198 



THE BEE-KEEPEKS' REVIEW 



the last doubt is gone. We know 

 there is cell building going on. Let 

 us see. We will remove the super, 

 then pry the two sections of the hive 

 apart, using onlj^ enough smoke to 

 keep the bees quiet, draw the upper 

 section of the hive toward us, say, 10 

 inches, now lift the back end up until 

 the section stands on end, resting on 

 the lower section. Now we will gent- 

 ly puff in a little smoke along the 

 bottom-bars, just enough to keep the 

 bees out of the way, while we look for 

 cells. We look carefully along each 

 space. If they have cells nearly com- 

 pleted we will see them at a glance; 

 but, as we want to brush every swarm 

 that has eggs in queen cells, and these 

 little cell-cups are hard to find, some- 

 times, when we see a suspicious look- 

 ing cell, where we cannot see in it 

 otherwise, we use a knife to cut it out 

 so we can examine it. We will sup- 

 pose we find cell-building going on. 

 The two sections of the brood-nest are 

 set to one side (we stand them on end), 

 then one of these shallow (empty) 

 bodies is placed on the bottom-board, 

 then a body or section filled with 

 drawn combs, or full sheets of foun- 

 dation, is placed on top of the empty 

 body, then, on top of this, the super 

 that we had previously removed from 

 this same colony. Next, we set one 

 section of the brood-nest on top of all, 

 and, with smoke in good trim, gently 

 commence smoking the bees down into 

 the new hive. When the bees are out 

 of this section, it is removed, and the 

 other half is treated the same. 



MANAGEMENT THAT DEPENDS UPON 

 WHETHER INCREASE IS DESIRED. 



We will suppose we do not want 

 increase, then these beeless sections 

 are to be placed on weak colonies for 

 the brood to hatch out, and the combs 

 to be filled with early honey for win- 

 ter use. In this case we want to leave 

 all the workers at the old stand, so, 

 when we have them nearly all smoked 

 out, with only a few left along the 



bottom - bars, the section is stood on 

 end near the entrance, and, with a 

 Cogshall brush, and a little more 

 smoke, we finish cleaning it of bees. 



In this case we always get the 

 queen with the bees, but we will sup- 

 pose we are going to save this brood 

 and build it up into a swarm; we then 

 must leave enougli bees to take care of 

 the brood. We proceed just the same 

 except that we stop smoking when we 

 get out the desired number of bees. 



In about one out of ten colonies 

 treated in this manner, we fail to get 

 tlie queen. For this reason we number 

 the brood-nests and the new swarms 

 with corresponding numbers, and anj^ 

 new swarm in which we fail to get a 

 queen, will show signs of queenless- 

 ness in less than an hour. We then 

 look for the corresponding number, 

 and go and find the queen. Many 

 find the queen in this way by the use 

 of a queen excluder placed between 

 the brood and the new hive below, she 

 being unable to get through, is left on 

 top of the excluder. Any increase 

 that is made with this brood should 

 be supplied with a laying queen. 



The worst drawback of this "once 

 a week" visit system, is the swarming 

 out a day or two after the brushing. 

 There probably is no larger per cent, 

 than with natural swarming, but with 

 the natural swarming system there is 

 some one present to take care of them, 

 while with this system there is not. 

 Perhaps an entrance-guard of per- 

 forated zinc, during the first week 

 would help matters 



This empty body that is placed un- 

 der the new swarm is removed a week 

 later, at our next visit. Some fill this 

 lower body with brood-frames, prepar- 

 ed the same as those the swarm is to 

 occupy, but there are two reasons why 

 the empty body is the better: The 

 first and probably the greatest reason 

 is, tliat with combs, or foundation, in 

 it, the bees neglect the sections, and 

 work here instead; but with this body 



