28 MAKING A START WITH BEES 



when the one is ready for the honey flow, while the other must 

 be transferred and much of the season lost in building up to the 

 point of storing surplus. 



A set of ten good brood combs in wired frames is worth at least 

 three dollars. A new ten-frame hive, complete, will cost three 

 dollars or more, and an Italian queen another dollar. This does 

 not leave a great deal for one's labor in transferring, so that the 

 colony ready for business is likely to store more than enough 

 additional honey to make up the diflPerence. 



However, in buying bees, unless one is prepared to ship for 

 a considerable distance, he sometimes finds it necessary to take 

 what happens to be offered. 



Moving Bees. — If one will go to the apiary on a warm day 

 when the young bees are taking their first flight, he will observe 

 with what care they mark the location of the hive. At first they 

 fly but a few inches from the entrance and pass back and forth 

 many times, always facing the hive. Each time they gradually 

 lengthen the line of flight, back and forth, up and down, until 

 they have received an indelible impression of the appearance of 

 their home. After they have fully examined the front of the 

 hive they fly a little farther, until they can get a similar view 

 of the immediate surroundings at a distance of a few feet. The 

 flight now takes the form of irregular circles, which are gradually 

 enlarged to take in the apiary and in time the whole country 

 roundabout. These preliminary flights are always taken by the 

 young bees, before they take up their duties as foragers in the 

 field. 



Apparently they come to depend entirely upon the sense of 

 location thus developed, and afterwards fly directly to the hive 

 entrance from any point of the compass, with little attention to 

 anything but the location. If the hive is taken away and another 

 set in its place, they will enter the new hive without a moment's 

 hesitation. Once inside they discover their mistake, and hur- 

 riedly tumble out and take to flioht. After a moment's examina- 



