270 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1918 



HOW TO UNITE-SPRING and FALL 



Tijvo Colonies United, with Both 

 ^eens Retained, Working Peacea- 

 bly. Other Uniting Plans 



By G. C. Greiner 



TIME and 

 again we 

 have been 

 told by good bee 

 authorities ~ that 

 an abundance of 

 young bees in 

 the fall is neces- 

 sary to insure 

 good wintering. 



We have accepted this assertion as logically 

 correct, and have managed our bees ac- 

 cordingly. 



Fall Dividing Condemned. 



In a recent number of one of our bee 

 journals a prominent beekeeper tells of his 

 plan of making increase in September, by di- 

 viding his colonies, I suppose. According to 

 my experience that is the greatest mistake a 

 beekeeper can make, if good wintering and a 

 large honey crop are the objects. In this 

 locality it would be much more profitable to 

 winter a colony full strength and divide it 

 in the spring early enough to nip all swarm- 

 ing notions in the bud. When treated in this 

 way it will produce at least twice as much 

 surplus honey as the combined effort of both 

 fewarms made in September. Besides, we 

 have fewer colonies to winter. Dividing a 

 colony in September cuts its stock of young 

 bees in halves. Having little chance to re- 

 cuperate before winter sets in, both halves 

 are liable to come out only half -strength in 

 the spring. The theory of this plan seems to 

 run in the opposite direction to the advice 

 first given. 



Which are we to follow! 

 Fall Uniting. 



Bees in a locality that is favore<l with a 

 fall honey flow will generally produce plenty 

 of young bees to go into winter safely. If 

 the' honey flow extends all thru the latter 

 part of September, we should find hatching 

 brood in October. If we don 't, it is the 

 fault of the queen, and the sooner she is re- 

 placed by a new one the better. 



But to replace a queen in October is for 

 various reasons not always practical. In 

 such eases I resort to doubling up. Every 

 colony that fails to come up to the standard 

 mark of populousness for profitable winter- 

 ing is united with a similar one before win- 

 ter sets in. I make my selections for this 

 purpose during the forepart of October. 



(1) Weak colony witii (2) Weak colony, citlicr 

 queen ar.d .sufficient- with or without nueen, 

 stores for itself and weak to he united by i)lacint; 

 colony (2) to be. united above colony (1). 



with it. 

 Those colonies that fill five spaces or more on 

 a cool morning, when closely clustered, are 

 considered safe for wintering. Those that 

 occupy four spaces or less are doubled up. 



queen-excluder 1 rtwecn. 



At ti)e same time 

 that I make 

 these selections I 

 prepare the hives 

 for the final 

 uniting opera- 

 tion by unhook- 

 ing or otherwise 

 loosening the 

 bottom -boards of 

 such hives .as a^'e {■o be ])laced on top, and 

 providing the colonies intended for lower 

 stories with winter stores sufficient for both 

 colonies. This is the proper time for supply- 

 ing any shortage of stores as later, when one 

 hive is placed on top of the other, the bees 

 should be disturbed as little as possible. 



Any queens that are known to be in any 

 way deficient are removed before their colo- 

 nies are united, and 

 they are the ones that 

 take the upper place. 

 If I have no choice in 

 queens, I pay no at- 

 tention to them — 

 simply set the hives 

 one on top of the oth- 

 er and let them fight 

 it out on their own 

 battleground. I do 

 this uniting on a cool 

 day when the bees 

 are closely clustered. 

 Thus there is no ne- 

 cessity of using a newspaper which is always 

 a hindrance to good rapid work. The cool 

 temperature seems to fulfill the juission of 

 the newspaper, as the bees are disturbed but 

 little and get acquainted only gradually. 

 Having everything ready for the operation, 

 it is done so s"moothly that the bees hardly 

 know anything has happened; and before 

 Ihey spread out again, which may take sev- 

 c-ral days, the two colonies are so well ac- 

 quainted with one another that they '.luite 

 without any trouble. 



This has reference to the two colonies of 

 which the upper one is queenless. If both 

 have queens, they are not likely to unite 

 without assistance. Therefore a little dif- 

 ferent management is necessary. After they 

 have b(>en sitting in pairs (one on top of the 

 other) for a number of days, they are made 

 to unite the first time the weather is favor- 

 able for handling bees. Beginning on the 

 opposite side from where the lower colony is 

 clustered, the bees from one comb after an- 

 other are swept off into the frames below, 

 and having no alternative they readily ac- 

 cept as their liome the empty spaces between 

 the combs below. AVlien all combs are thus 

 taken care of, the empty hive-body is taken 

 off and the hive with its two sets of inmates 

 covered up. This operation may require a 

 little smoke, both to make the upper bees 

 retreat more readily down below and to keep 

 the lower (tnes from coming up. 



Fall and Spring Uniting Differ. 

 While it is an advantage to have strong 

 colonies in the fall, it is no less so in the 



