100 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



Dr. Miller's 



Answers- 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Pee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. Il\. 



He does not answer bee-keeoin* Questions by mail. 



Making a 



Colony Queenless 

 aree Plan 



I In 



localil 



little ho 



i nsume 



ing in alter July. 

 portion of the stores left on for winter, my 

 .ire in 2, o and 4-story hives bj the 

 last of July, full of bees, and the hives aver- 

 Oi brood to the 

 im the eggs laid 

 by the queen after the Huh to the lath of 

 fune will be of little value to gather the clo- 

 ver Bow and be too old for the best results 

 in wintering, why not take away the queen 

 about the 10th or the L5th of June. If she is 

 a good one save her to increase or requeen 

 and let the colonies raise a new queen, which 

 will help in swarming, do away with the_bees 

 that would hatch in time to be consumers, 

 and those raised from the new queen would 

 1 ter shape for winter. 



Where the flow depends most on the clover 

 would there be 



2. Where can I find the Demaree plan of 

 bee management? 



INDIANA 



Answers, i. 1 don't know. On the face 

 of it it would look as if your scheme would 

 work out all right; yet it very often happens 

 that a thing that looks good in theory doesn't 

 at all pan out so well when submitted to the 

 bees. The thing to do is to ti\ part of your 

 bees in that way, and see how they compare 

 with the rest. You way find that when the 

 queen is gone the bees will not gather so well. 



2 The Demaree plan has been given a num- 

 ber of times in this department, and you will 

 find it in "A Tl under the 



head of "Swarm Prevention." 



Here is the plan: When a colony becomes 

 strong at the time when swarms may he ex- 

 pected, and especially when it has started 

 queen-cells, put all bu* one frame of brood 

 in the second storj . leaving in the brood- 

 chamber, or Lower story, one frame of brood 

 with the queen, and fill up the empty space 

 with drawn-out combs or frames filled with 

 foundation, having a queen-excluder between 

 the two stories. At the time of doing this, de- 

 stroy all queen-cells, and 7 to 10 days later 

 destroy any that may be started in the second 

 story. That's the Demaree plan, and it may- 

 be used even after a swarm has issued and is 

 returned. 



Banat Bees — Buckeye Hives 



me a description of the 

 bee. 



any extensive beekeepers keep them ? 

 3. Would also like a description of the 

 Albino bees- , 



many large beekeepers use the Buck- 

 eye hives. HOMA 



i us. — 1. Banats look a good deal like 

 common blacks, but with whitish rings. They 

 have the reputation of being very gentle. 



2. I don't know; but I think not in large 

 numbers. 



3. Albinos are a shade lighter in color than 

 Italians and like Albinos of the human race, 

 are likely to be inferior in vigor, and so not 



■ 



4. 1 '1 know. 



Roasting Out American Foulbrood 



To kil" can foulbrood by- 



boiling tl b lye, the wat 



I and the lye eats the nails. I roast 

 the frames in the oven up to 400 degrees F., 

 over a pan. The pan gets the wax, the heat 



gets the germs. The frames m I light brown, 

 but not enough to hurt. OR! ■ 



Answer. — Water warps wood, to be sure, 

 but I've cleaned hundreds of frames by boil- 

 ing them in a solution of concentrated lye. 

 and found them all right to 

 They were of straight-grained pine, ' 

 of basswood — although frames should never 

 be made of basswood — the wet frames might 

 be weighted down in straight | 



Lye eats nails, yes, and so does water under 

 proper conditions; but I never found the nails 

 in any frames hurt in the solution of lye. The 

 wax can be saved, too, when you boil. 



But your plan of roasting is better if only 

 a few frames are to be treated. If the num- 

 ber is large. I'd rather boil them in 

 kettle. 



Miller Queen Nursery 



Last year I bought about twelve Rauchfuss 

 queen-cages which, according to my opinion 

 would fulb 11 the purpose of queen nursery. 



However, they did not work. It was neces- 

 sary to put the queen-cells in the cages just one 

 day before emerging, when the bees had loos- 

 ened the caps of the cells already. Then the 

 virgin could not be kept longer than about a 

 day. 



Looking for a substitute I closed a regular 

 frame on one side with a thin board, made 

 about twelve apartments and closed the other 

 side with perforated zinc, so that the bees had 

 access to the cells, but the virgin could not be 

 released. I was very successful this time. 



Now, my dear Doctor, if you, in your 

 "queen-nursery," would close one side with 

 perforated zinc instead of using wire-cloth, or 

 if you would cut your eight tins 10x2 of per- 

 forated zinc, you will overcome all the dis- 

 advantages of your "queen-nursery." In my 

 nursery I put cells in before I hey are "ripe." 



What do you think about my opinion? 



• WISCONSIN. 



