UNITING BEES. 



448 



UNITING BEES. 



from one of two c luses— either lack of brood i a a 

 weak colony to hold the queen and her few bees in 

 the upper hive, or smoking: the strong- colony so 

 that, as soon as the weak one was set on top, the 

 bees from below would rush up and sting every 

 one above. Therefore avoid using smoke or doing 

 any tiling to excite the strong colony. 



If done in a careful manner the bees in the lower 

 hive newer seem to realize that any strangers have 

 l)eeu put above them, and they all work' in harmony 

 to f ether. 



At the outset we spoke of those who met 

 with failure in following the method. As 

 Mr. Alexander says, the difficulty doubtless 

 arose from the fact that they failed to put 

 brood along with the weak nucleus to hold 

 the queen and her few bees, or else the unit- 

 ing was so clumsily done that it stirred up 

 both lots of bees, with the result that they 

 came together before they had the same 

 scent; and the queen, having a strange odor, 

 was killed. (See Introducing.) Mr. Alex- 

 ander's injunction is to put the bees together 

 soc arefully that the clusters do not really 

 unite for some two days, at which time there 

 is a peacefitl union, and the two queens go 

 on laying so as to make up one rousing col- 

 ony ,which can be divided, making two strong 

 colonies where before there would have been 

 only one, since the nucleus left to itself 

 would have died. 



Where one desires to proceed with extreme 

 caution he is advised to put a wire-cloth 

 screen between the two lots of bees at the 

 lime of uniting, and keeping it there for two 



or three days, after which its place is taken 

 by a perforated zinc honey-board. In this 

 connection we would remark that the wire- 

 cloth screen should be mounted in a wooden 

 frame about f inch thick, and of the same 

 outside dimensions as the hive. 



While this plan of uniting contemplates 

 performing the act in early spring, some- 

 thing can be done at it in the fall. Mr. Jo- 

 siah Johnston, in a communication sent to 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture in 1907, tells how he 

 unites on the Alexander plan in the fall. 



Some have had trouble in following the Alexander 

 plan of building up weak colonies. I think the trou- 

 ble in many cases is due to rousing up the bees and 

 getting them uneasy before the weak colony is put 

 over the strong one. Then the two colonies have 

 war for a wliUe. I always use wire cloth between 

 the two hives and never have any trouble from the 

 lower colony going up and killing the bees in the 

 upper hive. For some time I have wintered my 

 weak colonies this way, on the summer stands. Last 

 winter I had several weak colonies, and I put them 

 all over strong colonies, making an entrance in the 

 back with my knife through the hand-hole of the 

 upper hive. This should be just large enough to al- 

 low two or three bees to pass out at a time. This 

 is done on some cloudy day after very cold weather 

 comes and the bees have quit flying. 



Last year I had a weak swarm of bees. There was 

 just one frame of bees and a young queen. I put 

 this frame of bees in with nine frames of honey, and 

 put the frames in a hive and set it on top of one of 

 the strongest colonies I had, and in February they 

 got pretty strong, and I left them on till April ; and 

 when I set them off I had two strong colonies. 



Milan, 111. Josiah Johnston. 



