THE PEODUCTION OF COMB HONEY. 43 



of their hive, and, next time they were flying, would return to 

 the old spot, fly round and round it, and fall at last from 

 exhaustion, never to rise again. The bees in each hive should 

 have been reduced to only just as many frames as they can well 

 cover, which in the spring will probably not be more than two 

 or three for a very weak stock. 



How to Unite. 



When the hives are standing close together, smoke each of 

 them thoroughly ; and when the bees have had time to gorge 

 themselves, examine one of the hives and remove the queen (the 

 youngest and most prolific queen will of course be the one to be 

 retained) ; then sprinkle some thin syrup over the bees in both 

 hives, and place the frames of the one hive alternately between 

 those of the other. In place of thin syrup, the bees may be 

 .sprinkled with flour from an ordinary flour dredger, which 

 method generally proves entirely successful. The empty hive 

 must now be taken away, and the other placed midway 

 between the places where" the two hives have just stood.. 



If the bees are at all inclined to rob, uniting must be per- 

 formed towards the evening of some fine, warm day. 



It is well, as a matter of precaution, to cage the queen in 

 a " pipe cover cage " (fig. 28), pressed down on some cells of un- 



Fig. 28. — Pipe Cover Queen Cage. 



capped honey in the hive, for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, 

 lest the strange bees should kill her. During the honey flow, 

 however, it will be found quite needless to remove either of the 

 queens or to cage them, as the bees at such a time unite very 

 amicably if simply gorged with honey, and soon settle for them- 

 selves which queen they will keep ; but should one queen be 

 older than the other, it would of course be well to remove her. 



How to Find the Queen. 



To find the queen it is necessary to remove the frames one 

 by one and examine them, beginning at one side of the hive and 

 gradually working to the other. When we take a frame from 



