*?w^^^W^fr'-i^^ 



174 



•NINTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



this spring-, but that was fertilized 

 last fall. 



The President — Can you keep them 

 ten days wi^th safety? 



Mr. Ramer — I don't think so. 



Question — Can queens be success- 

 fully introduced this fall in a locality 

 where the honey-flow has stopped? 



Dr. Bohrer — Yes. 



Question — What is the best way to 

 find a black or hybrid queen? 



Dr. Bohrer — Go into the hive and 

 look for her. 



Mr. Clark — I try an experimjent 

 once in a while. I find a good way to 

 find a queen that is hard to find is, 

 if you have got another queen, drop 

 (her in a hive, and re-open it, and you 

 will find them' both. 



Question — Is early gathered honey- 

 dew safe for winter food for bees hav- 

 ing some good honey with it in the 

 brood chamber? 



The President — That is rather an 

 indefinite question. 



Mr. I>adant — I don't believe honey- 

 dew is good for wintering under any 

 ciroumsitances. 



Question — iHow to winter our bees 

 this winter when the hives now have 

 honey- dew in them? 



Mr. Huffman — Take the honey- dew 

 out and put in sugar. 



Question — ^What should a ten -frame 

 hive weigh, ready for outdoor winter- 

 ing, including tlhe bees, combs and 

 honey? Total weight wanted. 



Mr. Hall — Sixty pounds wouldn't 

 hurt it any. 



Dr. Bohrer — It depends upon the 

 hive. I have some hives that have 

 the heavy Acme covers on, and they 

 are in turn covered with galvanized 

 iron, and that w^ould make quite a 

 difference in the weight of the hive; 

 and the thickness of the board has 

 something to do with it; and then, 

 again, if you use an Acme or Colorado 

 cover, that would' make a difference. 



Mr. Hall — The edge of the com'bs, 

 and the amount of pollen in there, 

 would also have something to do 

 with it. 



Mr. Clark — On the ten-frame dove- 

 tail hive with the ordinary excelsior 

 cover I have been weighing the 

 combs when they have been first 

 drawn out in foundation, and I have 

 weighed the hive bodies separately, 

 and the ten-fr^me dovetail hive with 

 the excelsior cover and combs, not 

 over two yea*s old, will weigh 31 



pounds, so all the rest of the bee- 

 keepers know how many stores it is-- 

 .necessary to keep a good strong col- 

 ony throug'h the winter; you can eas- 

 ily get at it now. 



Question — What is the best way to 

 feed ten or more colonies for winter? 



Mr. Hall — In, I think, 1902, when we 

 got back from the Denver Conven- 

 tion, my bees, 63 colonies, were starv- 

 ing, and there was nothing coming in 

 from the field, and they were carrying 

 out brood. I had to do something and 

 do it quickly. After I got off the 

 three o'clock train, and before I went 

 to bed, I went to the sugar sack and 

 mixed up some syrup, and went 

 around to each hive, jerked up the 

 cover and doused in ahout a teacup - 

 ful or pint of sugar water right on top- 

 of the bees. I don't consider that a 

 really good way to feed, it is a lit- 

 tle dangerous. The next day I went 

 down to the store and ordered 3,000 lbs. 

 of sugar; I went to the pasture and 

 got mj^ 16-foot water trough, made of 

 12-inch plank. In that I already had 

 a fioat made of half -inch boards, 

 enough to fill it all except sufficient 

 space at one end for the stock to 

 drink from. I went to work and took 

 two 16-inch boards and nailed a lath 

 four inches from each end, leaving a 

 strip up the middle. Up the middle I 

 laid a piece of gunnisack. I put one 

 end of one of these boards in the 

 trough, and the other end on top of 

 this other board, and at the top end I 

 put a barrel with a faucet in it, over 

 which was tied gunnisack, so that the 

 bees didn't get into the barrel. In a 

 week's time I fed 3,000 pounds of 

 sugar to those bees. That was out- , 

 door deeding right in the yard. At ; 

 one time I tested the bees to find how i 

 fast they were taking the sugar, and j 

 they took it at the rates of 125 pounds | 

 to the hour. Some people would •• 

 think that was a good way to create a .; 

 lof of robbing, but I had no robbing ] 

 whatever. 



Mr. Griffin — Were there any more ; 

 bees in the neighborhood? j 



Mr. Hall — Yes, there were. There 

 were not any bees closer than about . 

 half a mile. If I had continued it any j 

 considerable time in the fine weather I 1 

 would have had a good case of robbing I 

 from the other apiaries, but I didn't i 

 have it. 



Mr. Dadant — ^Didn't that feed the \ 



