BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Q. In the American Bee Journal for November, 1914, page 385, the plan given by J. E. Hand on swarm control and the increase problem looks possible, and I would like to have your opinion of it. I note he uses 16-frame hives. Do you think the plan will work with the 10-frame hive? He says take six frames from each colony at the close of the basswood harvest and give them to the nuclei. But that will not be necessary, as I can build a 2-frame nucleus into a full colony by winter. Is it necessary to wait until each colony has made preparations to swarm, or can it be done just before the swarming season?
A. As a rule, it is not well to attempt any changes on any plan given, but to follow out exactly instructions. A plan that succeeds with 16 frames might be an utter failure with a less number.
When colonies in general are making preparations for swarming, it will usually be all right to operate at that time upon other colonies that have made no such preparations, provided they are strong; for some colonies make no preparation for swarming throughout the entire season.
Q. In the September issue, 1914, page 310, is an article by C. F. Greening on "Controlling Swarming," which I find most valuable. I wish to ask a few questions concerning it.
(a) It being supposed the colony is a strong one, and of course no queen-excluder being used, will the queen always lay eggs in the super added to the brood-chamber "as soon as it becomes warm" in the spring? In case she does not, this plan is doomed to fail at the very start.
(b) In case she does not come to lay in the super, what shall I do?
(c) Would this plan work with large brood-chambers, such as the Dadant, the Quinby, or the Massie hive, which has a double brood-chamber of a capacity equal to 14 Langstroth frames? With such large hives, how can I make sure the queen will lay eggs in the first super added in the spring?
A. (a) I don't think you can always be sure of the queen going above to lay, especially if the hive be very large; but the plan is not necessarily doomed on that account.
(b) Take a frame of brood out of the brood-chamber and put it up.
(c) You seem to think that an essential part of the plan is for the queen to go up to lay in the story above. If that be so, then a very large hive would not do. But I hardly think that is essential. If I understand Mr. Greuning aright, he wants brood always above, with plenty of room for the bees to store between that and the brood-chamber. The large size of the hive would not interfere with that. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, with the very large hives used by the Dadants they have very little swarming, even without keeping brood above.
**Swarms, Cause of.-1**. I have noticed that the colony that keeps its brood-nest free from honey is not apt to swarm. Is this in line with your observations?
A. Certainly we know that when the queen is crowded for room it tends toward swarming. The more honey crowds into or encroaches upon the brood-nest, the less room the queen has for laying, and, it would seem not unreasonable to argue, the greater inclination to swarming.
**Swarms, Hiving.-2**. In "Rout" A, B, C and X, Y, Z," page 353, 1913 edition, "a frame of unscaled larvae" is thrust into the bees of a swarm, so that they may crawl upon it. Are unscaled larvae better than sealed for this purpose?
A. As between sealed and unscaled larvae, if you have either kind alone, I think sealed would work better than unscaled. When, however, you take a frame having unscaled larvae, you generally have scaled too.
Q. In hiving a swarm, do you put them in at the top, or the bottom of the hive?
A. It doesn't matter so you get them into the hive, but generally you will find it easier to get them into the hive at the bottom, as bees of a swarm naturally incline to crawl upward.
Q. Is it best to put a swarm on the old stand? Where would you put the old hive?
A. Yes, unless you want aftcrswarnns. The old hive should be put close beside the hive containing the swarm, and a week later moved to any place you like, ten fect or more away.
Q. If a swarm lights on the grass and you do not happen to see the queen, how would you hive them?* A. Set the hive on the ground with the entrance close to the bees, put a few at the entrance, and let the rest follow.
* Q. I have just started in beekeping. I keep my bees in a large attic. Having only one colony, I would like to get another swarm started in swarming time. Can they be made to go into another hive while swarming? A. Of course a swarm can be hived in any hive, just the same as if the bees were on the ground instead of being in an attic. What you probably mean, however, is to have the bees enter the hive of their own accord. That can be managed, too, just the same as if the bees were on the ground. Have the queen's wing clipped. Then when the swarm issues catch and cage the queen, move the old hive to a new place and set the new hive where the old hive stood. The swarm, having no queen, will be sure to return within a few minutes, and finding the old hive gone, will enter the new one sitting where it left the old one. As the bees are entering the hive, free the queen and let her run into the hive with them.
