118 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Jul// 



which then compose the little colonies, 

 so that they die before the young bees 

 are sufficiently mature to take up the 

 labor of sustaining the colony, thus 

 causing the loss of the whole thing. 

 Being left, as they were, without unit- 

 ing, they seem to realize their con- 

 dition, so no great amount of extra la- 

 bor is performed until the young bees 

 are sufficiently mature to stand the 

 "heat and battle of the day," after 

 which such weak colonies build up 

 quite rapidly. 



After learning that early spring was 

 not the time to unite weak colonies, I 

 began studying on the matter, and ex- 

 perimenting considerable also, which 

 led me to adopt the following plan, 

 which has proved very successful in 

 my apiary: In early spring, all the 

 colonies which I think will not make 

 good strong colonies by the middle of 

 June are shut to one side of the hive, 

 upon only as many combs as contain 

 brood, by means of a movable division 

 board, which number of combs will be 

 from one to five, according to the 

 strength of the colony. They are thus 

 kept shut up till said combs are full of 

 brood. 



For feed, I generally set a frame of 

 horey beyond the division board, the 

 carrying of which stimulates brood 

 rearing wonderfully. When the strong- 

 est of these weak colonies have their 

 five frames full of brood, I take one of 

 them away and give it to one having 

 four frames nearly or quite filled, al- 

 ways taking a frame where I can see 

 plenty of young bees gnawing at the 

 cappings to the cells. An empty frame 

 is put in the centre to take the place of 

 the hatching brood, which will soon 

 be filled with eggs. It is not best to 

 give this frame of brood to one of the 

 weakest colonies at this time, as some 

 advise, for by so doing a part of the 

 brood is apt to be lost, should a cold 

 spell occur, for the bees in the weak- 

 est are not yet sufficiently numerous to 

 care for more brood than they already 

 have. 



In about a week I take a frame of 

 brood from each colony having five 

 frames filled, (this including the one I 

 gave the frame of brood to the week 

 previous), and give a frame to each 

 colony having only three frames filled. 

 Thus I keep on taking from the strong- 

 est and giving to the next stronger un- 

 til all have five frames of bees and 

 brood, giving brood the latest to the 

 weakest of the little ones. Now, hav- 

 ing all of them with five frames of 

 brood, I proceed to unite as follows: 

 I go to No. 1 and look it over until I 

 find the frame the queen is on, which 

 with bees, queen and all, I set over in 

 the vacant side of the hive. I now take 

 the four remaining frames, bees and 

 all, and set them in a box made for 

 carrying combs, when I set the frame 

 having the queen upon it, back where 

 it was, placing an empty frame beside 

 it and adjusting the division board to 

 suit, when the hive is closed. 



Next, I take the box of combs and 

 proceed to No. 2, which is opened and 

 the division board taken out. I now 

 take the first frame next to where the 

 division board stood and place it next 

 to the opposite side of the hive, when I 

 take a frame from the box, bees and 

 all, as taken from No. 1, and place 

 next the moved frame in No. 2. Next 



1 move another frame in No. 2 up to 

 the one taken from the box, when an- 

 other is taken from the box and placed 

 beside this, and so on until the four 

 frames from the box are alternated 

 with No. 2. As my hives hold nine 

 frames, it will be seen that I now have 

 in No. 2 nine frames completely filled 

 with brood, which will soon make a 

 very populous colony, and one which 

 will gather honey and store it in sec- 

 tions to the best advantage. In this 

 way T keep at work until all are united, 

 and the sequel always shows a better 

 result from these united colonies than 

 from those that were considered the 

 very best in the spring. 



Some may fear that the queen in No. 



2 might be killed In this way, but I 



