208 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



brushed clear of bees. When the in- 

 sects were all in the super (and let me 

 say now that rapid work is necessary 

 to prevent them from crawling out of 

 the super and making much trouble) a 

 barley sack was placed over the open- 

 ing, a flat lid laid on top of the sack 

 and nailed down onto the super. The 

 supers were then turned screen-side up. 

 The discarded combs were carried into 

 the house and tiered up by my wife, 

 who proved a very competent assistant. 

 The combs were left there until the 

 bees were all moved. Then the small 

 amount of honey was extracted from 

 them and the combs melted. I caged 

 no queens and in only two instances did 

 I miss putting her in at the first oper- 

 ation. The bees that were scattered 

 over the canvas were all shaken to the 

 center and then brushed onto the 

 screen. If any dropped to the ground 

 the hum and odor of the cluster drew 

 them onto the screen in a few minutes. 



LOOKING FOR LOST QUEENS. 



After the shaking was finished each 

 evening, these screens were carefully 

 scrutinized for queens. The two found 

 outside were placed in mailing cages 

 with a small escort of bees and the 

 cage and super marked with the same 

 number, so I could tell where each be- 

 longed. When loaded on the wagon 

 these supers were put on the top tier 

 and each queen laid on her own colony 

 with only the two screens between the 

 bees and their mother. They were not 

 re-united until the bees were shaken 

 into their new hive. 



THE BROOD W.\S NOT S.WED. 



On an average there was not to ex- 

 ceed one and one-half frames of brood 

 in each colony, and it all went to the 

 melting tank. Considering only the 

 time required for an additional trip to 

 this yard I could not figure where it 

 would pay me to allow this brood to 

 hatch. The extra fussing necessary — 

 the hunting and caging of queens, and 



the probability of virgins hatching in 

 many of them, necessitating more fuss- 

 ing, put it entirely out of the ques- 

 tion. Another point considered was 

 that while this brood was hatching, 

 many of the old workers would be 

 dying. They were in their new homes 

 and had healthy, sealed brood before I 

 could have begun moving them, had I 

 awaited the hatching of the brood. 



We started with our load about four 

 o'clock a. m. each trip, and drove six- 

 teen miles to Lompac. There we halted 

 one hour for breakfast for ourselves 

 and horses. After breakfast I finished 

 the journey alone each day. Their new 

 location was six miles northwest of 

 town. On the arrival of two of the 

 loads the resident bees gave me such 

 a warm welcome that I had to unload 

 one hundred yards from the apiary and 

 haul the supers in on a wheelbarrow. 



By rapid work I managed to take off 

 the supers, combs and honey I needed 

 in the daytime. These I tiered up four 

 high. Tight lids, bottoms and hives are 

 an absolute necessity for this work. I 

 left these bees in the screened supers 

 under shade trees until they began to 

 fall to the bottom. Some died, thus 

 showing that their supply of honey was 

 exhausted. Then they were transferred 

 to their new hives. Water was given 

 them once a da}-. 



THE WORK WAS DONE AT NIGHT. 



The first lot hauled was shaken on 

 their new stands in daytime, but the res- 

 ident bees were so much inclined to 

 rob that I had to discontinue that plan. 

 The newcomers were slow in taking 

 possession and too weak to put up a 

 spirited defense. Thereafter I drove 

 out again each evening and transferred 

 them after the robbers had gone to 

 "roost." I was very careful to see that 

 the bees all got in and that the en- 

 trances were constructed to one bee 

 space or larger — according to the 

 strength of the colony. 



