THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



[From the Bienenzoitung ] 



Bee-culture in Movable Comb Hives. 



It is undoubtedly true that movable comb 

 Lives are preferable to those in vi'hich the 

 combs are a fixture. They not onlj^ furnish the 

 bee-keeper with greater facilities for observing 

 the habits and proceedings of bees in the in- 

 terior of their dwellings, but they also enable 

 him to secure greater material advantages. 

 Hence, if there be still instances — and such, 

 alas ! are only too numerous — where movable 

 comb hives are less productive than the old- 

 fashioned kind, the cause is to be found solely 

 and wholly in improper management. 



Of course, we can here indicate in general 

 terms onlj', in what the proper management of 

 such hives consists. Discussion in detail 

 would embrace the entire subject of practical 

 bee-culture with movable combs, and transcend 

 the bounds of an essay. It would require a 

 volume to do it justice; and we must therefore 

 content ourselves with general hints and sug- 

 gestions, and these must have reference 

 specially to the local conditions and circum- 

 stances under which our own experience was 

 acquired. In other localities, and under different 

 circumstances, considerable deviations and 

 modifications would probably be necessary, 

 though the fundamental principle remain es- 

 sentially the same. 



I contemplate, in my apiary, two classes of 

 colonies : — 



1. Such as are designed and treated for the 

 production of honey. 



2. Such as are designed for the multiplication 

 of stock. 



For convenience I shall subdivide my ob- 

 servations into six sections or periods, and 

 commence with — 



1. Preparation for icintering. 



For honey producers in the ensuing year I 

 select the colonies having the older queens; re- 

 serving those with younger c[ueens for the 

 formation of artificial colonies and nuclei, or 

 the production of natui'al swarms. Both kinds 

 must be populous and richly supplied with 

 honey and pollen. Each colony should have 

 from twenty to thirty pounds of honey, to be 

 secure in any probable emergenc3\ If the hive 

 have two tiers of combs or frames like most of 

 those of Dzierzou and Berlepsch, the full combs 

 or frames are to be placed in the upper tier, and 

 the empty ones, and those only partially filled, 

 in the lower. In colonies designed for honey 

 producers no drone combs must be admitted, or 

 if circvmistances render their introduction un- 

 avoidable in the fall, they must, without fail, 

 be removed early in spring, before brooding 

 commences. But in colonies intended for the 

 multiplication of stock, it is advantageous to 

 insert a few drone combs even in the winter- 

 seat of the bees, to secure the seasonable pro- 

 duction of drones, so that artificial colonies 

 may be formed early. The winter-seat of each 

 should be as circumscribed as practicable, and 

 separated from the empty part of the hive by 

 means of a divider well adjusted and fitting 

 closely. 



Under the head of preparation we may ap- 

 propriately advert to the union of colonies, for 

 which purpose we no longer employ either 

 puff'ball or any other anastethic. The process 

 adopted by us is as follows : We remove the 

 queen from the hive intended to be united to 

 another, taking away at the same time the best 

 filled honey combs it contains. At evening, or 

 on the following day, but invariably towards 

 evening, we open the hive, and transfer from 

 it to the hive or hives intended to be strength- 

 ened, comb after comb with the bees adhering 

 to each, first placing a divider with a suitable 

 passage between the combs in the hive, and 

 those we are transferring. The few scattering 

 bees, if any, remaining in the deprived hive, 

 are gently brushed out and given to their late 

 companions, and the entrance to their emptied 

 hive closed. Very few bees will be lost by this 

 process, and it is unattended with danger to the 

 queen of the strengthened colony. 



2. Wintering. 



It is still an open question which is preferable 

 on the whole — wintering bees on their summer 

 stands, or placing them in a clamp or in a cellar, 

 or in some other convenient repository. For 

 our part, we prefer leaving them in the open 

 air. Though we have tried other modes, 

 we regard this as the most advantageous if 

 properly effected, not only because attended 

 with least trouble, Init because the bees are 

 thereby less disturbed, and have the opportunity 

 of embracing any casual change of weather to 

 disencumber themselves of ffecal accumulations. 

 Hives, on their sunmier stands, can be protected 

 from excessive cold with less trouble than the 

 removal of a large apiary involves, and at less 

 cost than the construction of a clamp or the 

 erection of a suitable building would require ; 

 and few bee-keepers have at their disposal a 

 cellar large enough and otherwise adapted to 

 accommodate an extensive apiary. 



3. Preparation for sptring. 



On our system of fall and winter manage- 

 ment, matters proceed so regularly and conse- 

 cutively, that the needed preparation for spring 

 is very simple, indeed. On the first mild day 

 when the bees fly, I scrutinize their deportment 

 very closely, andreadily ascertain if any colony 

 is queenless. Such as manifest symptoms of 

 queenlessness are at once opened and examined, 

 and, if found destitute, immediately united in 

 the manner already described with some other 

 colony. When the weather is sufficiently 

 warm, every hive is to be opened, and all the 

 droppings and dead bees removed; but at other 

 times leave them entirely undisturbed. At 

 this period, especially when brooding has been 

 bagun, bees frequently suff"er from want of 

 water, much of which is required in the pre- 

 paration of food for their young, while the 

 coldness ol the weather prevents them from 

 going in quest of it. A loud humming within 

 the hive usually indicates their destitution, and 

 ceases as soon as they are supplied with water, 

 which may be given to them in a comb inserted 

 near the cluster, or by gently sprinkling it 

 on the tops of the bars or frames after tern, 

 porarily remoying the h<3ney-board. All thlg 



