F1^\MP]S, TO MANIPri.ATP]. 



FKAME;8, to MANIPrLATF. 



FIG. 14. — SHAKING BEES OUT OF A SUPER. 



hire: for one should always endeavor to keep 

 out of the flight of the bees. This is gradu- 

 ally shoved in until the blade has been 

 pushed in anywhere from i to a full inch. 

 A gai) is now formed, of approximately ^g 

 inch just wide enough so that a little smoke 

 will drive back the bees. A slight pressure 

 downward separates the two upper supers 

 about an inch at the back end, when more 

 smoke is blown in. The tool is pushed down 

 a little further, making the gap a little wider. 

 See Fig. 6, p. 220. But we are not quite sat- 

 isfied as to the condition of the supers, so we 

 push the tool and supers upward, as shown 

 in Fig. 7, until we have the hive-tool in po- 

 sition as shown in Fig. 8. Here it acts as a 

 prop, when, with the intelligent use of the 

 smoker, we can drive back the bees enough 

 so that we can see the condition of the two 

 supers, or enough to determine whether the 

 bees need more room. 



Hut suppose we are not quite satisfied. 

 We turn to the position as shown in Fig. !), 

 di.-regard the hive-tool, and lift the two su- 

 l)ers higher, the hive-tool falling on the 

 ground. When doing this we slide the two 

 supers about an incli forward so that the 

 back end will fulcrum on a safe bearing. If 



the super is slipped back, as shown in Fig. 

 7, it can readily be seen that it can not be 

 tilted up very high without sliding off back. 

 See Figs. 9, 10, 11. 



Usually an examination of this sort is 

 quite sufficient. If the suiters are not filled 

 they are quietly let back into place, using 

 sufficient smoke to drive the bees away so 

 they will not be crushed as the hive parts 

 come togetlier again. The operation as shown 

 in Figs. 5, H, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, is then repeated 

 with other hives, taking from 30 to 60 sec- 

 onds per hive. At no time have we lifted 

 only a i)art of the dead weight. When the 

 supers are held at an angle the load is on the 

 fulcrum point of contact, while the hand 

 sustains only a snnill part of the weight. 



Fig. 12 shows the method employed when 

 supers are apparently well filled and ready 

 to come off. The top super is removed and 

 leaned up against the leg of the operator. 

 The middle super that has been filled can 

 now be taken off; but before doing so a 

 second examination is made as shown. It 

 is set off, when the bottom super nuiy also 

 be removed if ready. If not, the top super 

 is put l)ack, the idea being to confine the 

 bees to as small a super capacity as possible 