* Q. In hiving a swarm where only the queen and not quite two frames of bees can be captured, should the division-board bc used as in nuclei, and about how many frames of conb or foundation should be given them?
* A. A division-board is not needed, but it is better to have a dummy; that is, a board like a division-board, but having a space all around. The hive may be filled at first with combs, or you may give only one comb more than the bees can cover, adding others as they are needed.
* Swarms, Issue of.-Q. What time of the day do bees swarm? A. The primes swarm, which issues with the old queen, generally comes off somewhere between 9 and 12 o'clock. An after- swarm, having a virgin queen, is more irregular, and may issue earlier or later, in some cases as early as 6 in the morning, and a late as 4 or 5 p. m. If a morning is very hot, a swarm may come out early. If the day should be rainy, and clear off rather late in the afternoon, a swarm may come then.
* Q. Do bees find a home before they swarm? A. Often, and perhaps generally. Q. Are there any indications to tell when the first swarm will issue?
* A. Yes; when a colony decides to swarm it starts a number of queen-cells. About the time the first queen-cell is seated the swarm issues.
Q. Will a swarm fly out before a queen-cell is sealed?
A. Sometimes; but generally not.
Q. When a swarm issues from a hive, does the queen go out first?
A. No; she may be among the last.
Q. When several swarms issue at once, if the queens are clipped, will all the bees go back to their own hive?
A. As a rule each bee will return to its own hive. In a large apiary, however, it sometimes happens that there will be some mixing, part or all of the bees of a swarm being attracted by the noise of a returning swarm that had previously issued.
**Swarm, Kind of Bees in.-(.)**. When bees swarm, which leave the hive, the young or old, and are they forced out by the remaining bees?
A. Bees of all ages are in the swarm, and they go out without any forcing.
**Swarms, Late.-(.)**. Is a swarm worth hiving after the last of May, and how late are they worth saving?
A. In my locality nearly all swarms issue after the last of May..A good swarm is worth saving, no matter how late it comes.
**Swarms Leaving.-Q. How far will a swarm go off to a tree?**
A. Nothing definite about it. They may go a few rods or a few miles. They are likely to go to the nearest place where they can find a suitable lodging.
Q. Is there any way to stop a swarm of bees that is passing by you, going to the woods? If so, how?
A. Some have reported success by flashing upon the swarm the reflected rays of the sun by means of a looking-glass. Perhaps the most reliable thing is to throw upon the bees a strong spray of water, since this may hit the queen and make her fall to the ground.
Q. Please tell me how to keep the bees of a swarm from swarming out again. I lost several swarms this sunnuncr by their swarming out. They were put in new hives that I bought two years ago.
A. Years ago it was more or less the practice to wash out the hives with this or that under the notion that certain odors made it attractive to the swarm put in it. Nowadays nothing is wantedbut a clean hive. Your hives were, no doubt, all right, but it's a pretty safe guess that the bees were uncomfortable for all that. Either they were too warm or had too little air. Likely both. When you hive a swarm see that it has abundant ventilation. Give it as large an entrance as you can. If practicable, it is a good plan to raise the hive an inch or so from the bottom-board by putting blocks under the corners. Shove the cover forward so as to make an opening of half an inch, or an inch, at the back end. After two or three days you can lessen the ventilation if you think best. The hive should be in a shady, airy place. If you cannot give shade in any other way, cut an armful of long grass, put it on the hive, lay two or three sticks of firewood on it to keep it from blowing away. Some make a practice of giving a frame of brood to the swarm. The bees think that it is such a good start toward housekeeping that they are unwilling to leave it without great provocation.
Some secondary swarms leave because their queen has not yet mated, and they follow her when she goes out for her wedding flight. Nothing will hold such swarms except killing the queen. Then they would return to the parent hive.
