THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



153 



pronih tlio liivo to bo transferred 



I'irst, 1 (liixc tlu> old (iiiciMi and a ma- 

 joiilv of the Ix'vs into my hiving-box. 

 I I hen n'liioNc I he old hive a l\'\v t'lH't 

 backward. rcvcrsiiii;' the entrance, 

 placin.u' the new one in its [tlaco, and 

 rnu in the Cnrccd swarm. In two 

 (ia.vs I liml (M.ylit new s(i-;ii,ulit condis 

 with every cell worker, and eoniain- 

 ini;- a .uood start of brood. Twenty- 

 one days after the transfer 1 drive 

 til,' old hive clean of all its bees, unit- 

 ing them with the former drive, and 

 put on the bo.xes if they are not al- 

 ready on. If there is any nectar in 

 tlu' flowers, this colony will show you 

 comb honey. I rnn them to.uether as 

 I would one colony in two i)arts. Now 

 to the old beeless hive. Of course, 

 thre is uo brood left, unless a little 

 drono-brood. and we have before us 

 S( ine combs for wax. for more founda- 

 tion, and some first-class kindling 

 wood. 



If yon have no method by which 

 yon can use a liive full of frames of 

 full sheets of foundation, running a 

 lirinie swarm onto them at once, by all 

 means procure it without delay. But 

 if any one has a nuinia for cutting 

 V]) combs and tiffing th"m into frames. 

 th<> luf^hod given aljove does not pro- 

 hibit tliem from using all the straight 

 V, orker-combs the old hive contains, 

 a.fter tir^t extracting the honey from 

 th-'ui. Should any one wish to increase 

 his colonies at the same time lie ti'ans- 

 fers. only the following deviations 

 fi'om the above are necessary: Run 

 the second drive into another luve of 

 full frames of foundation, and use tlie 

 old hive as Itefore. Now that we have 

 foundation perfected, so that the bees 

 will draw the lire or side walls to full 

 breeding dei)th, in from two to thi-ee 

 days, why fuss with the old comb from 

 the old hive? Having once experi- 

 enced the advantages to be attained 

 by using the above method, I sliall 



certainly never go back to tlie old one. 

 All of you know what a nuisance a 

 few odd-sized Idves are in the apiary; 

 also some who liave just started, wish 

 they had .adopted sumo other style of 

 hi\e. The above method of ti-ansfer- 

 ring will get all such out of their trou- 

 ble. 



The cost of foundation and new 

 hives is fully made up l)y the better 

 cond)s, and you have the ch.-inge to 

 bi'tter style of hive thrown into the 

 bargain. I have thoroughly tested the 

 results of the plan herein desci'ibed, 

 and am speaking from experience. 



We have .just practiced the above 

 upon seventy-two colonies, and with- 

 out a failure or mishap of any sort. I 

 purcliased sixteen colonies of bees; 

 that is, I purchased the bees, brood 

 and honey, with the agreement that 

 I sh )uld return the liives and empty 

 combs, wliich 1 have done. We made 

 each one cover two sets of combs in 

 two brood-chambers, witli two queens, 

 liesides tlie surplus sets used above 

 for extracting, and all are rousing 

 strong. Wlien you plan to double your 

 colonies, you remove the old colony to 

 an entirely new location, wlien you 

 make tlie first drive. It is now my 

 oi)inion, tliat, even Avithont tlie use of 

 comlj foundation, in the d.-iys when 

 we liad none, tliis plan of transferring 

 would have been tlie preferable one. 

 As we are cutting out tlie old comb 

 foi- wax. we transfer any that we find, 

 th.'it are perfect, now that they are 

 all clear from bees, and brood, after 

 Ihst extracting all the lioney from 

 them." 



If it is desired to Italianize it would 

 ( nly be necess.ar.v to have (pieens on 

 band at the time of the first drive. 

 Cage a queen in eacli new liive before 

 shal:ing the driven swaian down in 

 front of the hive, screening the en- 

 ti'ance to th(> hiv(> with (lueen-exclud- 

 ing metal, thus catching th(» old, black 



