File:American bee journal (1905) (17927437739).jpg

Title: American bee journal
Identifier: americanbeejourn45hami (find matches)
Year: 1861 (1860s)
Authors:
Subjects: Bee culture; Bees
Publisher: (Hamilton, Ill. , etc. , Dadant & Sons)
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: UMass Amherst Libraries

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June 1, 1905 THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 391 on while they are clustered out on a limb, they build some comb ; and if the weather is warm, and plenty of honey is found near when it clears up again, they may cease to look further for a home, making a home of a limb, rearing brood and storing honey, the same as if in a hollow tree, a cleft in the rocks, or a hive ; for the cases are by no means iso- lated where colonies have been found with plenty of combs, brood and honey for wintering, with nothing to shield them from the elements save the twigs and the few leaves above them. A few years ago a friend living in New Jersey sent me a queen taken from a colony which was found in October having combs and honey enough for wintering on the un- derside of a grape-vine. And she proved a queen above the ordinary value, too, living and doing good work for 2 years after I received her. But there are colonies which send out scouts to look for a future home before said colonies swarm, as is often proven by swarms going from the hive to such selected home with- out clustering at all, or staying not more than 10 or IS min- utes after clustering. When but a boy I remember seeing bees searching all up and down the body of large trees, and wondered what they were doing, and later on I saw quite a number going in and out of a hole in a very large tree that stood on the edge of the woods near where we had a field of corn in which I was at work. And this continued for sev- eral days, so that I shonld have thought there was a small swarm in there had it not been that the bees worked through that hole only from about 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. A few days later a swarm came from one of the few hives which my father kept at that time, and went straight to this tree with- out clustering at all. About this time a person about 4 miles from me pur- chased some Italian bees, the first that had come into this part of the country, and, being interested in the same, I often went to see them. One day, on going to see him, he told me that at an out-apiary which he was working, which contained only black bees, he had noticed in the forenoon Italian bees at work cleaning out an old hive which was left there by the person of whom he bought the bees, the same having some empty comb in it. As this was something new to him, he seemed considerably excited over the matter, and said he should keep watch and see what became of it. I was also much interested and told him what I had seen, as related above. The next time I went to see him he told me that the bees which he saw cleaning the hive were his own, as a few days later a swarm came from one of his Italian colonies, and, after circling around a few times, they started off in the direction of this out-apiary. Having a fleet horse near at hand, and being a fearless rider, he jumped upon it, and in a moment was going at railroad speed for his out-apiary, arriving there in time to see his swarm rushing pell-mell into the hive that the bees had been cleaning out. As he kept the wings of all his queens clipped, he knew that he could soon tell for a certainty whether these were his bees or not, although he had no reason to doubt that they were ; for if they were, he had their queen at home in a cage, and sooner or later they must return to her unless they had come across some queen in their flight. In about half an hour they became uneasy and began to leave the hive, seeing which, he returned home only to find them coming back and running into the hive from which they went, and clustering about the cage containing the queen which he had left at . the entrance of the old hive. Wishing to see more of the matter he liberated the queen, allowing her to return back with the bees. The next day they swarmed again, and again went to this hive at the out-apiary, the same as be- fore. This they kept up for 4 or 5 days, the bees going to that hive which they had cleaned out, without clustering at all, each time they swarmed. After he became satisfied that colonies did select a home before they left their old home, and becoming tired of having them swarm so much, he divided the colony, thus putting a stop to their swarm- ing. A neighbor to whom he told this circumstance, took advantage of it by way of procuring some hives and a few frames of empty comb, which he placed in these hives and put them in trees and out-of-the-way places, till he soon had an apiary of his own, without even so much as hiving a single swarm. Bees seem more inclined to go into places where there is a little comb than into places with no comb ; but where comb is left in hives for such purposes, said comb must be free from pollen and spread well apart, or the moth will lay eggs in them, and they be eaten up with worms unless the bees happen to take possession of them before the larvas of the wax moth do. Onondaga Co., N. Y.
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Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. Unreliable Bee-Information A gopd friend in Michigan sends a clipping from that excellent periodical, The Epworth Herald, which emphasizes anew the fact that it is not a safe thing for any other than a bee- paper to publish matter about bees without first submitting it to some practical bee- keeper. The article is styled, " Safeguarding the Queen," is reliable in the main, and writ- ten in an interesting manner, but some of the items would hardly be endorsed in their en- tirety by a two-thirds vote of the sisters. For example: " Indeed, it is practically impossible for an intruder to enter a strange hive without dis- covery. And discovery means instant death and dismemberment." And yet thousands of bees, upon returning from the fields, have entered wrong hives and received a Itindly welcome. Did any of the Bisters ever observe a case of " dismember- ment," as mentioned? " These honey-gatherers are not permitted to feed the queen direct. When they enter a hive they must give a mouthful to two drones waiting on guard. If the sample proves sat- isfactory the bees carry the nectar to the storeroom, where it is mixed with what the other worliers have gathered. When the hive- cells are full, the workers and drones sample the mixture again, and then seal up the cells." That leaves.us^alljlagapeifor fuller informa- tion. During the weeks when no drones are in the hive, what is done with the mouthful that should be given to the " two drones waiting on guard?" What weapons of offense or defense do those " two drones waiting on guard" use? "If the sample proves satis- factory the bees carry the nectar to the store- room," but if ;thB "two drones" do not0. K. it, what is done with it? Is there not danger that the "two drones" will be overworlied when the workers are pouring into the hive with their loads at the rate of a hundred or more in a minute! When the cells are full, and the mixture is sampled again, do the same " two drones " do the second sampling? Other questions may be asked when the foregoing are answered. An Austrian Sister "Skirts" Bees The following account of what one of the sisters did in Austria is from the American Bee-Keoper: " Jungklaus also telle how a young woman captured a swarm of bees. Being on a tramp, she found a swarm of bees hanging on a bush. Wishing to secui u it, she took off one of her skirts, tied up uiie end, and, by the help of sticks, spread it out in such a way that she could hive the swarm into it. After the bees had all moved in, she tied up the other end of the skirt and thu; carried the swarm several miles to her home. ('Well done.') " We have twice had a somewhat similar ex- perience. Once on our way to the Hastings apiary—which is about 5 miles distant—when about half way there we were offered by one of the neighbors a small swarm of bees which hung on a willow-tree by the roadside. Dr. Miller thought it would not pay to bother with tliem, as we had no way of carrying them, when I suggested my bee-hat—a broad brimmed straw-hat with a veil sewed around the outer brim, having a rubber cord run in the lower edge. He rather thought it might work, and as the bees were hanging on a con- venient lower limb, we commenced operations at once. Dr. Miller trimmed everything down as close to the swarm as possible, then carefully cut off the limb with the swarm, and while I held the hat upside down and stretched the rubber cord as much as possible, he slipped the swarm inside, while the veil was secured about the limb above the swarm, and we started on our way once more, 1 carrying the swarm by the end of the limb. When we reached the apiary we got a hive full of empty combs ready and let the bees run in, and I once more had possession of my hat. Once later, when we had occasion to hive a small swarm at some distance from the Wil- son apiary, we used the hat again in prefer- ence to carrying a hive that distance. Wintering Bees—Good Prospects I want to report on my good luck in win- tering the bees last winter, as it was very cold. I was away from home last fall when I ought to have been packing my bees, so I left them on the summer stands. The stands are from S to 24 inches from the ground. I lost 3 colo- nies out of 31, so I now have 18, all in good condition. Tlie 3 that died were late swarms, and they did not store honey enough to feed them. We did not have a very good honey crop last season. A hail-storm ruined the

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