1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



207 



queen would not be the thing unless it should 

 be that the change should bring more vigorous 

 and resistant stock; and in that respect a 

 change of queen might be important. 



Drone-Cells — Brood - 



1. I understand that drone-cells are pre- 

 ferred by bees for storing honey. Eoi the rea- 

 son, as I suppose, that such cells permit 

 easier ingress and egress and require less wax 

 and labor to produce for a given area. Why, 

 then, should not we use drone-comb for stor- 

 age purposes for extracting? 



2. Is the spreading of brood to be recom- 

 mended in building up a colony? If not, why? 



CANADA. 



Answers. — 1. I'm not so sure about bees 

 preferring drone-cells for storing honey. I 

 know they prefer them at times for rearing 

 drone-brood, and I've known them sometimes 

 to go a little outside the brood-nest for the 

 sake of rearing drone-brood. I don't think I 

 ever knew them to go out of their way to 

 store honey in drone-cells. I don't know, how- 

 ever, that there's any objection to having 

 drone-comb in the extracting chamber, unless 

 it be that sometimes bees are a little slow 

 about lilling honey in drone-cells, perhaps hold- 

 ing them open with the idea of having the 

 queen lay in them. 



(we much prefer worker comb to drone 

 comb in the contracting super, as the queen 

 sometimes gets into the super and might pro- 

 duce a large number of drones. — Editor.) 



2. Some advocate and practice it. I haven't 

 practiced it for many years, because there's 

 too much danger of chilling brood. Besides, 

 I'm not sure I gain anything by it, since of 

 their own accord the bees start all the brood 

 they can cover, and why should you want any 

 more? 



Swarming — Kinds of Queens 



1. Is it better to let the first swarm come 

 out, or to brush them by the brushed swarm 

 plan? 



2. Will there be any other natural swarms 

 come out after the first natural swarm? If so, 

 should it be prevented? 



3. Why can more honev be produced by ex- 

 tracting than by running for comb honey? 

 What is the usual price of pure extracted 

 honey? 



4. What is the difference between tested and 

 untested queens? Is it that tested queens are 

 mated and untested ones are not? 



KANSAS. 

 Answers. — 1. If it be convenient for you 

 to watch for the swarm, especially if you have 

 not much experience, it is better to let the bees 

 swarm naturally. 



2. One or more afterswarms are likely to 

 issue, and this should be prevented. When the 

 prime swarm issues, hive it and set it in place 

 of the old hive, setting the old hive close be- 

 side it. facing the same way. A week later 

 move the old hive to a new stand 10 feet or 

 more distant. There should be no more swarm- 

 ing. 



3. The bees don't have to build fresh comb 

 every time they store extracted honey. The 

 usual price for extracted honey has been 



here about 10 or 12 cents; now it is 

 20 cents. 



4. Tested and untested queens are both 

 mated; untested are those which are sold be- 

 fore their young bees have hatched out, and 

 it cannot be told whether they are purely 

 mated or not; tested are those whose young 

 workers show by their markings that they are 

 purely mated. 



3. Is there danger of foulbrood appearing in 

 spring if all brood has been removed from 

 hives in fall and sealed frames of honey put 

 in their place? 



4. Will it he necessarj to hod chaff cushions 

 and cloths used on foulbrood hives? 



VERMONT. 

 Answers, -i No. 



2. I think there is no danger in feeding 

 frames of honey that have had no brood in 

 them, if the foulbrood is European, but would 

 hardly want to risk it in case of American. 



3. That treatment was recommended for 

 American foulbrood by the late W. E. Mc- 

 Evoy, and, so far as I know, the treatment is 

 reliable. Just take away all combs after brood- 

 rearing has ceased in the fall, and give combs 

 of sealed honey from healthy colonies. 



4. I think not. 



saying that tin fatal thing in your program 

 was reducing the entrance to three-eighths of 

 an inch square. At the very least the open- 

 ing should have been eight times as large. 



If you cannol buy bees near home, and have 

 to send south, it will probabl) be better fur 

 you to get combless bees by the pound, say in 

 2-pound packages with a queen in each pack- 

 age. A good way is to put the package of 

 bees inside the hive beside the combs, allowing 

 the bees to go upon the combs gradually, keep 

 ing the queen caged for a day or so. 



I Hers by the pound are hard to get now. 

 Better buy some swarms in your vicinity if 

 you can. — Editor, I 



European Foulbrood 



1. Will zero weather kill germs of European 

 foulbrood? 



2. Will it be safe to feed sealed frames of 

 honey taken out of foulbrood hive, although 

 these frames have had no foulbrood in them.' 



Failure in Wintering 



In May, 1917, I bought two hives of Italian 

 bees (Nos. 1 and 2), Langstroth 10 frames, to 

 begin with. Everything went well. July 14 I 

 caught a swarm (.No. 3) out of hive No. 1; 

