1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1139 



SHAKING BEES OFF COMBS. 



Two Ways of Doing It. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



[Some months ago Dr. Miller In one of his Straws 

 referred to a method of his for jarring bees off a comb 

 by a sort of i>endulum act. As we did not clearly un- 

 derstand the process we sent him a kodak and asked 

 him to get a member of his family to snap it on him 

 while he was doing the stunt. He did so, and the re- 

 sult is before you. The plan is a good one. and so al- 

 so is the other one. the pounding-hst act for dislodg- 

 ing bees in the hive. These are all shown in the next 

 edition of our A B C of Bee Culture, now in process of 

 revision. 



By the way, there is a lot of little " tricks of the 

 trade" that are worth showing; and if others of our 

 subscribers have discovered some new and useful 

 '■ kinks " we shall be glad to have them tell us what 

 they are; and, if of sufficient merit, we will send on 

 one of our kodaks with instructions how to use. We 

 pick up in this way a good many pictures, some of 

 which have already been published.— Ed.] 



Although I seldom use the plan nowadays, 

 I shall always hold Mr. G. M. Doolittle in 

 grateful remembrance for giving us his plan 

 of shaking bees off combs. Hold the frame 

 supported at each end by the ends of the 

 lingers, with the thumbs some distance above 

 the top- bars. Suddenly drop hands and 

 frame, striking hard upon the top-bars with 

 the thumbs, and then catch the frame with 

 the fingers. Do this rapidly two or more 

 times in succession, and you will find the 

 comb well rid of bees. I think Mr. Doolittle 

 now strikes with the ball of the thumb in- 

 stead of the thumb itself. Before learning 

 that plan I had shaken bees off the comb by 

 simply holding tight to each end of the top- 

 bar all the time and shaking. It was harder 

 work, and not nearly so effective, for it is 

 the sudden jar of the Doolittle plan, and the 



FIG. 1.- 



-ONE WAY OF JARRING BEES OFF A 

 COMB. 



FIG. 2. - FIRST POSITION IN DR. MILLER S WAY 



OF BUMPING A COMB ON THE GROUND 



TO SHAKE OFF THE BEES. 



quick change, first jarring one way and then 

 the other, that makes the bees lose their hold. 



Either by this last way or by the Doolittle 

 way it was difficult to shake bees down into 

 a space between the combs in the hive. Un- 

 less quite a number of frames were out of 

 the hive, I couldn't let the frame I was shak- 

 ing go down between the frames without the 

 danger of striking on one side or the other; 

 and it was not safe to let the frame come 

 down too close, even to the surface of the 

 top-bars, for fear of striking. 



So I fell into what might be called the fist 

 plan, as shown in illustration, Fig. 1. You 

 will see that the frame may be held down 

 within two or three inches of the bottom- 

 board with no danger of striking a frame at 

 either side; and then when the left hand 

 which holds the frame is pounded by the 

 right fist the bees are jarred off in somewhat 

 the same way as by the Doolittle plan. Un- 

 less you are on your guard in using this plan 

 you may hold the frame rather loosely with 

 the left hand, leaving a space between the 

 end of the top-bar and the palm of the hand: 

 then when you strike with the right fist the 

 end of the top- bar will strike the palm of the 

 hand; and, oh how it hurts! After being 

 hurt in that way two or three times, I learn- 

 ed to hold firmly with the left hand, the palm 

 pressing closely all the time against the wood. 



I found, too, that, with a very light frame, 

 I could do good work shaking bees off combs 



