VOL. VI. 



OCTOBER, 1896. 



NO. lO. 



What to do with Weak Colon- 

 ies Late in the Season. 



BY REV. STEPHEN BOESE. 



On this question bee keepers have 

 had line upon line and precept upon 

 precept at least for the last quarter of 

 a century, and everybody knows that 

 Septeniber is the roonth in which all 

 colonies should undergo a thorough 

 examination and while the bees are 

 flying the weak colonies should be 

 united, the poorest queens removed 

 and the best queens returned to the 

 united colonies. But if for some 

 reason the apiarist has neglected this 

 duty or has been unable to see to it 

 and the cold October days have made 

 their appearance and he has a lot of 

 weak colonies on hand unfit and un- 

 prepared for the long winter's repose, 

 and the bee keeper sees when taking 

 off the hive cover two-thirds of the 

 space between the frames empty, the 

 question forces itself upon the apiarist, 

 what can be done with them ? To win- 

 ter safely is a matter of importance, 

 and to have the honey consumed and 

 the combs perhaps spoiled and then 

 have the bees die ere spring comes 

 around the bee keeper cannot well af- 

 ford, especially in the present critical 



times and low prices for honey. Bee 

 keepers cannot afford to run risks but 

 must make every stroke count some- 

 thing. 



The writer now for over a year hav- 

 ing been in poor health has conse- 

 quently not been able to care for his 

 bees as in former days, so when a year 

 ago October came with its chilling 

 winds and nightly frosts about fifteen 

 colonies proved to be just in the con- 

 dition described above and something 

 had to be done. So the first mild 

 morning, when the temperature was 

 up to 60° or 65°, three or four of the 

 weakest colonies were taken to a spot 

 sheltered from the wind and one hive 

 after another opened, the frames taken 

 out and the bees shaken or swept ofE 

 the combs on to a wide board on the 

 ground on which an empty box was 

 placed, just the same as an empty 

 hive in the swarming season, and all 

 of the bees from the hives that were 

 to be united were made to enter into 

 the box. After three or four weak 

 colonies are united in this manner in- 

 to one empty box, there is no chance 

 for robbers, there being nothing to 

 rob, and no chances of fighting for 

 there is nothing to fight for. The 

 united colonies having thus become 



