BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
A. When you go out in very cold weather on a long drive, you often find frost and ice collecting on the wrappings about the face. That is no proof that you are not wintering all right. Same with the bees. They are breathing out moisture all the time, and when it's cold enough you will find that moisture condensing into frost and ice, even though the bees be wintering all right.
**Mold in Hives.--Q**. What can be done with a colony that has moldy combs when the whole entrance is open? I bored two holes, one on each side of the back part of the cover, about half an inch in diameter, and tacked some screen-wire over the holes, then I placed a telescope cover (of my own make) over it, and packed around it dry moss. Will it work? The bees are in a good shed. They were dying off before I gave them the top ventilation. Now they seem to be doing fine.
A. "The proof of the pudding is the eating of it." If your bees are doing well since you made the change, that is pretty good proof that it is all right. Of course, there must not be too much ventilation, lest the bees be too cold, but ventilation in some form must be sufficient to prevent dampness and mold.
Q. What can I do with moldy comb? Is there any special way to clean comb in which brood and bees have died?
A. Nothing is needed to be done with either moldy combs or those in which bees have died except to give them in care of the bees. They will clean them out in short order. A good way is to put a hive full of such combs under the hive of a strong colony. Then let the bees take their time to clean them.
**Morning Glory--Q**. Does morning glory make nice honey? We have hundreds, yes thousands, of acres here, and the bees seem to work on it some; also carpet-grass. The honey I have extracted is light amber.
A. I have read that it is of fair quality.
**Moving Bees.--Q**. Will it be safe to move a colony now on a high standing the east to a low stand six feet away and facing the southeast? Will many of the bees get lost when they fly out?
A. Something depends upon the weather. If, after moving, the weather is cold enough to confine the bees to the hive for a few days, or if the bees have not been flying for a few days--say a week or so--there will be little trouble about moving bees any distance, great or small. In the particular case you mention there will be no trouble, even if the bees are flying every day, provided no other colony stands within six feet of where the colony in question now stands. Put a slanting board in front of the entrance, so that when they issue they may know that something has been changed in their location. They will then examine their position more carefully before leaving.
Q. Can hives be moved from their original place, say 50 or 100 feet, without confusing the bees? Are there any special rules to be observed?
A. If you move them before they have had a spring flightthere will be no trouble. After that there will be lots of trouble, as the bees returning from the field will return to the old location. One way to help this is to fasten the bees in the hives in the evening, or very early in the morning before moving; after moving, leave them shut in till the middle of the day; pound on the hive until the bees roar, and then let them out, putting in front of each entrance a board for them to knock their noses against.
Q. I shall move my bees about 100 yards this winter, and while I know what the bee-books and journals say about it, I would take it as a personal favor if you would kindly tell how you would manage in moving them. (South Carolina.),
A. Although you do not say so, I suppose you have in mind the question of moving so as to have the least possible loss from bees returning to the old location. If I wanted to move my bees 100 yards, I should wait till winter was nearly over, moving them, as nearly as I could guess, just after they had had their longest imprisonment during the winter, and I would have little fear that any considerable number would return to the old place. The same thing might not work as well with you, as in South Carolina I should expect shorter periods of confinement and more frequent opportunities for flight. I should still work on the same general principle, adding some precaution. Clear up things at the old place, so that if any bee should try to return it would find nothing to look like home. Move the bees in the evening, when all are at home, and fasten them in so none can fly out, but not so as to smother them. Next day, or the first day it is warm enough for them to fly, pound on the hives so as to stir them up thoroughly and set them to roaring. Keep them in suspense for some time, leaving them thus until perhaps noon, if you think there is no danger of smothering, then let them out, and you can expect them to mark their location.
Q. I have six colonies of bees which I keep for pastime and study, as they please me and take up many interesting moments. The hives are scattered, and I would like to have them closer together. One hive is north of my house, three west of the house, about 20 feet from the first; then about 50 feet farther west comes another, and then again about 80 feet west is the last one. The advice I seek is when and how to get these all to the east of the house. I winter them in the cellar. I will greatly appreciate your advice.
A. That's easy. When you put them out in the spring, without any ceremony, you can put them just where you want them. To be sure, some say that bees remember through the winter where their old stands were, but there cannot be much trouble from that, for I have many times put my bees on new stands in the spring without trouble.
Q. As I have to move about three miles March 1st, when do you think would be the best time to move my bees? I have them in boxes with chaff packed around them. Will the bees get ventilation enough from the entrance, or had I better put a screen over the top of the hive in moving them?
A. It will not do to disturb the winter packing any sooner than is necessary, so you had better not move them till bees are flying every few days, possibly in April. If you choose a cool day the entrances will probably give ventilation enough, unless it be that it is less than the equivalent of 3 or 4 square inches. Of course, extra strong colonies may require extra ventilation.
