April 11, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



231 



Weak Colonies in Spring— Wlien to Unite Tliem. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLK. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that many of his colonies 

 of bees will come out weak this spring-, and wishes me 

 to tell him in the American Bee Journal when and how 

 to unite them. 



When colonies of bees come out weak in the spring, it 

 may be beneficial to put two or more of these weak colo- 

 nies together, so that one strong colony may be made from 

 several weak ones. Some suppose that if any uniting of 

 weak colonies is to be done, the earlier in the spring it is 

 accoraplisht the better the results will be, but from years of 

 experience along this line I am positive that such early 

 uniting is a mistake. From some experience several years 

 ago, I came to the conclusion that each would go thru the 

 early spring better alone, and to test the matter I tried the 

 following one spring : 



I had ten weak colonies and united six in one hive, 

 three in another and left one alone, which was scarcely an 

 average of the whole, as to strength of bees. This unit- 

 ing was done the latter part of April, and in less than three 

 weeks' time the colony formed by uniting the six was all 

 gone. During the same time the one not united " held its 

 own," while that where the three were put together was 

 scarcely better than was this. 



On June 10th the one having no help had by actual 

 count 85 bees besides the queen, and the one made from the 

 three had 105, according to an entry I tind in my diary. As 

 I was then anxious for all the bees I could get, I did the 

 best I could with them without help from other colonies. 

 The one having the 85 bees built up and stored five sections 

 of honey, besides having enough for winter, the same com- 

 ing from buckwheat. And other experiments made since 

 then gave like results, so that, of late years, I have ceast 

 altogether to unite early in the spring. 



After a careful watching I find the reason for this seem" 

 ingly inconsistent state of things to be, that with united 

 colonies the bees seem to be incited to greater activity, 

 by strange bees being thrown together, thus starting a 

 large lot of brood, the care of which wears their life out so 

 fast that they perish from exhausted vitality, or old age, 

 before any young bees emerge from their cells to take their 

 places ; while those not united do very little, and rear only 

 enough brood to take the places of those slowly dying off, 

 thus keeping their numbers about good till settled warm 

 weather comes, when these few (now) young bees are able 

 to hold five times the brood they could in early spring, so 

 that they now increase rapidly. 



From the above it will easily be seen why I would not 

 unite weak colonies early in the season. Of late years I 

 have united just before the honey harvest, as I consider it 

 more profitable than to let each colony go thru the season 

 separately, as I did the one having the 85 bees. If these 

 colonies are left to themselves, the best we can hope is that 

 they will become strong enough in bees and honey for 

 winter ; while by uniting just before the honey harvest I 

 secured a good yield of honey from the united colony and 

 get the two in good condition for winter. My plan of 

 work in uniting, and looking toward this end, is as follows ; 

 As earlv in the spring as the bees can be lookt over, all 

 of the weaker colonies are shut on as few combs as they 

 have brood, by using a division-board to contract the hive. 

 They are now left till warm weather comes, being sure that 

 all have stores enough where they can conveniently reach 

 them to carry them until this period. They are now built 

 up as rapidly as possible by reversing the brood, etc., so 

 that by June 1st the best of them will have five frames of 

 brood, others four, and so on down to one for the very 

 weakest. As soon as the best has its five frames filled with 

 brood, down to the very bottom corners, a frame of hatch- 

 ing brood is given to one having but four frames, and an 

 empty comb put in its place. 



In taking a frame of hatching brood in this way I gen- 

 erally take all the bees there are on it right along, only 

 being sure that I do not get the queen, so that all the 

 young bees on this comb help to give strength to the 

 weaker, as the younger bees will not return to their old 

 home. 



In a few days a frame of brood and bees are taken 

 from each of these two five-frame colonies, and given to 

 the one having but three frames, and so I keep taking till 

 all have five frames each. 



Do not make the mistake some do and try to strengthen 

 the very weakest first, for by so doing from one-half t.. 

 two-thirds of the brood will be liable to perish with some 



cool spell, as these last colonies have at this time all the 

 brood they can properly care for. 



