31: 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



to them. They must have taken several from 

 some other yard, as they were strong in bees 

 all the time! C. B. PALMER. 



: r.— No, I never had a queenless col- 

 ony that I knew to be robbing other colonies. 

 But I have had queenless colonies — weak at 

 that — that stored well for the number of bees. 

 As a rule a colony that has been queenless for 

 some time is weak and not very aggressive. In 



sent case the colony was strong and 

 apparently eager to gather. If it found it 

 could make a short cut by taking from an- 



liny honey already stored, why should 

 it not rob as well as a queenrigbt colony? It 

 was fiercely possessed with the desire to store, 

 and this desire was so strong that it over- 

 powered the desire to have a queen This last 

 happens only too often. But queenless rob- 

 bers are not common, and you may never see 

 them again. 



of 



Room for Winter 



. Is there room enough in a ten-frame hive 

 a strong colony for winter if all supers 

 taken off? 



At what latest time should sup- 

 en off to bring bees to the cellar? 



WISCONSIN. 

 Answers.— 1. Yes, in winter there is plenty 

 room even if more room would be better 



2. Supers might be taken off a few days be- 

 fore the hives are cellared, or even the day 

 before; but most prefer to take them off as 

 soon as bees stop work on the fall flow. 



Two Queens in One Hive 



1. Will two queens winter safely in one 

 hive with the old queen above an excluder 

 and the young queen below? 



2 \\,.uld they do better on separal 



3. Some people say bees can't build comb 

 very late in the season; is it true? 



FLORIDA. 



Answers. — 1. They may, but one is likely 

 to turn up missing before the winter is over. 



2. Yes; yet if both are very weak they may 

 both die separately, while they might live if 

 separated only by an excluder, even if one 

 tjueen should be lost. 



3. They do very little comb-building late in 

 the season, because comb-building is generally 

 needed little then, but they can build comb 

 whenever it is needed, no matter how late. 



Fertile Eggs 



1. I have a theory that a queen can't lay a 

 fertilized egg unless the walls of the cell gen- 

 tly press the sides of the abdomen. I Ins would 



, mt for a fertilized egg in a worker-cell 



and an unfertilized one in a drone-cell, but 

 seen fhi theorj advanced by anyone 

 else. Am I correct? 



2. When taking a frame of brood ■ 



other hive to be put in a hive when hiving a 

 swarm, should one leave on the adhering bees, 

 or brush them off? 



PENNSYLVANIA, 



Answers.- -1. This theory was held bi some 



mon than half a century ago. Others 

 it was the will of the queen that dc- 



cided the matter. The latter said the former 

 rong, because a queen would la) a 

 Bg in a worker cell barely begun. But 



in this case the cramped position of the queen 



in bending over might be just as effective as 



the smaller cell, and I have never seen any 



or) proof that your theory is wrong. 



2. I doubt if it makes any difference. 



Improving Stock 



1 have limit up mj apiary ■■ i isl 

 voted so much energy to number of colonies 

 that 1 have very much neglected quality in 

 stock. I have three colonies that are 

 one could wish, good, light colored goldens, 

 ■ il.i i, as gentle as one could wish and 

 apparently no faults; none of the thi 

 built cells or attempted to swarm. 



Now a few questions: 



1. Is there any common mistake or fault one 

 is likely to make in breeding tmm tl 

 queen? 



2. Is there anything likely to develop in her 

 daughter queens that it would not be advis- 

 able to rear a lot of her virgins and h 

 colonies with them' 



3. Again, if I get a lot of her daughti i 

 queens reared and mated in my yard and they 

 prove very satisfactory, then should I rear 

 future queens out of those daughters of hers, 

 or out of her own eggs, in case I still breed 

 her? 



In addition to answering these thn i 

 tinns, would you please criticize and comment 

 on this plan of choosing a queen to breed from, 

 and on the proper method of trying out and 

 breeding up from her stock? 



I have your bonk "40 Wars Among the 

 Bees," also Doolittle and Pellett's book on 

 queen-rearing, and lati si - lition of Root's 

 A. B C. LOUISIANA. 



Answers. — 1. I do not think of any com 

 mon fault you are likely to fall into unless 

 it be in not becoming familiar enough with 

 the literature you have upon queen-rearing. 

 Y"u have a splendid set of books upon that 

 subject, and should read over and ovi 

 is said in them about queen-rearing. Too 

 many own books without owning the ideas 

 contained in them. I might also mention as a 

 common mistake the practice of rearing cells 

 with inn small a force of bees. Up to the 

 time a queen-cell is sealed it should always 

 be in a strong colony. It is penny-wise and 

 pound-foolish to have cells built in a nucleus, 

 or even in a colony of medium strength. 



2. I think not. 



3. Better continue to breed from the old 

 queen as long as she lives, unless one of her 

 daughters proves better than the old queen. 



In the Journal for July, page 244, the arti- 

 cle "Selecting a Breeding Queen," should be 

 of special interest to you. Hease study it 

 well. It will be followed later by the plan 

 that is followed "in this locality" for deciding 

 which queen to choose to breed from. 



Queen Rearing 



Will you give me your best plan for raising 

 queens for my own use? State page in "50 

 Years Among the Bees," and if since the book 

 was published you have found something bet- 

 ter, please let me know what it is. 



