194 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Increase by Dhisioii. 



Mr. D. D. Marsh, of Massachusetts, 

 in January last propounded some ni- 

 quiries, which we give below, regard- 

 ing feeding and division, tlie answer 

 to which we have withheld till the 

 present time, in order to give them 

 seasonable insertion and save repeti- 

 tion, as they will possess more or less 

 interest for all who have had but little 

 experience in this line. 



1. Will it do to feed during April 

 and May, for stimulative breeding, 

 brown sugar, such as is found in the 

 bottom of molasses barrels ? I can 

 buy this of grocers for 3 and 4 cents 

 per lb. 



2. Will you give in detail the best 

 method of artificial swarming, on the 

 nucleus plan, for one who has 10 

 colonies in Langstroth hives, and 

 wishes to make about 8 new ones with 

 the least interference with the crop of 

 section and extracted honey V 



3. How to get queen cells V 



4. When to make up the nuclei— 

 before or after the sections are put 

 on y 



5. Whether section racks are to be 

 lifted from time to time to get frames 

 of bees and brood V 



1. Yes, if it be pure molasses. For 

 stimulative and breeding purposes it 

 should be dissolved and thinned with 

 warm water, and fed only as fast as 

 consumed. 



2. This is perhaps one of the most 

 interesting features in the manage- 

 ment of an apiary. All operations 

 will be governed somewhat by the 

 number of colonies to be manipulated, 

 and the amount of increase desired ; 

 it should also be borne in mind that, 

 although the amount of increase pos- 

 sible is almost unlimited, all excessive 

 increase will be at tlie expense of the 

 surplus honey yield. In order to be 

 better understood, we will suppose 

 the apiarist has 4 good colonies wliicli 

 he wishes to increase to 9. As a pro- 

 gressive bee-keeper, he will be actua- 

 ted by a desire to possess the best; 

 therefore, the colony which has here- 

 tofore proven the most satisfactory in 

 all things, will be selected as the one 

 from which to rear queens for new 

 colonies. This colony, for convenience 

 in summarizing, we will designate 

 No. 1. As soon as spring opens, feed 

 No. 1 about half a pint of thin cane- 

 sugar syrup or honey diluted with 

 warm water. This had better be fed 

 at the entrance in the evening, to 

 avoid robbing, and be given sliglitly 

 warmed. Keep this up till there is 

 capped drone brood in some of the 

 combs, or better still, till you have 

 drones emerging from the cells. Now 



move one of the other colonies from 

 its stand (which we will designate 

 No. 2) ; place No. 2 on a new stand, 

 put a new or empty hive on the stand 

 vacated ; lift the frame from No. 1 on 

 which you find the queen and place 

 in the empty hive (No. 3); place a 

 frame of foundation in No. 1 and 

 close the hive. From No. 2, and each 

 of the two hives not numbered lift 2 

 frames of brood well advanced, shake 

 off the old bees, and place in No. 3, 

 with the queen lately placed there. 

 These last frames put in should be al- 

 ternated as much as possible, so as to 

 confuse the working bees from No. 2, 

 which will naturally return to the old 

 stand and enter No. 3. Fill up the 

 latter hive with frames of foundation, 

 alternated with the brood combs, to 

 its full complement. If a 10-trame 

 hive, this will give it 7 frames of 

 brood, 3 frames of foundation, and 

 your best queen. If you have bright, 

 clean, empty combs, they will answer 

 about as well as foundation, tliough 

 we prefer the best foundation. Put 

 in foundation or combs to supply the 

 places of those taken from the other 

 hives, close them, and your tirst divi- 

 sion is completed, making 6 colonies. 



In ten to twelve days, examine care- 

 fully the combs in No. 1, to see how 

 many good queen cells you have 

 capped over. Close the hive carefully, 

 and let it remain 24 to 36 hours. As 

 soon as you have determined the num- 

 ber of cells, remove each of the 4 

 colonies wliich have queens to new 

 stands, and place empty hives where 

 they stood. Take the brood frame 

 from each on which you will find the 

 queen, and place in the empty hive 

 wliere they were moved from. Add 

 three more brood frames to each, 

 from the hive removed from there, 

 place two frames of- foundation or 

 empty combs in the center of these, 

 put a division-board on the outside of 

 tlie combs, and close the hives. The 

 hives from whicli these were taken 

 will each be left with six brood 

 frames ; to these add two empty 

 combs or sheets of foundation, put in 

 division-boards at the outsides, and 

 close for 24 or 36 hours. You now 

 have 4 new colonies with queens, 4 

 without queens, and 1 with queen 

 cells. 



At the end of 24 hours you will find 

 queen cells started, or preparations to 

 start them, in the 4 queenless colonies. 

 With a sharp, narrow-bladed knife 

 circle out 4 of the best queen cells 

 from No. 1, leaving a good one ; cut a 



round hole, about 1}4 inches in 

 diameter, from tlie center of a brood 

 frame in each of the queenless colo- 

 nies, and slip in a queen cell. These 

 should fit pretty tightly, so they will 

 not drop out. Great care must be ob- 

 served not to bruise any of them, and 

 they must not be cut so close to the 

 cell as to run a chance of injuring the 

 young queen yet in the cell. In a few 

 days these young queens will be 

 hatched, mated and laying, and you 

 now have 9 colonies. As fast as the 

 foundation in these colonies is drawn 

 out, the combs can be spread and new 

 foundation or combs added, until the 

 full complement are in the hive. 



You will now have 9 colonies from 

 the four in early spring, and by close 

 attention in supplying good founda- 

 tion as fast as they are prepared to re- 

 ceive it, with a good white clover and 

 basswood yield, or a few acres of sweet 

 clover pasture, you may expect a fine 

 surplus yield of extracted honey. 



With 10 strong colonies to start in 

 with, the strongest and best should be 

 removed from its stand, and an empty 

 hive be put in its place ; now select a 

 comb from the colony with only fresh 

 eggs and place in the empty hive on 

 the old stand; put in two combs of 

 honey from some other colony, and an 

 empty comb or sheet of foundation on 

 each side, now confine all to the cen- 

 ter with division boards, and shake 

 the bees from the combs in front of 

 the new hive. Twenty-four hours be- 

 fore the queen cells are ripe enough to 

 cut out, form a three-frame nucleus 

 from eacli full colony, and after they 

 have started queen cells, destroy them, 

 and graft in your ripe cells. In all 

 cases, supply foundation or empty 

 combs in place of those taken from 

 the colonies, and add others to the 

 nuclei as fast as needed. 



3. This is answered in the last par- 

 agraph. 



4. Make your division during fruit 

 bloom , or as soon thereafter as weather 

 is favorable. 



5. No need to lift section racks, as 

 division and increase will be com- 

 pleted before white clover or basswood 

 come into bloom. 



i^= We have received several more 

 complaints and samples of the sec- 

 tions sent out by that Doon, Canada, 

 supply dealer. Mr. Mason reports, 

 however, that he has made satisfactory 

 amends to him. Let us hope that he 

 may do so with all, and thus save 

 furtlier complaints and annoyance. 



