A YEAR'S WORK IN AN OUT-APIARY 



21 



the carrying of the honey from the comhs into the sections, keeps them 

 contented, and brings great results in honey to their keeper. As a pro- 

 lific queen in the height of her egg-laying always falls off the comb she 

 is on at the first shake, she being so heavy with eggs, I hold each comb 

 as low as possible in front of the entrance in shaking, so she shall not be 

 injured by the fall. I have reason to believe that many queens have 

 been seriously injured by the "shook swarimng" of the past, through the 

 carelessness of the operator In this matter, and then the plan con- 

 demned, because, at the end of the season, more honey has been found 

 in the brood-chamber than in the sections, when the operator alone was 

 to blame for the queen being Injured to such an extent that she could 



SHAKING THE BEES IN FBONT OF THE HIVE. 



not keep the combs filled with brood, as she otherwise would. Always 

 remember that a good queen is the chief source of success in all things 

 pertaining to a large yield of section honey. As fast as the combs are 

 freed from bees they are set in the empty hive, at first brought, each 

 comb being set in the order it had in the old hive till all are in. 



I now go to one of the colonies considered too weak to tier on the 

 third visit, take off the cover, put on the queen-excluder just taken off 

 from No. 1, and on top of this I set the hive of beeless brood, when the 

 cover is put on top of all. 



If, in shaking the bees off their combs, I come across any comb 

 which is not more than one-third to one-half full of brood, the same hay- 

 ing as many empty cells as those containing the brood, such a frame is 



