806 



GLEANiMGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



their hands clasped below their waists any 

 more when cucumbers are in bloom than at any 

 other time. But I am sorry to say that, after 

 several years' experience, I am losing faith in 

 the cucumber as a honey-plant. With four or 

 five hundred acres around Marengo this year, I 

 have seen no very marked results. 



Vakious devices have been discussed for 

 carrying bees, and some of the brethren have 

 rather scoffed at the idea, saying that, when 

 you wanted to carry a hive of bees, the way 

 was just to pick it up and carry it. 1 could 

 sympathize with their views as I watched my 

 son, a stout young fellow, loading and unload- 

 ing bees with no straps, ropes, or other device, 

 this fall, doing it rapidly with apparently little 

 effort; and for him, that's the best way. But, 

 alas! we don't all have the strength. 



TWO NUCLEI IN ONE HIVE. 



UNITING, ETC. 



If the reader will turn to page 252 of the 

 April 1st number of Gleanings for this year 

 he will find these words: " As this article is 

 already long enough, I will tell some other time 

 how I keep two nuclei in a hive, how I dou- 

 ble them for winter, etc.,"' at the close of 

 my article entitled, " What Size of Frame shall 

 we us-e in Queen-rearing?" It had nearly slip- 

 ped my memory during the hurry of the sum- 

 mer months; but I guess this article will be in 

 time for the larger part of our queen-rearers, 

 as the most of these live farther south than I 

 do, and I have only just finished uniting my 

 nuclei. Several years ago I made a lot of hives 

 especially for working with the side and top 

 storing plan combined, for comb honey, as was 

 given to the readers of Gleanings at the time. 

 These hives were two feet long inside, but the 

 brood-chamber was cut down to the size I 

 wished by using a thin slotted partition, five 

 inches from either end, the side boxes being 

 used in this tive-inch space. After I adopted 

 the lateral plan of working for comb honey, 

 given in later numbers of Gleanings. I had no 

 use for these hives for comb honey, so I thought 

 to use them for nucleus hives by tearing out 

 the partitions at either end and putting in a 

 thin partition in the middle, the same being 

 solid except a hole bored in the center of this 

 partition- board, said hole to be filled with a 

 plug except at times of uniting. The nuclei, 

 when formed, were placed next to this thin par- 

 tition, with the entrance at the opposite side at 

 the bottom to prevent robbing, as I gave in 

 that article in April 1st Gleanings In this 

 way each nucleus helped to keep the other 

 warm, and I found that fewer bees would 

 answer for a nucleus in these hives than in 

 those where only one nucleus occupied the 

 whole hive. These nuclei would also build up 

 faster, so that by fall I should, as a rule, have 

 frames of comb and honey built during the 

 season, to an amount sufficient to winter a fair 

 colony of bees; and when ihe two were put 

 together, ihe bees would make the fair colony 

 desired. In this way I have half the number 

 of good colonies of bees in the fall that I start 

 nuclei in June, which is an item worth looking 

 after. I assure the reader. When I have decid- 

 ed not to rear more queens, the queens from 

 one side of these double hives are taken to fill 

 orders, and in a day or two the plug is removed 

 from the hole in the thin partition-board, 

 which allows the bees to pass backward and 

 forward as they please, thus becoming ac- 

 quainted with each other without any danger 

 to the renuiining queen. In five or six days 

 after taking out the plug, the whole are taken 



out of this hive and set over into a chaff hive 

 and fixed for winter, allowing the chaff hive to 

 remain on the stand occupied by both nuclei 

 during the summer, while the double or 

 nucleus hive is put away till another season. 

 In this way I have my nuclei united without 

 the loss of a single queen or bee, and no trouble 

 about the bees returning to their former stand; 

 and, as far as I can see. they winter just as 

 well as will any colony of the same size. 



But it sometimes happens that I am obliged 

 to use more nuclei than these double hives will 

 accommodate, when I use other hives which 

 will accommodate only one nucleus, as has 

 been the case this year. These have to be 

 united for winter also; and as they are nearly 

 always the last formed, and do not build up as 

 fast as those in the double hives, I have to put 

 three or more together to make a colony of suit- 

 able size for winiering. 



All are familiar with the old ways of uniting 

 bees by drawing the colonies to be united a 

 little nearer each other every day till both 

 occupy the same stand, so that none are lost by 

 returning to the old location, so I will not de- 

 scribe the method more fully here, but will 

 simply say that this was always too much work 

 for me; and to overcome it I have used various 

 ways, such as shutting the bees in their hives, 

 and pounding on the same till they were so 

 scared that they were willing to mark their 

 location anew, when as many as were to be 

 united to form one colony were wheeled togeth- 

 er, and all put into one hive. This worked well, 

 but was still too much work; so I brought out 

 the following, which I have used with perfect 

 success the past three years: 



When it has been decided not to rear any 

 more queens from certain nuclei, they are pre- 

 pared for uniiing. when taking their queens 

 away, by taking all but two or three frames 

 away from them, if they happen to have more, 

 these frames being placed in the center of the 

 hive, and spn^ad from half an inch to an inch 

 apai't, according to the number of bees the lit- 

 tle colony may have, making it a point to leave 

 the frames having tbe most honey in them, so 

 that the united colony may have honey enough 

 for winter. 



To unite, we wait till some cold cloudy day, 

 or some morning when there has been a slight 

 frost, or when it is cold enough so the bees 

 have clustered compactly together on the 

 frames we left with them. The object of 

 spreading the frames apart when we prepared 

 them for uniting was, that the bees might 

 cluster on the combs in such shape that they 

 would not touch the hive in any place; for if 

 they do we shall of necessity leave a few bees 

 sticking to the hive; but if spread apart prop- 

 erly, the combs and bees may be taken out 

 without leaving a single bee behind, and car- 

 ried to the place of uniting, and .set right in the 

 hive where we wish. To do this, carefully re- 

 move the cover from the hive where the queen 

 has been left, and where the united colony is to 

 stand, so that there need be no delay when we 

 come with the other frames of bees; then go to 

 one of those prepared as above, carefully re- 

 move thiscover also, when we put the index fin- 

 ger and the finger next to it between the frames, 

 closing upon each side with the other fingers and 

 thumb, when the whole are lifted — combs, bees, 

 and all, and carried where we wish, and set in 

 the hive with hardly a bit of disturbance. It is 

 well to have a veil on, and smoke handy, should 

 they be needed by any blunder of ours; and it is 

 well to keep the cover over the combs in the unit- 

 ed hive as fast as set in, else some of these bees 

 will be apt to fly out at us when bringing the 

 next lot of combs. Remove the empty hives 

 from their places so the bees need not find them 



