1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



168 



SPKING DWINDLING. 



I think some of my bees have the si)rinf!r dwimiUng, 

 while some ol' them at'luiilly dwiniUo »ip tiiKl are lull 

 ■of bees— contain more bees tiian when 1 set them out. 

 Does not tlie trouble to a sreat t^xtcnt lie Ju bees 

 ft'roni difterent colonied congregating or joining with 

 •certain otlier colonies. A. C Northouse. 



Grand Haven, Mich., April 24th, 1877. 



We do not think the trouble is from bee.s 

 jrettiug into other hives, for they dwindle all 

 the same when wintered on their summer 

 stands. The evidence seems very plain to us 

 now, that the whole trouble with spring 

 dwiudlinar has been caused by cold and open 

 hives. When paclied in chaft', even if the col- 

 onies are weak, we see nothing of the kind, 

 and this explains why bees that winter finely 

 in cellars, do so badly after they are set out. 

 Whether iu-doors or out, we think they should 

 be packed in- chaff or some similar material 

 during the spring months. 



1 commenced one year ago with 4^ colonies, in- 

 creased to 15, and took 150 lbs. coml) honey. 1 put 

 them in the cellar about, the middle of October, took 

 them out the first oJ February and inicktil them in 

 chaff where they are at the present time and all doing 

 uicelj. Wm. A. Towi.E. 



Orleans, Mich., April 17th, IS77. 



"EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN." 



We have lost 102 stands of bees out of 12Ci. 

 M. L. Clifford, Lewistown, IDs., May 1st, 1877. 



UNCAPPED STORES, ETC. 



My 17 swarms all came throijgh alive ; S were queen- 

 less. 2 were weak and U all right. The swarm I put 

 away with uncapped stores (see page 68 Gleanings) 

 were sick when I set them out; their bodies were 

 badly digtcndcd and they were reduced in a short 

 time to about a teacuplul. 1 put theci with one of 

 my qneenless stocks and the queen is now laying 

 linely'. 



Is rot the reason of Mr. Doolittle's success with box 

 honey, that he reduces the brood nest to the capacity 

 of the queen ? [Very likely. How is it friend D. ?] 



You can say to J. iE. Dar't, that a parasite has aes- 

 troycd the largest part of our grasshopper seed eggs, 

 ihough there are many sound ones yet. But we cal- 

 culate to stay here unless they starve us out, for we 

 were herejirst. O. W. Parker. 



New London, Minn., May Ist, 1877. 



1 have lost 15 coloKies out of 38. Wintered on sum- 

 mer stands In Langstroth acd xXmerican hives with 

 hianket on top and 2 to 4 inches oJ chaff in supers. 

 <Jf the bees in this vicinity three-filths are dead. 



Dii. A. S. Haskin. 



Lawrence, Mich., April 30th, 1877. 



My extractor and other articles arrived yesterday. 

 1 was pleased with the way you had packed all. Not 

 one thing was out of place. 



E. H. Thornton, Bedford, Ind., May 5th, 1877. 



1 am just commencing in the bee business, and on 

 rather "a small scale at that. Bought two swarms in 

 box hives last year— know nothing whatever about 

 bees, asked advice oJ my "box hive neighbors" and 

 as a consequence lost one of my old swarms by moths 

 and let one swarm leave after they had settled nicely 

 ;«nd waited two or three hours for me to hive them. 

 My neighbors had told me they would never leave till 

 middle of the afternoon, so I'was taking more time 

 fixing a box hive nice, ihan was really necessary I 

 suppose and they leit. Thought 1 was paying pretty 

 •dearly for experience. 1 have began to "read up" a 

 little. 1 still have two swarms to start this spring 

 with and my hives ready, and they are no box hives 

 either. B. Robison. 



Schell City, Mo., April 20th, 1877. 



