984 



Gleanings in bee culture 



I'ouib of tiigh and unsealed brood given to a queenless colony. Nine queen cells were, built. One on 

 the lower right-hand corner, not visible, hatched first. Photographed by R. L. Leland, Belding, Mich: 



more, when fed at different times it seems 

 as if bees consume much more tlian when 

 the feeding is all done at once. I think 

 that, if we are required to feed sugar, we 

 should do all our feeding early, at the same 

 time giving each colony enough to carry it 

 thru the winter so that they can properly 

 evaporate the dampness, and also get it 

 mostly sealed before cold weather. 



COLD-WEATHER UNITING. 



Sometimes in the fall or early winter we 

 find it is necessary to unite a few colonies 

 that are too weak to go thru the winter. It 

 is not a very difficult matter to unite bees 

 late in the season ; but in warm weather it 

 is often impossible to unite them with any 

 degree of success, especially if the honey- 

 flow is over. A few times I have tried to 

 unite two colonies into one and succeeded 

 only in making two colonies into nothing, 

 for, after the bees had fought and practi- 

 cally exterminated each other, the remain- 

 ing bees were so weakened that they were 

 worthless. 



One autumn, as the result of a failure in 

 the honey crop, I had several colonies that 

 were too weak to winter successfully. I did 

 not attempt to unite them till the weather 

 became very cold — about January. Then, 

 just as a severe cold snap was commencing, 

 I went around and loosened the bottom- 

 boards, so that the hives could be lifted 

 without disturbing the bees when I was 

 ready to unite them. The next morning I 

 removed the covers as carefully as I could 

 and lifted the colonies to be united on to the 

 other colonies witlioat making very much 



disturbance, and only a few bees flew out. 

 As the weather was very cold the bees made 

 no attempt to fight, and 1 did not place a 

 newsjDaper between the two stories. By the 

 time the weather warmed up a little they 

 had become so much accustomed to the 

 change that there was no trouble. Of 

 course, in cold weather it is necessary to be 

 ns careful as possible, so that the bees do 

 not fly out, as all the bees that escape will 

 probably be lost, for, on account of the 

 change of location, and the cold, the bees 

 from the hive that is removed will be lost. 

 Generally the bees will unite readily with- 

 out any disturbance in cold weather, as they 

 are so intent upon keeping up the heat of 

 the colony that they do not take much notice 

 of the change. 



When two hives are placed together, the 

 ujjper one is warmer than the lower, and 

 the bees from the lower one will go up into 

 the upper one and remain there most of the 

 time till spring. In the spring one of the 

 hives can be removed and used later for 

 hiving a swarm. 



It is better to unite colonies that have 

 inferior queens or that lack vigor as honey- 

 gatlierers or that have any other defect, and 

 thus get rid of undesirable stock. It would 

 not be advisable to unite a colony having an 

 infei'ior queen with one having a good 

 queen, as it might happen that the bees 

 would kill the better queen. This would 

 not be so apt to hapjDen if the one having 

 tlie undesirable queen were weaker tlian the 

 other one. 



Stonecoal, W. Va. 



