ENTOMOLOGY 413 



The queen is not obtained in this way and, of course, goes right on 

 laying eggs, but as the colony is rapidly reduced in size the amount 

 of brood decreases. As brood emerges, the younger bees leave the 

 cavity and join the bees in the hive until finally the queen is left 

 practically alone. A new queen should be given to the bees in the 

 hive as soon as possible, and in a short time they are fully established 

 in their new quarters. After about four weeks, when all or nearly 

 all of the brood in the cavity has emerged, the bee escape should be 

 removed and as large a hole made at the entrance of the cavity as 

 possible. The bees will then go in and rob out the honey and carry 

 it to the hive, leaving only empty combs. The empty combs will 

 probably do no damage, as moths usually soon destroy them and 

 they may be left in the cavity and the old entrance carefully closed 

 to prevent another swarm from taking up quarters there. 



In transferring bees from a hollow tree the method will depend 

 on the accessibility of the cavity. Usually it is difficult to drum out 

 the bees and the combs can be cut out after subduing the colony with 

 smoke. 



Uniting. Frequently colonies become queenless when it is not 

 practicable to give them a new queen, and the best practice under 

 such conditions is to unite the queenless bees to a normal colony. If 

 any colonies are weak in the fall, even if they have a queen, safe win- 

 tering is better insured if two or more weak colonies are united, 

 keeping the best queen. Under various other conditions which may 

 arise the bee keeper may find it desirable to unite bees from differ- 

 ent colonies. Some fundamental facts in bee behavior must be thor- 

 oughly understood to make this a success. 



Every colony of bees has a distinctive colony odor and by this 

 means bees recognize the entering of their hive by bees from other 

 colonies and usually resent it. If, however, a bee comes heavily 

 laden from the field and flies directly into the wrong hive without 

 hesitation it is rarely molested. In uniting colonies, the separate 

 colony odors must be hidden, and this is done by smoking each col- 

 ony vigorously. It may at times be desirable to use tobacco smoke, 

 which not only covers the colony odor but stupefies the bees some- 

 what. Care should be taken not to use too much tobacco, as it will 

 completely overcome the bees. The queen to be saved should be 

 caged for a day or two to prevent the strange bees from killing her in 

 the first excitement. 



Another fact which must be considered is that the bees of a col- 

 ony carefully mark the location of their own hive and remember that 

 location for some time after they are removed. If, therefore, two 

 colonies in the apiary which are not close together are to be united, 

 they should be moved gradually nearer, not more than a foot at a 

 time, until they are side by side, so that the bees will not return to 

 their original locations and be lost. As the hives are moved grad- 

 ually the slight changes are noted and no such loss occurs. As a 

 further precaution, a board should be placed in front of the entrance 

 in a slanting position, or brush and weeds may be thrown down so 

 that when the bees fly out they recognize the fact that there has been 



