1/6 



May, ipop. 



American Vae Journal 



be set up on a new stand and either 

 permitted to mature its cells or given 

 either a ripe cell or a laying queen 

 from a nucleus. The supers or top 

 stories are usually placed on the swarm 

 on the old stand where most _ of the 

 working bees are. Should the increase 

 be not acceptable, and it be desired 

 rather to turn the strength of the bees 

 toward honey-gathering, the parent col- 

 ony may be placed beside the new 

 swarm, say first on the right side with 

 the entrance turned slightly away so 

 that flight bees already in the field will 

 not readily find their way back into it. 

 The second and third day the entrance 

 of the parent colony may be gradually 

 swung around until right beside that 

 of the swarm, when the parent colony 

 may be suddenly picked up and set on 

 the opposite side with the entrance 

 turned away. The flight bees returning 

 will find their way into the hive con- 

 taining the swarm, augmenting the lat- 

 ter's working force. This repeated sev- 

 eral times, the queen-cells having been 

 destroyed, the parent colony in the 

 course of 3 or 4 weeks will be en- 

 tirely depopulated, its strength having 

 gone into the swarm, when the empty 

 hive, all brood having emerged, may 

 be removed to the shop. 



Another way of accomplishing some- 

 what the same result is to place the 

 parent colony, after destroying all the 

 cells, above the swarm, providing it 

 with a separate entrance. At the end 

 of 3 weeks, or when all the brood has 

 emerged what bees are in the colony 

 in the middle of the day may be shaken 

 in with the swarm and the story re- 

 moved. The flight bees on their return 

 not finding their hive above, enter the 

 swarm below, and so the swarm be- 

 comes augmented in numbers and the 

 undesirable increase disposed of while 

 at the same time the colony is brought 

 through the swarming fever. 



Forced Swarming. 



Passing on now to a consideration 

 of forced swarming, we recognize two 

 general types — shaken swarms and ar- 

 tificial increase by actual division. In 

 the case of increase by shaken swarms 

 only the bees shaken onto starters go 

 to make up the new colony, a system 

 we will consider presently as applica- 

 ble in some localities, to handling the 

 swarming problem in comb - honey 

 apiaries. 



Dividing is usually practiced when 

 increase is desired, and may be accom- 

 plished immediately prior to the natural 

 swarming time in any one of three 

 ways. Two of these ways involve an 

 approximately equal division of the 

 strength of the colony, only approxi- 

 mately equal, for that portion of the 

 colony remaining on the old stand is 

 always bound to be somewhat the 

 stronger in view of the return of flight 

 bees — stronger not necessarily in point 

 of numbers, though usually so, but 

 stronger in number of field-bees and 

 hence working capacity. The evenness 

 of such divisions is somewhat governed 

 by climatic conditions, the variety of 

 bees kept, and the distance to which 

 the bees drawn off are moved. To il- 

 lustrate : 



If weather conditions are such that 



bees fly to any great extent for some 

 days immediately following division, 

 less of the old bees will return to the 

 old stand; again, variety characteristics 

 may come into play, since some varie- 

 ties of bees hold to old locations more 

 persistently, as do the German or black 

 bees, while other varieties acquire new 

 location with greater ease, as do the 

 Banaters ; and finally the greater the 

 distance between the old and the new 

 colonies, the less manifest chance of 

 the return of flight bees to the site of 

 the parent colony. 



The possibility of the bees marking 

 their new location more quickly and 

 effectively is heightened if some dis- 

 tinctive land-mark be given them as, 

 for instance, a bottom-board slanted in 

 front of the entrance for a couple of 

 days to attract their attention. The 

 importance of this is realized when it is 

 appreciated that by far the greater rea- 

 son for the return of old bees to the 

 parent site is because they unwittingly 

 fly out after having been moved, with- 

 out first getting their bearings, and 

 when they come to return home ob- 

 viously they return to the old location, 

 being guided thence by old and familiar 

 land-marks. The value of something 

 about the entrance of the new colony 

 to arrest the attention of outgoing bees 

 thereby causing them — if you will par- 

 don the expression — to "sit up and take 

 notice" of their new surroundings — re- 

 sults in a return of a larger percentage 

 of the flight-bees to the new location. 



Berkeley, Cal. 



(Concluded next month) 



Management of Sectional 

 Hives 



BY F. GREINEE. 



