170 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[August. 



enters it also when the bees return. 



I have watched many swarms with 

 clipped queenSj and I never saw one 

 go astray. Hives, however, must nov 

 stand close together, and the alighting- 

 board to each must reach the ground; 

 otherwise there would probably be 

 trouble. 



GREINER'S HIVE ST.\NDS. 



I 



Right here I would speak a good 

 word for my hive-stand, which I il- 

 lustrated many years ago in some 

 other periodical, and which I believe 

 some supply dealers manufacture. At 

 any rate, I saw it illustrated in the 

 A B C of Bee Culture. The stand 

 consists of four boards, a box, one 

 side standing and fitting against the 

 bottom board of the hive. It is an 

 easy slant, and the queen or the laden 

 bees can easily crawl up from the 

 ground to the hive. It is close all 

 around; no hiding places for bees or 

 vermin, except such as burrow. 



Such a stand could be made of ce- 

 ment for the stationary apiary, but 

 this would not do for outyards. 



When the bees swarm out, it does 

 occasionally happen that queens get 

 lost, but those I have watched always 

 found their way back into the hive 

 when the swarm returned, although 

 they swarmed out three or four times 

 before they decided to stay. When 

 I make shaken or brushed swarms I 

 usually wait till queen cells are found 

 with eggs or larvae in them, although 

 I do not think this is essential. 



The fact that queen cells are started 

 is a guide. Usually colonies are then 

 strong, and that is what we want. 

 The stronger the better. 



It is impossible for. me to shake all 

 bees at one time, even if they were 

 all as strong as they could be. I 

 therefore wait till queen cells appear. 

 Those that have them are shaken first, 

 but I would also shake them if no 

 cells were set. I obtain more and 

 better honey (in the comb) by shak- 

 ing. I brush the combs clean. Not 

 a bee is left on. I am then sure of 

 getting the queen, even if I should 

 miss seeing her, and the swarm is all 

 the stronger for it. 



The beeless brood combs are tiered 

 up on such colonies as are not quite 

 strong enough for the sections, and 

 I use an excluder under them. If I 



want more increase after a week's time 

 these sets of brood combs are just 

 the thing to make nuclei of, or leave 

 undivided. I set them down upon a 

 bottom board anywhere, contract the 

 entrance, give a ripe cell or a queen 

 and dismiss the case from my mind. 



If I care not for increase, the bees 

 may be shaken from the brood combs 

 of these now upper stories to strength- 

 en any colony in the yard, and when 

 the brood is all hatched the combs 

 are in part used to fill out the hives 

 again containing the brushed swarms. 

 I do not wish to take a colony into 

 the winter unless it has, and has had for 

 some little time, its full set of combs. 

 From this last remark it will be seen 

 that I practice contraction with the 

 brushed swarms. 



In my description I am using "brush- 

 ed" and "shaken" promiscuously, which 

 may need an explanation to one not 

 versed. When honey is coming in slow- 

 ly, shaking is all right; but when the 

 honey flow is such as to make the 

 bee-keeper's heart glad, it will fairly 

 rain honey (or nectar) when a comb 

 is shaken to dislodge the bees, and 

 it will be wiser to brush all the bees 

 ofT. I do not wish to drown the bees 

 in honey; a little sprinkling will do 

 no harm. 



The objects sought for in making 

 these brushed swarms are, to control 

 swarming and to obtain fancy comb 

 honey. The bee-keeping friend who 

 wrote me from Iowa about the matter 

 of shaken swarms uses a "Jumbo" lo- 

 frame hive and produces extracted 

 honey. 



It would seem to me that there 

 would be no necessity of making any 

 swarms with such a hive and plenty 

 of combs to take care of the honey. 

 I would follow the Dadants, "large 

 hives, no excluders, plenty of comb." 

 I am quite sure I would not make 

 brushed swarms in producing extracted 

 honey. If I did decide to, I don't think 

 I would contract the brood chamber. 

 I never have trouble getting all the 

 honey stored in the extracting combs 

 that it was desirable to have. What 

 I always had to guard against was, 

 having my brood chambers empty 

 when fall came, unless I removed the 

 extracting supers early enough to give 

 the bees a chance to store below. 



Naples, N. Y. 



