350 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



Dr. Millers ^Answers- 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. If.. 



He does not answer bee-keeoing questions by mail. 



Swarming 



June 15 a colony was divided, leaving 

 queen with very little brood on the old stand. 

 Yesterday, just before dinner-time, this colony. 

 to all appearances, swarmed, settling near by. 

 r. all the bees returned to the hive. 

 and, it being extremely hot. I let them alone 

 for the time being. This morning I went to 

 examine this colony, and on 3 frames found 

 most of them capped; 

 there were also eggs (some) in the hive. The 

 bees appeared so profuse in quantity that, be- 

 yond doubt, they desisted from swarming, for 

 the time being at least. What should I do 

 with this colony? PENNSYLVANIA. 



Answer. — As I understand it, the question 

 is this: A colony swarmed yesterday and re- 

 turned. This morning's examination shows 

 sealed cells present, also some eggs. The ques- 

 tion is what to do this morning. It - 

 be a case of swarming, with nothing unusual 

 in the case except the return of the swarm, 

 that return being likely caused by the inabil- 

 ity of the queen to go with the swarm. Your 

 gue5s is that the bees have given up swarm- 

 ing, at least for the present. My guess is 

 that they are just as much in the swarming 

 notion as ever, and that they will swarm 

 again in the course of the day, or later, ros- 

 sibly the queen may be able to go with them; 

 possibly not. If not, then I should expect the 

 swarm to issue with the rirst virgin that 

 emerges. 



The question, however, is: What shall be 

 done this morning? There is a possibility, of 

 course, that nothing need be done, but I 

 wouldn't trust that possibility. If I wanted in- 

 crease. I should take away all brood, with ad- 

 hering bees, putting it in a new hive to build 

 up. If I didn't want increase, one of the ways 

 that might be adopted would be to destroy all 

 sealed cells, put the brood above an excluder, 

 leaving the queen below, and destroying cells 

 above the excluder again about S days later. 



Beeswax From Honey and Pollen 



In the August American Bee Journal, page 

 .. 'What Do the Bees Get to 

 Make Comb of?" your answer is: "Honey and 

 pollen." Now, Doctor, I am not in a posi- 

 tion to dispute your word, and would not do 

 so anyway, but I have answered this question 

 a great many times, saying "The bees make 

 the wax from honey." 



simply asserting anything does not 

 prove it to be a fact. 



Some years ago I found a colony of bees 

 that had been robbed in November. I took 

 the bees and put them in a box, without any 

 comb. They were fed on sugar syrup. In 

 February I looked into the box and saw as 

 white comb as was ever built. The bees had 

 not gathered any pollen during this time. 



Whether we are both right, or both wrong, 

 will not make much difference in the honey 

 crop of the world; but I desire to know the 

 truth. It is vour turn to offer proof, now. 

 OKLAHOMA 



Answer. — 1 do not see that there is neces- 

 sarily any difference between my answer and 

 your experience. For even though it should be 

 a fact that Dees can build comb without pollen, 

 that does not mitigate again- : 

 that they can do better with pollen than with- 

 out it, and that they always do use pollen when 

 they can get it. 



I can offer nothing from my own experience, 



but find the matter treated quite fully in Da- 



dant's Langstroth. at page 104, 1907 edition. 



e there seen that before Hu; < 



: .rists believed that wax was made 

 from pollen, either in a crude or 

 Stale. Huber ■ :< 



that bees can constr when fed honey 



or sugar, without pollen, and that they cannot 

 make it if fed pollen without honey or sugar; 

 but he fell a little short of getting the whole 

 truth, for "he did not prove that when /rr- 

 deprived of it they can continue to 

 work in wax. or if they can. that the "ollen 

 does not aid in its elaboration. 



"Some pollen is always found in tl 

 ach of wax-producing workers, and they never 

 build comb so rapidly as when they have free 



It must. ther< 

 some way. assist the bee in producing it. 



"The experiments made by Beriepsch show 

 that bees, which are deprived of pollen when 

 they construct combs, consume from 16 to 19 

 pounds of honey to produce a pound of 

 comb, while, if provided with it, the amount of 

 honey is reduced to 10 or 12 pounds. If the 

 experiment is continued without pollen for 

 some time, the bees become exhausted and be- 

 gin to perish. It is therefore demonstrated 

 that although nitrogen, which is one of the ele- 

 ments of pollen, does not enter into the com- 

 position of beeswax, yet it is indispensable as 

 food to sustain the strength of bees during 

 their work in comb-ma 



No Swarms, Full Hive — Feeding 

 Granulated Honey 



1. I have 10 stands of bees, all in most 

 thrifty condition. None of them have give n 

 me a swarm this season. I put on the queen- 

 excluders and supers when the orchards were 

 in bloom. Was that too soon, and cause of 

 none swarming? 



