110 INCREASE 



the apiarist must be exceedingly careful or lie will lose much of 

 his newlj made increase. Robbing is likely to be general when 

 no honey is coming in, and for this reason all entrances should 

 be contracted to about an inch in width or even less if the nuclei 

 are very small. Combs of honey should be provided to all these 

 weaklings to insure sufficient stores to enable them to continue 

 brood rearing. Even then, if no honey is coming in the queen 

 may stop laying and everything remain at a standstill until 

 the flow again begins. In order to avoid this undesirable con- 

 dition, it is well to feed a little sugar syrup each night after the 

 bees have stopped flying. It is almost impossible to feed during 

 •the day when there is a dearth of nectar without starting robbing. 

 If the dearth continues for a long period the apiarist may find it 

 necessary to again unite his nuclei, and his labor will be for 

 naught. 



Supplying Empty Combs. — When making divisions by any 

 of the above plans drawn combs should be supplied to fill out 

 the empty space in the hives if possible. Weak colonies should 

 not be taxed more than necessary in comb building. If drawn 

 combs are not at hand, full sheets of foundation should always 

 be used, for otherwise the comb built under such circumstances 

 will be mostly composed of drone cells and of no value in the 

 brood chamber. Drone comb is only valuable for storage pur- 

 poses and can only be used in the extracting supers. Frames 

 of drone comb in an apiary are always a nuisance, as the apiarist 

 must constantly be careful lest they be slipped into a brood nest 

 somewhere, or the queen going above into the extracting super 

 shall make use of them. Fig. 91 shows two combs illustrating 

 this point. The upper one is built on a full sheet of wired foun- 

 dation and is composed entirely of worker cells. The lower one 

 was built without foundation and is composed entirely of drone 

 cells. 



If, as frequently happens, the apiarist has made too many 

 new colonies and they are not likely to reach the end of the season 

 in good condition, he can take a frame or two of brood from each 



