1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



201 



all filled with brood. There was quite 

 a few empty cells amongst the brood, 

 but the cells were all clean, no un- 

 unsealed dead larv;e. There was only 

 a handful of dead bees on the bottom 

 of the hive, and only a few straggling 

 dead bees on the combs. 



Did those bees die of foulbrood, or 

 did they swarm out late in the fall? 

 There were no dead bees in front of 

 the hive, and I could not find the 

 queen among the few bees that were 

 there. 



Please excuse this long story, but 

 I would like to know what the trou- 

 ble was with those bees, as they must 

 have been good and strong while 

 filling the sections. 



S. L. SHERMAN, 

 Oskaloosa, Iowa. 



In reply to your letter and the ex- 

 perience which you had with the col- 

 ony, the only possibility which I can 

 think of is that your colony might 

 possibly l.ave swarmed late in the fall 

 and then did not get requeened, and 

 so died from queenlessness. From 

 the fact that you found some sealed 

 cells of brood, and these were scat- 

 tered. I believe these might have 

 been the brood of laying workers. 



It is hardly possible that your col- 

 ony died from American foulbrood, 

 for the simple reason that if they had 

 been badly diseased, they would not 

 have stored honey in sections. I cer 

 tainly cannot think of any other ex- 

 planation for your query, and I am 

 forwarding your question to Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, of Marengo, 111., and his 

 answer will appear in the American 

 Bee Journal. F. ERIC MILLEN, 



State Apiarist. 



When I opened my mail this morn- 

 ing I read aloud the letter of Mr. 

 Sherman, and as I finished reading it, 

 my assistant, Miss Wilson, tersely 

 remarked, "They swarmed." Then I 

 read the copy of Prof. Milieu's reply, 

 and it covers the ground so fully that 

 I have nothing more to do than to 

 put my O. K. upon it. What a lucky 

 State Iowa is in the men she has had 

 and has, to lead in beekeeping. And 

 withal this man Millen is such a lov- 

 able sort of chap. 



C. C. MILLER. 



Transferring 



I am buying some bees from a 

 farmer. They are in movable-frame 

 hives, but he did not use any comb 

 foundation and the combs are 

 crooked. Now what can I do with 

 these combs? Would you advise re- 

 moving them and putting in comb 

 foundation? Or can I straighten those 

 that are crooked and splice them 

 out? At what time would you ad- 

 vise me to do this work? 



A. A. B., Kingsley, la. 



Answer. The question which you 

 ask is a very common one, as many 

 people do not see the absolute ne- 

 cessity of securing straight combs in 

 the frames. It is only when they see 

 others handle the bees, helping one 

 colony from another with combs of 

 brood or honey, as the occasion re- 

 quires, or making divisions, or in fact, 

 manipulating the frames as though 

 they were so many toys, that they 

 realize that the advantage of mov- 



able-frame hives is secured only 

 when the combs are as straight in 

 the frames as so many boards, so 

 that there may be neither leakage 

 nor damaged cells. Handling bees, 

 when everything is straight, is fun; 

 handling hives of crooked combs in 

 the frames is worse than handling old 

 gums, or skeps, or box hives. 



To straighten the combs, you 

 should drive the bees out of the 

 brood-chamber, at the opening of 

 fruit bloom, into another hive-body, 

 without frames. The hive which con- 

 tains the bees is then left on the 

 stand of the colony and the hive of 

 combs, minus the bees, is taken into 

 a work room of some sort, where no 

 robbers can annoy. The hive is in- 

 verted and the crooked combs are 

 cut loose from the hive walls 

 wherever they are fast. The outer 

 body may then be lifted off. The 

 combs are cut out of the frames and 

 each one of those that contain 

 worker-brood is fastened into a 

 frame, with twine or wire. We much 

 prefer the wires bent at each end 

 a half inch, the bent ends of the 

 wire being driven into the edges of 

 the frames, either horizontally or 

 perpendicularly. At the end of a 

 week the wires may be removed, as 

 the bees, by that time, will have 

 fastened the combs into the frame. 



In the olden days, before the use 



of comb foundation, it was customary 

 to transfer into the frames every 

 piece of worker comb. But drone- 

 comb, of which there is always too 

 much, should be rendered into wax 

 and the empty frames remaining in 

 the hive should be supplied with 

 sheets of comb foundation. 



