MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 213If the bees can get at them more freely, they tear the combs topieces. With a sufficiently large number to be cleaned out, saysomething like a super for each colony, you may go to the otherextreme and spread them all out so as to let the bees have freeaccess to the whole business at once. I spread the supers aboutin my shop cellar, and when all are ready I open the door and inviteall bees to help themselves. They are protected against rain,and may remain several days until the bees have them thoroughlycleaned out. If you pile them up on top of hives they will becleaned up, but the bees are likely to put some of the honey backinto the sections. Someone, I think, has reported success bypiling supers back of a hive, allowing access by way of the bottom-boardwithout allowing other bees access. I never tried it. Ihave tried putting them in front and it wag a failure. It mightwork better behind.Sellingr Bees.—Q. When is the best time to sell bees, to getthe highest prices?A. In the spring.Separators.—Q. Do you approve of the separators in supers?I have two supers of honey before me now, just taken off, onewith and one without the division-boards, and I find the beeshave fastened the sections nearly all over to the board.A. I rnost certainly approve of separators for sections thatare to be packed for shipping. If the sections are intended forhome use, it is as well to have no separators. I have no troublewith sections being built to separators, but hives are level fromside to side. Bottom starters help, too.Q. What separator do you consider best, fence or sawedwood? I ordered sawed wood, slotted top and bottom.A. All things considered, I prefer to use a plain wood separator,sliced or sawed, with no slotsor scallops.Sex of Bees.—Q. Does the size and shape of the cell in whichthe bee is reared have anything to do with the kind and sex ofthe bee? Or is it the food on which the larva is fed that determinesthe sex and kind of bee, as the eggs that bring forth thethree kinds of bees are all laid by the one queen?A. The sex of the bees depends upon whether the egg is fertilizedor not. An unfertilized egg produces a drone, a fertilizedegg a queen or a worker. An unfertilized egg in a worker-cellcan produce only a drone; a fertilized egg in a drone-cell can produceonly a worker or a queen. Under normal conditions only un-