THOUSAND ANSWERS 111 



granulate as soon as extracted, while other honey may remain 

 liquid a year or more. 



Q. Can combs containing granulated honey be fed to the bees 

 m the spring? If not, what can I do with them? 



A. You can give them to the bees, but unless some precaution 

 is taken they will throw out the granules and waste them. 

 Sprinkle them with water, then give them to the bees, and as often 

 as they lick them up dry, sprinkle them again. 



Grapes. — Q. In central California the grapes are sour (not 

 much sugar) and my bees have gathered some of this juice, con- 

 sequently the honey has a somewhat sour taste. Is this good 

 winter feed for the bees or for consumption? (California.) 



A. My guess is that it will not be good for winter stores. It 

 will be all right for consumption if the taste is not objectionable, 

 and of that you can judge better than I. The same may be said of 

 all fruit juices. 



Guards (See Entrance Guards.) 



Handling Bees. — Q. How warm should it be by the thermome- 

 ter when it is safe to handle bees in ordinary manipulation? 



A. About 70 degrees. Instead of going by the thermometer, it 

 may be better to say, don't handle bees any time when they are 

 not flying freely. But if you merely lift out a frame and quickly 

 return it, as when you want to know in the spring whether brood 

 is present, then it may be safe at 55 degrees or less. 



Q. I have a colony of bees that I have left outside with a box 

 cover packed with leaves. They have nothing over the brood- 

 frames, but are wintering finely. Does it hurt the bees much to 

 open the hive in cold weather? 



A. Sometimes it does a great deal of harm, even to the death 

 of the colony, to open the hive and disturb the bees when it is 

 too cold for them to fly. When it is warm enough for them to fly, 

 it may do little or no harm; but when very cold, better not dis- 

 turb them unless there is danger of starvation. 



Hanging Out of Bees. — Q. My bees have been hanging from 

 the top of the hive to the ground. They fly around the hive and 

 then cluster. Only a few seem to work. They have been doing 

 this for two weeks. Are they getting ready to swarm? 



A. I don't know enough about the conditions to answer. If 

 no nectar is to be had, that may be a sufficient reason for their 

 idleness. If there is a good flow of nectar, hanging out might be 

 a sign they are getting ready to swarm, and yet they would hardly 



