174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



DOlTBIiINf.^ OR IJIVITING COIiONIES OF 

 BEES BOm IN SPBINO ANO FALL.. 



HOW DOOLITTLE DOES IT. 



^^l INCE we promised, last December, to give our 

 ^ih plan of doubling colonies of bees, we have had 

 •'— ''^ many letters desiring us so to do, and we should 

 have done so before this had not sickness pre%-ented. 

 AVe are often told, that if bees are very weak in 

 March and April they should be united at once, put- 

 ting two, three, or more together so they might, 

 united, from a fair colony. We formerly adopted 

 this plan till we ascertained from many experiments 

 that colonies thus formed would be no better at the 

 end of two or three weeks than each one would have 

 been had they been left separate. If we have col- 

 onies that will not go through till June separate, we 

 have found they would not united. We have put as 

 high as seven remnants of swarms together in April, 

 the seven making a good large colony at the time, 

 and in a month all were dead. Hence we have come 

 to the conclusion that we could not unite our bees 

 with profit early in the season, so have adopted the 

 following, which has proved successful so far. 

 About the middle of April, according to the season 

 (earlier if an early season, and later if a late one), 

 some cool morning we look over all our bees by re- 

 moving- the cap and raising the quilt a little, and all 

 that do not occupy six spaces between the combs are 

 marked, and the first warm day are shut on to as 

 many combs us they have brood in, by means of a 

 division-board. If they are very small, so as to have 

 brood in only two or three combs, and small patches 

 at that, we take away all extra combs, so as to take 

 precaution against robbing; but if stronger, we 

 leave the extra combs the other Side of the division- 

 board, so the bees can carry the honey over as they 

 need it for brood-rearing. Contract the entrance to 

 suit the size of the colony, leaving not more than an 

 Inch in length of entrance for the best of them, and 

 only space enough for a bee to pass at a time for the 

 poorest. Our next work is to increase the brood as 

 fast as possible in these small colonies. Keep them 

 shut on the combs first given them till they are fill- 

 ed with brood clear to the bottom, when they are to 

 have an empty comb placed in the center, which al- 

 so will be filled in a week or so. Go over them once 

 a week In this way till you have 5 frames full of 

 brood in the strongest. The next time over, take a 

 frame of brood just hatching from those having the 

 5 filled, and give it to the next strongest, say one 

 that has 4 frames, and put an empty comb in the 

 place it came from, and so keep working till you 

 have each hive contain 5 frames, and those frames 

 completely crowded with brood, which should occur 

 about the 10th or 13th of June in this locality. Now, 

 go to No. 1 and open it, and look the frames over till 

 you find the queen, and when you have found her, 

 set the frame she is on to one side; then take the i 

 remaining frames and all the bees to No. 2. Spread 

 the 5 frames in No. 2 apart, so as to set the 4 frames 

 brought from No. 1 in each alternate space made by 

 spreading the frames in No. 3. Now close up No. 2, 

 and you will see that in 12 or 15 days it will be one of 

 the strongest colonies j'ou have in the yard. By 

 alternating the frames, the bees are so mixed up 

 that they will not quarrel, and I have never known 

 a queen to be harmed. If we wish no increase of 

 stocks we should begin early, and serve our whole 

 apiary the same way. You will see we use 9 frames 

 t T the hive, but the plan is the same with any num- 



ber of frames. We will now return to No. 1, which 

 we loft with the frame and queen standing outside 

 the hive. Place it in the hive close to one side, and 

 put in an empty frame; adjust the division-board, 

 and you have as nice a nucleus as any person need 

 desire. Of course, many of the old bees taken to No. 

 2 return and make the nucleus very strong. You 

 can use this nucleus for any purpose you may wish. 

 AVe will tell yon some of the purposes we put them 

 to: 1. We use them to supply us with queens; 2. We 

 keep them building combs till they are all used up, 

 taking it away from them as fast as built. Now, we 

 verily believe we can produce nice straight worker 

 combs in this way cheaper than we can buy founda- 

 tion and pay express on It; and you know Doolittle 

 is great on saving the cash outlay, as far as possible, 

 in all things connected with the apiary; 3. If we 

 wish more colonies we can build them up to strong 

 colonies by fall, or these little colonies will produce 

 as much extracted honey according to their num- 

 bers as any in the yard. 



UNITINO IN THE FALL. 



If we wish to unite our bees in the fall, from scar- 

 city of honey, weakness as regards bees, or from 

 whatever cause, the first thing we want to know is, 

 which of the two stocks to be united has the better 

 queen. Having ascertained this, hunt up the poor- 

 est and kill her. Now select from the two the num- 

 ber of frames having the most honey in them, to the 

 number you wish to winter them on, and set them 

 in one of the hives, alternating them as far as possi- 

 ble. Shake the bees which are on the remaining 

 frames off at the entrance, taking one frame from 

 one swarm, and the next from the other, so as to 

 mix the bees completely. See that all go inside the 

 hive, and the work is done. We never knew bees 

 thus mixed to quarrel at any season of the year. 

 Eemove all of the hive and combs from the stand oc- 

 cupied by the united stocks, and so far, I am satis- 

 fied, what few bees return to the old place go to the 

 united stock after finding their old hive is gone. 

 The mixing-up process tends to cause them to mark 

 their location at the next flight. Thus we have 

 told you how we do with our bees as far as doubling 

 and uniting is concerned. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., March 12, 1881. 



Tip-top advice, friend D. My experience 

 of late has been so mucli like yours, that I 

 have told the boys that, if they could not 

 make a colony pull through in ways such as 

 you have mentioned, they had better let it 

 go, saving the queen if possible, than to try 

 to fix it by uniting with other stocks, or tak- 

 ing brood from stronger colonies. It is true, 

 a stock is often saved by taking a frame of 

 brood from another ; but the one the frame 

 is taken from suffers a loss of young bees at 

 just the time it should have had them; and 

 oftentimes, before the spring is over, both 

 have died, where the best one would have 

 been all right had it not been for this un- 

 timely and injudicious "tinkering," by tak- 

 ing away the very life and strength of the 

 stock, in the shape of a frame of brood. 

 Again, tliis frame of brood is often in such 

 shape that the weak colony can not care for 

 it all, and it dies, a greater part of it, by be- 

 ing chilled. I would try to build all up with- 

 out uniting, for oar bees do quarrel now and 

 then, even when united in the manner given. 