By the above plan we are always safe, and advancing 

 warm weather is in our favor also. In a few days after all 

 have five frames of brood, we are ready to unite, and if all 

 has been done as it should be, the uniting will be done 

 about the time white clover begins to yield honey nicely. 



To unite : Go to No. 1 and look the frames over till the 

 queen is found, when this frame having the queen on it is 

 set outside the hive. Now spread the frames apart in No. 2, 

 when the four frames of brood, bees and all, from No. 1 are 

 carried and placed in each alternate space between the 

 frames of No. 2, closing the hive. Return the frame hav- 

 ing the queen on it to No. 1, placing beside it an empty 

 comb ; adjust the division-board and the work is done. In 

 two or three days, put the sections on the hive No. 2, and 

 see what a pile of honey they will store up. At the same 

 time place an empty frame, having only a starter in it, 

 between the two filled ones in No. 1, and in a few days you 

 will have a frame filled with as nice worker-comb as you 

 ever saw, which is much cheaper than to buy foundation. 

 Nearly all the old bees carried to No. 2 will have returned 

 by this time, so that No. 1 is a splendid nucleus, just right 

 for building straight worker-comb, and by giving empty 

 frames as needed this colony will be in good condition for 

 winter, while No. 2 will have given three times the 

 honey the two would have done if left to themselves, or had 

 they been united in early spring. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



No. 14.— Interesting Notes on European Travel. 



C. p. DADANT. 



I THOUGHT that I had well-nigh exhausted the narra- 

 tion of my trip, but our kind editor has the desire of in- 

 serting in the American Bee Journal a photograph of the 

 birthplace of my father, Chas. Dadant, which was secured 

 from the collection of an amateur photographer who has 

 been dead many years. This photo was taken some 40 

 years ago, and it would appear, from the half-tone, that the 

 original picture was good, altho evidently taken on a windy 

 day, if we judge from the appearance of the trees in the 

 view. 



It was on the 22d of May, 1817, that my father was 

 born, 84 years ago, in the large house at the back of the 

 picture. The nearest building on the left hand was a 

 blacksmith shop, and you can readily see two large grind- 

 stones under a brush shed. The church was being rebuilt, 

 and they are putting the new building right over the old 

 one, but the village was short of funds and they had tem- 

 porarily abandoned the work and boarded up the unfinisht 

 portion. The column in front of the church is a public 

 fountain, and it is still there. The near house on the right 

 is a grocery. The houses, the roofs, as will be noticed, are, 

 like their roads, entirely of stone. It takes rafters of won- 

 derful size to bear such a load, and the attic of one of 

 those houses looks like a monstrous structure, but once they 

 are put up, the roofs last till the wood is entirely worm- 

 eaten and the rafters crack under the weight. 



The trees at the back of the picture, which seem to 

 flutter in a strong breeze, are on each side of the highway 

 which traverses the village, and the little river is just 

 behind that. At the time when the picture was taken, the 

 public highway was the only means of communication with 

 other towns, but for the last 25 years they have been sup- 

 plied with railroad facilities, telegraph station, telephones, 

 etc. The church is now finisht and is a much finer struc- 

 ture than the one in the picture. 



This village, Vaux-Sous-Aubigny, is the one which I 

 mentioned in my second letter, (page 629—1900), as the home 

 of my grandfather, when I was a boy, and which I visited 

 with so much pleasure. I had been told on the way to 

 Europe, bv foreigners, who, like myself, had visited the 

 home of their boyhood days, that I would find everything 

 changed, that no one would know me, that those who would 

 remember me would be very indifferent, and that it would 

 be an all-around disappointment. Such was not my experi- 

 ence, altho I had come prepared for a change. In this vil- 

 lage as in one or two others where I had been used to visit, 

 and also in the city of my birth, some 20 miles from there. 

 I found plenty of friends, old and new. As a matter of 

 course, the new friends were all apiarists. The treasurer 

 of the old college is an apiarist of some note, and I made 

 his acquaintance with the greatest pleasure. He took pride 



