100 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



liritb Replies tbereto. 



[It IB quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 than one month. They have to wait their 

 turn, be put in type, and sent in about a 

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 them ; get them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Journai,. If you are 

 In a "hurry" for replies, do not ask tor 

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Feeaim Syrup to Bees. 



anery, No. 374.— Ten pounds of granu- 

 lated sugar will make a little over 16 pounds 

 of syrup. lfthi8S^Tup is fed to a colony 

 having empty combs, so that the bees will 

 have to store" it in the combs, how many 

 more pounds will the colony weigh at the 

 end of a week, providing other colonies are 

 neither losing nor gaining in weight ; the 

 bees to have their liberty all the time.— H. 



Try It and tell us through the Bee 



JOUKNAL.— G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It would depend upon the time of 

 the year the feeding was done.— G, L. 



TiKKER. 



On the average, about 10 pounds, 



Providing there is no combs built, 

 'hat was my experience with pure 

 honey, and I do not see why it should 

 not be so with syrup.— C. W. Dayton. 



Experiments seem to show that the 

 loss in storing about equals the water 

 in the syrup ; so that we must allow 

 only for pounds of sugar. In the 

 above case there would be about 10 

 pounds of stores. It is curious about 

 this loss ; but the fact still holds.— A. 

 J. Cook. 



Mathematically, the question can- 

 not be answered. Bees, when fed a 

 given quantity of sugar syrup, always 

 fail to store the same quantity in the 

 combs. This is why all the projects 

 )f feeding back honey, sugar syrup, 

 etc., have failed in a pecuniary sense. 

 —J. P. H. Brown. 



Yes, 10 pounds of granulated sugar 

 will make a little over 16 pounds of 

 syrup, more or less, according to its 

 density, and considerably less if it is 

 as thick as it ought to be. In a week 

 after you feed it, you will find that it 

 has not increased the weight of your 

 hive more than 8 or 10 pounds. The 

 proper way is to feed combs of sealed 

 honey.— G. W. Demaree. 



It is hard to tell without actually 

 trying it. Even then the next trial 

 might show a different result. Would 

 not 16 pounds of syrup from 10 of 

 sugar be pretty thin ¥ At a rough 

 guess I should say there might be a 

 gain of 5 pounds, but it is only a 

 guess, and as before intimated the 

 results might be very different at 

 different times.- C. C. Miller. 



My tests in this direction have 

 shown me that a loss in weight will 

 be found ; that is, the weight will not 

 be as much as the food itself before 

 being given ; and I find, too, that 

 there is a variation in different colo- 

 nies, and at different times as to the 

 loss in weight.— J. E. Pond. 



If you feed such thin syrup as that, 

 what you feed will weigh but 13 

 pounds, as soon as it is evaporated or 

 ripened to the consistency of ripe 

 honey. I use 3 pounds of water to 10 

 pounds of granulated sugar, when 

 feeding late. Whether there will be 

 much further loss in weight, will de- 

 pend upon how much breeding, rob- 

 bing, etc., is going on.— Jajvies 

 Heddon. 



Because the loss is so great, feeding 

 back extracted honey to the bees to 

 make comb honey has been a failure. 

 Only the sugar will count— the colony 

 will probably only increase 10 pounds. 

 -The Editor. 



YnMm Extracted HoEey. 



Query, No. 375.— Having 30 colonies of 

 hybrid bees in 10-frame Simplicity hives, 

 can I produce more and better honey by 

 extracting directly from the brood-cham- 

 ber, or bv placing extracting supers on the 

 hives, and using the tiering-up plan ? Would 

 it be advisable to place Simplicity brood- 

 chambers, with wired frames and full sheets 

 of foundation, underneath the brood-cham- 

 ber already in use ?— W. P., Wis. 



Place extracting supers above the 

 brood-chamber.— Dadant & Son. 



By placing extracting supers on the 

 hives, and using the tiering-up plan. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



1. Use the tiering-up plan. 2. Should 

 prefer to place them on top.— G. M. 

 Doolittle. 



I think that I should prefer to tier 

 up. I would hardly put anything be- 

 low the brood-chamber. — C. C. 

 Miller. 



I should prefer extracting supers 

 and tiering-up ; but if you resort to 

 an extra brood-chamber beneath the 

 one already in use, you will need no 

 extra supers on top.— J. P. H.Brown. 



