MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

212 DR. miller'sQ. What do you think of putting down into the brood-chambersay, perhaps two framefuls on each side?A. The plan is not used so much as formerly, if indeed it isnow used at all. If you leave the sections below to be finished,you are likely to have pollen in them, and also to have the cappingsdarkened. When sections have been put below it has generallybeen merely to get the bees started in them and then putthem up. But it is not advisable to put them below at allQ. Will partly-filled sections do for fall feeding in place ofsugar? Would they keep until next year if properly cared for?A. They will do nicely for fall feeding, and will keep wellfor use the next year, or for five years later, after the bees havecleaned them out in the fall. But unless the honey is thus cleanedout in the fall, it is not likely you can keep them so as to be usedthe next year.Q. I have a lot of sections that were on the hives last season,but owing to the drouth, which caused a sudden stop in the honeyflow,they were not completed. Some of them contained somehoney, which I allowed the bees to remove last fall, and merelystarted to be drawn. (They had had full sheets of foundation inthe first place.) Shall I use these as they are this season or willthere be too much mid-rib to make the best honey? I have oftenused the "go backs" for baits, using from one to four in a super,but I have 20 to 30 supers full now.A, If you have unfinished sections that are fall-emptied andin good condition, use them and be exceedingly thankful for everyone you have. Bees do not add to the mid-rib, no matter howlong sections are left on the hive; but there is danger if they areleft on too long in the fall that the bees will plaster them overwith propolis, in which case there is nothing to do but to cut outand melt them up.Q. I would like to learn of a good plan to clean up sectionsthat are unfinished in the fall of the year. I have thought of tieringup supers 12 or IS high, and let the bees rob them out, but asm\- yard is close to the house and buildings, I do not like to doit, and I don't know which is the better way. I have at present105 colonies, and expect to increase to 175 this season. I hadabout 2,000 of these sections, and am using them tor baits, andfind them excellent in starting the bees to work in the supers.A. I have had much experience in getting the bees to cleanup sections in the fall, and have found no better way than to letthe bees rob them out.If you pile them up, as you suggest, allowan entrance large enough for a single bee for each 5 or 6 supers.