Sept. 12. 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



581 



I Contributed Articles, l 



Transferring Worker-Comb for Drone-Comb. 



BY C. P. DAD.\NT. 



IN repl)' to a question on this subject, I would say that it 

 is indispensable for the novice to learn how to transfer 

 combs properly, for many reasons. First, he may have 

 bees in old boxes, swarms hived in haste, in any kind of a 

 receptacle — a dry goods box, a cracker box, a keg, or per- 

 haps even a hollow tree, though the latter are getting 

 scarce when compared to 35 years ago. 



Then, there is the exchanging of drone-comb for 

 worker-comb, as mentioned in the query. It is also some- 

 times necessary to straighten combs, or even to take them 

 out entirely, if not built true in the center of the frames : 

 for a movable-frame hive deserves its name only when each 

 comb hangs true on a seperate frame. Before the inven- 

 tion of comb foundation, it was much more ditficult to 

 secure straight combs, and apiarists had recourse to all 

 sorts of devices to compel the bees to follow the straight 

 line. These devices were more or less successful, and for 

 that reason the handling of the frames in the management 

 of the apiary was more difficult than today. 



It must be borne in mind that drone-comb may be 

 removed with the best results when the combs are dry, and 

 so the time for this work is early in the spring or during a 

 dearth of honey. 



When examining the frames, set aside all that have 

 more drone-comb than worker-comb, and cut out every- 



FASTESISG TRASSFEBREI) WOBKER-COMB. 



thing. This will give you a number of pieces of good 

 worker-comb to use. The frames that have been thus 

 emptied can be supplied with either a strip or a full sheet of 

 foundation, and placed in a hive in which a swarm is to be 

 hived. 



It does not matter how small a piece of worker-comb 

 you may have, do not destroy it, unless it is absolutely too 

 old and dirty or crooked. Small pieces may be used as well 

 as large ones. I remember that my father, when I was vet 

 a boy, used to transfer into our hives the combs of small 

 boxes in which we had received imported queens from 

 Italy. At that time the exporters put up the queens for 

 shipment in small boxes with two frames of comb, each 

 comb about 3x4', inches. My father would make a very 

 decent frame of comb with some 16 of those pieces 

 arranged symmetrically in the 'frame, four in the length 

 and four in the height of the frame. With a little labor 

 from the bees, we had a very good comb with no drone- 

 cells, except an occasional one at the seaius, and it is cer- 

 tain that those combs could still be found in our hives, 

 showing plainly the suturf or seam made by the bees. I 



may say that at one time we imported as many as 300 

 queens annually from Italy. 



To hold the combs in place, we use a light wire, say No. 

 16, of about the height of the frame, and with both ends 

 bent at right angles, so the wire may be driven into the 

 the wood at the top and bottom. It is well to punch a small 

 hole previously, with an awl, for it helps in driving the 

 wire into the wood. A number of these are put on one side 

 of the frame, and the frame is laid on the table with the 

 wires on the underside, then the piece of comb is fitted, and 

 more wires nailed on top of it. 



To fit a piece of worker-comb into a gap from which a 

 drone-comb had been removed, lay your spare piece of 

 worker-comb on the table, then put the frame down upon it 

 with the empty space over the comb, you can thus mark the 

 exact size and shape of the piece to be cut. This is marked 

 with a sharp knife. If the cut is made exact and the combs 

 are rather old, the fit will be so good that no support will be 

 needed, and the bees will have them fastened together 

 before there is any danger of the patch coming to pieces. 

 In putting in small pieces shorter wires may be used. (See 

 engraving). 



There is no need of leaving the wires on after the 

 combs have been repaired by the bees. If you leave them, 

 it will spoil a row of cells all the way up and down along 

 each wire. Usually a week is amply sufficient to have the 

 combs patched and in good order, unless the colony is weak 

 and there is no flow of honey. 



If transferring is to be tried during a honey-flow, it is 

 necessary to extract the honey out of the combs first. 

 Under no circumstances would a good apiarist transfer 

 combs during a hot spell of weather, especially if there 

 was much honey, unless the combs to be handled were old 

 and tough. 



Never destroy good worker-combs, unless they are so 

 exceedingly dirty that it is evident that the queen would 

 not, or could not, lay eggs in them. That is usually the 

 case with the lower edge of the combs of a very old hive. 

 But if the combs are clean, age makes no difference ; we 

 have combs over 40 years old that I would not exchange for 

 the same area of foundation. 



Some writers will tell you that bees can build combs so 

 fast, and so cheapl}', that a swarm hived on empty frames 

 will succeed about as well as one hived on combs already 

 built ; but you must class them with the farmers who tell 

 you that land without manure can be kept as productive as 

 land that is well manured. Such talk makes a diversion, it 

 cau.ses discussions, and breaks the monotony by causing 

 the heads to warm up : but in the long run, all the fine-spun 

 theories give way to plain facts. Hancock Co., III. 



Hiving Two Swarms in One Hive. 



BV C. DAVENPORT. 



LAST year I wrote an article for the American Bee 

 Journal, in which I stated the fact, and endeavored to 

 explain why a good deal more surplus white honey 

 could be obtained here if two swarms were hived together 

 in one hive than could be if each were given a separate 

 hive. In commenting on this in his inimitable way, Mr. 

 Hasty compared it to Hamlet with Hamlet left out; and 

 from what he further said I infer that he has had, or thinks 

 there would be, trouble on account of the queens being 

 balled. But in the hundreds of natural swarms I have 

 hived in this way I do not remember a single instance 

 where any trouble of this kind occurred, and no precaution 

 whatever was ever taken to prevent it ; that is, when both 

 swarms issued at or about the same time. It would be of 

 interest to me, if Mr. Hasty would say whether he ever had 

 any trouble of this kind, or only thought there might be. 



Of course, with artificial swarms, or when two natural 

 swarms that issue on different days are hived in one hive, 

 precautions have to be taken to prevent the bees from fight- 

 ing, but this is not done with any special regard to prevent 

 the queens being balled. 



What leads me to say more on this subject is that soon 

 after what I wrote last year was published, a friend of mine, 

 who keeps bees in a small way, came to my place and 

 wanted to know much more in regard to the matter than I 

 had explained, and was much pleased to find out that nat- 

 ural swarms that issued a few days apart could be put 

 together so they would work as well as they would when 

 they both swarmed the same day ; when this occurred he 

 had no trouble in getting both swarms to work peacefully 

 together in one hive, in which case he knew from his own 