Q. Next spring I want to move 20 colonies in a wagon. When would be the best time to move them, and how would be the best way to load?
A. It doesn't matter such a great deal what time in spring you move them. If you move them when it is freezing hard there is danger that the combs will break. If you move them after they have begun to fly freely you must take the precaution to close the hives the evening before, otherwise you will lose some of the field bees.
Put them in the wagon with the frames running crosswise, as the greatest shaking is from the wagon swinging from side to side.
Q. I would like to move my 15 colonies about 80 to 100 miles from here. I made arrangements to move them in the spring while they would be light and not so crowded, and so that there would still be' snow up in the hills to take them on the sleigh where otherwise the road would be rough. The time to go over the snow would take about one day. If I leave the entrance open, also the top, and shut up with screen, put the hives on a spring wagon and some straw under the hives, would this plan work all right?
A. Your plan ought to work all right. There remains the possibility of an unusually warm day occurring during the part of the journey when the bees were on the wagon, making the bees very uneasy. In that case you would quiet them by sprinkling water upon them.
Q. Can bees be moved in the fall, say the last of September or the first of October. I want to move them 75 or 80 miles, either by rail or wagon. Can it be done without damage?A. For more than 20 years I have moved bees every fall, and never had any trouble. But I moved them only five miles or less. In the fall the combs are heavier with honey than in the spring, and there are also more bees. So you will see that there must be a little more care against breaking combs, as well as a little more care to have plenty of ventilation. Aside from this you ought to have no more trouble in fall than spring. If you can have your choice as to time, it will be well to wait till as much after the first of October as you can, for the cooler it is, the less danger of suffocation, although, of course, if you wait for severe winter weather there would be danger of the combs becoming brittle with the cold, and breaking.
Q. I want to move my bees about 40 miles by waterway to a better location, as the bees are mostly wild and dark. Which is the best way to close the hive and not smother the bees?
A. Use wire-cloth for ventilation. To close the entrance of a hive, take a piece of wire-cloth as long as the inside width of the entrance and 2 or 3 inches wide. Bend it at right angles, and then crowd it into the entrance so it will be wedged fast. But that will not answer if your entrances are like mine, 2 inches deep. In that case take a strip of wire-cloth about 2 inches wider than the depth of your entrance, and as long as the inside width of the entrance. Double over the edge three-quarters of an inch, or an inch, and crease it down flat. Place the wire-cloth against the entrance with the folded edge down at the bottom-board, and nail over the upper part of the wire-cloth a strip of lath with a small nail at each end. If the weather is cool, or if the bees be moved at night, this ventilation at the entrance may be enough. If more is needed, make a frame the same size as the top of the hive, cover it with wire-cloth, and fasten it on top of the hive with screws. If necessary, the cover can be put about 2 inches above this, a block at each corner holding up the cover, being fastened with hive-staples. Even this ventilation, if the weather br hot and the bees kept on the way long, water should be sprayed on them from time to time.
Mustard_Q. Do you consider mustard a good honey yielded? If so, how does it compare with smartweed in the yield of honey and quality?
A. Mustard is a good honey-plant. Just how it compares in yield and quality with smartweed (by which you probably mean heartsease) could be better told by someone having an equal acre age of considerable extent of each. In Europe, rape, which belongs to the same family as mustard, is a honey-plant of great importance. It is possible that mustard would be equally important if it were cultivated to the same extent. As to quality, Root's "A, B, C and X, Y, Z of Bee Culture" says: "The honey from these plants is said to be very light, equal to any in flavor, and to command the highest price in the market."
**Nectar.-Q**. The bee gathers nectar from the flowers, which nectar, after undergoing a chemical process in the bee, becomes honey. Is not nectar dumped into the comb, then evaporated and becomes honey?
A. No; if you were to gather nectar and put it in cells it wouldn't be honey, and if the bee were to dump the nectar into the cells just the same as it gets it from the flowers it wouldn't be honey. It must undergo a change in the bee, although that change may continue afterward.
**Noise and Bees.-Q**. Would the noise made by moving the bee-yard bother the bees any? Does noise of any kind bother bees?
A. Noises in general do not trouble bees, but jarring will iritate them.
**Nucleus.-Q**. Please explain the meaning of the word nucleus.
A. A nucleus is a baby colony. Just when a nucleus becomes large enough to be called a colony is not easy to say. Perhaps I might say it should be called a colony when it has more than three combs covered with bees; this in summer-time. In the spring plenty of colonies have only two or three combs covered with bees.
Q. Would a Danzenbaker hive answer as well as a Langstroth for a nucleus hive? I use a Danzenbaker altogether. I thought I would use three frames in each compartment and cut a hole one-half by two inches in the bottom part of the hive for the middle, as the frames are closed-end frames, and I cannot put the entrance anywhere else. The outer compartments will be the same as described in "Fifty Years Among the Bees."
