272 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



(From the American Bee Journal.) 



UNITING COLONIES OF BEES IN 

 THE PALL. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : " My 

 bees have done very poorly this season 

 as to honey, and seem light in bees. 

 As we do not have much, if any, fall 

 honey here, I do not expect the bees 

 will get more than a living from now 

 out, and I must either unite my bees 

 or feed them for sufficient stores for 

 winter. As I have more bees than I 

 wish, I have resolved to unite them 

 until they have honey enough so I do 

 not need to feed. I wish you would 

 tell us through the columns of the 

 American Bee Journal the best plan 

 for uniting in the fall of the year." 



I have tried many plans of uniting 

 bees, but prefer the following to any 

 other for fall use, especially where the 

 colonies to be united are rather liglit 

 in bees : 



In the first place, the queens in a 

 part of the colonies are to be taken 

 away and disposed of in some way, 

 either by selling them or destroying. 

 If sold, of course you will sell only 

 good queens; but if killed, then the 

 poorest are the ones to select out. By 

 thus selecting and killing the poorest 

 we can improve our apiary in quality> 

 as well as to save buying sugar to feed 

 But were there no difference in the 

 queens I would remove all but those 

 I expected to winter over, for so far 

 as I have practiced this plan, I find 



that queen less bees are less inclined 

 to quarrel, and are more disposed to 

 stay where put, than are those having 

 queeP!'. 



Having the queens disposed of, from 

 the colonies which are to be united, 

 wait three days to a week (three days 

 in any event, so the colonies may 

 realize their queenlessness) for some 

 cool, cloudy day, when it is a few de- 

 grees colder than the bees desire to fly 

 in, when you will find the bees all 

 clustered compactly, something the 

 way they are in winter. When tak- 

 ing the queens away, take all the 

 combs from the hive but three, unless 

 the colony is too large, leaving only 

 those which contain the most honey. 

 The combs left are to be spread apart 

 from ^ to an inch, setting them out 

 two or three inches from the sides of 

 the hive, so that the bees may be all 

 clustered on these combs instead of 

 hanging to the sides, or part of the 

 hive. The hive which is to receive 

 these bees and combs is to be also pre- 

 pared beforehand, by taking away all 

 the combs three or four, those left be- 

 ing the ones having the most honey 

 in them, said combs being placed close 

 to one side of the hive. 



When the right day arrives as to 

 temperature, light the smoker and put 

 on your bee-veil, for in following the 

 plans described you may not be able 

 to use the hands to get a stinging bee 

 off the face as you otherwise would ; 

 but during a part of the operation, 

 both hands will be so employed that 

 you cannot use them at anything else. 

 Now go to the hive having the queen 

 and uncover it, giving the bees a lit- 

 tle smoke to keep them quiet, and 

 leaving the hive open so that you can 

 set the other frames right in without 



