110 



AMERICAN BEfi JOURNAL. 



cellar or cool room, and invert the pack- 

 ages every ten or fifteen days, to keep 

 the sugar from settling to the bottom. 

 The sugar being heavier than the water, 

 will settle to the lower layers of the 

 water and granulate. 



Comb-honey should be kept in a dry, 

 cool room. 



Massillon, O., July 6, 1891. 



TransferriiiE Bees froi Box Hiyes. 



GEO. E. HILTON. 



I frequently get inquiries in regard to 

 transferring bees and combs from one 

 size of frame to another, or from old 

 boxes and other receptacles, into mov- 

 able frames, and as the season is 

 approaching for that kind of work, a 

 few thoughts and suggestions may be 

 timely. 



WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO TEANSFEK ? 



I know of no better guide than the 

 blooming of the apple trees ;' this, as a 

 rule, means settled warm weather ; a 

 little honey is coming in at this time to 

 assist the bees in patching up the broken 

 combs ; there is but little honey in the 

 hives, which makes the combs easy to 

 handle ; there is considerable brood in 

 all stages that will help to replace the 

 loss — which is only temporary, and is 

 soon overcome by the extra exertions the 

 bees will put forth, for they seem to 

 appreciate their new and better quarters, 

 and show their appreciation by doubling 

 their energies. 



HOW TO TRANSFER. 



Transferring from an odd-sized frame 

 to a standard is an easy matter,especially 

 if the old frame is the larger. For con- 

 venience we should have a table near 

 the place of operation, and this should 

 be covered with an old quilt to protect 

 the brood. Move the old hive by your 

 side in a convenient position, place the 

 new hive on the old stand, give the 

 colony a moderate smoking, and lift out 

 one of the frames, brush all the bees 

 down in front of the new hive (which 

 should be arranged so they can run in 

 readily). 



You should have some string, such as 

 they tie up merchandise with, cut in 

 pieces long enough to go around the new 

 frame and tie at the top ; lay about 

 three or four of these on your table in 

 the length of your new frame ; now lay 

 your old comb directly on these strings, 

 and with a thin, sharp knife cut the 

 comb loose from the old frame. If you 



keep your knife in a pan of hot water, 

 it will work all the better. 



If your new frame has a comb guide 

 in it, I should remove it. Now, lay the 

 new frame on the comb, and' with your 

 knife cut the comb so that it will fit 

 closely against the top and bottom bars, 

 and as near as you can endwise. If one 

 comb will not fill the new frame, use as 

 many as needed. 



You need not be particular about 

 fitting the pieces together ; the bees will 

 fix that better than you can ; some of 

 the best combs in ray yard were secured 

 in this way ; you see it makes a full 

 frame of comb from top to bottom, and 

 end to end, and for extracting purposes 

 they are the best. Now you have only 

 to continue this operation until all the 

 combs are transferred, or your new hive 

 is full, hanging the new frames in the 

 now hive after tying the strings tightly 

 at the top. 



As soon as the combs are securely 

 fastened in the frames, the bees will 

 gnaw the strings in pieces, and drag 

 them out, making you no further trouble. 

 A few bees will be left in the old hive ; 

 these will not fly, but should be scooped 

 out with a thin shingle, a piece of paste- 

 board or something, the hive well 

 smoked and moved away, and the work 

 is done. 



In transferring from box-hives the 

 operation is a little different in the 

 beginning, but the latter part the same. 

 First, smoke the bees in the box, then 

 turn it bottom side up at your side near 

 the table. 



You should have a rough box about 

 the size of your box-hive ; place this 

 over the inverted bottom, and gently rap 

 on the sides of the box-hive for about 

 five minutes, and the greater part of the 

 bees and queen will go into this upper 

 box. They can be set to one side, and 

 will be out of your way, otherwise they 

 keep going to the further side of the 

 hive, and at last you have a mess in 

 which you may lose your queen. 



Now, remove the side of the hive that 

 is the nearest parallel with the combs in 

 the box, cutting the combs loose that 

 are attached to the side, set your box- 

 hive right on the table, loosen the first 

 comb at the bottom as it now stands 

 first — and here you will appreciate your 

 hot knife — then the two sides, and let it 

 tip over on the table. 



In box-hives you will find considerable 

 drone-comb. This should first be cut 

 away and thrown into a shallow pan, 

 then lay your frame over the comb and 

 cut and tie as before, hanging the frames 

 I of comb in the new hive that has been 



