58 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



3Iareii 



ony ; but they never come up to my 

 expectations. They soon become nor- 

 mal in size, and never make a record 

 that will compare with the same 

 amount of bees in two colonies. 



During the swarming season last 

 year my bees were in what I called 

 very fair strength. In order to know 

 just what my swarms were, I set them 

 on the scales and weighed them be- 

 fore shaking them out of the basket. 

 I found them to weigh 7^ lbs., from 

 single eight-frame hives. I could 

 never see much gained by having 

 swarms much larger than this. 



BUILDJNG UP ON COLONIES BY TIERING UP. 



I find no difficulty in getting brood 

 reared in two hives by tiering up. 

 In fact, I had thought that more brood 

 could be secured by this method than 

 any other I have tried. It involves 

 some extra labor, and requires plenty 

 of stores, unless honey is coming in. 

 When a colony becomes strong, and 

 needs more room, if a hive of empty 

 combs be placed on top or over it, the 

 bees will soon ocupy it, and the queen 

 will not be long in following. The 

 empty combs, with a strong force of 

 workers, make the conditions favor- 

 able for the queen to do her best, and 

 she will not be long in filling the 

 combs with brood. I do not expect 

 the queen to continue laying in both 

 hives at the same time. I do expect, 

 and am not often disappointed, when 

 the queen goes above, that she will 

 continue work in the upper hive un- 

 til it is full of brood ; and unless honey 

 is coming in, the bees will remove a 

 considerable portion of the honey 

 above also, thus leaving the lower set 

 of combs empty, or nearly so, as fast 

 as the brood hatches. My hive being 

 deep, no doubt gives different results 



from a shallow one. Bees are inclin- 

 ed to occupy the upper hive when 

 tiered up. This I call forcing the 

 queen. I can, if I continue brood- 

 rearing longer in both hives, set the 

 bottom hive on top, and it is in the 

 most favorable condition to tempt the 

 queen above again. But it is not 

 economy to push brood-rearing far 

 into the honey seaason. 



The tiering feature I find valuable 

 in uniting colonies. I just place 

 one colony over the other with 

 a honey-cloth or oil-cloth between, 

 with a corner turned so that a small 

 passageway enables them to get ac- 

 quainted, and, after a few days, re- 

 move the cloth, place the hive to be 

 occupied on top, with the queen. 



In the same way I unite colonies 

 when they are set out of winter quar- 

 ers ; but no cloth is necessary between 

 the hives, nor is it necessray to kill 

 one of the queens. Being of the same 

 scent, they will unite without confus- 

 ion ; and often both queens continue 

 work for some time. There has been 

 much of the best thought of our best 

 apiarists expended in divising meth- 

 ods by which brood-rearing could be 

 judiciously encouraged early in the 

 season, when the colonies are light, 

 and are struggling against vicissitudes 

 of weather, with a large amount of 

 brood to care for. Contract the 

 brood-nest by use of division-boards 

 and dummies, the use of cushions, and 

 packing and care resorted to for the 

 purpose of protecting the colony and 

 economizing the heat. But these are 

 all expensive, and involve much labor 

 and continual fussing, and I think 

 they are only arguments in favor of 

 smaller as well as more properly con- 

 structed hives. 



