BEES IN COMBLESS PACKAGES 127 



Some queen breeders secure similar results on one side of the 

 hive by using a queen-excluding division board to prevent the 

 queen from reaching and destroying the cells. 



BEES IN COMBLESS PACKAGES 



A convenient way of making increase early in the season is 

 the purchase of bees in combless packages from breeders in the 

 South. The combless package has the advantage of being light 

 and easily handled while free from danger of spreading foul- 

 brood. This is a common metliod of strengthening weak col- 

 onies also. 



For the purpose of starting new colonies about two to three 

 pounds of bees with queen are necessary for each hive. DraAvn 

 combs should be ready in advance as it is a severe tax on these 

 small clusters of bees to draw new combs early in spring. 



Bees shipped without queens are restless and worry them- 

 selves far worse than is the case where the queen is present. The 

 percentage of loss in shipping is far greater in the queenless 

 packages. Some of the most successful shippers make a practice 

 of gorging the bees with sugar syrup before starting them on 

 the journey. To do this they paint the syrup over the cage in 

 which the bees are confined for shipment. The bees readily suck 

 it from the meshes of the screen. With their honey sacs filled 

 they are much less inclined to be buzzing about the cage in an 

 effort to escape. 



In some localities in the South where there is an early honey 

 flow sufficient to stimulate brood rearing and a long season, the 

 package business offers a more attractive opportunity than honey 

 production. More capital is required for a successful business 

 of this kind than is the case for either queen rearing or honey 

 production. The season is short and a large number of colonies 

 are necessary to draw from in order to make it profitable. Gen- 

 erally this specialty is combined with queen rearing and to some 

 extent with the production of honey also. The lower Rio Grande 