IOWA. 



Answer. — In "Fifty Y'ears Among the Bees" 

 1915 edition, if you will turn to page 2 IS and 

 read the next 26 pages, you win get the best 

 I know about rearing queens, and 1 have 

 learned nothing better since. 



But I imagine I hear you reply: "I don't 

 want the labor of going through 26 pages; 

 can't you tell me just where I can tind on 

 one page just what 1 need?" If you care 

 enough about rearing good queens, I think it 

 will pay you well to become familiar with 

 those pages. Still, if you insist on getting 

 in the smallest compass what will in. 

 case, turn to page 244. No; you needn't take 

 that trouble. I'll copy it for you lure: 

 "Take from the colony having your b< it queen 

 one of its frames, and put in the center ol 

 the hive a frame half tilled, or entirely filled, 

 with foundation. Ii small starters an 

 a full colony the bees are likely to fill out 

 with drone-comb A week later taki 

 comb, and trim away the edge thai 

 any eggs. Put this prepared frame in the 

 'i ong i ninny after taking away 

 its frames. Ten days 

 later cut oul thi ci Us, to be us< d v 

 desired, giving the colony its queen or some 

 other qui en." 



somewhere, and would like to know if this will 

 work; make my colony of blacks queen- 

 less. and 2 or 3 days later take that hive off 

 its stand and place a queenright nucleus in its 

 place. 1 would use the brood to torm new 

 nuclei, and would hope that the field force 

 would accept the new queen. 



2- Doubting that a colony was queenless. 

 owing to a virgin queen not laying, and not to 

 be found, a new queen (black) was intro- 

 duced, because she happened to be on hand, 

 just run in over the top bars and seemed ac 

 cepted. There was a pile of her bees dead in 

 front next day, and eggs shortly after thai. 

 but as the bees are of the Italian color, and 

 the queen seems very yellow, would like to 

 know if that pile of dead bees was proof that 

 she was not accepted, though her body was 

 not found, and that the queen originally given 

 started to lay. 



3. Having several colonies of blank be -, 

 and being determined to see the last of them 

 this season, woud like to know if the follow- 

 ing is practical and if the result would be 

 good. I put a ten-frame hive with say 9 

 frames and a laying queen and a frame or two 

 of brood on the stand of the blacks, and the 

 original black colony alongside without dc: 

 i the queen, taking the old hive coin 

 pletely away in a few days'. I Sugg 

 because I am a side liner, and grille,, tii 

 time and stings it takes to find black queens, 

 whereas, if I can leave the whole field force 

 with the new queen, the old one will be i 

 to find, and when found the whole old brood- 

 chamber can go above to make an extracting 

 super, for there should be no queen-cells 

 started. ARC-ENTIXA 



Answers. — 1. I should expect success gen- 

 erally. Something, however, would depend on 

 the strength of the nucleus. The stronger the 

 nucleus the greater the certainty of success. 



2. If I understand correctly, an Italian vir- 

 gin was introduced first, anil afterward a lay- 

 ing black queen. The fact that be, s and 

 queen are yellow is proof enough that the 

 laying black queen was put out of the way. 

 even though accepted at the first, hut I would 

 hardly think the pile of dead bees proof in 

 favor of one or the other, only that there had 

 been two parties among the bees, one party 

 adherents of one queen, and the other ad- 

 herents of the other, and that there had been 

 a battle between the two parties. In a good 

 many cases where a queen was introduced 1 

 have noticed dead bees in front of the hive, 

 indicating that a battle had occurred, although 

 there had been only one queen in thi case. 

 Evidently some of the bees were Imstile to 

 the new queen, and her friends had massacred 

 the insurgents. 



3. There would probably he SO few bees 

 with the new queen as to make her situation 

 rather critical. Let me suggest a modifica- 

 tion of your plan. Remove the hive from its 

 stand and in its place put a hive with a frame 

 of brood. Set on top of this the old hive, 

 with no communication between them. In a 

 day or two all the field bees will be m the 

 Lower hive, giving you your chance to find 

 the queen m the depleted hive above. This 



hive above will now be in fint i lition to 



receive a new queen, since it will have 

 mostly young bees. Alter the new queen nas 

 become estanlished in her new quarters, per- 

 haps in two or three days, take away the 

 lower hive and set the upper hive down mi 

 the stand. The queen will have a strong force 

 i , protect her, and will be safe from attack 

 by the entering fielders. 



Requeening 



1. In 1 {< Imongthe 



of placn .:■ laying queen in the 



stand of a queenless colony, you saj. 

 fails in your pail of the country I ' 

 I rather gather that there must be a catch 



Foulbrood 



- -. foulbrood spread through a swarm 

 that has some contaminated honey in it, or are 

 i!n bacteria confined to the affected honey the 



■ lied? 

 2. Do bees bring honey from the hive-body 

 to the supers above during honey-fiow, and are 



lues apt In take hnm \ limn thi' supers above 



in in I " in n they have plenty of 



honey below? 



:: Is it sufficient to shake your bees directly 

 diseased hive to the new, clean one? 

 WYOMING. 

 Answers. — 1. Yes, if there is a single con- 



