440 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Hiving a Swarm on the Combs from whicli it Came. 



In Gi.EANiN(;s for April 1, p. 219. Mr. W. S. Davi.s 

 writes about hivine a swarm on the same combs it 

 came from. Now. I have done the same thing, but 

 with a little different maniinilation. I allowed the 

 swarm a longer time to quiet down before 1 put it 

 on the combs. 



The method I used was to hive the swarm in a 

 new hive on starters beside the parent hive. If 

 running for comb hone.v. a super may be put on at 

 once from the old hive. 



The bees should be left from 24 to 36 hours, with 

 the idea of allowing them time to settle down to 

 work after swarming. Now frames of starters from 

 the new hive may be replaced by frames of brood 

 from the old hive, one at a time, so as not to dis- 

 turb the bees too much. In this way the work may 

 be done before the bees find out what you are '"up 

 to." Then the colony is in the same condition it 

 was in before it cast a swarm. The bees will settle 

 down contentedly, and do as good work as if the,v 

 had been left on starters. As to the cells left. It is 

 optional with the operator whether to save them or 

 the old Queen. 



After I had tried this method, three years ago, I 

 haijpened to come across some of Alexander's writ- 

 ings, and found that he followed the same princi- 

 ple. Now it can be done. 



CUTTING OLD COMBS DOWN TO FOUNDATION. 



Here is another little kink I am practicing right 

 along: Instead of melting up old combs 1 fill them 

 with cold water ; take a cold sharp uncapping- 

 knife : cut them down to midrib, and give to a 

 strong colony during the honey-How. The bees 

 will Quickly clean out the old shells. A pollen- 

 clogged comb may be treated the same way. for the 

 bees will clean it out, thus saving the comb and 

 making it as good as a new sheet of foundation. 

 One may take a frame of worker comb ; and if 

 drone-cells have been built on the lower corners, 

 cut them out and replace with foundation, after 

 having previously cut Ijack half an inch on one side 

 of the woi'ker comb so as to fit foundation to the 

 midrib, waxingthe two together. Sometimes drones 

 may be rai-sed on edges where the comb and foun- 

 dation meet. 



Heber, Cal. M. S. Phillippe. 



To Form Nuclei w itli Virgin Queens ; How to In- 

 crease by Using Virgin Queens; the Easiest 

 and Quickest Way to Form Nuclei. 



Place your hives on the stands where you want 

 them. See that the entrances are closed bee-tight. 

 Provide a small dish of honey, quite thin, four parts 

 of water to one of extracted honey: and also a small 

 dish of water, slightly saline, and set the.se in a 

 hive. Then go to a hive, find the queen, and place 

 her and three frames of brood and bees in the hive, 

 and at the same time put in one frame of worker 

 comb or foundation. Shut up the hive bee-tight by 

 putting on a bag or cloth, and the board and cover 

 on top of all. In 48 hours open the entrance about 

 half an inch. Do this a little before dark; or if it is 

 an out apiary, stuff the entrance with grass: and as 

 it wilts the bees will work it out. One can put in 

 more than one frame if desired. 



Now having the nuclei fixed we will go back to the 

 parent hive. Remove the cloth, which, of course, 

 you have covered over the hive while you were at 

 work on the nuclei. Take one of the queen-cages 

 containing a virgin queen: turn the tin on top of 

 the cage: make a small hole in the candy; put it 

 between two frames; shut the frames together. 

 Place in the hives some frames of worker comb or 

 foundation— enough to fill the hive. Shut it up and 

 leave it alone for a week or ten days. Then look 

 and see If the queen is there. If you do not find 

 queen-cells started, and do not readily find the 

 queen, it is very good evidence that the virgin has 

 been accepted all right. If .vou see brood, eggs, or 

 the queen, that would be positive evidence she has 

 been accepted. In this way you can requeen all of 

 the old colonies. Have the nviclei of the old queens 

 to build comb or to strengthen weak colonies, or 

 let them build up and get whatever surplus you can 

 from them, and unite them in the fall or keep them 

 over as you wish. That is the best way I know to 

 do it and lose the least time of the bees, and at the 

 same time get young queens in place of the old 



ones; also, to a great extent, to avoid swarming, 

 or to replace an undesirable queen. You could, of 

 course, follow this mode of pi'ocedure if you wish 

 to do so. and in this manner requeen your whole 

 apiary with young selected queens. 

