AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



205 



Now you are ready. Put the hive into 

 the sack and lay it in the wagon, drive 

 home, and every time you handle them 

 in any shape, smoke them until they 

 become used to being handled, and then 

 always thereafter just smoke them when 

 they begin to show fight. Now you have 

 a good start — a fine colony of bees in a 

 box-hive. 



I will now show you how to transfer 

 them. Lay the hive on a table, raise the 

 entrance of the hive about two inches 

 the highest, and let the top of the hive 

 extend out over the edge of the table. 

 Now knock off the top of the hive, only 

 raise it up a little at first, and blow in 

 some smoke, then take it clear off. Now 

 smoke the bees up toward the entrance 

 of the hive, and thoy will leave the 

 honey and cluster on the hive. Place a 

 pan or some vessel under the dripping 

 hive, and get as much of the honey out 

 as you can, then pry open the box, or 

 cut the nails with a cold chisel or an old 

 hatchet. To lay the hive down in such 

 a manner as to have the combs edgewise 

 is best. 



Now, if the bees have clustered on any 

 part of the hive, you can take a dipper 

 and dip them off, and pour them into the 

 new hive, then they will be out of your 

 way. 



Now begin taking out the combs, and 

 use the smoker to drive the bees out of 

 your way, and as you lift out the combs, 

 brush the remaining bees off of it into 

 the new hive. A brush made of corn- 

 shucks is good, tearing the shucks into 

 shreds, and tie on a handle like a little 

 broom ; this makes the best and cheap- 

 est brush of anything that I have tried. 

 When It becomes hard, dip it in water, 

 when it will be soft, and will not hurt or 

 make the bee^ mad. 



Now as you take out the combs, lay 

 those containing the most honey by 

 themselves, and put the brood-combs in 

 a separate place. When you have the 

 combs all right, then lay the frames 

 down on the transferring board — a board 

 a little larger than the frame, and you 

 should have two of them. Now lay the 

 combs on the frames, and cut them to fit 

 the frames, and tack small, thin strips 

 of wood across the frame in such a man- 

 ner as to firmly hold them. Then turn 

 the frame (board and all together) over, 

 by placing the other transferring-board 

 right on top of the frame that you have 

 tacked in ; take hold of the two boards, 

 and turn over, holding tight enough to 

 keep the comb and frame in place. 



Remove the board, and tack on strips 

 as before ; then hang it in the new hive 

 with the bees, and continue this until all 



combs are in that you wish to put in, 

 and close up the new hive — I mean, put 

 on the quilt and cover, and place the 

 hive where wanted, and all is well. If 

 you did not have combs to fill all the 

 frames, you can, if you wish, put in 

 foundation in the rest. 



Now, you have the bees into a frame 

 hive, where you can handle them as you 

 choose ; and if you have done a good 

 job, the combs will be just about as 

 straight as if built there by the bees. 



There are other ways of transferring, 

 but I have given you this as my best 

 way to have the combs nice and straight. 

 I can transfer some faster with strings, 

 or with tin clasps, but when the combs 

 are heavy with brood or honey, they ^ 

 will bulge. Where the combs are cut to 

 fit nicely, they will stay without any- 

 thing to hold them, but you had better 

 use the wooden clasps clear across until 

 you get used to it. Then when the bees 

 get the combs well fastened, you can 

 pull off the clasps, and you are done. 



Now these directions are where you 

 are to do all the work yourself. Of 

 course, when you have plenty of help 

 you can cut out combs, and some one 

 else tack in, and another dip off the bees 

 and place the transferred combs in the 

 new hive, so by the time you get the 

 combs all cut out, the bees are ready to 

 put away, etc. Now the ABC class is 

 ready to start in with the next class. 



Bees Gathering Pollen in Mississippi. 



Bees, in this part of southern Missis- 

 sippi, so far as my knowledge extends, 

 have wintered finely, though we have 

 had the coldest weather, and the most 

 of it, that we have had for years. We 

 have had some pleasant weather for a 

 week or ten days past, and the bees 

 have had a good flight, and were bring- 

 ing In pollen yesterday and to-day as 

 though spring had opened up in earnest. 

 Upon examination I find my bees have 

 plenty of stores to carry them through. 

 The indications are that we will have a 

 good honey-flow this year. I hope to see 

 our Southern bee-keeping friends give 

 us the news from different parts of our 

 Southland. R. W. Thompson. 



Estabutchie, Miss., Jan. 28, 1893. 



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