in 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the season an artificial colony is formed in this 

 manner, by the aid of a fertile queen, the more 

 frequently or more plentifully must it be fed, 

 unless it can at the outset be adequately sup- 

 plied -with honey in the comb. It must also be 

 carefully watched until the spring has fairly 

 opened, and the workers can support themselves 

 by their own industry. For this purpose it will 

 be convenient if the hive be brought back to 

 your own apiary, three or four weeks after the 

 first removal. 



If I obtain a supernumerary queen later in 

 the season and at a more favorable period, I 

 adopt a more simple and yet equally eflRcient 

 process for making an artificial colony, which 

 will not require removal from the home apiary. 

 It is a more convenient mode, and one that 

 rarely fails. I prepare a hive lij^ putting in it 

 four frames of worker comb, and place the 

 queen, securely caged, between tlie two central 

 frames. Then set it in the place of one of my 

 most populous .stocks, which latter I remove to 

 some other location in the apiary. The fora- 

 ging bees, returning to their accustomed liome, 

 find matters greatly changed indeed, and at first 

 reluctantly enter the Jiive allotted to them; but 

 finally, finding no alternative, yield submissive- 

 ly to the inevitable, take possession of tlieir new 

 quarters and go to work. For several days 

 nearly all the bees that leave tlie parent stock 

 resort to the old location and join tlieir com- 

 panions there; thus rapidly increasing the 

 working force of the new colony, which having 

 no brood to nurse, speedily accumulates stores. 

 I usually liberate the queen on the evening of 

 the second day. She promptly assumes the 

 duties of her function, supplying the cells with 

 eggs; and in tliree weeks, 1 have a fine strong 

 independent colony, when perhaps most of the 

 other stocks, allowed to indulge their own 

 whims, have yet made no preparations for 

 swarming. 



The removed parent stock, which thus un- 

 consciously supplied the bees required for the 

 artificial colony, will for some days appear 

 weak and inactive, as nearly all the old bees 

 which leave it fail to return. But no uneasiness 

 need be felt on that account. Bees enough will 

 always remain to take care of the brood and 

 discharge the required domestic duties ; and as 

 all the young bees adhere to the new location, 

 and numbers are daily emerging from tl>e brood 

 cells, the population will soon be replenished. 

 A strong swarm has indeed been virtually taken 

 from it, yet the hive will really be in a better 

 and more thriving condition, than if it had lost 

 both bees and queen by natural swarming. 



That for such transposition only populous 

 stocks can be selected, and that a fine clear day 

 when the workers are busily gathering honey 

 must be chosen for the operation, need hardly 

 be mentioned, as that is sufficiently obvious. 

 If a supernumerary fertile queen be obtained at 

 an unfavorable period, or when the weather is 

 unpropitious, it will be advisable to adopt the 

 previously described method — making an arti- 

 ficial colony by collecting bees from several 

 hives, and sending the swarm thus formed tem- 

 porarily to a distant location. 



But it ofttimes happens that we have no su- 



pernumerary queens at command, when it is 

 desirable to multiply stock. We are then con- 

 strained to resort to other modes of making ar- 

 tificial colonies. The following is alike simple 

 and eflicient. I remove about one-half of the 

 combs containing brood from the hive I propose 

 to divide, placing them with the adhering bees 

 in a hive designed for them, which is then to bo 

 filled out with frames containing empty worker 

 combs. Setting this hive in the place of the 

 parent stock, I remove the latter (which must 

 retain the queen) to a new location, after having 

 inserted frames with worker comb to replace 

 the brood combs abstracted. For several days 

 the parent stock will be losing numbers of its 

 older bees and appear weak and languid, but 

 will speedily be replenished by the daily matur- 

 ing brood. Besides, as it retains the old 

 queen, eggs are constantly being laid and tho 

 population thus rencAved and increased. The 

 new colony, in addition to the bees adhering to 

 brood combs given to it, receives for days in 

 succession a constant accession of workers from 

 the parent stock and from the maturing brood. 

 Thus, by the time a young queen is hatched and 

 fertilized, the colony will have a sufficient 

 working force for collecting stores abroad, par- 

 ticularly as for some time there will be no 

 young brood requiring attention. If a royal 

 cell containing an embryo queen nearly mature, 

 can be procured and inserted in such an artifi- 

 cial colony, the term of interregnum may be 

 much abrcviated, as a fertile queen will thus be 

 secured several days sooner than by the natural 

 process of queen raising. The young queen 

 may in some instances issue on the following 

 day; and if the weather be propitious she may 

 be fertilized and commence laying within a week 

 after the operation. 



I usually provide myself with royal cells by 

 removing the queen from some populous stock 

 eight or ten days before I propose to form arti- 

 ficial colonies, thereby inducing the deprived 

 stock to commence rearing queens. In riiost 

 instances more royal cells will be built than are 

 wanted for that stock, and I appropriate the 

 surplus for my own purposes. As soon as they 

 are closed, all save one can be removed and 

 inserted in artificial swarms, or nucleus colonies 

 for reserved queens. If cut out careiullj'- with 

 a sharp penknife, leaving attached to them a 

 portion of the comb on which they are built, a 

 hole of similar size and shape may be cut in the 

 comb in which they are to be inserted, and thus 

 securely placed. The bees will usually fasten 

 such cells, if only properly set in the opening, 

 or they may be attached by touching the wax 

 at the junction with a heated knife-blade. 



It happens sometimes, however, that the bees 

 of an artificial colony do not content themselves 

 with the royal cell thus inserted, but build 

 some in addition, if they have suitable worker 

 brood. If this is not seasonably discovered, it 

 may furnish the occasion and inluccmcnt of 

 natural swarming, which, under the circumstan- 

 ces, would be injurious to the colony. I there- 

 fore always use the precaution to examine the 

 combs repeatedly, at intervals of two or three 

 days, destroying any queen cells that may be 

 started. 