2. I have one bumper 3-story hive, supers 

 being full size 10-frame. All well filled with 

 honey- When it is time to take off the sur- 

 plus I shall be in trouble, for the colony is 

 so large it will be impossible for the mother 

 hive to hoid all the bees. What had I better 

 do to save the bees and also the honey ? 



3. Can I feed last years granulated honey 

 successfully to my bees by setting it out in 

 the orchard where the bees will easily find it? 

 I have about 100 pounds of it, all in extract- 

 ing frames. Will the bees work it un and 

 store it? ILL:' 



Answers. — 1. L'ndoubtedly the abundance of 

 room given, especially so early, had a tendency 

 to keep down swarming. Most beekeepers, 

 however, would consider it a desirable thing. 

 At the same time it should be said that it is 

 not generally desirable to give unnecessary 

 room in fruit-bloom, because it costs some- 

 thing to warm up space not needed when all 

 the heat should be conserved for building up. 

 But when there is danger of crowding in the 

 brood -chamber, then more room should be 

 given. 



2. Don't you worry about those bees having 

 room enough. If there isn't room in the hive 

 they can hang on the outside, and when it 

 becomes cool enough you'll find them 



of my colonies were 

 three to five stories high, and cvtr 

 seemed full of bees. I reduced them to two 

 .:h. and the bees didn't appear any 

 more crowded, and later on I don't expect 

 them to have any trouble crowding into one 

 story. 



;he combs flat on the 

 ground under the trees, where the sun will 



not melt the comhs, and as fast as the bees 

 lick the combs dry sprinkle water upon them 

 with a sprinkler. You may also set them out 

 in hive-bodies, but it will be more trouble to 

 keep them sprinkled. In cither case you stand 

 of dividing with neighboring bets. It 

 should also be added that if the honey from 

 such combs is stored in supers, there is more 

 tendency to granulation than the'. 

 .honey gathered directly from the flowers 



Mixed Italians — Requeening 



1. I have 10 colonies of 3-banded Italians 

 that are mixed with the black bees; am think- 



requeening with Golden Italians. Are 



ens hardy ? I mean, can they stand 



our cold climate as well as the 3-banded? Are 



■hey as good honey-gatherers, and as gentle as 



the il-banded 3 



2. What time in the year is best to requeen? 

 How is the best way to requeen? 



MARYLAND. 



Answer. — 1. Goldens vary greatly. Some 

 are as good as 3-banded in storing and hardi- 

 ness, while others are inferior. 



2. <>ther things being equal, you cannot do 

 better than to reuueen in fall, but not too late- 

 Instruction for introducing a new queen hard- 

 ly belongs in this department (it would take 

 more than a whole number to give half that 

 has been written about it) : but you will find 

 instructions in your bee-book, and instructions 

 for introducing are sent by mail with the 

 queens. 



Swarms — Comb Honey — Indian Corn 



1. Suppose I get me a "swarming box" and 

 have it ready for next spring; should it be put 

 where bees are expected to swarm?, or should 

 I hold it among bees while swarming and be- 

 fore they settle- Are they worth while- 



2. Do bees prefer any certain kind of tree 

 to settle on? 



3. Should combs be wired in shallow frames 

 :: you run for comb honey? 



4. When I have full story and full size 

 frames and run for comb honey is it neces- 

 sary to wire the same? 



."-. Are Indian corn tassels honev producing? 

 TEX - 



Answers. — 1. Much ha* been thought and 

 said about swarming-boxes or swarm -catchers 

 of different kinds, but if you have your 

 queens' wrings clipped you will find little use 

 for anything of the kind. If you use the 

 Manum swarm-catcher you will wait till the 

 swarm settles, "and then you will try to get the 

 swarm into the swarm-basket, generally by- 

 shaking the limo on which the swarm has set- 

 tled so as to make the bees fall into the bas- 

 ket, when you will dump the bees in front of 

 the hive into which they are to enr*r. 



2. I don't know- that they prefer one kind 

 of tree to another, but they have a decided 

 preference for a place on which a previous 

 swarm has settled, so that if a swarm settles 

 on a certain branch of a tree today, several 

 swarms may settle on the same branch on 

 succeeding days in succession. 



3. Xo wire should ever be in comb honey. 



cannot very well produce comb honey 

 in deep frames, unless it be in deep frames 

 containing sections. For wire is out of the 

 question in comb honey, and without the 

 wire, foundation thin enough to be used in 

 comb honey would be likely to be torn down 

 by the weight of the bee*. You might use 

 thin foundation in a deep frame by having a 

 horizontal bar through the middle of the 

 frame, making the frame equivalent to two 

 shallow frames. 



5. I think Indian corn is not considered a 

 honey-plant, although bees get pollen from the 

 ind I have heard of their getting some- 

 thing like nectar from the joints of the leaves. 



Queenless Bees 



1. How many ounces of honey are supposed 

 to be in a pound in Pennsylvania? 



