62 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



.ilace to locate to start a bee and poultry 

 farm? 



2. Do you know anything about the eastern 

 country — Maine. New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 New jersey. New York — such as advertised 



i aply by the Strout Land Company? 



3. How does one manage bees that are 

 ooughl in pound packages? Do you have to 

 have full-drawn combs for them to start work- 

 ing on, or would they start on full-sheets of 

 brood foundation? IOWA. 



Answers.— 1. I don't know, Some places 

 are very much better than others for bees be- 

 cause of unusual pasturage, but when you find 

 an unusual locality for bees you will find an 

 unusual number of bees already located there. 

 In the majority of cases it is probably true 

 that a man will do as well at beekeeping right 

 where he is as to hunt up some new locality. 



(There is excellent bee country within a 

 hundred miles of Fairbank, la., possibly within 

 sight of it.— F. . P.) 



2. I am not informed. (There are in most 

 cases serious drawbacks which account for 

 the low price of the land.— F. C. P.) 



3. In the great majority of cases a queen is 

 bought with a package of bees, and the bees 

 may be treated just as a swarm of bees would 

 be treated. They may be put in a hive with 

 neither comb nor foundation, although in that 

 case there is danger of their swarming out; 

 they may have drawn combs given, which is 

 probably the best thing, or they may be put 

 upon full sheets of foundation, and this last is 

 probably the usual treatment. When con- 

 venient it is quite common to give them a 

 frame of brood. 



Queen Rearing 



1. What instruction can you give me about 

 raising queens? 



2. How may I be certain of mating an Ital- 

 ian queen with an Italian drone? 



3 Have you the Italian queens for sale? 

 ALABAMA. 



Answers.— 1. It would take a whole book 

 to give you very full instruction about rearing 

 queens, and there is hardly room for that 

 here. But Frank C. Pellett has written such 

 a book, which is fully up-to-date, "Practical 

 Queen-Rearing." 



2. That is a difficult thing. Here's one way 

 you might try: Take into the cellar the hive 

 containing the virgin and the drones, and 

 take it out after too late in the day for vir- 

 gins and drones to fly, say 4 o'clock. Give 

 them feed to help excite to flight. You may 

 succeed and you may not. 



3. Either the publishers of this journal or 

 its advertisers can furnish you with Italian 

 queens. 



Foundation Fastener — Glass in 

 Supers 



1. Would you r.commend the Daisy Foun- 

 dation Fastener in beekeeping? Could it be 



used in fastening foundation to bi 1-frames, 



or is it merely wired in the frames. 



2. Is it a good idea to have glass in one 

 end of comb-honey supers to see when they 

 are filled and save the trouble of opening at 

 the top of the hive? 1 have not seen any 

 supers advertised having any glass in them, 

 and as I am only a beginner in bee-keeping, 

 would appreciate your advice on these sub- 

 jects very much. ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. It is a good tool for a be- 

 ginner to use in fastening foundation in sec- 

 tions, but not at all adapted for brood- 

 frames. 



2. Fifty years or more ago glass was used, 

 but nowadays it is as easy with present 

 arrangements to see without the glass, a d you 

 can get a more satisfactory understanding of 

 conditions without the glass than with it. 



2. How can we unite the weak colonies 

 when we have two queens and two hives of 

 full stores and brood-combs? They will need 

 the honey from both hives. How can we put 

 it all in one hive? 



3. How long can a new queen be kept, after 

 receiving, before placing in the hive? 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 

 Answers. — 1. I'm not sure what you mean 

 by "the best way to shake bees," but think you 

 may mean to shake a swarm, which some peo- 

 ple are illiterate enough to call "shook-swarm- 

 ing." This shake-swarming is merely antici- 

 pating natural swarming by operating a little 

 before the bees would swarm naturally. Take 

 away from the colony all but one of its 

 brood-combs with adhering bees (being sure 

 not to take the queen), and put these in a 

 new hive on a new stand, filling vacancies in 

 each hive with fud frames of foundation. Give 

 the queenless bees a virgin or ripe queen-cell, 

 or, better still, a young laying queen. In a 

 fair season you ought to have two strong colo- 

 nies for winter. 



2. One of the uest ways is to use the news- 

 paper plan. Simply put over the brood-combs 

 of one hive a sheet of newspaper, then set 

 over this the other hive. The bees will gnaw 

 a hole through the paper and gradually 

 unite without any quarreling. Generally 

 it is best to put the weaker over the stronger 

 one. If there is any choice of queens, 

 kill the poorer one; otherwise let the bees set- 

 tle which shall be left. In 3 or 4 days, or 

 any time later, at your convenience, put into 

 the lower story any brood from above and the 

 best frames of honey. If the honey from the 

 other frame is needed, extract and feed back. 



3. If kept in a warm place she ought easily 

 to stand being imprisoned two weeks after the 

 time she was caged, and probably she would 

 generally stand twice as long. The shorter 

 the better. 



