150 



THE BEE-KEEPERS- REVIEW. 



that may be Hying near, to join them, which 

 they will do. 



In setting bee^ out of the cellar they are 

 sure to do the same thing (go where the 

 loudest hum i* ) even if placed on the old snm- 

 mer stand, thu^ miking the strongest stron- 

 * ger and the weakest weaker, and I believe a 

 great many bee-keepers have attributed the 

 cause of there having so many weak colo- 

 nies to cellar-wintering when the trouble 

 was as above. 



I generally remain in the yard when the 

 bees take their tirst flight and if I tind too 

 many bees returning to a certain hive I 

 stand in front of the -entrance a few min- 

 utes, which will cause a great many to fly 

 elsewhere, or I stand a board up, or throw a 

 sheet over the hive and look elsewhere, 

 sometimes I pick up the hive and set it 

 down in place of one that the bees are not 

 flying from as freely. 



I will now try to comply with your request 

 and tell your readers how I manage to get 

 drawn combs at the time of the white-honey 

 harvest. 



Allow me to say right here, one of the 

 most important things to do to obtain suc- 

 cess is to use a strong colony to do the work, 

 and it is be^t to see if there are such about 

 the time of fruit bloom. If not, strong 

 colonies can be built up by feeding, or with 

 combs of hatching brood etc. A.s the above 

 causes some considerable work and also 

 causes the apiarist to sometimes wait (for 

 strong colonies to be built up ) until after 

 the drawn combs are needed, I have been 

 looking for better and more satisfactory 

 methods, and will now try and describe a 

 method whereby I have attained much bet- 

 ter results, with much less labor, making it 

 possible to secure the necessary strong col- 

 onies in a few hours time. 



The plan is as follows. A few days be- 

 fore the time to put the supers upon the 

 bees, I select two good colonies, or as many 

 pairs as will be needed to secure tlie requir- 

 ed number of drawn combs, that are sitting 

 side by side ( my hives sit in pairs) and over 

 the entrance of one hive of each pair I place 

 a cone bee-escape, thus preventing the re- 

 turning bees from entering their own hive. 

 They will readily enter the twin hive, thus 

 making a powerful colony, in the right 

 condition to take possession of the supers, 

 which should have previously been supplied 

 with partly filled sections of comb left over 

 from the last honey flow. As soon as the 



super i- well occupied by the bees, add at 

 once underneath the first super put on, 

 another super of sections containing foun- 

 dation only, which will soon be converted 

 into beautiful drawn combs. 



If the readers will now turn to the March 

 issue of the Review and read there in my 

 article on the above subject, they will find 

 details as to the time to take off these supers 

 of foundation etc. 



Of course in gome seasons and in some 

 localities drawn combs can be secured from 

 the fruit bloom, but with not so much sat- 

 isfaction, as the weather is often quite cool, 

 a condition very unfavorable for comb 

 building. If, however, you should try to 

 secure drawn combs from fruit bloom, I 

 would advise only one super remaining up- 

 on the bees at a time, and that should con- 

 tain enough "bait" sections only to induce 

 the bees above. 



I have been using this same bee escape 

 for the prevention of afrer- swarms, to the ex- 

 clusion of all other means. If you think my 

 management would be of interest to your 

 readers I will give it at some future time. 

 [ Give it. — Ed. ] 



When I first commenced to experiment 

 with bee escapes over the entrances of strong 

 colonies for the purpose as mentioned 

 above, I have had combs melt down in 

 a few hours after placing the escape 

 in position, caused by the ventilation 

 being nearly all cut off at the entrance. 

 After using the escape as now constructe 

 I have never had any further trouble 

 of that kind. If I can save others, that 

 may wish to try my methods, from a 

 like trouble, it might be wisdom for me to 

 describe just how to make the escape as I 

 now use it. 



Take a piece of wood about two inches 

 square on the end, and the length of the 

 hive, then rip it in two, from one corner, 

 diagonally, to the other, and yon will then 

 have two, three-cornered pieces or enough 

 for two escapes when finished. Now, bore 

 close together, about 3 one-inch holes from 

 the flat side right through to the corner on 

 the opposite side, and then cut out the pro- 

 jecting pieces of wood left by the bit in 

 boring. You will then have a slot about 

 3 inches or more long, which should be cov- 

 ered on the flat side with a wire cloth cone 

 bee escape about one to one and a half in- 

 ches long, with the apex large enough for 

 the drones to pass through, now cut a hole 



