1902 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



99 



told us that such was the cause had 

 made a mistake. 



Some seem to think that the chiet 

 cause of this swarming out mania lies 

 in excitement on the part of the queen, 

 the same happening at a time when 

 few young bees are in the hive to keep 

 company with the queen, when a gen- 

 eral liight of the bees takes place, which 

 often happens during the first warm 

 days in early spring. During such oc- 

 casions the queen becomes exited about 

 being left with so few bees with her, 

 goes to the entrance, takes wing, and 

 thus joins the circling bees; and when 

 once in the air with the bees, the 

 whole alight as a swarm. But this 

 hardly seems reasonable, because, as 

 our questioner states, when we hive 

 them back again in their own hive, they 

 will swarm out again, and continue to 

 so swarm out, till they generally enter 

 some other colony or go off entirely. 



As to the remedy, I doubt whether 

 there is any better than to unite suck 

 with some other colony, although 1 

 have tried giving a frame of emerging 

 brood from some strong colony to 

 them, removing all of their brood and 

 giving it to the colony from which the 

 frame of emerging brood was taken. 

 Next, place this frame of emerging 

 l)roGd together with one frame of hon- 

 ey next one side of their hive, and con- 

 fine the bees to these two frames, by 

 means of a dummy or division board, 

 till they become strong enough to 

 tako more frames, when they can be 

 built up to a full colony. This is a plan 

 which I have used with good results 

 where, from i<ny cause. I desired to 

 save just that individual colony. Since 

 tJ:e queen excluding zinc has become 

 common, if I wished tc ttive a certain 

 colony for some special leason, I have 

 simply hived back in its own hive the 

 colony swarming out, and placed a 

 strip of perforated zinc at the en- 

 trance, thus keeping the queen from 

 going out; in w'hich case the bees will 

 return after each swarming out, and it 

 the colony so treated does not wear 

 out its vitality by continued swarming, 

 and die from dwindling, it can usually 

 be saved in this way. But, as I said, un- 

 less for some special reason we wish 

 to preserve the individuality of any 

 colony which once swarms out, the best 

 thing to do is to unite it with some 

 other colony, as the work required to 



, make a good colony of such a dis- 

 couraged lot of bees amounts to more 

 than any ordinary colony is worth. 

 Borodino, N. Y., April 30, 1902. 



Transferring. 



(By L. E. Kerr.) 



BEGINNING February 12, I have 

 done more transferring this 

 spring than ever before in my 

 recollection. 



Most anyone can make a success of 

 transferring bees, if he will only have 

 confidence enough in himself and use 

 a small amount of common sense. Of 

 course, one who has had no experience 

 would make many blunders if he de- 

 pended upon his own judgement toe 

 far. The first thing to be done in such 

 cases is to read up on transferring in 

 your books on bees. 



The true sort of a bee man considers 

 transferring great fun. The timid ama- 

 teur, however, dreads the job. Right 

 here lies all the difference, in transfer- 

 ring the combs. The first avoids using 

 combs daubed and heavy with honey, 

 and so keeps every thing clean and 

 bright as a new dollar all through the 

 operation, while the other ends with a 

 conglomeration of sticks, honey, wax 

 and dead bees, because he was so 

 thoughtless as to use sticky combs of 

 honey w^hich should have been rejected. 



In starting in to transfer a number 

 of colonies first procure a frame hive 

 full of combs, and run colony from box 

 hive No. i, into this; then you can 

 carry their old. combs into the honey 

 house and assort them while filling up 

 frame hive No. 2, to suit yourself, then 

 tackle box hive No. 2, and run them 

 on to the old combs of No. i. This way 

 will always give better results than 

 tackling each hive separately. 



Another important item is the trans- 

 ferring clamps. Strings are the only 

 thing for fastening in the combs quick- 

 ly and securely, that I know of. These 

 should run lengthwise around and 

 through the frame. This last is my 

 own invention. Short pieces are passed 

 over a long string, through the frame, 

 between two pieces of comb, over a 

 long string on that side, and then tied 

 tightly, drawing the long strings up 

 closely against the comb. 



Wiring can be dispensed with if 



