o Aug., 1 91 2. 



Bcc-kcc ping ill yictoiia. 



475 



^gB 



the flat and nailfil together and jiainied at home 8.s. each. The hive.s 

 when phiced in position ready to receive the bees should stand perfectly 

 level crossvvays to the frames, utherwi.se the combs may have the wires 

 on the outside instead of in the centre, because comb is always built per- 

 fectly perpendicular by the bees. The hives should, if jDossible, be shel- 

 tered from the south, with entrances facing east, north, <,r west. When 

 the combs are nearly tlown to the Ixittom l)ars of the frames (Fig. 2) a 

 super or up])ei- .story musi l)e put on. It may be of the same size as the 

 lower one or of half depth with shallow frames. Unless full sheets of 

 foundation are used instead of starters in the frames of an upper storv 

 a queen-excluding honey board (Fig. 3) sh<juld be inserted between the 

 two b(.xes to pre\fnt the queen depositing eggs in drone comb usually built 

 from starters in the super. To start the bees building comb above, it 

 will be necessary to hang a comb or two from tlie lower into the upper 

 story taking care tO' leave the f]ueen l)el(:w and to (ill the space below with 

 a frame or two from above. 



3. Box- /lives. 



Good colonies in box-hives or unworkable frame hives may sometimes 

 be bought cheaply, and if free from disease the bees may Ije drummed u]) 

 into a frame hi\e, placed, with- 

 out its bottom board, on top oj 

 the in\-erted box-hive. If tin 

 combs containing worker bro(i(l 

 are fairly straignt they may be 

 cut out and fitted into frames 

 in which they are held in posi 

 tion by string tied over the out- 

 side of the frame. When these 

 combs have been fastened tn 

 the frames by the bees tlr 

 string may be removed, an^! 

 when the colony is strong 

 enough the combs may be hung 

 in the .super over a queen excluder till all l>rood is hatched, when they 

 can be taken away and melted up for wax. 



If a box-hive is strong and it is earl\- in the sea.son the most con\enient 

 way of transferring the bees to a frame hive is to let them swarm, hive 

 the swarm in a frame-hive on the spot where the box-hive stood, and re- 

 move the latter some distance if it is desired tO' make two colonies; if not, 

 leave it near the new hive but facing in a different direction. Just three 

 weeks later all the worker brood in the box-hive will have hatched out, 

 and a new queen will be laying. The bees may now be drummed out 

 into another frame-hive or into the hive containing the swarm, as the case 

 may be. The old box containing only combs without brood should be 

 taken indoors and secured against bees, and as soon as convenient the 

 combs boiled down for wax. If there is any suspicion that a box-hive 

 colony is diseased, it is l>est to drum it off at once, and destroy the box 

 and old combs by burning. The bees themselves will be clean in their new 

 hive provided they do not get access to any honey or comb from the old 

 box after being driven off. 



4. .Yinii-i. 



Beekeeping may also be commenced with nuclei colonies. A nucleus 

 is a small colony of bees with a queen and two or three frames of comb 



3i 



FIG. 



