564 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OXJEn.IES 



with Replies tberoto. 



I It is quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 taan one month. They have to wait their 

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

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 tnem : get them returned, and then And 

 space for them in the Journal. If you are 

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

 tnem to be inserted here.— BD.l 



Colonies flout E£gs or Brooil, 



Query 465.— Should not my bees have 

 eggs or brooil at this time of the year, especially 

 if 1 have fe^l them regularly for a week ?— Mis- 

 souri. Auk. 17, 1887. 



Yes.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Yes.— VV. Z, Hutchinson, 



Yes ; or they will have brood soon, 

 if enough food is given.— Dadant & 

 Son. 



Yes, if you have fed them a pint of 

 honey or syrup a day. A few spoon- 

 fuls has no effect to stimulate breed- 

 ing.— G. L. Tinker. 



i should prefer eggs and brood at 

 this time; but feeding will not pro- 

 duce them. Hunt up the queen,— H. 

 D. Cutting. 



My bees would be likely to, under 

 such circumstances, but I should have 

 no fears at all for the future welfare 

 of the colonies, if they had not.— J as, 

 Heddon. 



As a general rule they should, but if 

 the season has been like it is here, 

 there may be some exceptions. I 

 found one of my queens of this year's 

 rearing which had previously laid 

 well, without brood, at the date given 

 in the query.— C, C, Miller. 



It will depend largely upon the 

 weather, whether warm or cold for 

 the season. If there is neither brood 

 nor eggs, though, I should suspect the 

 queen was at fault ; that is, if empty 

 cells are to be found in plenty by her, 

 —J. E. Pond. 



After bees have once stopped breed- 

 ing it is hard work to get them to 

 commence again, with me. But bees 

 ought not to slop breeding so early 

 as Aug. 17, it seems to me, in your 

 locality.— G, M. Doolittle. 



Yes ; but if the drouth has been as 

 severe with you as it has been in 

 many places this summer, it is not 

 surprising that the queens should 

 cease to lay at so early a date. When 

 the queens once cease to lay in the 

 latter part of the season, it may re- 

 quire more than a week's feeding to 

 start them to laying again.— G. W. 

 Demaree. 



They should. If they have not, it 

 argues no queen. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, the season is so poor that bees 

 will stop breeding, and then a week's 

 feeding is not always enough to start 

 them again.— A. J. Cook. 



Yes ; but a severe drouth would in- 

 terfere with breeding. After such 

 an interference, it often takes more 

 than a week's feeding to induce egg- 

 layiug.— The Editor. 



Bees not Filling ont Sections. 



Query 466.— My bees are not filling the 

 outer edges, or the top cells next to the wood in 

 the sections. I use lO-frame 2-story Simplicity 

 hives, and 2 cases with foundation. Why is this 7 

 —A. T. D., Me. 



There is too much room. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



There is not sufficient yield of honey. 

 —J. P. H, Brown. 



I presume the season stopped too 

 soon,— A. J, Cook. 



There is too much room and not 

 enough honey,— H, D. Cutting, 



Perhaps you are not crowding the 

 bees enough, and perhaps the flow of 

 honey is light.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Because the yield of honey is insuf- 

 ficient to crowd them to do it.— G. M. 

 Doolittle. 



I do not know, because I do not 

 know the conditions, but I presume it 

 is because they are not storing any 

 honey.— James Heddon. 



Probably honey is not yielding 

 enough to fill so much space. They 

 might do better with only one case, 

 and fewer frames in the hive.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



Who can tell ? From the reports 

 of the season so far, you are fortunate 

 in getting any honey stored at all. 

 Probably you give too much storage- 

 room for the supply furnished.— J. E. 

 Pond. 



Bees never fill out sections very 

 well except in a good honey-flow. It 

 is not in the hive, but in the season. 

 A section having open sides is always 

 better filled out than closed-side sec- 

 tions ; but in a poor season the open 

 sides offered only a partial remedy. — 

 G. L. Tinker. 



The fault is in the honey-flow. If 

 there was plenty of honey in the 

 flowers, the bees would cram it in 

 every available cell. When honey is 

 first stored in the combs, it is thin, 

 and is spread over a large surface to 

 hasten evaporation, and as the nectar 

 thickens, the bees collect it together, 

 and while this is going on, if the flow 

 ceases, there are likely to be empty 

 cells, and of course these will be on 

 the outside, and not in the center. I 

 have often experienced this state of 

 things.— G. W. Demaree. 



