1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



217 



TRANSFERRING. I firmly believe 

 every one of our readers can do their own 

 transferring, and do it nicely, if they will 

 only make up their minds that they will suc- 

 ceed. If you are awkward and inexperi- 

 enced, it will take you longer, that is all. 



It has so often been said that the best 

 time is during the period of fruit blossoms, 

 that it seems almost needless to repeat 

 it. Be sure that you have cleared away all 

 rubbish from about your box hive or gum, 

 for a space of at least 6 feet all round. We 

 would decidedly prefer to have the hive 

 stand directly on the ground with all rough 

 and uneven places filled up with sawdust 

 nicely stamped down. Make it so clean and 

 tidy that you can find a needle if you should 

 drop it, and be sure you leave no cracks or 

 crevices in which the queen or bees may 

 hide or crawl. Make all these arrangements 

 several days beforehand if possible, so that 

 the bees may be fully acquainted with the 

 surroundings and be all at work ; remember 

 we wish to choose a time when as many bees 

 as possible are out at work, for they will 

 then be nicely out of the way. About 10 

 o'clock A. M. will probably be the best time, 

 if it is a warm, still day. Get all your appli- 

 ances in readiness, everything you can think 

 of that you may need, and some other things 

 too, perhaps. You will want a fine-toothed 

 saw, a hammer, a chisel to cut nails in the 

 old hive, tacks, and thin strips of pine (un- 

 less you have the transferring clasps), a large 

 board to lay the combs upon (the cover to a 

 Simplicity hive does "tip top 1 '), an old table 

 cloth or sheet folded up to lay under the 

 combs to prevent bumping the heads of the 

 unhatched brood too severely, a honey knife 

 or a couple of them (if you have none get a 

 couple of of long thin-bladed bread or butch- 

 er knives), and lastly a basin of water and a 

 towel to keep everything washed up clean. 

 Now, as I have said before, this is really, a 

 great part of it, women's work, and if you 

 cannot persuade your wife or sister, or some 

 good friend among the sex to help, you are 

 not fit to be a bee-keeper. In saying this we 

 take it for granted that women, the world 

 over, are ready and willing to assist in any 

 useful work, if they are treated as fellow 

 beings and equals. The operation of trans- 

 ferring will afford you an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to show your assistant many of the 

 wonders of the bee-hive, and in the role of 

 teacher, you may discover that you are stim- 

 ulating yourself to a degree of skill that you 

 would not be likely to attain otherwise. 



A bellows smoker will be very handy, but 



if you have not one, make a smoke of some 

 bits of rotten wood in a pan ; blow a little 

 smoke in at the entrance of the hive, but do 

 not get the sawdust on fire. Tip the old 

 hive over backward, and blow in a little 

 more smoke to drive the bees down among 

 the combs ; let it stand there, and place the 

 new hive so that the entrance is exactly in 

 the place of the old one ; put a large news- 

 paper in front of the new hive and let one 

 edge lie under the entrance. The returning 

 bees, laden with pollen and honey, are now 

 alighting and going into the hive and 

 rushing out again in dismay at finding 

 it empty; we therefore want to get one 

 comb in for them, to let them know 

 that it is their old home. Move the old 

 hive back a little farther so as to get 

 all round it, and give them' a little more 

 smoke whenever they seem disposed to be 

 "obstreperous" ; and now comes the trial of 

 skill and ingenuity. The problem is, to get 

 those crooked, irregular combs out of that 

 old hive, and then to fix them neatly in the 

 movable frames as in the cut on next page. 

 Your own good sense will have to dictate 

 much in this matter. Saw off the cross 

 sticks, if such there be, and with your thin 

 knife cut the combs loose from one side; 

 cut off the nails and pry off this side, but 

 don't get the honey running if you can help 

 it. We have as yet said nothing about bee 

 veils, and though we keep them to 

 sell, I really do not think you need one, un- 

 less you are so careless as to get the honey 

 running and start robbers. When the side 

 is off, you can probably get one comb out. 

 Lay it on the folded table-cloth, take out the 

 comb guide, lay the frame on it, and let 

 your feminine friend cut it so as to require 

 that the frame be sprung slightly to go over 

 it. With the clasps she can cut and fasten 

 the combs in as fast as you can take them 

 out ; if sticks and tacks, strings or rubbers 

 be used it will take some longer. When the 

 frame is to be lifted into a horizontal po- 

 sition, the board, cloth and all is to be rais- 

 ed with it. With the wash basin and towel, 

 keep the honey neatly wiped up. If robbers 

 begin to annoy cover both hives with a 

 cloth while you are fitting the combs, and 

 keep the brood in your new frames in a 

 compact cluster, as it was in the old hive, 

 or some of it may get chilled. When you 

 get near the central combs, you will proba- 

 bly lift out large clusters of bees with the 

 comb; these are to be shaken and brushed 

 off on the newspaper; if they do not seem 

 disposed to crawl into the hive take hold of 



