1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



173 



have queen cells nearly mature by the 

 time our first colonies are preparing 

 to swarm. Having such cells on 

 hand, I go to a colony preparing to 

 swarm, or one that has its hive full of 

 bees and brood, and move it one side 

 of the old location, so as to put a new 

 hive in its place. If a hive is not full 

 of brood and bees, do not touch it; 

 for it is useless to try to increase bees 

 till such is the case. 



I now look over the combs till I find 

 the one having the queen on it, when 

 I place that comb in the new hive. I 

 next give them a frame having some 

 honey it, and then fill out the hive 

 with empty comb or foundation, when 

 about two-thirds of the bees in the old 

 hive are shaken in front of the new 

 hive and allowed to run in. After 

 this I arrange the frames back in the 

 old hive, putting a division board in 

 place of the frames taken out, when 

 the old hive is carried to a new loca- 

 tion where I wish to remain. After 

 the bees thus removed have become 

 reconciled to their queenless condition, 

 I give them one of the nearly-mature 

 cells, or a virgin queen which will 

 soon be laying. In this way I have 

 secured my new swarm, controlled all 

 after swarming, and introduced my 

 young queen, all to my liking, and 

 with but little trouble. 



My third plan is one which I use 

 on the weaker colonies, or those which 

 do not get ready to swarm up to 10 

 days or so before the honey harvest 

 arrives, when I proceed to make col- 

 onies from them as follows: 



A hive is filled with frames of 

 empty comb, and placed upon the 

 stand of one of those colonies which 

 have not swarmed, and all the sections 

 are taken off and placed thereon, then 



all the bees are shaken and brushed 

 off their combs of brood and honey in 

 front of the hive, into which thy will 

 run as fast as shaken off. Thus I 

 have a colony that is ready for the 

 honey harvest, as they have the queen, 

 bees and partly filled sections all in 

 readiness to work. Previous to this, 

 nuclei have been started, so I have 

 plenty of laying queens to use as I 

 need them. 



I next take all the combs of brood 

 from which the bees were brusht ex- 

 cept one, arranging them in the hive 

 the bees were shaken out of, and carry 

 them to the stand of another colony 

 which has not swarmed. I next take 

 the comb of brood which was left out, 

 go to one of the nuclei, take out the 

 frame having the laying queen on it, 

 and put the frame of brood in its 

 place. Take the frame — bees, queen 

 and all — and set it in the place left 

 vacant for it when arranging the 

 combs of brood. I now put on the 

 sections, and, having all complete, I 

 move the colony to a new stand and 

 set the prepared hive in its place. 

 Thus I have a laying queen and 

 enough of her own bees to protect 

 her, together with a hive filled with 

 combs of brood, and all the field bees 

 from the removed colony. The loss 

 of bees to the removed colony stops 

 the swarming impulse, and in about a 

 week they have so regained their loss 

 that they are ready for the sections 

 again. 



In this way I make one colony from 

 two old ones, but have all the best 

 possible condition to take advantage 

 of the honey harvest which is soon 

 upon us. 



These plans all look toward a host 

 of bees in time for the harvest, with 

 no desire to swarm; and thus having 

 them gives an assurance of a large 

 crop of honey. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