Hive your swarms just as soon as they get 

 clustered, and if you start them running into 

 the hive before they are all clustered, it will be 

 all the belter. It is rather poor economy to 

 raise bees and then have them "cut sticks" for 

 the woods. 



Tlie last of the 5 swarms of bees you sent me, came 

 to liaiid yesterday. Tliis morning, I removed the 

 sticks lliat w\ re between the frames. They h'lve all 

 appeared to be good strong ones, and arc entirely sat- 

 isfactory. The first were very busy yesterday and 

 the <):'.: b(d'ore in carrving in pollen. 



.J. T. AULLS, St. Clair, Mich., April 24th, 1877. 



I have a colony of bees that are queenless, ifound 

 the tpieen dead in front of the hive a few davs ago) is 

 there any help lor it ? I suppose 1 can not get a queeu 

 this time of year. E. H. Kin von. 



Quincy, Mich., April 30th, 1877. 



We think if you take a look inside of the 

 hive that you will find they have a good queen, 

 and they have only dragged out the old queen 

 after her death. This is the way in which 

 they are usually replaced, and the two have 

 probably been in the hive all winter. It is a 

 very unusual ihing for bees to become queen- 

 less under such circumstances, for as soon as 

 their queen shows signs of failing — the bees 

 discover any such symptom long before you 

 will — they promptly set about rearing another. 



The bees shipped on the 23d, I received on the 28th. 

 in good order. I think there were not more than 100 

 dead bees in each hive; the packing was excellent, 

 one hive is a little stronger than the others, but I am 

 satisfied with both. Is not that pretty well for ship- 

 jiing over to Canada ? Robert Smith. 



Durham, Bentruck, Ont., Canada, Apr. 30th, 1877. 



artificial swarming. 



I have 7 hives of black bees which I want to increase 

 more than is usual in this climate (that is lto3). 

 Now, as I have two story hives with 8 frames above 

 and as many below, couUl I not take one frame con- 

 taining brood ana one of honey from each hive put 

 then/ into an eighth hive, ard replace these with 

 frames containing comb foundation ? To the new 

 hive 1 shall also give two frames ol fdn. and an Ital- 

 ian queen. Our se.isons are very long here and not 

 f-ufficienll} cold to injure vegetation until December. 

 I propose to go through the hives hs above, once a 

 month. " W. A. Robertson. 



New Orleans, La., May 8th, 1877. 



Your plan will work nicely, but so much 

 manipulation is considered rather too much 

 trouble with a large apiary. We once in- 

 creased 11 colonies to 48, in just that way and 

 wintered them all, and did not have fdn. to 

 help the matter along either. 



You say artificial swarming is simply taking frames 

 ol brood and bees from hives and making a colony of 

 them. Now with me it is not so simple a thing to do. 

 We have to be very careful not to get the queen, and 

 to look each comb over carefully to find her and ar- 

 range the whole takes me about half an hour. 8ome 

 who have tried druinming out swarms say it don't 

 pay. Now the way I intend to try. is to change the 

 full hive for an empty one taking the frames out and 

 brushing the bees into the new hive, queen and all, 

 leaving only a few bees in the old hive and giving it a 

 fertile queen if 1 can get some extra ones raired by 

 that time. If my plan is wrong say so, and please 

 suggest a better one as swarming is the next thing in 

 order. We prefer natural swarming to anjthii g else 

 but don't like four or five swarms in one. 



Bees in fine condition ; lost 7 out of 43 packed in 

 chaff. Is three inch space enough for double wall 

 chaff hive ? K. M. Bakbour. 



Alamo, Mich., May 6th, 1S77. 



Your plan is a very good one with the ex- 

 ception of shaking off the bees ; that part of it 

 is just what you must not do, or you will have 

 the larva; dying of starvation, if not by getting 

 chilled. If you give them a laying queen, they 

 will get along very well by simply carrying 

 the hive away, as we direct in the ABC book. 

 Three inches of chaff might do if it was out 

 all around them, but we should prefer from 

 four to six inches. 