**Swarms, Moving,--Q**. When is the best time to move a swarm after it is hived?
A. Right away after you get the bees of the swarm in the hive. Don't wait to get a few scattering bees in; they can find the swarm where you put it, or else they can go back to the old hive.
**Swarm, Prime.--Q**. How long after the prime swarm issues forth does the young queen hatch?
A. Ordinarily the first virgin leaves her cell about a week after the issue of the prime swarm. If, however, the swarm be delayed a day or more by bad weather, then the time of her emergence after the swarming will be lessened a day or more. It may also be increased in case the prime swarm issues before the first queen-cell is sealed.
**Swarms, Returning.--Q**. What is the best manner of returning a swarm to the hive from whence it issued, so as to make it stay, no further increase being desired?
A. It doesn't matter how you return the swarm; it will stay as well for one kind of returning as another, It is the condition of things in the hive that decides whether the swarm will issue again, and it isn't the easiest thing in the world to prevent it. The old-fashioned way was to return the swarm every time it issued,and if you don't mind the amount of work involved in returning it half a dozen times or more, the old way is good. Here's another way you may like better. When the swarm issues, return it and kill the old queen. A week later destroy all queen-cells but one. It you miss no cells there ought to be no more swarming. If you hive the swarm in a box and wait twenty-four hours before returning it to the mother colony, there will be more likelihood of it remaining than if returned at once.
Q. My prime swarms invariably, after I hive them, leave the hives and return to the parent colony. My hives are all new and up to date, and I can't account for this. If you can cast a little light on this subject it will be appreciated.
A. That's just the way my bees do, and it's a good deal better than to have queen, bees and all going off to return no more. The reason my bees do so is because the quecns' wings are clipped so they cannot go with the swarms, and when a swarm finds out the queen is not along there is nothing for it to do but to return to the old home. Of course, I don't know anything about it, but as you have things "all new and up to date," my guess would be that you have lately begun bekeeping and have bought colonies with queens whose wings have been clipped. If that isn't the right answer, then I don't know what is the answer. It occasionally happens, where queens are not clipped, that a swarm returns because something has happened to the queen so she cannot fly, but to have it happen "invariably" with whole wings is something beyond me.
**Swarms, Second. (See Also Afterswarms.)-Q.** After the first swarm issues, how soon can I look for another?
A. A second swarm usually issues about eight days after the first, but the time may be less, and it may be more. The issuing of a prime swarm is sometimes delayed by bad weather, and it may be delayed by the queen failing for some reason to go with the swarm.
**Swarms, Sprinkling.-Q.** Do you think best to sprinkle bees with water before putting them in the hive when they swarm?
A. It is not a general custom, but if there is fear that the swarm will go off, sprinkling will help to prevent it.
**Swarms, Value of.-Q.** Will a new swarm gather any surplus honey the first season?
A. Yes; as a general rule the swarm is the one to rely on for a crop, it being put on the old stand after removing the old hive to a new stand.
ture collects overhead and drops down upon the cluster. Covering up warm helps prevent this.
Q. What makes bees sweat in the cellar in winter? Mine are all wet. I put them into the cellar just as they were in the summer.
A. The moisture from the breath of the bees settles on the cold walls of the hive, just as we say a pitcher sweats when a pitcher of cold water stands in a hot and moist time and the moisture of the air settles on the outside of the pitcher. It is a bad thing to have this moisture settle on the hive-cover, for then the drops fall on the cluster of bees. The matter may be helped by enlarging the entrance, by allowing a little crack at the top for the moisture to escape, or by having some kind of warm packing on top.
**Tar Paper.-Q.** Is tarred paper injurious to bees and honey?
A. Not in general. If honey were kept for a time directly in contact with paper strongly impregnated with tar, it would probably hurt the flavor, but wrapping tarred paper around a hive would not produce any such result.
Q. Would it pay to wrap hives in tar paper for spring protection? I see some favor it, while others do not. Why is there this wide difference?