 Vernon, Ct. J. G. French. 



The Basic Principle of Alexander's Method of In- 

 crease, by which the Young Brood is Saved. 



I have noticed ^Ir, Alexander's way of making in- 

 crease by dividing colonies as detailed on pages 37, 

 38 of his book, " Practical Bee Culture." I wish to 

 practice it, but wish to put this question: If one has 

 no queen for the new colony, but has desirable 

 capped queen-cells at the time the qvieen is trans- 

 ferred, would it not be as well to give the old colo- 

 ny a capped queen-cell and remove it to the new 

 location at once'? If the bees on the frame of brood 

 transferred are transferred with the queen, would 

 not most of the other old bees return to the old lo- 

 cation'? and would not the result to both colonies 

 be practically the same as if the old colony re- 

 mained over the new one five to ten days'? 



This iJlan would be far more convenient for me, 

 as nearly all my hives are your chaff hives with 

 tight bottoms: and to leave the old colony above 

 the new I would need to transfer the frames with 

 the bees to an open-bottom hive, and, later, trans- 

 fer them again to a chaff hive. 



Westville, Ind. ^ E. S. Smith, 



[We are not sure that we understand your qiies- 

 tion with reference to the Alexander method of 

 making increase as described on pages 37, 38 of his 

 book. But we may say that the chief reason why 

 Mr. Alexander pvit the brood above perforated zinc 

 on top of the old colony was for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting the young brood, eggs, and larvw. Where 

 the old colony or brood is removed to an entirely 

 different location, much of the young brood is neg- 

 lected and dies. Where, however, it is put on top 

 of another colony, the heat rising from below will 

 protect it, and keep it so that it will be saved. The 

 idea of the Alexander treatment is to protect and 

 save the young brood. By taking that. brood away 

 immediately at the time of making the division 

 you lo.se a large part of the larva and the eggs. 



If .vou do not happen to have a laying queen in 

 the hive you can vise desirable cells: but, of course, 

 your increase will not be so rapid, because the col- 

 ony (neither of them, for that matter) will have no 

 eggs until the cells can hatch and the virgin be- 

 comes mated. — Kd.] 



Control of Swarming by Tiering Up; a Missing Link 

 in the Process. 



In your editorial in ( Jleanings for April 15, page 

 234, on "Control of Swarming by Tiering Up," in 

 which you refer to Mr, Crane's article in a former 

 copy, it looks to me as if both yourself and Mr. 

 Crane had omitted the most important part of the 

 manipulation — namely, to get both comb and ex- 

 tracted honey from the same colony; and Mr. Wil- 

 der, page '251, has also fallen into the same error, 

 although he does not attempt to produce section 

 honey— only bulk comb honey and extracted. 



Let me tell your readers how we do that here in 

 the Missouri Ozarks, Along about March 1st to 

 the loth, when the colonies are at the height of 

 brood-rearing, we look them over and select those 

 which are doing the best along this line, and lift 

 up the entire brood-chamber, and place under it 

 another brood-chamber (eight-frame Langstroth), 

 with frames full of drawn comb, if we have it: if 

 not, with foundation. By April 1 this lower cham- 

 ber is all drawn out, and has plenty of brood in it, 

 with a great plenty of young bees Hying all about. 

 By the 15th of April (this year. 1911, it was a few 

 days earlier) we alternate these two brood-cham- 

 bers, putting the lower one on top and the top one 

 at the bottom. Put on an excluding-board and a 

 super of sections, 4 x 5 x l^s, or it may be shallow 

 frames, and the bees must move up into it. as they 

 will not allow the honey to remain so near the en- 

 trance. This is as simple as can be, and gets real 

 comb honey, not "bulk," and a tremendous colony 

 also. It prevents swarming, as there is plenty of 

 room below after the bees have carried the honey 

 up into the super or supers, which you may put on 

 as these are filled and capped. 



