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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OXJH3 PLIES 



'Wltb Replies tbereto. 



[It is quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries In this Department in less time 

 tban 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 

 tbem ; get them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Journal. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Gettins Rift of Layini-Workers, 



<lnery 450.— What is the shortest and 

 surest method of Kettintr rid of a layinE-worber 

 bee ? 1 had a strong colony come from the cellar 

 queenless. the past spring, with a laying-worker in 

 the hive.— W. C, Minn. 



Unite them with a colony having a 

 good queen.— C. C. Miller, 



Introduce a cheap laying queen, by 

 caging her two days. This process 

 dever failed for us.— Dadant & Son. 



Unite with a strong colony, taking 

 the usual precautions.— A. J. Cook. 



Give a frame or two of bees and 

 brood accompanied by their own 

 queen.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



By giving plenty of young larvfe, 

 and in a day or two a queen-cell, I 

 have no trouble in getting rid of 

 them.— G. M. Doolittle. 



Give the colony that has the laying- 

 worker, at intervals of three or four 

 days, two or three frames of brood in 

 all stages, and they will start queen- 

 cells, and the laying-worker will dis- 

 appear.— J. P. H. Brown. 



I consider this too much of a theme, 

 requiring too much space for a valua- 

 ble reply for this department. I have 

 told how I succeed, in my book.— 

 James Heddon. 



I get rid of them by mixing up the 

 bees with a strong colony, and then 

 giving a new young queen to a queen- 

 less colony. I think the above plan 

 as short and sure as any I have heard 

 of.— J. E. Pond. 



Take the frames from the hive, 

 carry them a few rods away and shake 

 off all the bees ; return the frames 

 and you will get rid of the laying- 

 workers. Introduce a queen as soon 

 as possible, or put in a good queen-cell 

 ready to deliver a queen.— H. D. 

 Cutting. 



Cage the queen of a strong colony 

 on a frame of her own hatching- 

 brood. Take with it the bees that 

 may adhere, and place them in the 

 colony having the laying-worker. 

 Then change places with the hives. 

 As soon as the bees cease to ball the 

 cage, the queen will be safely re- 

 ceived. If not many bees are left 

 with the laying worker, it is better to 

 take away the combs, and give to 

 other colonies or divide a good colony. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



I have uniformly succeeded by car- 

 rying the combs a few rods away and 

 shaking the bees down on the ground 



and leaving them to return home at 

 their leisure. I remove from the hive 

 such combs as have drone-brood or 

 eggs in them, and supply their places 

 with empty combs or combs of honey, 

 and at least one frame of brood and 

 adhering bees. If I have queen-cells 

 on hand, I give them a maturing cell 

 after two or three days, or leave them 

 to rear a queen from the brood given 

 them. The operation is best done 

 late on some warm evening. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



Unite the colony having laying 

 workers with a strong colony which 

 has a good laying queen.— The 

 Editor. 



Swamim anil SnperseiliiiE Queens. 



Query 451.— Is it usual fora colony of 

 bees to swarm at the same time, and from the 

 same lot of queen-cells used for superseding their 

 queen ?— Minnesota. 



It is not usual, but they frequently 

 do it.— J. P. H. Brown. 



It is, during a honey-flow.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Yes, if they superseded their queen 

 in the honey season.— Dadant & 

 Son. 



I hardly think it is " usual."— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



I think not. It would depend upon 

 why they superseded their queen. If 

 a colony is large, they will send out 

 swarms. — A. J. Cook. 



Oh, yes. The swarm goes with a 

 newly-hatched virgin queen the same 

 as in the casting of after-swarms. — 

 James Heddon. 



That's a hard one. When a colony 

 swarms, what means have you to 

 determine whether they were super- 

 seding their queen or notV Still, if I 

 were obliged to say " yes " or " no," 

 I should take the chances of saying 

 "no."— C. C.Miller. 



