260 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



With Replies tbereto. 



[It is quite uselesB to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 tnan 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 

 ■pace for them in the JonRNAL. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Removing or Renew ing Brooi-Comlis, 



Query 409.— 1. How often should the 

 brood-combe of a bive be removed or renewed ? 2. 

 When is the best time of the year to remove them 

 so as to get good, full sheets of worker-comb? 3. 

 What becomes of the wax in those old brood- 

 combs ? Melting it gives very little wax to me.— 

 A. J. F., Calif. 



I have had no occasion for renew- 

 ing my old combs in all of my 18 

 years' experience with bees.— G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



I have not yet been confronted with 

 this problem. I do not know what 

 becomes of the wax, but I do know 

 that old combs have yielded but little 

 wax for me.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



1. Not oftener than 15 or 20 years, 

 if it is good straight worker comb. 2. 

 In the spring, using full sheets of 

 foundation in their place. 3. Perhaps 

 the wax in old combs decays.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



1. Not until you experience a diffi- 

 culty with them that their removal 

 will remedy. 2. During the brood- 

 rearing season, when there is not 

 much honey being gathered. 3. There 

 is very little in them.— C.W.Datton. 



Once every 15 years is often enough 

 to renew the combs. They might as 

 well remain even longer, if not too 

 dirty. There is just as much wax in 

 those combs as ever there was, but it 

 is a little more difficult to get it out. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



1. I have seen prosperous colonies 

 on combs 20 years old. 2. After 

 swarming is all past. If before 

 swarming, drone comb will be built 

 in large quantities. 3. The wax seems 

 to be held back among so many co- 

 coons.— James Heddon. 



I cannot say, as I have kept bees 

 only about 20 years. Good frames of 

 straight worker-comb may be kept 

 indehnitely. If to be changed, it may 

 be done at any time, though only 

 when colonies want bees, and not 

 room to store, if we desire worker- 

 comb, as we always do unless we use 

 worker foundation. 3. The wax is all 

 there ; the comb is very thin.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



1. I remove old combs gradually as 

 they become inferior. 1 never re- 

 move a whole set at once, because 

 they do not all become inferior at 

 once. I gradually work out the worst 

 combs. I have not kept bees in 

 movable frames long enough to know 

 how long good combs will last ; I have 

 combs over 15 years old that do good 

 service yet. 2. The best time to have I 



combs built is during the best honey 

 flow. ' 3. I think the wax is there— 

 the trouble is in separating the wax 

 from so much refuse as collects about 

 the wax in old combs. With the 

 improved sun wax separator, I get a 

 good turnout of wax from old combs. 

 — G. W. Demakee. 



1. I do not know. I have some now 

 that have been in use for over 16 years, 

 and they are as good as ever. They 

 should not be renewed as long as they 

 are good. 2. Early in the season as 

 possible. 3. The wax becomes amal- 

 gamated with the "cocoons" lining 

 the cells, that are left after the bees 

 emerge, and so closely that but little 

 can be obtained by melting down very 

 old combs. Old combs, therefore, are 

 far more valuable as combs, than the 

 wax that can be extracted from them. 

 —J. E. Pond. 



1. I do not know. Some of mine 

 must be 20 or 25 years old, and I would 

 not think of renewing them. 2. I get 

 worker-comb at any time by using 

 full sheets of foundation. 3. Is it not 

 possible that the wax is still all there, 

 but soaked into the cocoons, as it 

 were, so as not to be easily separated ? 

 — C. C. Miller. 



1. If the combs are all right what 

 do you want to remove them for ? 2. 

 In the fall, when looking over all the 

 colonies for winter, I take out all 

 defective frames and replace them 

 with perfect ones. 3. I do not know. 

 — H. D. Cutting. 



If they are not damaged, and con- 

 tain sufficient worker-cells, they 

 should be good for a quarter of a cen- 

 tury or longer. Old brood-combs con- 

 tain so many " cocoons," accumulat- 

 ing from the myriads of bees born in 

 them, that they are unprofitable to 

 melt for the wax.— The Editor. 



(Jetting New Brooi-Comlis Built. 