A. Yes, if you are using the Danzenbaker hive, use it for nuelei also.
Q. Does "baby nucleus" mean simply an ordinary hive with a few frames, or a small hive full of frames?
A. The term usually applies to a nucleus in a small hive, with one or two very small frames.
Q. If you had some old nuclei you wished to strengthen by Figure 23: Examining a baby nucleus.
when you give a virgin that has left her cell you know just what you are giving.
Q. Would you advise one-pound packages of bees rather than 1, 2 or 3-frame nuclei?
A The same number of bees will, of course, be worth more with frames of brood than without; but considering the expense or expresses on combs, it is likely that a given amount of money put in bees without combs will be better than the same money put in nuclei.
Q. Is there any trouble with robber-bees bothering new nuclei?
A. I came pretty near saying always. I'll modify that by saying always if honey is not yielding, and carc should be taken, even when it is yielding.
Q. Is it possible to winter a 4-frame nucleus packed with chaff in an outside case on the summer stand?
A. It might succeed and it might not. Something depends upon the severity of the winter, and the sheltered location.
Q. Through my carelessness and a poor season I have two weak nuclei at the commencement of cool weather, which I am desirous of wintering over, as they are headed by two of my best queens. How shall I best winter them over? They are of about 3-frame strength. In this locality people winter bees out-of-doors altogether. Our winters are, as a rule, rather open. Sometimes it goes to zero, but that is seldom. The bees have a flight about every two or three weeks.
A. One way is to winter both in the same hive. Put in a division-board that separates the hive in two equal parts, and put the nuclei in these two parts, each nucleus up against the division-board, so that they may have the advantage of the mutual hcat from each other. It is possible they might winter through in separate hives, if the hives are well protected. Strengthening each nucleus by giving brood and bees (bees alone if the brood has all hatched out) from other colonies will help their chances if you should try to winter them in separate hives.
Q. Can a nucleus be wintered on top of a strong colony by placing a queen-excluding board between? That is, put two or three l or 2-frame nuclei in a hive and put it over a strong colony with plenty of honey?
A. I don't know that anyone has ever tried exactly the thing you mention. Something like it is done in the Alexander method of putting a weak colony over a strong one in the spring; but in that case it is not continued more than three or four weeks. Ifcontinued through the winter it is very likely there would be more or less loss of queens. A safer plan would be to use wire-cloth instead of a queen-excluder, so that there would be no communication between the bees below and above. Of course, an entrance to the outside would have to be allowed to each of the nuclei. If outdoors, these entrances should be very small, and the entrance to the lower colony would need be less than with no entrances above.
**Observation Hive.**Q. I have an observatory hive in which I expect to put bees this spring. How shall I get them started?
A. There's no trick about it; merely start as you would in any other hive, by putting in the comb of brood with bees and queen. To prevent the bees going back to the old home, set the hive in a dark cellar about four days.
Q. I have Italians and the "blacks," as I call them. I bought an observation hive for one frame and I took out one frame of comb with brood and enough bees to cover the brood well, but the next day the bees came out of the observation hive and into the old hive, and there was not a single bee left. What was the trouble?
A. There is nothing unusual in the case. Take a frame of brood with plenty of bees to cover it, and without any precautions put it in a new hive, and the proper thing on the part of the bees is to go back to their old home. If you had fastened the bees in for about three days they would have said. If you had taken bees that had been queenless for three days or more, you would have had less trouble. If you had taken the queen with them, returning her after two or three days, more of the bees would have said. But you probably took them from a hive with a good, strong queen, and they very properly resented such treatment. It is a good plan to remove the queen after a few days, as it gives you the opportunity of watching the rearing of young queens by the bees.
Q. Do the sides of an observation hive have to be covered with some opaque substance, or will the bees allow the light to penetrate their domicile at all times?
A. It is usual to keep the hive darkened when not under observation, but not absolutely necessary. The bees will daub more propolis on the glass if the light be continuous. They will also worry more.
Q. What is the best location for an observation hive? Would an attic with a northern exposure be best, or what is the best?A. The best location for an observation hive is one that is the most convenient for the observer, and at the same time comfortable for the bees. The most convenient place for you might be in one of the living rooms, with a bee-opening to the window-sill, and that would likely be comfortable for the bees. But there might be objections to that, such as the meddling of children, driving you to the attic, where there is danger of too great heat on the south side. In some attics the north side would be all right; in others still too hot. To decide just the place for you, conditions, and also premises, must be carefully considered. Keep your observation-hive in some secluded corner, very close to the house, where the bees are not in the way, but where you can watch them at any time.