A. There is a wide difference in climate. While it might not pay in the far South, it might pay well in the far North. Localities differ. Your apiary may be in an exposed place, where the wrapping mentioned may be of great service in warding off the chilly blasts of spring, while another apiary a mile away may be in such a warm corner that the wrapping is not so much needed.
Q. How can I protect my bees after putting them out of the cellar, with tar-paper. And how should it be put, when taken off, and what is accomplished for the benefit of the bees?
A. Whatever protection of the kind is given should be given just as soon as possible after the bees are taken out, as it is likely to be colder then than afterward. The time for taking off depends upon the weather; no harm to leave it on until fruit-bloom, or even till the first bloom is seen on clover. The advantage is that the bees are kept warmer, especially cold nights. Just how much that advantage is, it would be hard to say, no reports being yet given as to comparative results with and without protection.
**Tartaric Acid.-Q.** Will you tell us the result of your experience in mixing tartaric acid or other acids with sugar syrup for
253 DR. MILLER's
boiler off the stove and stirred in the sugar. I used two rounds of sugar to one of water.
A. I must say there is something I don't understand about this sugar-acid business. There are those who, as you say, insist that no acid is needed, and they are very emphatic about it. A very few say that the sugar hardens in spite of the acid, and you are one of the unfortunate few. The time and manner of feeding may have something to do with it. If you feed as early as August or the first of September, and use more water than sugar, I don't believe acid is needed. Even if you feed heavier syrup, if you feed it slowly, there should be no trouble. But with late feeding of thick syrup, I should feel safer with the acid. I hardly see why you should fail; you used more acid than I ever used, and I never had any trouble, although I have had much experience. Still it is possible that the mode of proceeding may have something to do with it, and I'll tell you how I proceeded, when I fed late with heavy syrup: Water was put into a vessel on the stove, and when at or near the boiling point, sugar was slowly stirred in at the rate of 5 pounds of sugar to a quart of water. The stirring was continued until the sugar was dissolved, so that the sugar might not settle to the bottom and be burned. When the sugar was dissolved, an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid for every 20 pounds of sugar, previously dissolved in water, was stirred into the syrup, and it was taken from the fire. I would hardly suppose that your reversing the order would make any difference, still it might.
**Toads.-(?).** I have seen a frog or tod on the alighting-board of the hive, close to the entrance, late in the evening, just when the bees have clustered on the outside these warm, dry days and nights. I did not see the tod cat any bees at this time, but I wonder if he doesn't.
A. Yes, there has been a good deal of testimony that frogs and toads cat bees. Toads are such useful creatures in the garden that they may pay for eating a few bees by the number of injurious insects they destroy.
Q. How do you keep toads from eating bees?
A. Perhaps no better way than to raise hives so high that toads cannot reach the entrance.
**Tongue of Bees.-Q.** Are there long-tongued bees? I can hardly swallow that. I think that is only a selling point for those who have queens for sale. I have a few colonies, and I intend to
Q. How do you like putting a hive with one frame of brood over the colony to be transferred, and a queen-excluder between, when you catch the queen in the upper hive?
A. It will work all right. Here is something you may like better: Drum out all the bees, putting them in the new hive on the old stand, with a frame of brood, put on an excluder, and then the old hive. In 21 days the worker-brood will be gone from the old hive above and it can be taken away and the combs melted up.
Q. When transferring bees, will it hurt to have the old hive wrong side up until the brood hatches?
Q. Will the following plan work well for transferring? Say I have five colonies in box-hives and wish to transfer, and I go to a hive to be transferred and smoke and drum out all the bees into the frame-hive except some to care for the brood that is in the hive at this time, which we suppose is in May or June; after which I set the old hive, for say five days, with its entrance closed over the frame-hive and with a wire-cloth between. After five days I replace the wire-cloth with a queen excluder, which I let stay for fifteen days, or one day before all the brood is hatched, then I put on an escape-board in its place; and when they have all gone down, take the old hive off, save all the good combs, and melt the others.
A. Yes; only it is hardly necessary to leave the wire-cloth as long as five days. Likely two days would be long enough--just long enough for the queen to get started laying below. Indeed, it might work all right to give the excluder at the start, and the less time the wire-cloth is left the better it will be for the brood above it.
