THE BEE-KEEPtJRS' RtJVIEW. 



3t 



I am very mach interested just now in get- 

 tiuj: drawn out combs for honey sections. 

 Several days hlco, after reading in your ex- 

 cellent little work " Advanced B»e-Cnlture, " 

 in reference to the advantages of empty 

 frames with starters in them for the brood 

 nest in hiving swarms, and also of the dis- 

 advantages of fi ished comb, or frames with 

 full sheets of foundation in them, I conceiv- 

 ed this idea of getting drawn comb for sec- 

 tions. When the swarm is hived, give the 

 queen enough of tiuishrid comb to occupy 

 her for a short time only, or until we can 

 get dr. wn combs for the sections, the re- 

 mainder of the brood chamber to be em- 

 ployed in getting the drawn combs for the 

 sections. It may be better to give the brood 

 nest frames containing full sheets of foun- 

 dation. By brood nest 1 mean the place 

 occupied by the comb^ for the queen. It 

 ought to be, I think, separated from the 

 parts of the brood chamber used for getting 

 drawn combs, by slotted division boards, 

 like, or something like, G. M. Doolittle uses 

 beside the brood nest in his system of side 

 and top storing of honey in sections, or di- 

 vision boards of wire cloth with slots in 

 them may be all that is necessary. It may 

 be necessary to use perforated queen exclud- 

 ing zinc more or less in these division boards 

 and it may be necessary to make them par- 

 titions so as to confine the queen in the 

 brood nest. 



The queen is to be given only enough of 

 finished comb as she may need it, so as not 

 to encourage the bees to store honey in the 

 brood nest. What she requires can be given 

 as she needs it when the drawn combs are 

 taken from tlie brood chamber. This will 

 cause but little extra work and take little 

 time. It will be an easy matter to add a 

 comb now and then when the drawn combs 

 are taken out. As soon as five L mgstroth's 

 frames of comb are given, no more combs 

 will be necessary to the end of the harvest, 

 and the work of getting drawn combs can 

 be continued in the remainder of the brood 

 chamber to the end of the harvest also. 

 When combs are given the queen they should 

 be placed in the middle of the brood nest. 



I think it would be best to get the drawn 

 comb directly in the sections at first, and 

 have them, preferably, in wide frames. 

 Then the frames can be lifted out and put 

 into the supers with the least disturbance of 

 the bees clustered in each oection. This is 

 important I think. The separators may 



make all the division boards necesrary to 

 separate the brood nest from the apartments 

 for getting drawn combs. The latter can 

 be g^t in frames, but it would be too slow a 

 process with only starters in them, and there 

 would most likely be but few worker cells 

 built. Frames containing full sheets of 

 of foundation would be far better, but the 

 trouble would be to keep the thin and extra 

 thin foundation in them. Wiring would be 

 necessary, but I doubt if that would an.swer. 

 The wires could be put four inches apart 

 and both perpendicularly and horizontally. 

 If the frames are of the proper size we have 

 only to cut the comb loose from them and 

 pull the wires out so as to cut the comb and 

 it can be easily separated into pieces just 

 right for 4}4 x il^ sections. I do not like 

 this way of getting drawn comb. I think 

 it would be better to have it built in the 

 sections even if we get somewhat less of it 

 in a given time. 



Putting drawn comb into sections has 

 serious objections. It would contain some 

 honey or nectar and this would make the 

 job mussy and make trouble in getting the 

 comb properly fastened in the sections. 

 Bees seem to be suspicious of comb not built 

 in the place it is to occupy. I have noticed 

 this when using starters of comb in sections. 

 They were so apt to build bridge combs 

 from the combs to the separators. I could 

 account for this trouble in no other way. 

 Another objection is the disturbance of the 

 bees clustered on the comb, some of which 

 are no doubt comb builders. 



The system as you see is one of severe 

 contraction of the brood nest for swarms. 

 Limiting and adjusting the size of the 

 brood nest to suit the needs of the queen. 

 Giving the queen room in it only as fast as 

 she can keep the combs occupied with 

 brood and eggs. Finished comb, frames 

 containing full sheets of foundation, or 

 frames with only starters in them to be used 

 in the brood nest, whichever proves best. 

 The parts of the brood chamber not occu- 

 pied by the brood nest, or such part as may 

 be necessary, to be employed in securing 

 drawn combs for the sections. It may be 

 possible to apply the same principle to colo- 

 nies ih it have not swarmed. It could be em- 

 ployed in connection with my arrangement 

 for preventing swarming by the principle 

 of division and the use of two brood apart- 

 ments, one to contain the colony and the 

 other the old brood combs, except one or 



