MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 15trouble before the combs are needed for swarms. Of course, ifthe weather is warm their work will be earlier than when thereis a cool spring. Moths cannot winter in a house where itfreezes hard.Q. Do bees carry moths while swarming?A. I don't believe that bees ever carry with them the moth,its larvse, or its eggs.Q. (a) I had two weak colonies which I was going to unite,but found a weavy web on the combs and in them a handful ofsmall worms. Those on the comb were about three to the inch inlength, and not a live bee to be found, and no honey. The wormsresembled cut worms.(b) Is that comb of any use to put in other hives?(c) How did the worms get in the hive without the bees destroyingthem?A. (a) The worms were the larvse of the beemoth.(b) Yes, unless too much of it is destroyed.(c) Eggs were laid in the hive by the moth, and from theseeggs worms were hatched. The colony must have been weak andlike enough queenless.Q. I have a lot of honeycombs that I will have to keepthrough the summer months. What is the best remedy to keepthe moths out of them? I have them packed closely in a chest.Will fumigating them with sulphur do, or is bi-sulphide of carbonthe best?A. Sulphur will do, but it takes a gread deal of it to finish thebig worms, and it does not kill the eggs, so that it must be usedagain two weeks later to kill the worms that have hatched outfrom the eggs that were left. Carbon disulfide (which is thelater name of bisulphide of carbon) acts more vigorously, and atone operation cleans up big and little, eggs and all. After youhave the worms all killed you must keep the combs where themoth cannot get at them.On the whole, it is nicer to give such combs to the bees. Theywill clean them up and keep them in nice condition. You can filla hive-body with them and put it under a colony, so that the beesmust pass through in going out or in.Q. I have 'a number of frames which look very ragged on accountof moth ravages, some in which more than half of the combis gone. Will the bees repair this and fill out the frames againif I give them to the bees next spring? Or would I better cutout all this comb and put in new foundation?A. If the comb is in good condition except for the ravages•.