I would adopt the tiering-up system, 

 by all means, and put the super over 

 the brood-nest.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Tier up and extract from the sur- 

 plus department. Put on tiers of 

 combs " under " the brood-chamber 

 proper.- James Heddon. 



I should prefer to put on a super 

 and tier up. It will not give you any 

 satisfaction to put a full size frame 

 under your brood-chamber.— H. D. 

 Cutting. 



I prefer the tiering-up plan ; not to 

 get better honey, but for convenience. 

 Honey is honey ; and well-cured honey 

 from the same kind of bloom is 

 equally excellent however secured.— 

 A. J. Cook. 



1. By using supers and tiering up. 

 2. AVith this method,excluding honey- 

 boards must be used to confine the 

 queen, and one or two combs of 

 brood should be placed in the lower 

 story, and then watch that young 

 queens are not reared in the upper 

 story. Under these conditions it is 

 all right.— C. W. Dayton. 



The quality of the honey will be all 

 the same whether you extract from 

 the brood department or from supers, 

 but to take the honey from supers, on 

 the tiering-up plan, is much the best 

 way. There is nothing to be gained 



by putting the supers under the 

 brood-chamber.— G. W. Demaree. 



1. Put on upper stories and adopt 

 the tiering-up method, by all means. 

 The number of stories to use will de- 

 pend upon the honey crop ; enough 

 should be used to catch all the nectar 

 the bees bring in, and also to allow of 

 full evaporation or ripening before 

 extracting. 2. I think not ; I should 

 place them above, by all means.— .1. 

 E. Pond. 



Place the extracting supers above 

 (not below) the brood-chamber. The 

 honey will not be better, but the plan 

 more convenient. Whether the quan- 

 tity of honey will be much or little 

 will depend upon the season.— The 

 Editor. 



Management for Coml] Honey. 



Query, No. 376.— Next season I shall 

 work my apiary for comb honey, and this is 

 the course I am thinking of following ; 

 First, I shall get the bees to breeding as 

 early as possible, and keep all combs full of 

 brood by contracting, uncapping honey, and 

 giving only enough comb for the queen to 

 keep filled with brood, striving thus to have 

 all the honey put into the boxes. Next, I 

 shall permit one swarm from each colony; 

 shall hive it on 4 or 5 frames with starters 

 of foundation, and with a large case of sec- 

 tions filled with comb foundation. Now as 

 to the old colony that has cast a swarm : It 

 is without a queen, and for two weeks the 

 bees will put the honey into the brood- 

 frames, thus getting the start of me. I pro- 

 pose to set aside, early in the spring, a few 

 colonies to rear queens. placing these queens 

 in nuclei until wanted. Four days after a 

 colony has cast a swarm, I shall cut out all 

 signs of queen-cells and introduce one of 

 these young queens, which I will e.Tpectto 

 keep the honey out of the frames by keeping 

 them filled with brood. Does the above plan 

 seem feasible ?— A. L., Mass. ™ 



Yes.— Dadant & Son. J| 



Yes ; all but the waiting four days. 

 Give the queen in 24 hours, and for 

 me I should as soon have a virgin 

 queen for this purpose as a laying 

 one.— G. M. Doolittle. 



Theoretically, your plan is perfectly 

 feasible, but practically it will be at- 

 tended by a few objections, such as 

 too many swarms, and too much 

 laborious "tinkering," particularly 

 in a large apiary. Besides, a constant 

 disturbance of a colony of bees during 

 the midst of a honey flow is objec- 

 tionable.— J. P. H. Browj>i. 



I believe your plan to be a good one, 

 for a lengthy and light honey flow ; 

 but in many locations we must get 

 the honey from an old colony that 

 does not swarm. The honey flow is 

 too short for such manipulation and 

 building up of the colonies after 

 swarming. It needs a cheap assist- 

 ant with a sharp eye. to find and cut 

 out queen-cells.— C. W. Dayton. 



Your theory is all right. Let us 

 know just how it turns out in actual 

 practice.— H. D. Cutting. 



The above plan is feasible, but it is 

 doubtful if the best one that may be 

 pursued. The rearing of the young 

 queens as proposed would cost the 

 use of several colonies, and result in 

 a loss of the honey they would pro- 

 duce, with only a trifling gain; for. 



