1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



203 



Answers. — 1. If you have twice read 

 through that long string of questions and 

 answers, and still have an appetite for another 

 dose, you certainly show a strong taste for 

 beekeeping and a lively interest therein, and 

 that goes quite a ways toward making a good 

 beekeeper, so I feel quite hopeful of your suc- 

 cess. 



2. Yes, they can be fastened either way. 



3. I am not intimately acquainted with that 

 region, but think you will find good locations 

 there. 



4. There seems no good reason why bees 

 might not do well there. To be sure, your 

 winters are severe, but not so much so as 

 mine, and I've stood it for about 59 years. 



5. Yes; not only will full sheets of founda- 

 tion give more surplus than 1-inch starters, 

 but I feel sure that you are, or will be. more 

 up-to-date in other respects, and so will have 

 greater success. 



6. The plan you outline is very likely the 

 best for you, at least for now; after you have 

 had more experience you can tell better 

 whether you ought to change to some other 

 way. 



7. But you don't need to lose the swarm. 

 Of course you will clip your queens, and then 

 if a swarm issues in your absence you may 

 lose the queen, but not the swarm. At any 

 rate you can kill all queen-cells but one, and 

 then no swarm will issue. 



S. Until you have more experience it will 

 be a good plan to use both ways, and then 

 you can better judge which way is better for 

 you, 



9. I don't know. A season may be very 

 poor and give you no surplus whatever. It 

 may be remarkably good, and give you 150 to 

 200 pounds of comb honey, or 50 per cent more 



of 



cted. 



10. Yes. 



11. You can begin in that way, and any 

 time later on you can change to shallower ex- 

 tracting frames if you think best. 



(Northern Michigan is considered a better 

 bee country than Tennessee. Many successful 

 beekeepers in Northern Michigan average 100 

 pounds per colony year after year. For bee- 

 keeping, MichTgan is hard to beat. Unless 

 ' there are other reasons for leaving than to 

 find a location for beekeeping, one had better 

 investigate pretty carefully before making, the 

 change.— F. C. P.) 



Package Bees 



How far can I have bees by the pound shipped 

 satisfactorily? How ship? Which is the best 

 parcel post or express ? 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



Answer. — In spite of the many pounds of 

 bees that have been shipped, the shipping of 

 packages is still somewhat in the experimental 

 stage, and in some cases the highest success is 

 not attained. It is, however, not all a matter 

 of distance, and there may. be success between 

 two of the most distant points in the country, 

 and, for anything I know, across the water. As 

 yet express seems better than parcel post, and 

 shipping with a frame of brood is safer than 

 shipping the bare bees. 



Queen-Rearing 



Referring to your plan for rearing quei ns 



1. Do you leave just the three frames (two 

 of brood to the one with strips) and leave that 

 empty space each side in the brood-chamber? 



2. Could one put the brood taken out onto 

 the top of the same hive, and if put by itself 

 tor the few days, will the old bees accept it 

 again? ONTARIO. 



Answers. — 1. The combs are put in one side 

 of the hive, a dummy beside them, and the 

 rest of the hive left vacant. 



2. Yes. 



Bee Paralysis 



Last fall, in August I think, I noticed one 

 hive expelling several dead and dying bees. 

 Two or three weeks later the hive next to it 

 became infected, then the third became in- 

 fected. The first hive is now very weak and 

 queenless the second weak and little brood, 

 though several cells with eggs, while the third 

 has brood in all stages, strong and working 

 good, but lots of bees dying. The sick bees 

 work, or are worked, to the entrance and car- 

 ried out by remaining healthy bees. A few 

 have distended abdomen, with natural color; 

 others normal in size, but turn a glossy black; 

 others normal in size and color, though with 

 the former, lie or sit unable to fly, and trem- 

 ble or quiver as if in great pain. What is the 

 matter, and what is best for me to do? 



OHIO. 



Answer. — The trouble is bee paralysis. In 

 the North it is generally not very serious, and 

 like enough by the time this is in print the 

 trouble will be all over. Many cures have 

 been proposed, and perhaps as good as any 

 is to give the bees wdiolesome food, if they 

 have not already obtained it from the flowers. 



Traps — Mating 



1. Does it do any harm to use queen and 

 drone traps on the hives during swarming 

 season? 



2. When a colony swarms and you kill its 

 queen and you hive them back in the old hive. 

 can I leave the queen-trap on, to catch the 

 queen of the second swarm? 



3. Does the queen of the second swarm 

 mate before or after swarming? 



MICHIGAN. 

 Answers. — 1. It is better not to have a trap 

 on the hive except when actually needed. It 

 no doubt annoys the bees to be obliged to go 

 through the perforations, and it certainly is a 

 hindrance to the free entrance of fresh air. 



2. You might trap the virgin queen, but I'm 

 afraid you might get into trouble by it, and 

 possibly cause the bees to kill her. 



3. I don't know for sure; I think after or 

 during swarming. 



Nectar From Dandelions 



Do dandelions yield nectar in Michigan? 

 Answer. — Yes. 



