1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



385 



covering the horse with a very 

 ease the pain, which at least < 



et sheet tc 

 .uld do nc 



Swarm Control 



What do you think of the plan of swarm 

 control outlined by F. R. Smythe, of Cincin- 

 nati, Ohio, in the August issue of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal? It has occurred to me that 

 the bees would raise a young queen in the 

 side hive, or start queen-cells, and those in the 

 present hive would swarm out with the old 

 queen. Do you think there is any advantage 

 in this plan over leaving the two hive-bodies 

 one on top of the other? IOWA. 



Answer. — I find it difficult to understand 

 the article in question found on page 266 of 

 the August number. I think, however, that 

 the main thing is that every 10 to 14 days the 

 brood is taken from the brood-chamber and 

 put into an adjoining hive, there being com- 

 munication between the hives, the removed 

 combs being replaced by combs that contain 

 no unsealed brood. In effect this is the same 

 as unng the Demaree plan every 10 to 14 

 days, and should be effective in preventing 

 swarming. The only question is whether it is 

 easier to have this hive-body at the side or on 

 top, and unless it can be shown to be easier 

 having it at the side, there can hardly be any 

 advantage in the proposed change. Cells 

 would no doubt be started, as you suggest, but 

 there might be no swarming. At any rate the 

 cells could be killed at each change. 



Queens — Hives — Kodaks 



1. Do you advise me to breed from a hy- 

 brid queen whose progeny works on red 

 clover after a wet spell when the corolla tubes 

 are long? Her bees also gathered surplus last 

 year when the others almost starved. 



2. Which hive would you prefer the 10- 

 frame story and a half hive, or the 13-frame 

 hive, run for extracted honey? 



3. How do you fasten queen-cells to a 

 nursery frame? 



4. I am thinking about buying a kodak. 

 What kind do you advise me to get for bee 

 pictures? 



5. What was the number of the kodak used 

 for pictures in "Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees?" 



6. How were Figs. 48, 49 and 52 taken? 

 Did you have to use a flashlight? 



VIRGINIA. 

 Answers. — 1. If you have much red clover 

 it might be well to breed partly, at least, 

 from the red-clover queen, even though she be 

 hybrid. 



2. Hard to say; perhaps the 13-frame. 



3. Just lay the cell on its side in the com- 

 partment, and it will be all right. 



4. The Eastman kodak A 1 does good work, 

 and there may be others just as good. 



5. It was Kodak A 1. I think is cost $12, 

 but would be higher now. 



6. No, those were time exposures. 



Feeding 



When feeding bees warm sugar (cane) 

 syrup in proper proportions, immediately after 

 feeding, a good many dead bees are carried 

 from the hive. In pressing these between 

 the fingers they disgorge the syrup they have 

 eaten. I am using the Alexander feeder and 

 I am feeding my bees in daytime. Up to date 

 I have found no solution. 



MICHIGAN. 



Answer. — I think the thing you mentio/i is 

 more common than generally supposed, and I 

 don't know how to account for it. It would 

 seem that there should be no quarreling 

 among the bees of the same colony working 

 upon feed to which no other bees have access, 

 yet I know it sometimes happens, without 

 knowing why. 



lowing plan would be safe, or if I would only 

 be sacrificing queens: 



1. Divide strong colony about the 20th of 

 May, raising half above (5 frames) over ex- 

 cluder, putting sheet over the lower five 

 frames of brood, completing isolation as much 

 as possible without interfering with free in- 

 tercourse with above super, to which I would 

 introduce a laying queen. 



2. Would both stories build up in time for 

 clover flow, which begins about Julv 1? 



CANADA. 

 Answer. — If understand correctly, vou 



mean to let the two parts remain separated 

 by the excluder till clover harvest. I'm 

 afraid in too many cases you would find one 

 of the queens missing. 



Bees Leave Hive 



I had a colony of black bees which I Ital- 

 ianized. Later the queen and all the bees 

 left the hive, leaving behind both brood and 

 eggs. Can you tell me what made them leave 

 and will this hive of combs do for bees again 

 next spring? NORTH CAROLINA. 



Answer. — It is possible the bees deserted 

 the hive because lacking honey or pollen, or 

 both. This sometimes happens. 



The combs will be all right for a swarm 

 next year provided "worms" do not destroy 

 them in the meantime. But you cannot de- 

 pend on keeping moths out by keeping the 

 hive closed, for the eggs are there already. 

 Fumigate the combs, and then again two 

 weeks later, and then you may trust to 

 keeping the hive closed tight. 



Balling Queens 



In the latter days of July as I was carry- 

 ing two frames of brood which I had cut out 

 of an old box hive, to give to the colony 

 which I had transferred. I noticed a swarm 

 passing over. I used a method I had found 

 effective before and got them to cluster on a 

 small peach tree about eight feet from the 

 ground. Using the two frames of brood in 

 the hive to hold them I proceeded to get them 

 into their new quarters. The queen did not 

 go into the hive so I placed her on the frames. 