The honey-flow is insufficient, and 

 the bees have too much room, and 

 hence, neglect the most undesirable 

 cells.— The Editor. 



Feeiling to Rear Drones, 



Query 467.— How much shall I have to 

 feed to a colony every night, in order to induce 

 the bees to rear drones ? I need them to fertilize 

 young queens.— J. F. B. 



Enough to have a little stored every 

 day.— Dadant & Son. 



I should feed half a pint of sugar 

 syrup to a very strong colony —J. P. 

 H, Buowl^. 



I have never succeeded in getting 

 drones in the fall by feeding, or other- 

 wise.— G. M. Doolittle. 



I should guess about one-half pound; 

 but feeding alone may not be the only 

 thing needed. An old queen is also 

 needed. Are you certain that there 

 are no drones in your vicinity?— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



From 1 to 2 ounces, depending upon 

 the size of the colony. Constant feed- 

 ing will prevent the killing of drones, 

 in many cases.— H. D. Cutting. 



One pint a day is sufficient, if the 

 colony has a queen past two years 

 old. So also a young queen about 

 two months old may often be induced 

 to lay drone egffs.- G. L. Tinker. 



I do not know from experience, but 

 I am afraid it will be difficult to ac- 

 complish when flowers are not yield- 

 ing. They will probably do as much 

 for a half-pint nightly, as for any 

 larger amount.— C. C. Miller. 



I should feed one or two pounds, 

 and at the same time strengthen the 

 colony or colonies by adding capped 

 brood. If there is no honey coming 

 in, it is not always easy to secure 

 drones so late in the season. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



Give them about J^ or 1 pound of 

 food each evening ; but sometimes no- 

 amount of feeding will cause the bees 

 to rear young. See query 465. — Jas, 

 Heddon. 



I do not think that you can accom- 

 plish the desired end by feeding alone. 

 Remove the worker comb, and intro- 

 duce drone comb in its place, and 

 feed two or three fluid ounces of thin 

 sugar syrup every night. This quan- 

 tity will do as well as to feed more. — 

 J. E. Pond. 



There is no certainty at all that you 

 will get drone brood by feeding at 

 this time of the year. If you have a 

 very old (jueen, and feed her colony 

 till the hive is crowded with honey, 

 you may get drone brood, and get the 

 queen superseded. It would be very 

 strange, in the light of my experience^ 

 if there are not drones in reach of 

 your young queens at this season of 

 the year. I often have young queens 

 mate when I can see no drone about 

 the hive.— G. W. Demaree. 



If the colony has an old queen, one- 

 half pound, fed each evening, should 

 induce them to rear drones ; if the 

 queen is young and acceptable, it will 

 be difficult to obtain drones thus late 

 in the season.— The Editor. 



Convention Notices. 



CMANGE OF TIME.— The officers of 

 the Cedar Valley Bee-Keepers' Aasocialion have 

 postponed the time of the next meeting, on ac- 

 count of its clasliing with the State bee-keepers' 

 meeting. The meeting of the Cedar Valley Bee- 

 Keeper.s' Association will be held at Waterloo, 

 Iowa, on Sept. 20 and 2 1 , 1887. 



H. E. HUBBAKU, Sec, Laporte City, Iowa, 



|3f~ The St. Joseph Inter-State Bee Keepers' 

 Association will hold its annual meeting at Saint 

 Joseph, Mo., on Wednesday evening of Exposition 

 week, Sept. 14, 18k7. The Editor of the American 

 Bee joitrnal win be present and deliver an ad- 

 dress, other interesting speakers will be present. 

 The place of holding the meeting will be an- 

 nounced in both of the morning papers of Saint 

 Joseph, on Wednesday. It is to be hoped that all 

 of the bee-keepers who can.will make It a point to 

 be present at the meeting, as there is a rich treat 

 in store for them, Emerson T. Abbott, Sec. 