Q. Do bees winter well in observation-hives?
A. No; although an observation-hive might be constructed, and perhaps some are, so as to be all right for wintering.
A good observation-hive consists of a frame or frames superposed in which every side, every nook and corner is subject to inspection through the glass. It is, therefore, usually not fitted for proper wintering.
**Oilcloth.-Q**. Do you think it a good plan to put oilcloth around the hives, leaving an air-space between hive and cloth during hot weather?
A. Some protect the supers in this way to prevent the bees from deserting them during cool nights, but it is doubtful if it would be a good thing. Building paper is better.
Q. My bees are in the cellar, and the oilcloth has not been removed from the frames. Had I better remove it now? Id do not know that the bees can get around the ends of the frames, which are 1% inches from the bottom-board, and the hive is raised one inch.
A. There is danger that moisture will condense upon the oilcloth and fall in drops upon the cluster of bees. The colder the cellar the more the danger. If you can remove the oilcloth without disturbing the bees much it would be well.
**Outapiaries.-Q**. Is there any way to judge how many bees to keep at each apiary? Two years ago I had an apiary of 45 colonies; they gathered 22 cases of honey, and they had enough to winter on. A bee-man told me he thought I ought to keep 150 colonies here at this apiary. Would I have gotten as much honey, per colony, as I did with the 45? Then there would be the extra honey for the 150 colonies to live on. I would have more to store honey, but they would have to have honey to live.
cattle or other live stock. So far as I now remember, not a single man expressed any agreement with me, although since then a good many have. There is quite a general agreement that a man has a prior right morally, although some do not even believe in that. But in matters of business moral rights are not very reliable. I have a moral right to the possession of my horses, but if I had no legal right to them I doubt if I would keep them long. Some day beekeepers may be advanced enough so that a man may be just as safe from interference in his bee-pasture as he now is in his cow-pasture. At present you have no redress, and must just grin and bear it--or else bear it without the grinning.
**Paint.--Q**. Should I paint my hives all the same color? If so, what color would you advise? I see from reading the American Bee Journal that some beekeepers advise painting hives different colors, as one color bothers the bees in locating their hive.
A. There would be some advantage to the bees in the way of recognizing their hives if they were of different colors, but it is hardly necessary. Bees locate their hives by means of surrounding objects, and except on a bleak plain utterly without any surrounding objects there is very little difficulty where the hives are 5 feet or more apart from center to center. But you can just as well have double the number of hives on the same ground by having them in pairs. Set two hives close together on the same stand, then leave a space of 2 feet or more, then another pair, and so on. Ground may be still further economized by placing another row close to the first, letting the hives stand back to back.
There is probably no better color, all things considered, than white, using good white lead.
Q. Please advise me relative to the painting of hives with the bees in then, and at what period of the year is it best to do the work? I should also like to know whether or not standard paints are all right to use.
A. You can paint a hive with bees in it at any time when you can paint the outside of a house, and can use any paint proper for the same purpose, with the exception of the part at the entrance where the bees alight. If you put enough drier in the paint used there, and paint in the evening after the bees stop flying, it will be dry enough next morning so the bees will not stick in it.
Q. Should bottom-boards of hives be painted inside?
A. It is not necessary, although, of course, a bottom-boardwill last longer if the under side is painted, especially where quite near the ground. But there is no gain in painting the inside.
**Painting Hives.-Q.** Would you advise me to paint the hives?
A. I don't believe it is best for me; but the majority think better. Painted hives look hetter and last longer; but I think unpainted are better for the bees.
Q. Why is it that you don't paint hives?
A. Following the teachings of G. M. Doolittle, in whose ideas I have great confidence, I think there is better chance for the moisture to dry out of unpainted hives than out of painted ones. I have seen a painted hive in my cellar damp and moldy when all the unpainted ones were in much better condition.
**Paralyais (See Bee Paralyais.)**
**Parcel Post for Honey.-Q.** Can extracted honey be sent through the mails in friction-top pails by putting it in wooden boxes, provided the honey is candided solid so that it would not run if the cover was taken off in transit?
A. Yes, such honey can go by parcel post all right.
**Parthenogenesis (See Dzierzon Theory.)**
**Pastnrage for Bees (See also Apiary, Location, Outapiary).-Q.** Do you plant anything for your bees to work on? If so, what?
A. After trying many things, I now plant nothing specially for the bees.
Q. Name the kind of pasturage I must have to get good honey. (Illinois.)
A. White clover, basswood, Spanish ncedle, heartsease, and fruit blossoms are a few of the principal honey-plants in your state.
**Pickled-Broad.-Q.** Is there a cure for pickled-broad? I know that during a good honey-flow the bees generally get over it. The inspector told me it was pickled-broad. My bees did not get in shape for a crop of honey until about the time it stopped.