BEES. is 
box-hive colonies are of small value as producers. The best time to 
transfer is in the spring (during fruit bloom in the North) when the 
amount of honey and the population of the colony are at a minimum. 
Transferring should not be delayed until spring merely because 
that season is best for the work. It may be done at any time dur- 
ing the active season, but, whenever possible, during a honey flow, 
to prevent robbing. If necessary, it may be done in a tent such as 
is often used in manipulating colonies. By choosing a time of the 
day when the largest number of bees are in the field the work will be 
lessened. 
Plan 1.—The box hive should be moved a few feet from its stand 
and in its place should be put a hive with movable frames contain- 
ing full sheets of foundation. The box hive should be turned upside 
down and a small, empty box inverted over it. By drumming con- 
tinuously on the box hive with sticks for a considerable time the bees 
will be made to desert their combs and go to the upper box, and 
when most of them are clustered above, the bees may be dumped 
in front of the entrance of the hive which is to house them. The 
queen will usually be seen as the bees enter the hive, but, in case 
she has not left the old combs, more drumming will induce her to 
do so. It is necessary that the queen be in the hive before this 
manipulation is finished. The old box hive containing brood may 
now be placed right side up in a new location and in 21 days 
all of the worker brood will have emerged and probably some 
new queens will have been reared. These bees may then be drummed 
out and united with their former hive mates by vigorously smoking 
the colony and the drummed bees and allowing the latter to enter 
the hive through a perforated zinc to keep out the young queens. 
The comb 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. 
Plan 2.—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 disagreeable job, and, since the combs so obtained are 
usually of little value in an apiary, the first method is recommended. 
Plan 3.—Another good plan is to wait until the colony swarms 
and then move the box hive to one side. A movable frame hive is 
now placed in the former location of the box hive and the swarm is 
hived in it. In this way all returning field bees are forced to join 
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