 Immediately she was balled. I released her 

 from the balling bees and dipped her in honey 

 and placed her on one of the frames of brood 

 and closed the hive. She was missing the 

 next day, and in due time five cells were 

 capped over on the transferred brood. They 

 killed that queen and I introduced another 

 and the colony will go into winter in good 

 shape. It was evidently an absconding swarm, 

 as the queen was a layer. Inspectors were 

 Lusy treating for American foulbrood and 

 swarms were busy moving out. The puzzler 

 to me is, why did they ball the queen. An 

 answer in the Am rican Bee Journal will be 

 appreciated. KANSAS. 



Answer. — You placed the queen on the 

 frames, and in doing so you may have given 

 her a strange odor to which the bees objected. 

 Maybe that's the right answer and maybe it 

 isn't. 



Increase 



As my bees had no inclination to swarm 

 this year, I would lik to make increase the 

 next season and have been wondering if fol- 



Moving Bees 



I have a hive of bees which is now within 

 about fifteen feet of the line which will have 

 to be traversed by horses in doing some ex- 

 cavating which I contemplate doing early 

 next spring. The bees are Italian bees. Will 

 there be danger of the horses working s>o 

 close to the hive ? There is another place 

 one hundred feet away to which I can move 

 the hive if necessary. Would it not be best 

 to move the hive during the winter season 

 by taking it bodily from its present place? 

 ILLINOIS. 



Answer. — There would be danger of the 

 bees stinging the horses, especially if they 

 face towards the passage of the team and 

 there are no obstructions, such as trees or 

 brush, in the way. You might build a tight 

 board fence in front of the hive. But it 

 would probably be preferable to move them as 

 you suggest. Better do it soon, so they may 

 learn the new place before cold weather. If 

 you move them on a cold day, there is a pos- 

 sibility of many of them being lost at their 

 first flight. Move them soon, in the morning 



of a good day for them to fly. Disturb them 

 thoroughly, so they may know that something 

 is wrong. When you release them, put a 

 slanting board in front of the entrance so that 

 they may notice at once that something has 

 been changed. They will then be more apt 

 to recognize the place and come back to it. 

 If they are thoroughly disturbed, very jew 

 will fail to return to the new place, since 

 they will have taken notice of the change. 

 More bees are lost, likely, when the hive is 

 moved 100 feet or less than when moved sev- 

 eral miles, out of the range of their flight. 



Foulbrood 



1 My dad has cut down many bee-trees, 

 and he says he has found them and their 

 brood all healthy. Now, how is it, that when 

 you take the bees out of the trees and put 

 them into modern up-to-date hives, they take 

 the disease? 



2. Do you think putting the diseased hives 

 into hot lime water would kill the disease? 



CALIFORNIA. 



Answers. — 1. If your dad had transferred 

 the bees from the log to the movable-frame 

 hive fifty years ago and had kept them with- 

 out a trace of disease until two or three 

 years ago, would he still accuse the movable- 

 frame hive of being the cause of the disease? 



2. There is a much quicker way to treat 

 the hives than a bath of quicklime; it is to 

 paint the inside of them with a little coal oil 

 and set fire to them, allowing them to burn 

 only a few seconds. Still better is to borrow 

 a gasoline torch from a tinner and throw a 

 blaze on every part of the wood, so as to 

 singe it. But lime will probably do, if you 

 prefer that way. 



Moths 



Will you please tell me what I can do about 

 moths cutting up my drawn comb? 1 extracted 

 about the first of September and put my 

 supers with drawn comb in storeroom upstairs, 

 in my house. Nothing else in the room. A 

 week later I looked them over and iound some 

 big and some small wax moths cutting up my 

 drawn combs. I killed as many as I could 

 find. ' MINNESOTA. 



Answer. — Either use brimstone wicks, that 

 you can buy from the druggist, and burn a 

 piece about 3 inches each way, in a crock or 

 clay vessel, under the combs, in a closed room. 

 This should kill not only the moths, but the 

 flies in the room. If the room is too large you 

 should use more brimstone. Or you can also 

 use carbon-disulphide, but this explodes if 

 you bring a light near it. Dip a piece of rag 

 in carbon-disulphide and lay it over the combs, 

 closing up the super. It will evaporate and 

 kill the moths. You should repeat the dose in 

 a couple of weeks to kill the hatched eggs. 



Wiring — Hive Roofs 



1. This season I wired a few frames (Da- 

 dant) with the regular number of horizontal 

 wires and with one perpendicular wire. This 

 wire passes through a small hole in the upper 

 bar and is secured to a small nail beside the 

 hole. This wire makes a turn around each 

 horizontal wire and is then fastened to ;he 

 lower bar. This seems to wholly prevent 

 foundation from sagging down. What is wrong 

 with this simple scheme? I can't see what it 

 is, but I know there is something, or else you 

 and the Dadants would use it. 



2. I would like to ask the Dadants what 

 they would think Lbout using surplus founda- 

 tion in the extracting frames and wiring the 

 frames? If my bees use any of the wax that 

 is in light brood foundation in making the 

 cells it is such a small amount as to be un- 

 noticeable. I have scraped the cells off of 

 some combs that were built on light brood and 

 the foundation looks just the same as when 

 put in the Irame, and 1 think it would weigh 

 as much, or more. 



3. In the back of Dadant's catalog, in that 

 picture of one of your out-yards, what are 

 those things laying on top of each hive? 



WISCONSIN. 

 Answers. — 1. That method is all right. Each 



