GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



only to lose the opportunity to get a large 

 increase by the failure of the queens to 

 arrive until too lale. 



Here, if we can get a layer into a hive 

 of brood or on a few frames of brood, in 

 early June, we have a colony as good as the 

 best for our second flow. If, on the other 

 hand, we must wait and allov" them to 

 mate a queen, then they will be so much 

 weaker when the second flow comes than 

 they would have been if they had had a 

 layer at the proper time, that they will oft- 

 en store little or no surplus from that flow. 



Where are the queen-breeders who will 

 give a bond to send cjueens at the time they 

 have agi'eed to do sof 



Meridian, Idaho. 



MAKING INCREASE BY SHAKING BEES FROM 

 STRONG COLONIES INTO SWARM BOXES 



BY I. B. ELLIS 



Assuming, first, that there are at least 

 two bee-3^ards two or more miles apart, and 

 that you want to double your number of 

 colonies, you should first go to a tinner and 

 have a funnel made about eighteen inches 

 across the top, with a two-inch hole at the 

 bottom. Next make about twenty swarm- 

 boxes. I make mine by taking new red- 

 wood shakes and cutting them in two in the 

 middle for the sides ; and for the ends I use 

 blocks % thick by 6 inches square, nailing- 

 all together. Cutting out nearly all of one 

 side, I tack on a screen, and bore a two- 

 inch hole in one end of the swarm-box to 

 hold the funnel. 



You are new ready to go to your apiaries 

 and make the increase. It is necessary to 

 build up the yards early in the spring by 

 artificial feeding until the yield of honey 

 begins from the early flowers. At yard No. 

 1, first go to a strong colony and find the 

 queen; then set aside the comb containing 

 her. Have the helper hold the funnel in 

 the swarm-box while you shake two combs 

 with adhering bees down into the funnel. 

 Give them a quick shake, and the bees will 

 go rattling down into the swarm-box. Shut 

 the hive and go to the next strong colony, 

 and take out two combs of bees as before, 

 1)eing careful not to get the queen. Shake 

 the bees into the funnel as before. When 

 visiting the next colony take out only one 

 frame of bees (it does not need to be quite 

 as strong), and shake them into the funnel. 

 I like to take out five frames of bees and 

 confine them in a swarm-box, as it makes a 

 nice little colony. Now take out the fun- 

 rel and slip the slide. Proceed in the same 

 wav until the twenty swarm-boxes are filled. 



If 3^ou are quick and have good luck in 

 finding queens, and work fast, you should 

 have the twenty boxes of bees in five or six 

 hours, or about 3 p. m. 



Now take a laying queen and drop her 

 right down in among the bees, one for 

 evei'y swarm-box. Give the queen-cage a 

 little shake, and out she goes. It is better 

 to buy your queens if you can get them; 

 but if not, the queens already raised which 

 you have on hand may be used. 



Going to yard No. 2 we arrive by 4 p. m., 

 taking the boxes of bees. Put them in the 

 shade, and then arrange twenty hives. Set 

 them wliere you want them to remain, and 

 go to the supers of the old colonies, and 

 take out four frames of honey and comb, 

 selecting combs about half full of honey, 

 and one sheet of foundation, putting the 

 sheet of foundation next to the outside 

 comb. When the hives are all set, and 

 ready for the swarms, slip the slides of the 

 swarm-boxes, and shake the bees in front 

 of the hives (one box for each hive). It is 

 just about sundown by the time you are 

 busy shaking the bees out of the boxes in 

 front of the hives and seeing that the bees 

 go in. 



The next morning go through the same 

 process at yard No. 2 that you did at No. 

 1, taking the funnel and swarming-boxes 

 and shaking the bees in till the twenty 

 boxes are full. Drop in twenty laying 

 queens, and return to yard No. 1, and fix 

 the hives in the positions in which they are 

 to remain. Take four sheets of honey, 

 partly full, from the super of the old colo- 

 ny, and one sheet of foundation for each 

 hive, putting the sheet of foundation next 

 to the outside comb. 



Now it is getting late, and we run the 

 twenty swarms into our twenty hives the 

 same as we did the evening before. We 

 keep this up until we get all the supers of 

 honey used up, or as much increase as we 

 want. 



The old colonies will stand a draw of a 

 couple of sheets of bees again in seven or 

 eight days, and possibly more. It all de- 

 pends on the condition of the weather, and 

 how fast the brood is hatching. One has 

 to judge by the looks of things. Draw 

 from the old colonies for the purpose of 

 swarm i^revention till the honey flow is on 

 in earnest, and supply foundation for both 

 the old colonies and the new swarms. 



The third week the swarms are storing 

 more honey than the old colonies that we 

 drew from. Last year I started with 88 

 colonies in the sage district of California, 

 having also 200 supers of combs from 

 which the bees died the year before. I in- 



