BEES. 21 
enter the hive, but, in case she has not left the old combs, more drum- 
ming will induce her to leave. It is necessary that the queen be in the 
hive before this manipulation is finished. The old box hive contain- 
ing brood may now be placed right side up in a new location and in 
twenty-one days all of the worker brood will have emerged and prob- 
ably some new queens will have been reared. These bees may then 
be drummed out and united with their former hive mates by smoking 
the colony and the drummed bees vigorously and allowing the latter 
to enter the hive through a perforated zinc to keep out the young 
queens. The wax in the box hive may then be melted up and any 
honey which it may contain used as the bee keeper sees fit. By this 
method good straight combs are obtained. If little honey is being 
gathered, the colony in the hive must be provided with food. 
If, on the other hand, the operator desires to save the combs of the 
box hive, the bees may be drummed into a box and the brood combs 
and other fairly good combs cut to fit frames and tied in place or held 
with rubber bands, strings, or strips of wood until the bees can repair 
the damage and fill up the breaks. These frames can then be hung in 
a hive on the old stand and the bees allowed to goin. The cutting of 
combs containing brood with more or less bees on them is a disagree- 
able job and, since the combs so obtained are usually of little value in 
an apiary, the first method is recommended. 
Colonies often take up their abode in walls of houses and it is often 
necessary to remove them to prevent damage from melting combs. 
If the cavity in which the combs are built can be reached, the method 
of procedure is like that of transferring, except that drumming is im- 
practical and the bees must simply be subdued with smoke and the 
combs cut out with the bees on them. 
Another method which is often better is to place a bee escape over 
the entrance to the cavity, so that the bees can come out, but can not 
return. A cone of wire cloth about 8 inches high with’ a hole at the 
apex just large enough for one bee to pass will serve as a bee escape, 
or a regular bee escape such as are sold by dealers may be used. 
A hive which they can enter is then placed beside the entrance. 
The queen is not obtained in this way and, of course, goes right on lay- 
ing eggs, but as the colony is rapidly reduced in size the amount of 
brood decreases. As brood emerges, the younger bees leave the 
cavity and join the bees in the hive, until finally the queen is left prac- 
tically alone. A new queen should be given to the bees in the hive as 
soon as possible, and in a short time they are fully established in their 
new quarters. After about four weeks, when all or nearly all of the 
brood in the cavity has emerged, the bee escape should be removed 
and as large a hole made at the entrance of the cavity as possible. 
The bees will then go in and rob out the honey and carry it to the hive, 
leaving only empty combs. The empty combs will probably do no 
397 