Answer. — I could tell better what to think 

 of your opinion if that opinion had been more 

 fully expressed. You think perforated zinc 

 instead of wire-cloth would overcome all the 

 disadvanntages of my queen-nursery, but you 

 do not say what those disadvantages are. and 

 I can think of only one. Perforated zinc has 

 been in use for years for queen-nurseries, and 

 more than one disadvantage is connected with 

 its use. Virgins make desperate efforts to 

 get through the perforations, and I've had 

 them die upon being wedged in the openings. 

 Of course, that could not happen with wire- 

 cloth. With perforated zinc the bees may tear 

 down the cells or steal the food and let the 

 baby-queens starve. Of course this will not 

 happen if the nursery is kept in a 

 colony, and is not likely to happen if it is in 

 an upper story over an excluder, but it is 

 often convenient to have a nursery in the 

 same story with a laying queen, and with wire- 

 cloth this is safe. Another point is that if a 

 cell is in any way mutilated the lues will in- 

 evitably destroy it if perforations all 

 to attack it. Many a time I ' have cut apart 

 two cells so close together that one of them 

 would have an opening in it, and tl 

 would mature apparently as good as any, 

 whereas she would have been surely doomed 

 if perforated zinc had been used. 



I said I knew of but one disadvantage of 

 the wire-cloth, which is the same a 

 one advantage of the perforated zinc. It is 

 that the bees can get into close contact with 



the cells. I don't know how much advantage 

 that is. One would hardly think that in the 

 middle of the brood-nest a thermometer would 

 show a higher temperature in a little com- 

 partment containing bets than in one without 

 them. Vet even if there be no difference in 

 temperatures, it is possible that the very con- 

 tact of the bodies of the bees closely sur- 

 rounding a cell may have some subtle in- 

 fluence of real advantage to the occupant of 

 the cell. Admitting that there is such an in- 

 fluence — and I am quite inclined to think 

 there may be— it may be SO little that it will 

 be overbalanced by the several disadvantages 

 named. On the other hand, it may be suf- 

 ficient to overbalance them all. I don't know. 



Requeening — Wintering 



vo colonies; 



vhen 



1. I want to requeen 

 would be the best time to do so? 



2. How long after removing the old queen 

 should the new one be introduced? 



3. Should I be unable to find the old queen 

 on the first attempt, how long could I keep 

 the new queen in her cage without any bad 

 effects ? Should it be necessary to defer the 

 search until the next day, where should I 

 keep the caged queen? 



i. What is the most practicable and safe 

 method of introducing the new queen? 



5. Having handled three colonies last sum- 

 mer, hiving two of them, but never having 

 seen a queen, would you advise me to use 

 much smoke in the quest ? 



6. When a queen is shipped are there any 

 bees shipped with her? If so, what should be 

 done with these bees when the queen is in- 

 troduced? 



7. I am wintering out doors, packing the 

 super with burlap and building a box all 

 around the hive with a 4-inch space on all 

 sides, top and bottom, packing this space with 

 maple leaves, putting on a board cover with 

 rubberoid roofing. I put the regular cover over 

 the super and am beginning to think I 

 should have left it off. Should I? 



S. How soon in the spring should I re- 

 move the burlap in the super and the winter 

 packing around the hive? ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. That depends somewhat on 

 when the question is asked. All things con- 

 sidered, probably there is no better time than 

 toward the close of the honey harvest. Vet 

 if you want to introduce a pure queen so as 

 to rear queens from her, it will be better 

 not to wait so late, for if you should you 

 would rear no queens from her the same sea- 

 son. So in that case it would be better to re- 

 place a very poor one, it will be better not to 

 wait till fall. 



2. There is not entire agreement about this. 

 Some introduce the new queen at the time 

 the old queen is removed ; some introduce 

 her a day or two after the removal of the 

 queen; and perhaps the larger number put the 

 caged queen into the hive upon removal of 

 the old queen, but have the cage candied so 

 that the queen will not be released by the bees 

 until a day or two later. Some take the still 

 further precaution to give the caged queen 

 upon removal of the old one, but have the 

 candy protected from the bees for a day or 

 two before allowing them to eat it. 



new queen can be kept in her cage 

 two or three weeks if there is plenty of food, 

 and she may be kept vt here\ ei there is no 

 danger of being chilled, say above 00 degrees, 

 but about the best place to keep her is in 

 the hive into which she is to be introduced, 

 but not allowing the bees to get at the candy 

 to release her. 



4. Oh, my! It would take quite a book to 

 tell all the ways that are claimed as best. 

 Perhaps no way is more generally in use than 

 with a provisioned cage in one of the ways 

 mentioned in second answer. 



5. There is hardly any way you can make 



re you will not find the queen that to 

 deluge the bees with smoke. Use just as lit- 

 tle as possible to keep the bees from flying at 



