352 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



Would you suggest a plan of division of 

 profits that would be fair to both parlies, F. 

 doing all the work, but bees staying on G.'s 

 place? NEW JERSEY. 



Answer. — It is hardly possible that there 

 can be any fixed rule that would apply in 

 all cases, and each case must stand for itself. 

 Suppose G. is perfectly competent to take care 

 of the bees himself, but is so crowded for 

 time that he would rather have some one else 

 do the work, while F. is only a beginner, and 

 would like to do the work for the practice. In 

 that case F. might be well satisfied to get one- 

 fourth of the honey, leaving G. tnree-fourths. 

 But if G. knows nothing about the care of 

 bees, while F. is thoroughly competent and 

 has all he really cares to do in taking care of 

 his own bees, the latter might not care to do 

 the work for less than three-fourths, or even 

 more, of the honey. Possibly conditions might 

 be such in most cases that an even divide 

 would be not far out of the way. 



an inch on top at the back. It should be said, 

 however, that it is quite unusual for bees to 

 leave a hive with brood in it, and it may never 

 happen to you again. 



Winter Protection 



I have wintered my bees the past three sea- 

 sons in quadruple winter cases with very sat- 

 isfactory results, but as I increase in number 

 of colonies I would like to get a simpler meth- 

 od and am planning to arrange as follows: I 

 group my colonies in twos, use three brood- 

 chambers for each, putting the bees in the first 

 and second stories, packing the exposed sides 

 and top story with leaves or chaff, and pack- 

 ing the rear with leaves, held in place with 

 poultry netting. I have never seen this plan 

 suggested, but it certainly is economical, and 

 I believe that with the stores arranged as 

 above the accessibility of stores and the con- 

 servation of the heat of the colony will be bet- 

 ter secured than with bees confined to a sin- 

 gle story. What do you think? 



NEW YORK. 



Answer. — I have had no experience in the 

 case, and one can seldom be sure how a plan 

 will turn out until it is tried, but I see no 

 reason why you should not make a success with 

 the proposed plan. 



Swarm Would Not Stay in Hive 



A telephone lineman asked me to get a 

 swarm out of a cable box on the top of a 

 telephone pole. I had an extra hive, but did 

 not have any frames for it, so got the bees 

 into the empty hive and as the comb was fas- 

 tened in among the telephone wires, cut it out 

 the best I could and put it in the hive and 

 took it home. I left it just as it was for five 

 days and the bees seemed to be working and 

 nicely settled, having some brood and some 

 honey. The hive was an 8-frame, so I got six 

 frames all ready with full sheets of founda- 

 tion, took out brood and comb, fastened it all 

 in the other two frames and put all eight 

 frames in, the two with brood in the center. 



While fastening in the brood-comb some of 

 them were just emerging and crawled about, 

 unable to fly. The bees were not very cross, 

 and it took only a short time. I did this to- 

 ward evening. 



The next afternoon, about 4 o'clock, these 

 bees swarmed. I put them back in the hivi 



li at noon they swarmed out again. I 

 looked the hive nothing wrong. 



Young bet - w< n i merging and the bees had 

 o i thing to repair the com!). 1 pul them 

 hn i .in,! Mi. v wciii right in. 

 The next morning, about 7:30, all bees were 

 gone except the young bees jusl hatched, who 

 were crawling around the cnti i 



What do you think cau to act in 



this manner 5 I did no1 supposi th< j . 

 away and desei ' I rhe hive i ■ »n< 



i | .. into a 



new one this spring and which I cleaned up 

 and repaired in good shape. IOWA. 



Answer. — Without any fuller information, 

 it's a matte i of gu< 



is that the hive irm a place, and 



enough ventilation was nol That's the 



cause of such desertion in the great majority 

 of cases. When bees are put into a new hive, 



■ 

 there may not be ventilation enough, and, for a 

 few days at least, it is well to raise the hive 

 on blocks an inch or more, and to shove for- 

 ward the cover so as to allow a space of half 



Foulbrood 



1. I am sending vou some kind of a bee. Can 

 you tell me what it is? I caught it working 

 on the red clover. There were a good many of 

 the same kind of bees gathering both pollen 

 and nectar from the red clover. I never saw 

 a bee like it before. 



2. My bees are diseased, I think, with Euro- 

 pean foulbrood. I have caged the queens for 

 ten days, then released them. The foulbrood 

 was still in the hive at the end of the ten 

 days. Will the bees clean out the foulbrood, 

 since I have released the queens? 



3. How soon will I need to look at them 

 again? 



4. If there is any foulbrood when I look at 

 them, what shall I do? 



5. Had I better kill those queens, or cage 

 them again? 



6. If I kill the queen, will it do to let the 

 bees raise their own queen from their own 

 brood, or from brood from other colonies? 



7. If foulbrood shows up after the honey - 

 flow, what shall I do? IOWA. 



Answers. — 1. It has the appearance of a 

 megachile, or leaf-cutter bee. 



2. If it is the European variety of foulbrood, 

 in all likelihood you will find it disappear. At 

 the end of ten days there may be black-looking 

 dead brood in the hive, but the bees will not 

 eat it to- continue the disease. But why don't 

 you send a sample to Dr. E. F. Phillips, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, and learn for cer- 

 tain what the disease is? It will cost you 

 nothing, and you will not be working in the 

 dark. 



3. It is not very important just when you 

 look, but it might be ten days, two weeks, or 

 more, after the queen renews laying. If you 

 then find no large unsealed brood with a dis- 

 tinctly yellow tinge, you may know there is 

 no European foulbrood, although, being in the 

 neighborhood, it may reappear at any time. 



