1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



441 



CONDUCTED BY 

 L>Ji. C C. MILLER, MAREJ^GO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Ur. Miller direct.! 



Introducing Queens. 



1. Could an Italian queen be successfully introduced to 

 a colony by catching the old queen when the bees are shaken 

 from the hive, and placing the caged queen over the frames? 



2. Could the same method be pursued also in transferring 

 bees by the " driving " process ? F. C. E. 



Answers. — 1. A queen may be introduced at any time to 

 a colony whose queen has been removed, by putting the new 

 queen in a cage in such condition that the workers will be 

 perhaps iS hours in eating away the candy to let her out. 

 Generally it will be successful, and it would be as likely to 

 succeed at swarming-time as any other time. 



2. It can be used at transferring, or any other time. 



Killing Off the Drones. 



I have 17 colonies, and drones have been out for about 

 three weeks, but the bees are killing them off just the same as 

 they do in October. What is the cause of it ? They never 

 did so before. W. J. S. 



Guelph, Ont., June IT. 



Answer. — If this killing of drones is general with all col- 

 onies, it means that there is a dearth in the provision market, 

 or rather in the nectar market, and when the honey-flow 

 stops tlie economical little creatures conclude they can't afford 

 to support in idleness a lot of useless consumers. Sometimes 

 you may find a single colony killing off its drones when others 

 leave them undisturbed. In this case you will probably find 

 that the colony has reared a young queen, and when she gets 

 to laying, the bees think there is no likelihood of drones being 

 needed for some time. 



Bees Ventilating — ftueen-Cells at Swarming-Time- 

 Spider-Webs About Hives. 



1. Why do the bees stand at the entrance of the hive and 

 keep their wings in constant motion? 



2. How many queen-cells are generally built by colonies 

 sending out a swarm ? 



3. Is there any way to prevent spiders building about a 

 liive, except by brushing them away whenever they appear ? 



H. K. H. 



Answers. —1. Hold the back of your hand down close to 

 them. Cool, isn't it? Blows quite a little breeze. Those bees 

 are " ventilators," and they are making a current of air so 

 that fresh air will get into the hive. It also helps to evapor- 

 ate the nectar or honey. 



2. There's no fixed number. It may be three or four, or 

 it may be 40. I read of 170 in one case. I should say, at a 

 rough guess, usually 10 or 12. 



3. Probably the best preventive is to have hives so con- 

 structed that there is no lurking place for spiders. Spiders 

 never are troublesome about my hives, nor are they any more 

 so, I suppose, about any plain hive, but a hive with a portico 

 gives a chance for webs to be spun. I've known spiders to 

 build webs under a hive-stand, and they are to be cleared 

 away and grass or other convenience for spiders' webs removed. 



"I Don't Know" — Swarming. 



1. There seems to be only one fault with the Bee Journal, 

 and that is, there are too many " I don't no's " in it, and in a 

 good many places in It says "something must be done," but 

 does not say what. 



2. On page 251, some one says, "Bees will swarm and 

 keep swarming " if you cage the queen. I must be in the 

 dark, for I supposed if the queen did not accompany them, 

 they would return. Can you enlighten me? F. H. B. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, it's a pity that "I don't know" oc- 

 curs so often, but I don't know any way to avoid saying " I 



don't know" when you don't know something you're asked 

 about, do you ? I don't know that it would make it any bet- 

 ter to stop saying " I don't know," and pretend to know when 

 you don't. I don't see the use, either, in saying " something 

 must be done," if no one knows what is to be done. 



2. The statement I made on page 251 is entirely correct, 

 and you are just as correct in supposing that the bees of a 

 swarm would return to the hive if the queen did not accom- 

 pany. The swarm issues, and the excluder at the entrance 

 keeps the queen at home. The bees return, but there's noth- 

 ing to hinder them going again the next day and returning 

 again, and they may keep that up for days. At any rate, 

 that's the way"my bees have acted when the queen was fast- 

 ened in the hive. 



m I — ^ — 



Two Queens in a Hive — Queens and Drones Eating. 



1. Will bees tolerate more than one fertile queen at a 

 time in a colony ? 



2. Can thequeen go to the honey and eat it without the 

 aid of the worker-bee? I mean go to the comb honey in 

 the hive. Also, can the drone eat without being fed by the 

 worker-bees ? I- S. 



Answers.— 1. As a rule they will not. Every now and 

 then an exception occurs, but usually, if not always, it is a 

 case of mother and daughter, the aged mother remaining for 

 a time after the daughter has assumed the duty of egg-laying. 



2. The queen can and does help herself whenever occa- 

 sion requires, but during the busy time of egg-laying I'm not 

 sure that she ever does so. The workers may be seen con- 

 stantly offering her food, and this food is prepared so that 

 she doesn't have much digesting to do. If she had to eat un- 

 digested honey and pollen, she could hardly lay the enormous 

 number of eggs she does. As to the drone, I don't know. I 

 do not remember to have seen a drone help himself, although 

 I have often seen workers feeding drones. 



Dry Weatlier— Stings Have a Bad Effect. 



This is going to be another bad year, as it is so dry. I 

 wintered S colonies in the cellar, and they did well until after 

 fruit-bloom, and since then they have not made a living. They 

 have not swarmed any yet. To-day they are killing off their 

 drones, so that is a bad show for swarms or honey this year, 

 and if it doesn't soon rain we will have to go to feeding all 

 around here, and there is no fun in keeping bees and getting 

 no honey. 



I think that I had better go out of the business, for when 

 I get stung it makes me faint away from 15 to 6U minutes, 

 and I am getting very much afraid of being stung. Is there 

 any danger when it affects one that way ? Sometimes I have 

 a chill, and sometimes I get so itchy that I could scratch the 

 skin off. G. R. M. 



Rockford, 111., June 17. 



Answer.— As a rule, those who have to do with bees be- 

 come habituated to the stings so that they have little effect. 

 Formerly my son became spotted all over when a bee stung 

 him, itching as you do all over, but he grew accustomed to 

 stings so they did not affect him in that way. I have read of 

 others, however, who did not seem to take so kindly to stings, 

 being no better off after further trial. It stings affected me 

 so badly, and each sting seemed just as bad as the last, I 

 think I should let some one else handle the bees. 



A Question on Swarming. 



Your answer through the Bee Journal was thankfully re- 

 ceived a few weeks ago, regarding a colony in a box. I fol- 

 lowed your instructions, by making a smaller box, and took 

 up some of the space inside, something like 750 cubic inches. 

 The bees swarmed June 13, and they clusteredou a small tree 

 for about five minutes, which they left and went back to the 

 hive. They have not swarmed any more. What would be 

 the cause of their going back ? I have a super with 2-4 sec- 

 tions on top of the old box, and the bees seem to be working 

 all right in them. The weight of the old box, or hive, is 

 about 100 pounds, and is boiling over with bees. 



Aspinwall, Pa., June 21. J. K. E. 



Answer. — Sometimes the old queen is unable to fly with 

 the swarm, and in that case there's nothing left for the swarm 

 to do but to return to the hive. Generally they do not give 

 up swarming on that account, but try it a day or so later. 