 July 16 a swarm left hive No. 2, but I could 

 not get it, having entered into a hollow of an 

 oak tree about 40 feet above ground, and it 

 is not advisable for one 05 years old to get 

 so high into the air. A second swarm out of 

 hive No. 1 followed those absconders on July 

 IS, however. I had the chance to catch an- 

 other swarm out of hive No. 2 on the same 

 date. That gave me four hives (old) No. 1 

 and 2 (new) No. 3 and 4, and I thought to 

 be on the road to ssuccess. My good 

 friends seemed to be happy and I did not dis- 

 turb them except during the flow, when I took 

 out some filled frames from hives Nos. 1 and 

 2 for storage. October 2.", 1 opened hives 

 again; found Nos. 1 and 2 in very good con- 

 dition — plenty of bees and honey for winter 

 food. Hive No. 3, plenty of bees but appar- 

 ently not enough honey; so I gave them two 

 full frames of honey out of above stores. Hive 

 No. 4, not so many bees and honey; so I also 

 gave them two full frames of honey. Novem- 

 ber 16 I placed all four hives in a shed with 

 hinged roof, located on a terrace of a hill 

 sloping south. I placed one foot of marsh hay 

 on the wooden floor, then boards over that, 

 and the four hives on this, close together. The 

 lice- kept flying until col, I weather came. 1 

 then placed cushions filled with chaff around 

 the sides and backs of hives. Alexander 

 feeder under hives 3 and 4 and some hay 

 over the hives. Before this I had put on top 

 of each hive a queen-excluding board, then a 

 piece of woolen carpet and thereon the cover. 

 also contracted hive No. 4 with division board 

 and placed some woolen carpet between the 

 walls of the hive, The entrances of hives 



1 closed with wire netting, 3 meshes to 

 one inch, and then I placed the entrance 

 blocks in front of this, leaving an opening of 

 Ys inch. When the thermometer dropped to 

 12 and 20 below. I covered the hive with 

 marsh hay on north and west sides. Then 

 nature put two feet of snow on all this pro- 

 tection. I kept the entrance clear of snow bj 

 nlacing a slanting platform in front of each 

 hive. 



February 24, as the thermometer showed 65 

 degrees above at noon, I opened the entrances 

 of the hive, taking awav the blocks, and a few 

 bees came out of hives Nos. 1, 2 and 3; they 

 also carried a good many dead bees. Hive 

 No. 4 didn't move up, in spite of my knock- 

 ing. I then closed the entrances again with 

 the blocks as before. 



March 18, noon 68 degrees, I opened the 

 roof of shed, took off the covers from the 

 hives and found that bees in all four hives 

 were dead- 



The bees were in clusters between the 

 frames; also in hive No. 2. on top of the 

 frames. There was plenty of food in hives 1, 



2 and 3, and even a little left in hive No. 4, 

 Can you tell me what the trouble was? Did 



I close entrance- too tight, or should I have 

 placed a super on top of the hives? 



What would you advise to do to restock my 

 hives? Buy bees by the pound, with queen, or 

 nuclei? would you place bees into hives just 

 like new swarms, or must you place queen sep- 

 arated into hive, and where, on top, or under 

 frames? WISCONSIN. 



Answer. — It is not a very safe thing to 

 make a guess about bees in all cases, but I 

 don't believe I can be far out of the way in 



Swarm Prevention 



1. In destroying queen-cells to prevent 

 swarming, how are we to determine whether 

 the cell in question is to produce a queen to 

 take charge of the hive, when the old queen' 

 goes out with a swarm, or whether it is a 

 case of superseding? 



2. How successful is the entrance guards as 

 a preventive of swarming? Have you any ob- 

 jections to it? ' IDAHO. 



ANSWERS. — 1. No one can tell by looking at 

 a queen-cell whether it is intended for swarm- 

 ing or superseding. Moreover, so far as we 

 can judge the mind of a colony of bees, it 

 sometimes changes its mind, and what was in 

 the first place intended for swarming turns out 

 to be superseding, and vice versa. We can, 

 however, make a pretty fair guess at the in- 

 tention of the bees by attending circumstances. 

 It swarming is intended, there will be a larger 

 number of cells started than for superseding. 

 There is no positive certainty as to the num- 

 ber for either, but if only 2 or 3. or even 5 

 or 6 are present, superseding is likely to be 

 the program; whereas, for swarming there are 

 seldom less than ten or a dozen, and it may 

 run away beyond that. If cells are found at 

 what is usually swarming time, or wTien other 

 colonies are swarming, the probabilities are in 

 favor of swarming; whereas, before and after 

 swarming time, and at any time when little or 

 no nectai is coming in, then it's a fair guess 

 that superseding is intended. 



2. A queen-excluder at the entrance does 

 not in the least prevent swarming. The bees 

 are just as sine- to swarm with as without one. 

 But it will hold the queen, and when the 

 swarm finds the queen is left behind, it will 

 return, and the beekeeper who is away from 

 home when the swarm issues can do whatever 

 i in, .led to be done at his convenience in tin 

 evening, or in the next few days. . But if the 

 colony is left without attention, in the course 

 of a week or ten days, the first young queen 

 will emerge, the bees will continue swarming 

 .ind returning, and after sufficient time the old 

 queen having been put out of the way, the 

 young queen will begin laying without mating, 

 producing only drones, and the colony is 

 doomed. Except as mentioned. I would not 

 think of trying to prevent swarming by any 

 attai linicnt at the entrance. 



Hybrid or Italian Stock 



On page 135, American Bee Journal, Kansas 

 says I" has a hybrid queen that produces pure 

 Italian drones. I thought that 1 had learned 

 that according to Dzierzon the drone is with- 

 out paternal parentage, that a black queen 

 mated with an Italian drone produced pure 

 1,1.,, k drones, hut mixed workers and queens 

 Having recently lost all my bee liteiat r. to- 

 gether with my house and contents, by fire, 1 

 have nothing to refer to. But, Doctoi, sped 

 low so P C. Chadwick doesn't hear, 

 ,f 1 am mistaken I just know he^wjU laugh. 



Answer.— You are right that a black queen 

 mated with an Italian drone produce- pun 

 black drones, also an Italian queen mated with 



