136 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



all warmly packed we must reverse 

 the brood at the time pollen be- 

 comes plentiful, in all of the good 

 colonies, but leave the poorer ones 

 till later because they might suffer 

 from such a procedure if a cold 

 spell should occur. By reversing 

 the brood, I mean the placing of 

 the combs having but little brood 

 in them at the outside of the brood- 

 nest, in the centre, which brings 

 the combs having the most brood 

 in them on the outside. Thus, 

 ■while the colony has no more brood 

 than it had before, the queen finds 

 plenty of empty cells in the centre 

 of the brood-nest, in combs having 

 some brood in them, and she at 

 once fills these combs with eggs, 

 so that in a few days they will con- 

 tain more brood than those which 

 were moved to the outside, while 

 the bees have fed and taken care 

 of this as well as though its posi- 

 tion had not been changed. In 

 this way quite a gain is made in 

 regard to increasing the brood. 



In about a week, if the weather is 

 favorable, a frame of honey is taken 

 from the outside of the cluster, the 

 cappings to the cells broken, and 

 after separating the brood-nest in 

 the centre, the frame of honey thus 

 prepared is placed therein. In re- 

 moving this honey and carrying it 

 to the outside of the brood-nest 

 the bees are made happy, which 

 causes them to feed the queen an 

 extra supply of egg-producing food, 

 so that in a short time this frame 

 is also filled with eggs. In a week 

 or so as the bees increase in 

 strength another frame is placed in 

 the centre as before, and so we 

 keep on till every comb in the 

 hive is filled with brood. 



In proceeding as above it is es- 

 sential to know that each colony 

 has suflficient hone}- to supply all 

 its wants for at least two weeks, 

 for if we wish to obtain the largest 

 auiount of brood possible, the bees 

 nnist never feel the necessity of 



feeding the brood sparingly on ac- 

 count of scanty stores. If plenty 

 of honey in the frames is not at 

 hand, a feeder and some sugar 

 syrup will be a necessity, but I 

 consider the frames of honey pref- 

 erable for this purpose. Having 

 the hive filled with brood, the next 

 thing to be done is to put on the 

 sections. Of course these are all 

 in readiness, for a successful bee- 

 keeper will always work at this 

 getting-ready part at odd spells 

 during winter and early spring. 

 After several years of experience 

 and testing of various plans I con- 

 clude that it is best lo fill the sec- 

 tions with thin foundation, not so 

 much to help the bees, as to get 

 nicer looking combs and those 

 wliich will stand shipment better. 

 Some think that the bees will not 

 work so well on foundation a few 

 months old as the}' will on that 

 just made, so defer this getting- 

 ready part till at the time wanted. 

 I think the idea a mistaken one, 

 but even if there was some truth 

 in it I still should put the founda- 

 tion in during winter believing 

 that tlie gain would more than 

 overbalance the loss. The best 

 way wliich I know of (after try- 

 ing nearly all the jilans and fast- 

 eners recommended) to fasten this 

 foundation in sections is to take a 

 board of suitable width and length 

 and fasten to it five or six little 

 boards of the right thickness to 

 come half way or to the middle of 

 the sections. Now slip the sec- 

 tions over these little boards and 

 lay the foundation in its place with 

 one edge coming closel}' to tlie un- 

 derside of the top piece to the 

 section. Set the board angling 

 in two directions so that when 

 melted wax is poured from a si)Oon 

 at the upi)er corner of the V-shaped 

 trough, formed by the foundation 

 and section, it will slowly run to 

 the otiier side, thus fastening the 

 foundation securely to the section. 