The article on "Modification of Shak- 

 en Swarms," written by myself last 

 summer for the American Bee-Keeper, 

 and reproduced in the October num- 

 ber of the American Bee Journal, was 

 apparently not worded carefully enough 

 to make everything perfectly clear. At 

 least I judge so from some inquiries 

 I have received. The principal trouble 

 comes from the fact that some readers 

 do not fully understand the workings 

 of the sectional hive. Before we can 

 fully understand a writer we ought to 

 be familiar with his hive. Certain fea- 

 tures of the sectional hive are not to 

 be observed from the outside. For 

 years I used quite extensively what I 

 called a sectional hive, containing 8 

 loose, hanging frames, S inches comb- 

 space. It was a hive which made man- 

 ipulations complicated and difficult, and 

 led me to condemn the sectional or di- 

 vided brood-chamber. Now, after I 

 have taken quite a few hives of the 

 Hand, Aikin or Heddon pattern into 

 use, my old enthusiasm has again awak- 

 ened, and I expect to realize dollars 

 and cents from the advantages which 

 these low brood-chambers afford when 

 properly handled. 



The principal difference between the 

 sectional hive and the standard — a dif- 

 ference not apparent from the outside^ 

 is that the frames of the former are 

 not only closed-end, standing frames, 

 but also close-fitting against the ends 



of the hives, thus leaving no bee- 

 spaces, no places for bees to loaf, be- 

 tween and around the end-bars of the 

 frames. If the combs are built down 

 to the bottom-bars of the frames there 

 will then be only the regular spaces 

 between the combs for bees to congre- 

 gate. 



From the shallowness of the combs 

 it may be judged how easy it must be 

 to drive the bees from one section 

 (brood-chamber) into another for any 

 purpose. In fact, herein lies the ad- 

 vantage, or the principal advantage. 

 This, in connection with the other one, 

 of interchanging the different brood- 

 sections, makes us master of the situa- 

 tion. 



Any one wishing to adopt the section- 

 al hive will be greatly benefited by read- 

 ing what Heddon, Aikin and Hand have 

 said in the different bee-publications. 

 The last named two have given their 

 methods of manipulations in Gleanings 

 in 1906 and 1907, and Mr. Aikin is just 

 now writing up bee-keeping in Colo- 

 rado for the American Bee Journal. 

 Those interested in the sectional hive 

 may be the gainers by watching the ar- 

 ticles of the last-named writer. 



As a bit of advice, I want to say that 

 before adopting any other man's meth- 

 ods we ought to consider the possible 

 difference of our own conditions from 

 those of the writer, for what may fit 

 one case may not the other. The great 

 differences of localities — yes, and even 

 honey seasons in the same localities — 

 are factors to be taken into considera- 

 tion, and which make bee-keeping so 

 much more interesting than many other 

 pursuits. We must study the subject 

 and adapt ourselves to the often vary- 

 ing conditions. Mr. Aikin in Colo- 

 rado has a long-continued, but gen- 

 erally not heavy, honey-flow from al- 

 falfa. Mr. Hand has a very heavy flow 

 from basswood, but of short duration. 

 Therefore their methods must differ 

 widely, although each uses a hive very 

 nearly like the other. 



A marked difference between the 

 hives of these two bee-masters is found 

 in the frame. Mr. Aikin uses a top- 

 bar ^-inch wide, }i thick, bottom-bar 

 of same dimensions. Mr. Hand uses a 

 top-bar nearly the same, but with a bot- 

 tom-bar only 54 X 54 inch. Why these 

 two practical men have decided so dif- 

 ferently would be interesting to know. 

 Mr. Aikin also uses a follower and 

 spring. I myself favor the use of a fol- 

 lower, but prefer a narrow bottom- 

 bar. I am not sure that I want it as 

 narrow as Mr. Hand's. 



As to the construction of the section- 

 cases, that is of minor importance. I 

 do not expect to use anything differ- 

 ent from what I have, viz., the wide- 

 frame super, which is so constructed 

 as to protect both the top and the bot- 

 tom of the sections. Plain sections and 

 bee-way sections with bee-ways cut out 

 clear to the V-grooves, come out of the 

 wide-frame supers so clean as to need 

 but little scraping to make them per- 

 fect and ready for the shipping-case, 

 while on the other hand sections from 

 supers, which expose the tops and bot- 

 toms, can often not be made presenta- 

 ble without a great deal of labor. The 

 bee-keepers, however, will always differ 

 on this question as on many others. 



