THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



2^/ 



tiom." Now, I like lo agree with my 

 friends and neighbors, but how cmi I 

 think as you do on this subject, espe- 

 cially on the use of old combs for new 

 swarms ? I used to read, thirty-five 

 years ago, or more, of the danger of 

 honey clogged hives, but remember 

 very few such in my forty years of 

 experience. 



When I shake a swarm upon old 

 combs, and in eight days find the 

 brood chamber of eight Langstroth 

 combs two-thirds or three-fourths full 

 of brood, and some of it alrejidy sealed, 

 it doesn't look as though the bees had 

 waited very long to polish the cells be- 

 fore the queen began to lay. I prefer 

 to have the combs one-third or more 

 full of honej', or, still better, perhaps 

 two or three combs of solid honey, and 

 the rest empt}'. I like them better than 

 wooden dummies. I have even filled a 

 brood chamber with old combs filled 

 literally solid with honejs old honey, 

 with only a few empty cells in the hive, 

 putting a swarm on them, as an ex- 

 periment, and all went well. Enough 

 honey was carried above to the supeis 

 to make room for brood. 



When a queen is removed during a 

 good flow of honej^, the combs are 

 usuallj' filled solid with honey; the 

 lower third (more in the center than on 

 the outside) is left unsealed, but as 

 soon as the young queen begins to la3', 

 the honey quickly goes "• up stairs,'' as 

 we sa3', and there is plenty of room 

 for brood. I have tried (after reading 

 about its virtues) hiving on starters, 

 only to regret my blunder, as it 

 seemed to me. 



We u.'^ually have a fair flow of honey 

 during clover, and sometimes bass- 

 wood, and then a great dearth of honey, 

 and I sometimes find colonies starving 

 to death before I can get round to feed 

 them — some that were in fair condition 

 when the honey season closed. 



Colonies shaken upon old combs, 

 unless the queen is defective, rarely 

 lack for brood, and frequently are 



starting queen cells and preparing to 

 swarm again in two weeks, or lesL; 

 and comb building and starting in 

 supers seems to go on jcs^ is wtill, or 

 even better, than in swarms that have 

 not prepared to swarm at all. Per- 

 haps by reducing the brood chp.mber 

 to five combs as you suggest it .night 

 be a success. But I prefer to reduce 

 to six frames, where I use foundation, 

 but, by using a full set of old combs 

 we have some, yes, more honey, stored 

 for late summer and winter use. 



Well, I will admit, in closing that I 

 have sometimes thought that bees i/'ut 

 on old combs have not done as well as 

 I thought they ought to do; and per- 

 haps I have not experimented along 

 this line as much as I ought to have 

 done — I shall try it over again the com- 

 ing season if I can. 



I wish I might think as you do, but 

 must be true to my convictions Should 

 further experiments prove that I have 

 been wrong in my conclusions for this 

 section, I shall take great pleasure in 

 telling you so. I am not yet too old to 

 learn. 



MiDDLEBURY, Vt., Jan. 23, 1906. 



[It is evident that there is some 

 factor in my method of management 

 that does not appear in that of Bro. 

 Crane's, or vice versa. I did not mind 

 so much the small amount of brood 

 that resulted when hiving swarms on 

 drawn combs, as I did the lessened 

 amount of honey that went into the 

 sections. Very little honey was stored 

 in the sections until the brood nest was 

 full, and then work was commenced 

 very slowly. The first flush, the vim of 

 the swarming energy had been used to 

 fill the brood chamber, and the work 

 in the supers was Ho-i-." in a half 

 hearted manner. 



With starters only in .:ie brood 

 frames, the bees go into the sections 

 with a rush, doing fully as good work 

 as though the\' had not swarmed. It 

 my seem paradoxical, but I should e.:- 

 pect better work in tl-e ^.^rtions if a 