When the combs have been fas- 

 tened into the frames, the hive is 

 placed on the old stand and the bees 

 are shaken in front of it and they 

 hasten to take possession. If every- 

 thing is manipulated correctly, it 

 takes less than an hour to transfer 

 the combs, and the brood does not 

 get chilled, especially if the trans- 

 ferring is done within a warm room. 



Another and more simple way, but 

 less profitable, is to put a hive full 

 of comb foundation in frames over 

 the top of the hive to be transferred 

 and drive the bees into it, when the 

 crop is on, separating the two stories 

 with a queen excluder so the queen 

 may not go back below. At the end 

 of 3 weeks all the bees in the old hive 

 will have hatched and it may be re- 

 moved and the combs cut out at leis- 

 ure. 



These methods are given in greater 

 detail at pages 49 to S3 of "First Les- 

 sons in Beekeeping" and at still 

 greater length at pages 309 to 316 of 

 the "Hive & Honev Bee, Revised." — 

 C. P. D. 



Dr. Millers ^Answers- 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, Ilv 



He does not answer bee-keeoing Questions br mail. 



Transferring 



When and how is the best time and system 

 of transferring bees from a common box-hive 

 into a modern hive? D. M. 



Answer. — Wait till the colony in the box- 

 hive swarms. Hive the swarm in a modern 

 hive, setting this on the old stand with the old 

 hive as close to it as possible, both hives facing 

 the same way the old hive previously faced. 

 A week later move the old hive back of the 

 new one, facing the opposite way. Two weeks 

 later still (three weeks from tne time the 

 swarm issued), chop up the old hive, giving 

 the bees to the other hive, and melting up the 

 old combs. 



Feeding 



1. Feeding, do von let it boil, or just come 

 to a boil? 



2. I want to feed for early bt ood-reanng. 

 vVhat is the best way? • 



3. Do you think it would be a good plan to 

 put feed in a butter bowl and put it where 

 they can get it. when the weather is warm 

 enough? 



4. Do you thiok that I can make beekeeping 

 a success in the south central part of Penn- 

 sylvania? 



5. Do you think if a man uses tobacco he 

 can handle bees as gently as one who dots 

 not? 



6. Do you know of any successful bee- 

 keeper that smokes a pipe? 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Answers. — 1. There is no need to make the 

 water or syrup any hotter than necessary to 

 disolve the sugar. If you dissolve it in cold 

 water it will be all unlit, only hot water hur- 

 ries the work. 



a The best way is to give combs of sealed 

 honey, if there is not abundance of feed in 



the hive. If you have no sealed combs, then 

 feed enough syrup at one feed. If there is 

 abundance of food in the hive you needn't fear 

 about brood-rearing going on, and if you feed 

 every day with the idea that you will increase 

 brood-rearing you may do harm instead of. 

 good. There is, however, an exceptional place 

 where there is a dearth of pasturage that the 

 queen stops laying entirely. In such a place 

 half a pound to a pound of sugar should be 

 fed every day or every other day, dissolved 

 in an equal quantity of water. But I don't 

 know whether there are any localities of that 

 kind in your State. 



3. Yes; only look out that bees do not drown 

 in it. If there are neighboring bees, they will 

 likely share in it. 



i. Yes, if you have the right stuff in you. 



> Yes, unless he uses it to such excess 

 that his hand shakes involuntarily. 



0. Yes 



Foulbrood 



1. I have 00 hives of bees, 10 of which have 

 American foulbrood. 1 know how to shake my 

 bees for foulbrood, rear my own queens and 

 manipulate my colonies in general. After such 

 an outbreak, how many hives would you ex- 

 pect to have the disease next spring, after 

 shaking these 10 this spring? This is my third 

 year and I do not feel much encouraged after 

 tinding the American foulbrood. Do you think 

 I would overcome this if I would stay with it? 



I run for extracted honev and use the stand- 

 ard Langstroth hives. 



2. Ho you think it would he safe to shake 

 bees into a hive that had American foulbrood, 

 after removing the old combs and scraping the 



frames and hives of all the wax and pr< lis 



and using full sheets of foundation? 



CALIFORNIA. 



