MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 61or damp room. I've some question whether you can close thehives tight enough to keep out moths. They squeeze through avery small crack. But if the combs are in a close building themoths are not likely to find them. Yet it is a pretty safe guessthat, if colonies died on them, the worms are there already. Inthat case, whatever combs cannot be put in the care of the beesshould be treated with sulphur fumes, or, still better with bisulfideoi^ carbon.The moldy combs will be cleaned up by the bees when giventhem.Combs, Old.— Q. Will combs that have had brood reared inthem from one to three years spoil the color and flavor of honeyif used for extracting-frames?A. There may be a slight difference, but you probably couldnot tell the honey from that stored in newly built combs.Q. When having old combs in frames taken from coloniesthat died during the winter, to what extent is it good practice todig the dead bees out of the comb?A. Brush off all the bees you can, hold the frame flat andshake vigorously, shaking some of the bees out of the cells ;leavethose that will not shake out for the bees to dig out; they can doif cheaper than you.Q. I have some brood-combs; they are black. I also havesome that the moths have been in, that I lost earlier. Are thosecombs any good, or had I better throw them away? I thoughtI could use them for natural or artificial swarms.A. If not too badly torn by worms they are all right to useagain.Q. How many years of constant use for brood can workercombhave without diminishing the size of the bees? I have readthat the cocoons left behind imperceptibly diminish the size ofthe cells of the future occupants, and prevent the bees from attainingtheir full development and size.A. I have combs that are 30 years old or more, and I cannotsee that the bees reared in them are any smaller than thosereared in new combs. I remember that one of the patient foreigninvestigators—a German, Ibelieve, whose name does not now occurto me—took the trouble to measure the contents of cells incombs very old and new, by actually filling them with liquid, andhe found that the old cells contained just as much liquid as thenew. The idea that the cells become smaller with age has beentaiight faithfully for many years, and there are still some who