132 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



for other quarters. The entrance-guard 

 Is to prevent such an occurrence ; it 

 should be removed when making' tlie 

 next visit. The apiary is gone over in 

 this fasiiion, always selecting the strong- 

 est swarms first to be manipulated as 

 stated. A visit is made each week. If 

 honey is coming in, even but mode- 

 rately, the section cases on these 

 treated colonies will fill up surprisingly, 

 especially if we have filled the sections 

 with comb foundation; and, unless the 

 season continues through a very extend- 

 ed space of time, there will be no 

 trouble with such as to their swarming 

 that season. 



If buckwJieat is a source to be relied 

 upon, each of these colonics should re- 

 ceive four frames of comb or foundation 

 at the beginning of the buckwheat 

 flow, which will end the manipulations 

 of the brood-chambers of the sliaken- 

 off bees. 



The question now arises: What bhall 

 we do with the brood-combs we gain 

 from week to week by our shaking-off 

 method ? I utilize them in two different 

 ways, viz.: For increase and for the 

 purpose of getting extracted honey. At 

 the beginning of the season I set apart 

 a number of good colonies to take care 

 of these brood-combs. They need not 

 be the very best colonies, and still they 

 must be populous enough to be able to 

 take care of a full set of combs full of 

 brood, for they are to receive eacli in 

 their turn such a full story of brood as 

 we gain it by shaking off colony after 

 colony. I have said before that 1 always 

 select the most prosperous colonies first 

 for shaking oft', so each successive week 

 we liave some colonies to treat in this 

 fashion — have more brood-combs to dis- 

 pose of. Our nursing stocks, which 

 iiiui received a setof combs full of brood 

 one week, may receive another after a 

 week's time and a third after another 

 week. Even a powerful colony given 

 this brood from week to week, will not 

 think of swarming — they are kept too 

 busy taking care of the young. They 



become very populous and also store 

 much honey as the brood hatches, 

 which may be extracted after all brood 

 has hatched. Should we have full sets 

 of combs full of white honey, and we 

 have more colonies to shake off, I prac- 

 tive giving a set of these heavy combs 

 instead of a hive full of empty frames. 

 I never hive a young swarm on empty 

 combs— not in my locality. I give either 

 empty frames with starters or solid 

 honey-combs. The honey in the latter 

 will always go up into the sections as 

 soon as the room is needed for breeding; 

 but of course the honey must be of good 

 color or it will spoil the looks of tbe 

 nice white clover or basswood honey the 

 bees may be storing in the sections at 

 the time. 



Some bee-keepers advocate and prac- 

 tice hiving young swarms — and shaken- 

 off colonies come under the same head- 

 ing — on frames of foundation. Aside 

 from getting perfect combs I can see no 

 advantage in this practice. Foundation 

 in the sections pays well, however. 



In case I want any increase in the 

 out-apiary I take the colony that has two 

 or three extra bi\)od-chambers and move 

 it to a new location; the uppermost two 

 brood-chambers, neither one containing 

 brood young enough for queen-rearing, 

 I place back on the same stand, giving 

 queen or queen-cell in a protector. Of 

 course we must be sure that the queen 

 is in the part moved. If we have 

 placed an excluder in, a week previous, 

 we can be very positive where the queen 

 is. The queeji must always go to the 

 new location. Extracting combs are 

 given to the divided colonies as well as 

 to all stocks not working in sections. 



If it should secTH d(!sirable to re 

 inforce any of the shaken-oft' colonies,. a 

 iiive full of brood, after it has stooc 

 over an excluder for two weeks, ans 

 wers the purpose W(>11: I take it, bees 

 and all. and place it over an escape 01 

 top of the colony to be re-inforced. 



Naples, June 1, 1900. 



