836 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



tween the edges that come in contact, driv- 

 ing the bees away; but if there are many 

 bees in the hive this is impracticable. Insert 

 all the frames one by one till all are in place, 

 and then put back the follower. 



pull out more than one frame. If this is put 

 right back into the slot from which it came, 

 even if the end-bars are totally covered with 

 bees, they will be brushed out of the way in 

 the operation and not a bee will be killed. 



HOW TO 



ARTIFICIAL 



[Note how the bees may be brushed away as the edges of the 

 frames are slid past each other. 1 



As a general rule it is not necessary to re- 

 move every frame. The practical bee-man 

 will soon learn how to tell from examination 

 of a single frame what the whole colony is 

 doing. If eggs and brood in various stages 

 are found on the comb, it may be assumed 

 that a queen is present. If the colony seems 

 strong, and the bees a*^ liying at the en- 

 trance vigorously to and from the fields it 

 may be inferred that the queen is doing her 

 full duty; so it is a general practice not to 



MAKE AN 



swak:\i. 

 Suppose the colony has become so 

 strong that you would like to make 

 an artificial swarm by "dividing," 

 as we say. Split the brood-nest into 

 two or three divisions by means of 

 the screwdriver and a little smoke. 

 Each division of three or four frames 

 held together by propolis connec- 

 tions can be removed in solid blocks 

 and inserted in one or more empty 

 hives; and in this way the colony will 

 be divided into two or three parts. 

 If empty frames of foundation be now 

 placed on each side of the bees thus 

 removed, we shall have the nucleus 

 of a new colony; but it should be un- 

 derstood that the Hying bees will go 

 back to the old stand, and an effort 

 should, therefore, be made to take 

 the most of the bees away to the new 

 stands, for the flying bees will soon 

 go back and take care of any brood 

 left at the old stand. In the course of two 

 or three days an examination will show in 

 which nucleus or division the queen is pres- 



Holdins: 



the smoker between the knees while han- 

 dling the frames. 



THE WRONG WAY TO HANDLE CLOSED-END FRAMES. 



[The illustration shows the wrong way to handle 

 closed-end frames. They should always be made to 

 stand together in close contact of twos, threes, and 

 fours. When so placed they will not tumble together 

 in confusion, killing bees between the contact edges. 

 The only way to straighten up a mess of this kind 

 without killing bees, is to pick up one frame at a time 

 and slide the edges of contact down past those of 

 another frame; this will shove the bees out of the way 

 without killing or maiming any. If, on the other 

 hand, they be pushed up together on their points of 

 support sidewise the killing of bees will be inevitable. 

 To save time, the frames should always be handled in 

 blocks of two or more.] 



ent. If eggs are found, she is surely in that 

 hive. If queen-cells are built, then just as 

 surely she is not there. See how the bees- 

 supply themselves wiih a queen. 



In these various manipulations, it will be 

 seen it is not necessary to kill a single bee,. 



