THOUSAND ANSWERS 19 



beekeeping alone. There are probably a few more who can. You 

 may be one of them, and you may not. 



It would not be advisable for you to cut loose from everything 

 else and sta'rt in at beekeeping with the idea of making a living 

 at it from the very start. If you have enough ahead so that you 

 can afford to do nothing for a year or two, with a fair assurance 

 that you could take up your old line of work at the end of the 

 year or two, if you should so elect, then all right. For you must 

 count it among the possibilities that the next two years may be 

 years of failure in the honey harvest. 



If you can take such a risk, perhaps you can grow into quite a 

 business with bees, while still continuing at your present business. 

 Indeed, that might be the best way. In a suburban home you 

 could probably care for 25 or 50 colonies mornings and evenings. 

 Or, you might have a roof apiary in the city. The profit from 

 them would be all the while bringing you nearer the point when 

 you could cut loose from everything else. After a year or two 

 you could judge better than anyone else whether it would be 

 feasible and advisable to try beekeeping alone. 



Bees Restless in Winter. — Q. I have two colonies of bees I 

 moved 14 miles last December. I packed them in chaff about 3 

 inches thick, and they have plentj^ of honey. They seem restless 

 and come out of the hive when it is 20 degrees below zero. \\'hat 

 is the cause of this? Are they too warm? 



A. The likelihood is that not very many bees are coming out, 

 and a very few need cause no alarm. If the number is consider- 

 able it may be that a mouse in the hive is disturbing them, or that 

 they are troubled with diarrhea. In the latter case a good flight 

 the first warm day will cure them, unless, indeed, they have un- 

 wholesome stores, which will keep up the trouble more or less 

 until warm weather comes. 



Beespace Over Brood-Frames. — Q. I build my own hives. Is 

 it necessary to have beespace between cover and brood-frames? 

 I find some hives do not have this. 



A. By all means have a space of about one-quarter inch be- 

 tween cover and top-bars. This for the sake of allowing a 

 passage over the frames in winter, and also because if there is no 

 such space the bees will glue the cover tight to the top-bars. This 

 is on the supposition that there is nothing between the cover and 

 top-bars. With some people it is a common practice to have a 

 sheet or quilt over the top-bars, and in that case no space is 

 needed except enough room for sheet or quilt. 