4. Treat it again. 



5. If the case is mild and the queen a good 

 one, cage her; otherwise kill her, for in a very 

 bad case it seems to affect the queen so she 

 ts not worth saving. At any rate, you should 

 get into each hive, as soon as you can con- 

 veniently, a good Italian queen. 



6. Yes, only to let them raise a queen them- 

 selves will make an unnecessary break in 

 brood-rearing, which need not be longer than 

 ten days, and possibly less. 



7. I'm not sure whether you had better do 

 anything till honey yields next year, only you 

 should, right away, send to Dr. Phillips and 

 get free literature informing you pretty fully 

 on the whole subject. 



Introducing Queens — Pickled Brood 



I Whii h is the best way of introducing in 

 the fall, when there is no more brood in the 

 bives, nor anj honey coming in ? Earlier 1 

 would have used your plan, to set the colony 



made queeuless, on a new stand, leaving a 



frame "t brood on the old stand to catch the 

 old bees, Do nut you think such a dividing at 

 said season would disturb I tie colony too much 



tor successful rei ting l They are valu- 



■ ■■■■■ 1 1 m;.: [taly.) 



. ,i do you think of the distress method 

 of Mr. A. C Miller and of Baldwin' 



[ng plan, mi thl I lini i' imiIm I ,,i \m< | nan I'm e 



Journal? 



;;. Which treatment would you recommend 

 in tin following disease, which 1 believe to be 

 pickled brood (please state whether I am cor- 

 rect) B i <ii< mi the ' Mini-.-, aftei thej an 



sealed. The pupae shrivel up so they may be 

 iiken out of their cells, of which cap 

 pings 1 1 "•> a large perforation, with rims 

 l i pupae are not dried up nor 

 Fact, the bees pull thi in 

 ■ he hive and. as no hatchu ■ 

 ■ !-.; Lndli rapidly. Thi 

 laj ing, and evei 



eei li Hi. ■ cell, rhe 



eem, ordinarily, not to bi 



are capped over (except in verj ba I 

 n they are also thrown out of the 



hive. ) The disease seems very contagious, as 

 all the hives in an apiary mav be affected. In 

 rare colonies it cures by itself, but in most 

 cases it causes sad havoc. Transferring bees 

 from skeps to modern hives in such apiary is 

 sure to result in diseased brood in the new 

 hive. I mus* add that there is no disagreeable 

 stench, and I have found none of it in a sam- 

 ple sent me. Such disease is not described in 

 our modern books. Ancient authors like De- 

 beauvoys and Hamet mention it in their writ- 

 ings, but do not seem to consider it very seri- 

 ous (though Hamet-Sevall'e savs it might re- 

 sult in foulbrood). FRANCE. 



Answers. — 1. Introducing a queen very late 

 in the season may be the same as at any other 

 time, except in one particular. When it is so 

 late that you no longer expect brood to be 

 reared, then you can allow the queen to re- 

 main caged in the hive 3 or 4 days, or even a 

 week, before allowing the bees to release her. 

 This longer time of allowing the bees to get 

 acquainted with the queen — or allowing the 

 queen to get the colony odor — will make the 

 introduction safer. 



I don't think any ill results would come 

 from ridding the colony of the older bees, even 

 late in the season, by moving it away, leaving 

 a frame of brood in a hive on the old stand 

 to catch the returning field bees. Instead of 

 putting it on a new stand, I would proceed in 

 this way: Set on the old stand a hive contain- 

 ing one or more combs (with brood in one of 

 them, if brood is to be had), then on top of 

 this put the hive of combs and bees. Of 

 course this top hive has its bottom-board, so 

 that there is no communication between the 

 two stories. In a few days, when the queen 

 is well introduced, all may be put together in 

 the lower story. 



2. Each of these methods is successful in 

 the hands of some, while others do not suc- 

 ceed. 



3. I'm not an expert on bee diseases, and 

 don't dare advise. If you send a sample of 

 diseased comb to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, you may get the desired informa- 

 tion. 



Packages vs. Nuclei 



l Which would you consider better in my 

 climate, to buy about May 15 for increase, US- 

 pound packages at $5, or 3-comb nuclei at $6? 



2. Will bisulphide of carbon be satisfactory 

 to kill a swarm of black bees lodged in the 

 walls of a house? Sulphur has had no effect 

 upon the bees, the cavity being so deep. 



3. Will sweet clover seed itself down year 

 after year if it is planted in waste places and 

 roadsides? 



4. What is a good way to transfer a colony 

 in a Danzenhaker hive to a 10-frame Lanc,- 

 stroth without cu'ting the combs? \ 



5. Do bees ever seal honey before the cells 

 are full, as in case of a fall flow, where there 

 is not enough honev left to fill them up? 



6. Can I get combs built from full sheets of 

 foundation in the fall by feeding a little thin 

 syrup every day? MAV JERSEY. 



Answers. — 1. Perhaps the nuclei. 



2. As you say the cavity is deep, that sounds 

 a little as if the entrance is at the top of the 

 cavity. In that case the bisulphide should 

 work better than the sulphur, for the fumes 

 Of tiu sulphur rise and those of the bisul- 

 phide fall. If you use enough of the bisul- 

 phide and keep it closed tight, not opening for 

 2-1 hours, it may succeed. 



3. Yes, bul it yields seed only in its second 



o, if you want it to bloom each year 



it must be SOW n two vr;n > ,p start. 



I I ^i. n't know of any way unless it he to 

 of i ombs, Langstroth size, or frames 

 filled with foundation, and brush the bees upon 

 thi ■ Then you could put on this an excluder 

 and tin- old combs on top for the brood to 

 hati h "'it 



5. 1 don'1 think the\ evei do 



C \n, you would have to feed a good deal. 

 unless the bees were gathering, and if they 

 were gathering enough you would not need to 

 feed at all. 



