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IMIS if MEFLIES, 



Hiving Two iSwarins that Issued 

 at Once. 



Written Smr the American Bee Journal 



Query 546.— I clip the wings of all my 

 queens, and at swarmiu]? time I catch the 

 queen as she comes out with the swarm, and 

 cage her ; then I wait for thehees to return. 

 Sometimes they will cluster before returninff. 

 and at other times they will not, I have about 

 :iO colonies this year, and I expect that some- 

 times more than one swarm will issue at once. 



1, If two or more swarms issue at once, will 

 they, when returning:, separate and go to their 

 different hives, or will they all go to one hive ? 



2. If they all go to one hive, how shall I sep- 

 arate them, so that each queen can have her 

 bees ?— S, P. 



1. Each swarm will go to its own 

 hive. — Mbs. L. Harrison. 



1. Each swarm will return to its 

 own hive. — G. L. Tinkkb. 



1. Sometimes all will go into one 

 hive, but usually they separate for me. 

 Simply take the frames and shake the 

 bees in front of another hive. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



1. They will often unite. 2. You 

 cannot do it. But you can give a 

 share of the mixed bees to each queen. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



1. If they are all queenless, they 

 will nearly all go back to their own 

 hive ; but it would take a half page to 

 direct you how to separate them if they 

 all go to the same hive. — Dadant & 

 Son. 



1. Generally they will. 2. Shake a 

 part of the bees in front of the hive 

 that is deficient. But cage both queens 

 for a day or two. They will staj" where 

 they are put. — M. Mahin. 



1. Sometimes tliey. will, and. some- 

 times they will not. 2. I do not know, 

 and 1 should not care to be that par- 

 ticular. If they are made to fly before 

 they are ready to break up the cluster, 

 and the hives the}' come from are some 

 distance apart, they will generally re- 

 turn to their own hives. — A. B. Mason. 

 1. If two or more swarms issue with- 

 out queens, and unite, they will return 

 to the parent hi\cs ; at least I have 

 found sunch to be the case in my own 

 experience. — J. E. Pond. 



1. They will go to one hive if they 

 are close together ; l)ut if some dis- 

 tance ajiart, they often separate. 2. 

 Divide them as soon as possible, giving 

 to each queen the same amount of 

 bees. — H. D. Cutting. 



This is the onlj- objection that I have 

 to queens with clipped wings. When 

 they mix up it is a difficult matter to 

 have each queen have her bees ; but if 

 you shake the bees near the one that 

 has the less bees, part of them will go 

 back into the proper hive. — P. L. 



VlALLON. 



1. As 'a rule they will return to the 

 parent colony, though often they will 

 become badly mixed, and unevenly 

 divided. 2. In this case, I would pre- 

 pare as many hives as I had queens, 

 cage the queens, and divide the brood 

 and bees as evenly as possible. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



1. They will usually return to their 

 respective hives. 2. You will have to 

 divide them as nearly as you can, and 

 then keep each colony confined in a 

 dark room for 24 or 48 hours ; other- 

 wise your operation will likely be a 

 failure. Supply food if they have no 

 stores. — J. P. H. Brown. 



1. Usually they will not return to 

 their own hives in perfect order. 2. 

 Such questions are certainly inappro- 

 priate for this department. I know 

 this by the number of words required 

 to answer, and the size of the answer 

 sheet provided. — James Heddon. 



1. I think that they generally return 

 to the hive from which they issued. I. 

 Divide the swarm, giving part of the 

 bees to the other colony. I do not be- 

 lieve that it makes any difierence at 

 such a time, whether the bees are re- 

 turned to the mother queen or not. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



1. They will almost surely all go to- 

 gether. That is the main objection 

 that I find to clipping queens' wings. 

 It is all right as long as all queens^ 

 wings are clipped ; but when the sec- 

 ond swarms come out, is when the fun 

 begins. 2. The only way is to put the 

 bees into two hives, and see that each 

 gets a queen. — C. H. Dibbern. 



