344 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



transferred combs are more easily held in 

 place in the frames, while honey is coming in 

 sufficiently to prevent robbing, as well as to 

 enable the bees to repair rapidly the damage 

 done the combs. If done 21 days after swarm- 

 ing, there will be no brood in the hives except 

 a little drone brood, so there will be no loss 

 from cutting through it, as all the bees from 

 the eggs laid by the old queen will now have 

 emerged from the cells, while the 3-oung 

 queen will have only just begun laying." 



" That seems reasonable. Bat is there no 

 preparation to be made before I begin this 

 work ? If so, I wish to make these prepara- 

 tions now, while I have time." 



"Yes, there are preparations to be made, 

 and the first is to bore some eighth inch holes 

 through the center of each frame contained in 

 the movable frame hive, about four through 

 the top bar, the same through the bottom-bar 

 and side or end bars, if these latter are of 

 equal length with the others. If shorter, then 

 three will do for these." 



" What are these holes for? " 



*' These are to slip pegs or thorns through, 

 into the combs to hold them in place ; and 

 your next work will be to make the pegs or 

 gather the thorns. The thorns are best, as 

 they are smoother and sharper. You can 

 find plenty of them on those thorn-bushes 

 over toward the swamp." 



"Yes, I know where they grow, and will 

 get some ; but there are other preparations, 

 are there not ? " 



" Yes. Besides having the frames and pegs 

 ready, aboard abaut two feet square will be 

 necessary, and a barrel or box of convenient 

 height for the operator to place the board up- 

 on. On one side of the board should be tack- 

 ed three or four thicknesses of cloth so the 

 brood and combs will not he injured by being 

 placed upon it. Besides these you will want 

 a long thin-bladed knife." 



"That completes the preparations, I take 

 it." 



" Yes ; and, having these things in readiness, 

 proceed to the hive and blow a few puffs of 

 smoke in at the entrance to alirm the bees, 

 when the box hive is to be turned bottom up 

 and the frame hive placed on the stand the 

 box hive occupied. Blow a little more smoke 

 over the exposed bottoms of the combs, and 

 place the cap of the hive, or any box, over the 

 bottom of the hive for the bees to crawl up in- 

 to. Select the side of the hive to which the 

 combs run parallel, if possible, and proceed 

 to pry off the side, using a cold chisel to cut 

 the nails, if necessary. If there are cross- 

 sticks through the center of the hive, these 

 must be cut off with a saw, or otherwise." 



" What becr>mes of the bees ? " 



" By this time the bees will all be off the 

 combs next to you, when the first one is to be 

 cut out and laid on the prepared board. Now 

 lay one of your prepared frames on this comb, 

 and mark the comb by the inside of the frame. 

 Next, take off the frame and cut the comb a 

 hair larger than the marks, so that it will fit 

 snugly in the frame, when the frame is to be 

 pressed over the comb until it fits nicely. The 

 thorns are now pushed through the holes into 



the comb so as to hold it in place in the frame 

 when hung in the hive." 



" Will these thorns hold it all right in pick- 

 ing up? " 



"To take from the board requires a little 

 skill, as the comb is generally stuck fast more 

 or less with leaking honey. But if the board 

 and all is raised until the frame stands in ihe 

 position it hangs in the hive, there will be no 

 danger of the comb falling out in causing it to 

 part with the board. When free from the 

 board, place the frame in the hive, and the 

 bees which have returned from the fields will 

 take posses.sion of it, licking up the drip, 

 etc. Proceed to cut out the rest of the 

 combs and fit them in the frames as you did 

 the first, until all are used, and set in the new 

 hive, placing them in this hive in the same 

 relative position, as nearly as may be, which 

 they occupied before." 



"What about the drone comb? Should 

 there be much ? " 



'■ If drone comb to any amount is found, it 

 is well to leave the most of it out." 



" How about the smaller pieces? " 



" If many pieces of nice worker comb are 

 made by the cjmbs cutting to a disadvantage, 

 they can be fitted into frames, and fine wire 

 wound around to hold them in place till the 

 bees fasten all together. If this is done, the 

 hive must be opened in a few days and the 

 wire removed. The thorns can always re- 

 main, as they do no particular harm." 



" How about the bees which have run up 

 into the box ? " 



" As soon as all the combs are in, close the 

 new hive and hive the bees which are in the 

 cap or box into it, the same as any swarm 

 would be hived, when the job is done. If a 

 scarcity of honey exists at time of transferring, 

 so that robbing is liable to occur, a bee-tent 

 to set over the hive and operator is a good 

 thing." 



" You spoke at the start about using foun- 

 dation in transferring. What did you mean ?" 



" We have at the present time what is term- 

 ed the new way, or Heddon plan of transfer- 

 ring, and many of our best apiarists prefer 

 that to the old way." 



"How is that different from the one you 

 have just told me about ? " 



" By the new way a new hive with the 

 frames filled with comb foundation is set on 

 the stand the box hive occupies, when the 

 queen and three-fourths of the bees are drum- 

 med out and hived in the new hive, the old 

 hive being left standing close by. In a week 

 this old hive is carried to a new stand, this 

 stopping all after-swarming by causing all of 

 the flying bees to be left with the new hive. 

 In 21 days, when all the brood has emerged 

 from the cells, and the young queen corn- 

 menced to lay, all of the bees are driven out, 

 and from the combs and old box hive, and 

 this drive hived in another new hive standing 

 on the stand the box hive occupied just before 

 this last drive. You have now two colonies 

 from your old one that was in the box hive, 

 both of which are in new hives with all-work- 

 er combs, while you have the contents of the 

 box hive all free from bees, in a shape that 