Cellar Wintering 



1. In wintering bees in a hot air furnace 

 cellar the room in one corner is too cold the 

 latter part of winter. The weather now is 32 

 degrees outside and 52 inside cellar. There 

 is a chimney 8x12 inches inside by 40 feet 

 high standing 10 feet from partition, and fur- 

 nace about 4 feet from partition on other 

 side. Would it benefit the bees to pipe the 

 warm air trom above the furnace into the 

 bee cellar and connect another pipe from chim- 

 ney into oee cellar? How would the pipes 

 best be arranged — draw the cold air out of 

 the bottom or top of cellar? There is quite 

 a draft to the chimney. What size pipes 

 would be necessary? Would such an arrange- 

 ment cause continuous circulation of fresh 

 warm air? 



2. What do you think of the idea of fur- 

 nishing water in some way to the bees for 

 winter use? Has it ever been tried? 



WISCONSIN. 



Answers. — 1. W'thout fuller particulars it is 

 nut easy to advise. If there is a door be- 

 tween the furnace room and the bee room, the 

 easy thing would be to let the door be suffi- 

 ciently open. Of course, both rooms would 

 have to be dark. If there is no door, then 

 you might make a 6-inch hole through the par- 

 tition at the bottom, near the furnace, and 

 another at the top. If the furnace room is 

 dark, no pipe would be needed. If the fur- 

 nace room is light, a G-inch pipe could pass 

 through the partition, having an elbow or two 

 to shut off the light. It will increase the cir- 

 culation to follow your suggestion and let a 

 pipe run from the lower hole to the chimney. 



2. In a dry cellar it might do good. I have 

 tried it; but not with much success. 



(I do not believe in it. Bees do not need 

 water except to rear brood. — C. P. D.) 



2. Can I out two queens into one hive only 

 could it be arranged, by dummy board or 

 queen excluder; or won't it work at all? 



3. Don't you think that Italian queens could 

 be raised in Carniolan hives by Carniolan bees, 

 as they are better for cell builders? Last sum- 

 mer my Italian bees could hardly raise any 

 queens, but Carniolans had very nice cells. 



4. Wouid you advise to change from stand- 

 ard 10-frame Langstroth to Jumbo? I think 

 they will give more trouble in manipulation, 

 as I have 100 colonies in standard hives and 

 run for extracted honey. WISCONSIN. 



Answers. — 1. It is not the thing to mention 

 any particular breeder in this department, but 

 I think you will find that those who occupy 

 the advertising department are reliable, and I 

 refer you to that department. 



2. If your idea is to give an extra queen so 

 the two queens will lay more eggs to have 

 more brood reared, you'll find it wi I not work. 

 For no matter how many nurses you might 

 have, no more brood can be reared than the 

 bees can cover, and one queen can lay all the 

 eggs a strong colony can care for. But some 

 have reported success by nutting a weak col- 

 ony over a strong one in spring with an ex- 

 cluder between the two, the weak one having 

 the benefit of the heat from the strong one be- 

 low. 



3. Yes; if you unqueen a Carniolan colony, 

 and then in 8 days kill all queen cells and give 

 a frame of young brood from an Italian col- 

 ony, you will find the Carniolan bees will 

 raise cells on the brood given just as if it was 

 their own brood. 



4. Before making any wholesale change it 

 might be well for you to try a few to see how 

 it pans out. 



Sections — Brood — Requeening 



1. I have several supers of sections with 

 partly drawn combs which are cracking. I 

 haven't any warm place to keep them. Would 

 they be all right to use next year? 



2. When a colony is given an extra body for 

 brood rearing, what is done with the brood 

 when it is taken off? 



3. When is the best time to requeen, before 

 or after the honey flow? MICHIGAN. 



Answers. — 1 They will do if no honey is in 

 them. If they contain honey they are not 

 likely to make first-class sections. 



2. They may be used to help weak colonies, 

 or to make new colonies. 



3. Unless queens are failing it is better to 

 wait till the flow is nearly over. To requeen 

 before will check egg laying at a critical time. 



Paste for Tin — Propolis 



I would like to know what kind of paste to 

 use to paste labels on tin pails, and is pro- 

 polis of any value? If so, what is it used for? 

 I have tried every kind of paste 1 could get, 

 but I fail to make anything stick over night. 

 MICHIGAN 



Answer, — I un going to ask the wise jnes 

 at Hamilton to give the latest on this point. 

 I use 5-pound pails and have no difficulty by 

 using labels that reach clear around the pail 

 and lap an inch or so, using common flour 

 paste. 



(The addition of a little honey or sugar 

 when boiling the paste will make it stick more 

 leadily. 



Propolis has been used to some extent in 

 the manufacture of leather polishes. It is 

 claimed to he superior to resin for this pur- 

 pose—Ed.) 



Shaking — Uniting Caged Queen 



1. Will you give me the best way to shake 

 bees, to prevent swarming, and build up the 

 colonies good and strong. 



Carniolans — Jumbo Hives 



1. I would like to hear from Dr. Miller if 

 he knows any good queen breeder that I could 

 depend on as to pure stock and free from dis- 

 ease. 



Winter Feed 



1. In which s the most food value for bees, 

 a pound of sugar or a pound of honey? 



2. Would two large frames of honey keep a 

 swarm of bees till spring. MINNESOTA. 



Answers. — 1. In actual practice they are 

 counted equal. 



2. They might till early spring, in a good 

 cellar. As a general proposition, I should say 

 no. 



(It is best to provide more feed than needed 

 than risk a short supply — Ed.) 



