790 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL*. 



>AOAOA*fci 



Having Divided Colonies as 

 Good as from Swarms. 



Query 849.— 1. In dividing colonies, is 

 there a way to have the new colony just as 

 good as though it had been a natural swarm, 

 for the production of honey? 2. If so, how 

 may it be accomplished ?— Texas. 



1. I think not. — James A. Green. 



1. Y-e-s. 2. L-e-t t-h-e-m s-w-a-r-m. 

 — A. B. Mason. 



DWhen the colony is about ready to 

 cast a swarm, remove. — J. M. Ham- 

 baugh. 



1. I don't believe so. I believe we 

 would better let" them swarm once if 

 they will or must do so. — A. J. Cook. 



A natural swarm works with greater 

 energy with me than any divided colony 

 which I ever made. — G. M. Doolittle. 



1. I don't like to divide a colony for 

 honey. 2. Yes, there is a way, but this 

 space is too short to explain. — H. D. 

 Cutting. 



1. Hardly ; it is very difficult to equal 

 Nature in this respect; although a care- 

 ful apiarist can come pretty close to it. 

 —Mrs. L. Harrison. 



When I take the queen and enough 

 bees from a colony to make a good 

 swarm, I think they do as well as a 

 natural swarm.— R. L. Taylor. 



1. Yes. 2. Have the colony strong 

 early, so as to divide early, so it can be 

 built up early, and be early for the 

 honey-flow.— J. P. H. Brown. 



1. Not as a rule. 2. To attempt to 

 tell why, and how to increase by divid- 

 ing to the best advantage, is too long a 

 story for this department. — James Hed- 

 don. 



1. Yes. 2. Set the old hive to one 

 side, put a new one in its place, and 

 shake down a good swarm of bees, with 

 the old queeu, in front of the new hive, 

 and let them go in.— M. Mahin 



There is no way to divide colonies so 

 as to equal natural swarms in produc- 

 ing comb honey ; and dividing for in- 

 crease is only profitable after the main 

 honey-flow is passed. — G. L. Tinker. 



1. If every requirement of natural 

 law has been complied with, I see no 

 reason why a divided colony may not be 

 just as good as any. 2. I am not an 

 authority on this point. — Eugene Secor. 



1. Dividing colonies is an unnatural 

 process but it is a convenience at times. 

 A divided colony will be equal to a 

 natural swarm, as soon as the conditions 

 (after dividing) become the same. — J. 

 E. Pond. 



1. No; the trouble with dividing is, 

 that the division is usually made weeks 

 before they would swarm naturally, 

 thus greatly interfering with honey- 

 gathering. 2. I don't know. — C. H. 



DlBBERN. 



1. In this locality, yes. 2. Take the 

 queen to the new location, leaving most 

 of the brood at the old stand, and make 

 tha division early enough so that both 

 hives will be full of bees when the 

 honey-flow comes. — Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



Doolittle will probably say that you 

 should divide while they are under the 

 swarming impulse ! At other times 

 would make it about even, giving the 

 most honey to the new colony. Never 

 divide a weak colony, or during or fol- 

 lowing a poor honey-flow. — W. M. 

 Barnum. 



1. Yes. 2. Make up the new colony 

 with combs of brood taken from strong 

 colonies. Take from one to three brood- 

 combs from each old colony. Leave the 

 queens in the old colonies, make the new 

 colony strong, fill the hive full of brood, 

 and give plenty of hatched bees with 

 the brood-combs. As for a queen, let 

 them rear one, or give them one if you 

 have it. — E. France. 



1. Brother Texas, you did not ask 

 your question to suit me. But for me I 

 will say, yes. 2. If we watch closely, 

 we can tell when to do this by the bees 

 starting queen-cells. Then hunt the 

 queen, and hang the frame she is on in 

 the new hive. Now fill the new hive 

 with empty combs or foundation, and 

 put the new hive on the old stand. Now 

 shake into it as many of the bees (and 

 more, too, if you want to) as you think 

 go out with a natural swarm. Move the 

 old hive away on a nt stand. In about 

 three days give it a laying queen, or a 

 cell ready to hatch, and you beat nat- 



