104 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Topics ol Interest. 



Raiiiil Increase to Preserve Comlis* 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : " I lost 

 four-fifths of my bees last Winter and 

 Spring. What shall I do to preserve the 

 combs, and how can I increase the few 

 remaining colonies so that they will 

 again take all the combs ? Please answer 

 through the Ameeican Bee Journal. 



As I propose to answer the first ques- 

 tion by telling how to do the latter, I 

 will dwell on the first only long enough 

 to say, that if the bees are so reduced 

 that they cannot possibly be multiplied 

 so as to use all the combs left by those 

 which have died, the only thing to do is 

 to fumigate them with burning sulphur 

 every two or three weeks during warm, 

 weather, unless you have some moth- 

 proof room, in which you can place them, 

 after fumigating twice— rwhich should 

 have two or three weeks intervening 

 between the times, so as to allow all 

 eggs to hatch. 



The hanging of combs two or more 

 inches apart cannot be depended upon, 

 as I have had quite a number of combs 

 destroyed in trying that plan. I am 

 sorry that this question could not have 

 arisen a little earlier, for by the time it 

 comes before the readers it will be 

 rather late ; but perhaps it will be in 

 time for those in the extreme North, and 

 those in the South can preserve what 

 they wish of it for another year. 



The main question before us, then, is 

 how to increase the few remaining colo- 

 nies as much and as early as possible. 

 As nothing can be gained by trying to 

 increase colonies until some of them 

 have their hives full of bees and brood, 

 I advise all to wait until at least one is 

 strong, before trying the plan. When 

 you have such a colony, and desire to 

 proceed, make a box which will hold 

 about six quarts, having two sides 

 covered with wire cloth, one of which is 

 to be removable, so that the bees can be 

 shaken out of the box when desired. 



Besides this box you will want a large 

 funnel, such as is used in putting up 

 bees by the pound, a hole being made in 

 the top of the box for the funnel to go 

 into, and some means provided for shut- 

 ting this hole after the bees are in. In 

 addition to the strong colony, it will be 

 necessary to have one other fair colony, 

 and if any do not have such a one, I 



should advise the purchase of one, or a 

 pound of bees with a queen. 



Having 2 colonies, such as is referred 

 to, I proceed to the strongest and get a 

 pint of bees which are caused to fill 

 themselves well with honey before they 

 are shaken down through the funnel 

 into the box ; and it is also very essen- 

 tial that you are sure that you do not 

 get the old queen with these bees. 

 These bees are now placed in a dark, 

 cool place and left for four or more 

 hours, until they are very "hungry" 

 for a queen, when the queen from the 

 weaker colony is given to them, and the 

 bees and queen left in the box until the 

 next morning. 



A frame of brood is now taken from 

 the weaker colony and a frame of honey 

 from the stronger, when both are placed 

 in a hive, and the little swarm from the 

 box hived on these combs. The colony 

 from which you took the queen is now 

 allowed to build queen-cells, which 

 should give better queens. 



As soon as the first cell is sealed, you 

 are to form another little colony in the 

 same way, and from the same full colony 

 as before, also using the same queen to 

 form it with ; when in 48 hours, this 

 first cell which was sealed, should be 

 given to the little colony, using bees 

 each time from the strong one, and the 

 same queen to form each colony with. 

 In 48 hours a cell is given to the second 

 little colony, and thus we keep on form- 

 ing little colonies as long as we have cells 

 or virgin queens to give them ; for if the 

 cells are not all used up when it is time 

 for the first young queen to hatch, all 

 but one (which should be left for that 

 colony) are to be cut out, and placed in 

 a queen nursery, so that we can use 

 virgin queens instead of cells. 



If we were successful in getting a 

 good lot of cells, we shall have, at the 

 time the last virgin queen is used, from 

 10 to 12 colonies of bees, into which we 

 now begin to place the combs we wish 

 to keep the moths from. I forgot to say, 

 that, after making the first little colony, 

 a comb should be placed in the strong 

 colony in place of the frame of honey 

 taken from it ; and that for each suc- 

 ceeding colony formed, this comb, now 

 having a few eggs in it, is taken out and 

 another put in its place, while the frame 

 of honey should be taken from those you 

 wish to preserve from the moth. 



In putting the frames of comb in the 

 little colonies, I place them beyond the 

 division-board until the queen gets to 

 laying, when, one by one, they are 

 placed in the brood-nest, as the colony 

 gets strong enough so the queen will fil 