Not with me. If the queen dies 

 before the cells hatch, and honey is 

 plenty, together with much brood 

 and many bees, they usually will do 

 so ; but if the old queen lives until 

 the young one hatches, they do not. — 

 G. M. Doolittle. 



Who can tell V They swarm when 

 they please, but never without a 

 queen. My opinion (and I frankly 

 own it is theory only) is that swarm- 

 ing does not take place under the con- 

 ditions state above.— J. E. Pond. 



During the swarming season colo- 

 nies superseding their queens always 

 swarm just as though the " supersed- 

 ing " had resulted in a prime swarm. 

 The first swarm that issues under 

 such circumstances is, in theory, an 

 " after swarm," because it has a 

 virgin queen (the old mother having 

 been superseded) ; but in fact it is a 

 prime swarm in size, and in identity 

 of bees. The inclination of bees to 

 supersede old, or otherwise defective 

 queens, accounts for a great many 

 freaks in bees, not well understood by 

 the ordinary observer. Swarms out 

 of season, "swarming out," etc., is 

 traceable to this cause. Many per- 



sons boast of " very early swarms," 

 when, it fact, they are the result of a 

 desire to supersede the old queen. — 

 G. W. Demaree. 



Though it is unusual, it sometimes 

 occurs during the honey season. — 

 The Editor. 



Ants in tlie Apiary. 



Query 452.— Ants are apest in my apiary, 



both the black ants that raise mounds of earth, 

 and the large black, wood ants which make their 

 homes in decayed wood. They raise mounds of 

 earth under the bottom-boards into the entrance 

 of the hive, and get into the chaff hives, eating 

 through solid wood to the bees. Strong colonies 

 keep them out of their hives, but in nuclei they 

 bother exceedingly, killing bees and eating honey. 

 How can I get rid of them ?-Apis, N. Y. 



Tell me and I will be obliged to the 

 fraternity.— G. M. Doolittle. 



Try sprinkling salt upon the hills or 

 mounds.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Pour boiling water in their nests, 

 and keep the ground sprinkled with 

 quick-lime.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Our remedy is to And the nests and 

 pour boiling water into them at night, 

 or in the evening. Salt or sulphur 

 (powdered) will keep them out of the 

 hive.— Dadant & Son. 



Place camphor-gum or tansey 

 around the hives, and you will not be 

 troubled with ants; at least that is 

 my experience.— H. D. Cutting. 



Powdered borax sprinkled in their 

 way will help some to keep them out 

 of the hives ; but you will have a 

 pretty big contract to get rid of them 

 entirely.— C. C. Miller. 



My apiary has been pestered with 

 ants, but they have not injured my 

 bees. I got rid of them, but 1 do not 

 know exactly how, as I used kerosene, 

 boiling water and borax— and plenty 

 of each. The above treatment in 

 part, or all, drove the ants away. I 

 think the borax did the job ; I used a 

 very strong solution.— J. E. Pond. 



I do not agree with some authori- 

 ties that ants go into bee-hives chiefly 

 to hatch out their brood, the warmth 

 of the bees being a help. From what 

 I have seen, ants go into hives after 

 honey, and only take along their 

 brood incidentally. The ants may all 

 be killed by placing a mixture of 

 equal parts of Fowler's solution of 

 arsenic and honey under boxes in 

 small dishes, or in any place accessi- 

 ble to them, but entirely out of the 

 possible reach of the bees,— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



There are two good ways to get rid 

 of the ants, viz : 1. Make holes with 

 a crowbar in the hills, and turn in 

 kerosene oil or bi-sulphide of carbon. 

 In the last case stop up the hole 

 quickly by stamping in earth. 2. 

 Place poisoned sweets in a gauze box, 

 with meshes in the gauze that will 

 admit ants, but not bees. Paris green 

 may be used.— A. J. Cook. 



Strong brine will destroy ant-nests, 

 and wet salt will keep them out of the 

 surplus departments of the hives. I 

 prefer salt to any other remedy, be- 

 cause it is harmless to the bees, and 

 is cheap besides. Many have failed 



