MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 141prefer those which have three bands, like the pure stock thatcomes from Italy.Q. Are the S-band, or golden, any better than, or as good as,the 3-band leather-colored Italian queens?A. There are goldens and goldens. Some are good, and someare poor, according to all accounts; while the 3-banders, as importedfrom Italy, are more uniform and of a more fixed type.The beginner is generally puzzled to know whether to choosegoldens, bright 3-banded, or leather-colored. Let it be distinctlyunderstood that all goldens are not exactly alike, neither are allleather-colored. The three kinds mentioned are all Italians, andthey all vary. So a man may have a cfflony of goldens and acolony of leather-colored, and the goldens are the better of thetwo, while another may find that his own goldens are not so goodas his leather-colored. The matter of looks has no small bearing,and breeders find that, other things being equal, the brighter thecolor, the better the customers will be pleased. Yet a large proportionof experienced producers of honey seem to prefer theleather-colored, with the belief that in general these rank as thebetter honey-gatherers.Q. Are the goldens generally recognized as the worst robbersof all bee-kind? The ones I have certainly must be; however,with the miserable slow flow we are having,' they are certainlygetting much more honey than are my blacks.A. I don't remember to have heard that charge against thegoldens. I am afraid it's true very often that the best gatherersare inclined to be bad as robbers. Bees have no moral sense, anddon't make any distinction between getting stores from the fieldor from another hive; so why shouldn't the best gatherers be thebest—or the worst—robbers?Q. Do you find the yellow Italians more vicious than those ofa darker color?A. They vary; some are vicious, and some gentle.Italianizing.—Q. What is the best time of the year to Italianize?A. Other things being equal, there is no better time than towardthe close of harvest, but if I had poor bees I wouldn't wantto wait till then to get better stock.Q. I have a few colonies of black bees that seem to be weak,though they are beginning to carry pollen. Would it not bebetter to wait until later in the season before I attempt to introduceItalian queens. Should I not catch the old queen and destroy