Requeening 



How would you proceed to reoueen, and 

 when is the proper time? Must the" old queen 

 be removed before putting in new one? I have 

 mixed bees — some are Italian. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Answer. — As a rule I wouldn't reoueen at 

 all; and never unless I could reoueen with a 

 better queen. Other things being equal, I 

 would buy a queen for requeening toward the 

 last of the season, and introduce her accord- 

 ing to the accompanying instructions, killing 

 the old queen before introducing. Still, if I 

 wanted to breed from her as soon as possible, 

 I might get her earlier in the season. But 

 generally it is not so easy to get queens very 

 early, and they cost more. 



Entrance Depth — Swarm Control — 

 Package Bees 



1. If I use a bottom-board 1 J/i inches deep 

 under ten-frame hives (bees run for extracted 

 honey) will they trouble by building down? 

 Is this entrance too deep? 



2. What system of swarm control do you 

 onsider most reliable when running for ex- 



>e glad to adopt a 

 a reasonable in- 

 line time give a good crop 

 e taken from cellar here 

 honey crop begins about 



traded honey ? 

 system that would 

 crease and at the sa 

 of honey. Bees ar 

 about May 

 July 1. 



3. If 2-pound packages of bees are placed in 

 hives containing two frames of foundation and 

 one frame of honey, will the bees "stay put," 

 or insist upon swarming out for lack of brood 

 to hold them? I have little brood to give them 

 at the start. If I shut off most of hive-space 

 with division-boards for these bees, will it do 

 to allow frames of foundation to remain in re- 

 mainder of hive, to be included as needed, or 

 shall I put the frames in as bees require them? 



4. If I place package bees in hives ("10 frame 

 size), pack warm during May and, in addition 

 to the comb of honey they have, feed an Al- 

 exander feeder full of warm syrup twice a 

 week, will there be anv trouble about their 

 failing to draw combs and build up for the 

 flow July 1? MAINE. 



Answets.— 1. They may be depended upon 

 to build down in so deep a space, or in any 

 space more than about three-fourths of an inch 

 deep. 



2. The Demaree plan, or some variation of 

 it, might suit you. As soon as there is danger 

 of swarming, put all but one brood in an 

 upper story, leaving the queen belew with the 

 one broood, having an excluder between the 

 two stories. At the same time destroy all 

 queen-cells above, and again 7 or 8 days 

 later. 



3. They might stay all right without br 1. 



but sometimes they will swarm out when 

 hived. It would make matters safer to leave 

 the queen caged for perhaps 2 days. 



It will be all right to have the frames of 

 foundation in the unoccupied part. 



4 Likely; but they will do better with a 

 heavy natural flow, in which case no feeding 

 will be needed. This refers to packages of 

 2 pounds. 



Queen Cells 



In your "Thousand Answers" I find on page 

 134 in regard to increase: "If you find queen- 

 cells in an upper story, let it stand another 5 

 days and then set it on its new place, giving it 

 a queen-cell from one of the others." Now I 

 should like to know why to give them a queen- 

 cell from another hive; why would not the one 

 they have be good enough for them? 



CALIFORNIA. 



Answer. — It will be good enough unless you 

 can- give one that is riper or of better stock. 



Judging Location — Wintering 



1. What can one do to estimate the worth 

 of any part of this country for honev produc- 

 tion? 



2. Every once in a while one reads about 

 wintering a colony of bees on so many frames, 

 less than ten, in a 10-frame hive. This is all 

 right if the remaining combs are all full of 

 honey. Over half of the time, with me, frames 

 are but partially filled with honey; so that all 

 the ten are thus required for the bees to get 

 through with. What is the good of advice 

 that cannot be followed? 



3. I am just through first examination of my 

 bees and amongst other things, have equalized 

 stores. When such examinations are made, do 

 you ever lacerate the cappings of combs? I 

 have a 12-frame colony that is rich in bees, but 

 was lacking in stores. I gave it 4 frames of 

 honey, all on one side of hive; would you 

 have placed it otherwise? 



PENNSYLVANIA, 

 Answers. — 1. I'm afraid I wouldn't make 

 the most successful prospector for honey loca- 

 tions. If, however, I were forced to it I 

 would look around and see whether there was 

 plenty of white clover, basswood and other 

 sources of honey with which I was familiar. 

 That would work all right if I didn't go far 

 from home. But when I got where the chief 

 honey-plants were all new to me, I'd have to 

 inquire what they were, and in most countries 

 depend on the aid of an interpreter. Then I 

 should try to And out what success resident 

 beekeepers had, taking into consideration tiie 

 up-to-date plans , or the contrary. Indeed, 1 

 think 1 should make inquiries before doing any 

 looking for myself. Even before anything else, 

 I think I should try to find out whether it was 

 a fair field for me to try to enter, or whether 

 it was already fully occupied by those upon 

 whom it would be wrong for me to intrude. 



2. I've read your question several times, and 

 I'm afraid I dun't quite get its bearing. Any- 

 way, any advice as to wintering on any cer- 

 tain number of combs, with no thought of the 

 amount of stores in them, is, as you intimate, 

 foolishness. I didn't suppose, however, that 