Transferring From Movable-Frame Hives.--Q. Will you please tell me how to transfer bues from one hive to another? The hive they are in is poor, and I would like to get them into one with 9 frames.
A. Just exactly how it should be done, provided the bees are now in a frame hive, depends upon the size of the frame now in use compared with one to which you wish to transfer them. If the frame is shallower than the old one, you will cut down the comb so as to make it the right depth. If the new frame is deeper, put the comb in, and then cut pieces to wedge in on top, or which may be more easily managed, turn the comb so the present top and bottom may be at the sides, and then cut the comb just deep enough to go in the frame. Before taking out the first frame from the old hive, have an empty frame ready for it. Lay some strings on a table or something of the kind; on these strings lay the empty frame, then after putting the comb in, tie the strings. Of course, the strings must be laid in such a way that they will be distributed along the length of the frame, perhaps six or more of them, each string independent of the others. When you take out the first frame, brush the bees from it before cutting, and put it in its hive, after tying. Then move the old hive from the stand and put the new one in its place, and after that brush the bees into the new hive each time you take out another frame.
Q. Last fall I purchased three colonies of bees in home-made hives of the Langstroth pattern. I found that the frames were badly made, so that the combs were crooked-in fact, they zig-zagged in every shape. I left them just as they were, fed the bees steadily all winter, and they are good and strong now; but will not get more honey than enough to feed themselves through the conning winter. I would like to get these bees out of the old hives. Would you advise transferring them at this time (August 3)?
A. Perhaps it may be as well to leave them as they are till next spring or swarming time. Still, it may be all right to transfer this fall, if you are sure of a good fall flow after transferring.
**Traps.-Q.** Is it necessary for a beginner to use a drone and queen trap?
A. No; and the advanced beekeeper gets along very well without it.
Q. If I use an Alley trap on a hive and the colony should swarm while I am away for a few days, will they stay around or near the hive any length of time, or will they leave if not hived the same day
A. The trap holds the queen, and when the swarm finds it has no queen it will return.
**Trees.-Q.** What kind of trees, other than fruit trees, can bees work on?
A. Oh, my! A whole lot more; more than I can tell you, and more than I know. A few are linden, locust, poplar, eucalyptus, maple, banana, black mangrove, wild cherry, etc.
**T.-Tins.-Q.** What is a T-tin? I see in the American Bee Journal the way to make a T-super, but I do not understand what is meant by the T-tin.
A. A "T" super has no bottom, but to support the sectionshas three tin supports running crosswise. Each of these is made of a piece of tin so folded that a cross section looks like a "T" upside down. You can buy T-tins of supply dealers for about a cent apiece, probably much cheaper than you can get a tinner to make them for. (See Super, "T.")
Q. How high up between the sections do your T-tins come? Don't you have to saw a place for them in the separators?
A. Some of my T-tins are three-eighths and some one-half inch high. Either does. No place is sawed in the separator, which rests directly on the T-tins. It would be bad to have the separator come down lower.
Q. I am informed that you use nothing but the T-tin in your comb-honey supers. It looks to me that they should be the best all around, but they say that the weight of honey will make the tins give or bend. What is your experience? The bees glue the wood-holders very tight in this locality. The wood separators are also troublesome.
A. Whoever they are that "say that the weight of honey will make the tins give or bend," it must be that they have never seen a T-tin, or else they are poor judges of the strength of ordinary tin. On the contrary, it would take a much greater weight to bend a T-tin than to bend any wooden support in use in supers. Remember that there are two thicknesses of tin standing one-half inch upright. I have had 3,000 T-tins in use for many years, and have never known one to be bent the slightest by the weight of honey. It would probably be all the same if the honey were five times as heavy.
**Tupelo.-Q.** From where does the tupelo honey come:
A. Tupelo (also called Gum) is a tree of the south. It is especially abundant in Florida, where it yields quantities of honey.
**Uniting.-Q.** Is it advisable to unite a strong colony with a weak one in July or August, or wait until spring?