Query 410.— In moving my bees last 

 spring on a farm wagon, over rough roads, the 

 combs were more or less broken and damaged, so 

 that the frames are now stuck together. 1 wish to 

 get new combs built by furnishing wired founda- 

 tion. 1. Shall I invert the old hives and put the 

 new ones containing the wired foundation on top 

 of them ? Or put the old hive on top of the new 

 one, and force the bees to pass in and out through 

 the lower story ? 2. When should this be done, 

 and how many frames of wired foundation should 

 1 put in at tlrst? 3. How long will it take the bees 

 to transfer their stores ?— Belleview, Ky. 



I should put into practice what has 

 been styled " modern transferring," 

 as advised by Mr. Heddon.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



1. Put the new hives on the top. 2. 

 At the beginning of the honey har- 

 vest. Gauge the number of frames 

 by the size of the colony.— C. W. 

 Dayton. 



I should say that about your best 

 plan would be to wait until the 

 swarming season arrives, and then 

 transfer the bees to "those wired 

 frames of foundation " by the Heddon 

 plan.— G. M. Doolittle. 



1. Wait until fruit bloom, and then 

 transfer by the Heddon method, and 

 feed the stores to the bees in the top 

 of the hive. The brood can be cared 

 for in the old hive, al a Heddon, and 

 can be transferred temporarily into I 



frames, and put in the top of the hive 

 until the bees emerge from the cells. 

 3. It will depend upon the weather. 

 Probably but a few days. The trouble 

 will be with the brood, which will re- 

 quire 21 days from the last egg before 

 all leave their cells.— J. E. Pond. 



Put the new hive on top of the old 

 one. It will take more or less time 

 for the bees to move up, depending 

 upon the season. A better way would 

 be to transfer the worker-combs dur- 

 ing apple bloom, and thus save all 

 that were worth saving.— Dadant & 

 Son. 



1. Try both ways. I should place 

 the new frames on top. 2. As soon 

 as the bees are strong enough to build 

 the combs ; give them all you wish 

 them to have at once— a super full. 3. 

 Very much depends, as regards all 

 these questions. — James Heddon. 



I should give the bees wired foun- 

 dation in new hives as soon as strong 

 at swarming time ; then let brood 

 develop, and when the three weeks 

 had passed, melt up the old comb, 

 after extracting the honey. In chang- 

 ing to reversible frames I have done 

 just this, and very successfully. If 

 desired, we can use only starters in 

 brood-frames, and add sections at 

 once. This gives the maximum 

 amount of honey.— A. J. Cook. 



When the bees get to be strong in 

 the old hives, I should place the new 

 hives on top with full sets of frames. 

 3. After the bees have drawn out the 

 combs in the upper story, the queen 

 could be smoked into it, and a queen- 

 excluding honey-board put between 

 the hives. After 21 days the lower 

 hive could be extracted, and the 

 combs melted into wax.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



1. I doubt if the bees will occupy 

 the frames of foundation in either 

 case until their old brood-nest is 

 filled, and they are crowded for more 

 room. Without seeing them I am 

 not sure what I would do, but I think 

 I would straighten up all the combs I 

 could in the old frames, or transfer 

 them into new, and supply the de- 

 ficiency with frames of foundation 

 added as the bees could occupy them. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



I should want to transfer bj any 

 well defined method. You will get 

 no satisfaction unless you do. 2. Just 

 as fruit blossoms begin to open, put 

 in all the frames the bees will cover. 

 3. If left in the old hive they will not 

 transfer their stores at all, in the way 

 you propose.— H. D. Cutting. 



You can do as you say, and the best 

 time to adjust the frames of founda- 

 tion is right at the commencement of 

 the early honey harvest. But vour 

 plan would not pay me. I would cut 

 loose and straighten up all the best of 

 the old combs, and supply with foun- 

 dation what is lacking. I cannot 

 afford to melt up good old combs be- 

 cause they are out of shape, as long as 

 I can save mony and time by putting 

 them in order. 1. Why invert the 

 old hive? 2. Why not put on an 

 upper story with a full set of frames, 

 with foundation on the brood-cham- 

 bers just as it is, at the beginning of 



f 