1. They will probably all return to 

 one hive. 2. Divide the bees with a 

 tin dipper, while they are clustered on 

 the hive to which they have returned. 

 It will only take a minute to dip them 

 ofl' into a basket and carry them where 

 wanted. If they are uneasy and in- 

 clined to fly, sprinkle them with water. 

 — J. M. Shuck. 



1. They will generally separate and 

 return to their own homes, but they 

 sometimes make a gi-eat muss of it. 2. 

 You can divide the united swarm, and 

 give to each, one of the queens ; but it 

 is the safest way to leave the queens 

 caged for 24 hours, as the mixed 

 swarms will often "ball" the queen. — 

 G. W. Demaree. 



1. If the swarms unite in the air, 

 tlie}' will cluster together or return to 

 one hive. 2. If the swarms unite, 

 you cannot give each queen her own 

 bees, but you can give each, half of 

 the united swarms, which is just as 

 well. If swarms cluster together, place 

 eacli queen in a separate basket and 

 shake into each laasket the proper 

 share of the bees. If thej- ofter to 

 return to one hive when that hive has 

 its share of the bees, quicklj- remove 



it, substitue the other hive, and attract 

 the rest of the bees to it by placing the 

 queen at the entrance. But circmn- 

 stances and experience must often dic- 

 tate the course to be pursued. — R. L. 

 Taylor. 



1. Frequently, both ways ; but with 

 a sheet to spread over the hive that is 

 getting the most bees, I have no 

 trouble in getting them divided in 

 each hive about as I desired. 2. You 

 must not let them all go to one hive, 

 but should they get the start of you 

 and do so, keep the queens caged, and 

 after thej' get settled, dip them up as 

 you would wheat till you get them as 

 you desire them. — G. M. Doolittle. 



They may separate and return them 

 to their respective hives, but quite 

 often they will go to one of the hives. 

 If they all go together, give the sur- 

 plus bees to weaker colonies, carefully 

 caging the queen before doing so. — 

 The Editor. 



The Tieriiii^~lTp JMethod with 

 • Gallup Frames. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 547.— 1. Is the tiering-up method. 

 In working for comb honey, as well adapted 

 to so deep a frame as the Gallup, as it is to a 

 shallower trame ? 2. Or would belter results 

 be obtained with this frame by practicing 

 storing at the Bides of the brood-nest, in con- 

 junction with only one tier deep on top? 3. 

 Is the Gallup frame, at the present time, used 

 by many successful apiarists ?— New York. 



I. I think that it is. 3. I cannot 

 answer J. P. H. Brown. 



1. No. 2. No. 3. Not by manj- — 

 only by a few. — Dadant & Son. 



1. Yes. 2. I do not like side-stor- 

 age. 3. Yes, by many. — H.D. Cutting. 



1. Yes. 2. No. 3. I do not know. 

 My frames are nearly the size and 

 shape of the Gallup. — M. Mahin. 



1. I like the tiering-up method, and 

 I use it in preference to^anj' other. 3. 

 It is used by some of the best. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



1. Hardly. 2. Side-storing, in con- 

 junction with one tier on top would, I 

 think, be best. 3. I cannot say. — Mrs. 

 L. Harbison. 



1. No. 2. Yes. If you can keep 

 the queen out. 3. As to this, I am not 

 posted. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



The shallow hive is preferable. I 

 would not bother with side-storing, but 

 I would tier up even on a deep-frame 

 hive. 3. Yes. — C. H. Dibbern. 



1. I find no difl^erence. 2. I have 

 not found it so. 3. Yes, by many ; 

 but I think not as many, by far, as 

 use the Langstrolh frame. — A. J. Cook. 



1. Those that use the deep frames 

 think so. 2. Mr. Videto, of North 

 East, Pa., the only one that I know 



