142 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



After hiving a swavm, the new- 

 hive is placed on the old stand and 

 the old one left close by for about 

 three days when we shake as many 

 bees from the combs in front of 

 the new colon}^ as can be spared 

 and remove it to a new stand. If 

 we delay this operation later there 

 are often many bees killed from 

 fighting. The old colony may not 

 swarm again ; if it does the queen 

 cells are cut out and the swarm 

 returned. If it is made up of two 

 brood cases, we can at this time 

 elevate one of them to the top of 

 the supers taking care that the 

 young queen is in the lower case, 

 or we can simply place the honey- 

 board between the brood-cases. 

 When the bees have hatched out of 

 the upper case and the combs are 

 all sealed up we may extract them, 

 but the preferable course is to leave 

 the case on the hive till fall. In 

 making ready for winter we shall 

 then find use for it and if not then 

 it is to be put away for next sea- 

 son's use in building up colonies. 



After the harvest is over and the 

 honey taken from the hives, the 

 bees in the new colonies having 

 only one brood case should be 

 united where increase is not desired 

 To unite full colonies of bees pro- 

 ceed as follows : — take from one 

 of the colonies (after being moved 

 a few feet each day until near each 

 other) the queen : in nine days cut 

 out the queen cells when one hive 

 can be set upon the other ; there 

 will be no quarreling or necessity 

 to cage tlie remaining queen. In 

 this manner the entire stock of the 

 beekeeper can be reduced to any 

 desirable extent. We consider 

 this course infinitely preferable to 

 the use of non-s warming hives, 

 even if such hives could be made, 

 as the net result in comb honey 

 and honey in brood combs is inva- 

 riably larger by this management. 



1 have found lliat a hive or brood- 

 case'that is just right for a swarm 



is also just right for wintering but 

 only about one-half as large as it 

 ought to be in the spring. If the 

 contracted brood-case is too shal- 

 low, or if it contain less than 760 

 square inches of comb surface, the 

 bees will store mucii pollen in the 

 sections. The above space is 

 therefore the limit of profitable con- 

 traction. But if the brood-case 

 contains over 850 square inches of 

 comb surface another evil appears 

 in the form of too much drone 

 comb that will be almost certain to 

 be built where starters alone in 

 brood cases are used as advised. 

 If the ordinary ten frame Lang- 

 stroth hive is used in which to hive 

 old swarms we may get a little sur- 

 plus comb honey from it but oftener 

 none. Division-boards should be 

 used in such hives or the unnec- 

 essary space filled up with dummies. 

 Then to make the contraction sys- 

 tem a success, a queen excluder 

 should be put on the hive in all 

 cases before hiving a swarm and 

 at least one super of parti}' filled 

 sections. In fact the practicability 

 of the system is only fully assured, 

 by the use of the new wood and 

 zinc honey-board. 



CONSTRUCTION OF HONEY-BOARDS. 



A simple frame is made as large 

 as the hive or brood-case liaving a 

 groove cut on the inside to receive 

 the ends of the slats and the side 

 slats and the slats are. so spaced 

 as to cover the spaces between the 

 brood frames. They are set in the 

 frame so that they will rest not 

 over one-fourth of an inch above 

 the top bar of the brood frames. 

 The zinc is let into thin saw cuts in 

 tlie edges of the slats. Four strips 

 of zinc with a single row of perfo- 

 rations are used, two on each side, 

 and four strips having two rows of 

 perforations, are placed in the mid- 

 dle of the boards for an eight frame 

 hive. This gives twelve rows of 

 perforations for the bees to pass 



