 in place of No. 2, setting No. 



2 in a new place. No. 4 will receive all the flying force of 

 No. 2, and in a day or two will be fairly strong. No. 2 having 

 its full supply of brood and plenty of young bees to care for 

 the brood, will soon be strong again. No. 1 being left queen- 

 less will start queen-cells. In 8 or 10 days take half or more 

 of the brood with adhering bees from No. 1, put them in a 

 new hive. No. 5, and set No. 5 in a new place. These bees 

 being without a queen will stay wherever they are put much 

 better than bees having a queen. Be sure that a good sealed 

 queen-cell is taken for No. 5, and also that one or more is left 

 in No. 1. In 10 days or so after the young queens hatch, 

 they ought to commence laying. Nos. 1 and 5 may be helped 

 by frames of brood that No. 3 can spare. 



Swarming and Transferring. 



1. This is my first experience with bees. I purchased one 

 colony of blacks," but since taking the Bee Journal I think I 

 made a mistake in not getting Italians instead. I have had 

 my first experience in swarming. One came out June 5, and 

 I hived them in a box, as my hives were delayed. They went 

 back to the old hive, and on the 6th they came out again and 

 went back as before. They did not come out again until the 

 8th, then I hived them, and they staid. The 9th there was 

 another swarm from the old hive. Now I supposed it was 

 eight days after the first swarm came out before the next one 

 issues. Do they often come out in four or five days, as this 

 one did ? Both are good-sized swarms. 



2. Would you advise me to purchase Italian queens for 

 each one of these swarms ? 



3. I have both of my new swarms in boxes, as ray hives 

 were delayed. How shall I proceed to transfer them ? 



W. Concord, Minn., June 10. F. J. C. 



Answers. — 1. A second swarm may be expected to issue 

 about as soon as the young queen is mature enough to go with 

 the swarm. This usually occurs about eight days after the 

 prime swarm issues, but the time is by no means exact. It 

 may be less, and it may be more. It is possible that in your 



