MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

264 DR. MILLER S(b) On which side of a lake would you prefer to keep— east orwest side?A. (a) The water is not likely to do any harm, only it is justso much surface without any pasturage, just like so much barrenland. If the body of water was so narrow that the bees wouldcross it to get pasturage on the other side, a few bees might bebeaten down in crossing by high winds.(b) The side that had the best pasturage.Wax (See Beeswax.)Wax-Extractor.—Q. How can I make a solar wax-extractorwithout much expense? Does the solar wax-e.xtractor take outall the wax, especially out of old combs?A. Any kind of a shallow bo.x, rfnd of any size, covered withglass, so placed that the rays of the sun shall shine directly intoit, will become hot enough on the inside to melt wax. -\ singlepane of glass will do if large enough, or a common window-sashmay be used. To hold the pieces of comb to be melted, have aplain sheet of tin, slanting 1 to 3 inches (according to the size ofthe box) from rear to front, so that the melted wax will rundown into a vessel that you will place under to catch the wax.You may use a sheet of wire-cloth, so the wax will run through.This will work very nicely with cappings and burr-combs, but agood deal of wax will be left in old brood-combs. Especially willthis be so if one brood-comb lies over another.Weak Colonies.—Q. \\'ould it be all right to put a new swarmin with a weak colonv and thus make a strong one out of it?A. Yes; but in thus uniting, the two queens should both belaying queens, or both virgin queens. If one has a laying queenand the other a virgin, they are likely to fight.Q. I have two colonies of bees which I hived last Alay. Oneof them produced about SO pounds of surplus honey, while theother produced only 5 pounds. What was the matter with thesecond one? Was it an unprolific queen, or not?.\. It may be that there was a difference in the strength of thetwo swarms at the time they were hived, and it must be rememberedthat a colony twice as strong as another will store a gooddeal more than twice as much surplus. The difference may havebeen in the character of the bees. Some bees are more industriousthan others. There may have been other causes or a combinationof causes.