248 Beekeeping 



over the entrance so that the bees can leave but cannot 

 return, any other openings to the combs being carefully 

 closed. Even better than a bee-escape is a cone of wire- 

 cloth eight inches high with a hole at the apex just large 

 enough for a single bee to pass. This is tacked on the house 

 and the bees issue through the hole in the apex but do not 

 find it again to return. A hive (with drawn combs in it if 

 possible) is then placed so that its entrance is as near as 

 practical to the entrance which the bees have been using. 

 A queen should soon be introduced to the bees in the hive. 

 The old queen does not desert her combs and continues lay- 

 ing eggs, but, as her colony is depopulated, the amount of 

 brood rapidly diminishes. As brood emerges, the young 

 bees also leave through the wire-cloth cone and join the bees 

 in the hive until in four or five weeks the queen is left prac- 

 tically alone. When nearly all of the bees are out of the 

 cavity and there is little or no brood, the bee-escape is re- 

 moved, the entrance to the cavity is made larger if possible 

 and if there is no honey-flow, the bees rob their old home 

 and carry the honey to their new hive, leaving only the empty 

 combs. These will usually do no damage as wax-moths 

 soon destroy them. The entrance to the cavity should now 

 be carefully closed to prevent another swarm from taking 

 up quarters there and the hive is removed. This method 

 takes considerable time, but is often best where the cavity 

 is inaccessible. It is often difficult to close the cavity to 

 prevent the bees from establishing a new entrance when a 

 bee-escape is placed over the one to which they are accus- 

 tomed. 



Transferring from hollow trees. 



The method to be used will depend on the accessibility 

 of the cavity and the value of the tree. Usually the bees 

 cannot be drummed out and the combs must be cut out 

 after subduing the bees with smoke. If the colony is high in 

 the tree and the tree is felled, the bees are disorganized by 

 the jarring so that they can be handled easily. The hunting 



