TRANSFERRING. 



444 



TRANSFERRING. 



four or five feet, and put the new hive in its 

 place. Prepare a small box about eight 

 inches deep having one side open, that will 

 just cover (not slip over) the bottom of the 

 box hive. Turn the old hive upside down; 

 place the hiving-box over it, and then drum on 

 the sides of the hive with a couple of sticks 

 until about two-thirds of the bees pass up 

 into the box. Gently lift off the box contain- 

 ing the bees, and dump them in front of the 

 entrance of the new hive. Make sure the 

 queen is among them, by watching for her 

 as she passes with the rest toward the en- 

 trance. If yon do not discover her, look in- 

 side the hive. When you still fail to find her, 

 drum moie bees from the old hive again until 



also those in the hiving-box, after which 

 dump it in front of the entrance of the new 

 hive, as before. The smoking is to prevent 

 any fighting on the part of the bees at the 

 second shake, and the entrance-guard will 

 catch the queen or queens that have been 

 raised meantime in the old hive. These one 

 or two, if virgins, should be caught on the 

 perforated metal and given to queenless 

 stocks. Where the old queen in the new 

 hive is valuable she should be caged at the 

 time of making the second drive. If neither 

 the one in the old hive nor that in the new 

 is preferred, perforated zinc need not be 

 used, nor the old queen caged. 

 The work of transferring is now complet- 



A FRAME BONE-YARD. 



you do get her, for, to make the plan a suc- 

 cess, she must enter the yiew hive. 



Replace the box hive right side up, two 

 feet back of the new one, with its entrance 

 turned at right angles. It still retains about 

 one-third of the original colony, together 

 with all the combs and brood. Allow the 

 old hive to stand at least 21 days, by which 

 time the brood will be hatched out, with the 

 exception of a few drones of no value. Turn 

 the hive upside down, and drum out the re- 

 maining bees into the hiving-box, as before. 

 Next put an entrance-guard of perforated 

 zinc (see Dronks) over the entrance of the 

 new hive. Smoke the bees of the hive and 



ed, and all you have on hand is a box hive 

 having a lot of old crooked combs, C(mt;un- 

 ing perhaps a little honey and drone brood. 

 The honey can be extracted, or used as chunk 

 honey on the table, where fit for use, the 

 combs melted into wax. and the hive itself 

 becomes first-class kindling-wood, because 

 smeared on the inside with propolis and bits 

 of wax. 



The method above described is known as 

 Heddon's short way. As it is neat, quick, 

 cheap, and certainly more satisfactory in re- 

 sults, we recommend it above the old way. 



There is one ditHculty with the Ileddon 

 method : When transferring by that plan 



