THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



81 



make some disposition of the brood left iu 

 the old hive. This ou^ht to be so managed 

 that the hatching thousands will be added to 

 tlip force of some colony working in the 

 supers. The plan of shaking the bees off iu 

 front of the newly hived swarm, handling 

 the comb singly, then giving the combs to 

 nuclei, or weak colonies, or exchanging them 

 for combs of honey found in other colonies 

 (by the way, these combs of honey ought not 

 to be found in the brood-nests at swarming 

 time), may be better than allowing the 

 number of colonies to increase, but it's too 

 laborious. If the Heddon hive is used, and 

 one section can be picked yp at a time, and 

 the bees shaken out, and the brood then 

 placed over the queen-excluding honey-board 

 of some other colony, where the bees can 

 hatch and join the sivatin from this colony, 

 if the matter can be managed in some such 

 wholesale manner as this, it may be feasible. 

 The plan of allowing the swarm to return to 

 the old hive, removing the queen, and after- 

 wards cutting out all cells but one, has been 

 highly recommended. ( )ur Friend Robert- 

 son, of Pewamo, Mich., has practiced this 

 with excellent results. It has this in its favor: 

 The colony is re-queened; but, as an offset, 

 there is the labor of cutting out the cells, 

 with the possibility that one may be left, or, 

 that the one left may not hatch. With the 

 prices at which honey sells, there must be as 

 little as possible of this "puttering" work. 

 The cutting out of queen-cells, handling of 

 combs singly, changing them about, etc., 

 must be dropped for more wholesale, short- 

 cut methods. We must "cut corners" at 

 every turn. The plan mentioned in this 

 issue, by Mr. Heddon, of so manipulating 

 the old hive as to eventually get all the bees 

 into the new hive, is in this line. But this 

 plan, or any other that allows the swarm to 

 build its brood-combs, will eventually result 

 in a surplus of combs. It is possible, how- 

 ever, that they would be secured at a profit. 

 Quite a number of bee-keepers have succeed- 

 ed to their satisfaction in preventing after- 

 swarming, also in preventing increase, while 

 but very few have succeeded in preventing 

 swarming. Probably the only certain 

 method that has been used to any extent, in 

 this country, is that of removing the queen. 

 This entails the work of cutting out queen- 

 cells, but. if the queens are removed just be- 

 fore the bees are ready to swarm naturally, 

 and the honey harvest is only from clover 

 and basswQod, it is a "dead sure thing." W^e 



have considerable liope that swarming may 

 be prevented by furnishing the bees with 

 young queens. The plan of having queens 

 reared and fertilized in the same hive where 

 the old queen is still busy laying eggs, may 

 help us in this direction. One comb might 

 be partitioned off with perforated zinc. The 

 bees would build queen cells upon this comb, 

 and when a queen had hatched and became 

 old enough to mate, an opening could be 

 made, in the back of the hive, for the queen 

 to fly out. When she began to lay, the old 

 queen and the perforated metal could be re- 

 moved. Perhaps a colony with a queen of the 

 current year might swarm if the hive stood 

 in the sun, and the bees were crowded for 

 room; but would it if managed as thorough- 

 going bee-keepers now manage their bees? 

 We experimented last year with twenty col- 

 onies, and the results were highly satisfac- 

 tory, as we have already reported. We shall 

 "try it again" this year; and should be glad 

 to have others do so. 



SHADE FOB BEE-HIVES. 



Shall we shade our bees? If so ; why, 

 when, how? Some bee-keepers do not shade 

 their hives ; others do. Why do they do it? 

 Is it really necessary? Do they thereby 

 prevent any loss? Do they secure any more 

 honey? These are pertinent questions. The 

 temijerature of a colony of bees in summer, 

 when brood is being reared, is nearly 100°. 

 Until the temperature, in the sun, reaches this 

 point, shade is of no benefit; rather is it an in- 

 jury, as it deprives the bees of the warmth 

 of the sun at a time when it would be of 

 some benefit. When the temperature in the 

 sun goes above 100°, and begins to climb up 

 to 110°, 120°, 130°, 140°, then the effort upon 

 the part of the bees is to loiver instead of 

 rai^e the temperature in the hive. Crowds of 

 them stand at the entrance, and, with their 

 wings, drive strong currents of air into the 

 hive. We have read, and been told, that the 

 bees leave the combs of honey well-nigh for- 

 saken when the temperature is very high, 

 the reason given being that the combs can 

 be kept cooler when not covered with bees. 

 We have also read that the bees would "hang 

 out," that is, cluster upon the outside of the 

 hive, instead of working, if their hive were 

 left unshaded during a hot day ; that they 

 were thus compelled to desert their hive to 

 save their combs from destruction. We 

 have always kept o((r hives shaded, hence we 

 cannot speak from experience upon this 



