ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' "ASSOCIATION 



43 



Mr. Whitney related that, he had 

 tried to use two queens in the hive. 

 He got no surplus in the double-hive, 

 and one queen was killed during the 

 winter. 



Mr. Taylor thought it was hardly to 

 be believed that Mr. Alexander runs 

 two queens in one hive successfully. 



Mr. Whitney mentioned a case where 

 five colonies were in one box — one in 

 each corner and one in the center— and 

 they worked all summer harmoniously. 



Mr. Dadant had found two queens in 

 one hive occasionally, even on the same 

 comb. 



Mr. Wheeler said he had seen the 

 same thing. 



Dr. Miller stated that it is the rule 

 that when the queen is superseded the 

 mother and daughter, are together in 

 the hive. He mentioned cases where 

 bees had got tired of trying to super- 

 sede the queen. 



Mr. Kimmey gave instances of the 

 same thing. 



The evening session began with the 

 following question: 



Fall Hpney for Winter Food. 



"Is fall hdney unfit for wnnter food?" 



Mr. Taylqr: If it is bad for bees 

 it is. I '"■ 



Dr. Millfer: - What do you mean by 

 fall honeyb 



Mr. Dadant: "*! was the one that 

 asked the question. My reason for 

 asking it was that Mr. Taylor said this 

 afternoon that for years he had lost 

 bees in w^inter because they had fall 

 honey, and that it was bad for bees. 

 Fall honey is the honey tjiat is har- 

 vested between the first of August and 

 October, at least with us. I wanted to 

 bring out Mr. Taylor and find out more 

 information. 



Mr. Taylor: Some kinds of fall 

 honey are just as good as any for win- 

 tering bees. Buckwheat honey is gen- 

 erally good for wintering bees. Honey 

 from swamp flowers is good if gathered 

 in a dry fall, when the weather is 

 warm so that the bees can ripen it. 

 Fall honey gathered from the swamps 

 if often gathered in rainy weather, and 

 from flowers which have an abun- 

 dance of pollen, which mixes with the 

 nectar, and in cold weather often the 

 honey doesn't ripen, and the stuff mix- 

 ed with pollen in an unripe state is apt 

 to ferment; in such cases it isn't good 

 ■for wintering bees. There is a differ- 

 ence in the source, and it all depends 

 upon that and the weather. There are 



several kinds of fall honey. Some are 

 perfectly good. Buckwheat honey is 

 always good. Goldenrod is good. 

 Boneset and other flowers that grow in 

 swamps, milkweed, etc., if honey is 

 gathered in wet weather, it is apt to be 

 bad for the bees. 



Mr. Dadant: I see there is a great 

 deal of difference in locality. We have 

 one apiary in particular, but I have 

 had three apiaries (have two today) 

 that are in reach of the Mississippi 

 River bottom. That is very swampy. 

 The bees gather honey from blossoms 

 that grow only in damp ground — the 

 Spanish needle, for instance. Those 

 apiaries winter as well as any other. 

 Mr. Taylor is right for his own locality. 

 It is quite likely that boneset honey is 

 bad. Heartsease is all right. Its honey 

 is very thick, very rich and all right for 

 bees to winter on. We don't lose any 

 more bees from those apiaries on the 

 Mississippi River bottoms than we lose 

 in apiaries producing almost exclusive- 

 ly white clover honey. The greatest 

 risk is in unripe honey, or in a sud- 

 denly cold season when the bees must 

 go into winter quarters with unsealed 

 honey. The honey gathers moisture 

 from the atmosphere. In the main Mr. 

 Taylor and I agree as to conditions. 

 Fall honey is not bad for bees if prop- 

 erly ripened. 



Dr. Bohrer: We have no trouble un- 

 less we have excessive rainfall and 

 moisture. If honey is not properly 

 evaporated, and poorly sealed, there is 

 trouble. I have never had but one case 

 of dysentery among my bees. The 

 sun's rays did not strike that hive. 

 It had no chance to evaporate, and the 

 bees had no warmth in the hive to 

 evaporate it. It may have been the 

 chemical conditon of the atmosphere. 

 I don't know. The honey seemed to be 

 thick enough. At one time I took three 

 frames out of the hive, but it was not 

 all sealed. I wouldn't have fed it to 

 the bees, but we used the honey up be- 

 fore it spoiled. At one time, when I 

 was living in Indiana, there were 

 thousands of colonies died of cholera. 

 The honey soured right in the combs, 

 in the apiaries and in the cellars, and 

 dysentery among the bees T?i'as the re- 

 sult. It was not contagious, for, as soon 

 as warm weather came I saved the 

 bees. The same trouble that killed 

 the bees then existed all through the 

 season. The condition of the weather 

 has a great deal to do with it, excessive 

 moisture in the atmosphere. 



