13G THE PRACriCAL BEE QUIDS. 



247. Uniting Queenless Bees to a Stocl<. — In this case, pro- 

 tect the queen liy caging, as directed (297), and proceed as 

 before (246). If there is nothing to be gained by transferring 

 all, or any of the frames from the queenless colony, the bees 

 may be shaken into a skep, and thrown down upon a hiving 

 board before the hive of the stock to wliich they are to be 

 united. Another usually successful method is to cover the 

 frames of the queenless stock with a sheet of strong paper, 

 slightly damped, and having a few small holes pierced in the 

 centre, then setting the hive with the other stock on top, and 

 leaving all undisturbed for at least four days. 



248. Uniting a Swarm to a Stock.— Proceed as described 

 above for uniting queenless bees to a stock; W'lth this addition, 

 that, if you wish to preserve the queen not of the swarm, but of 

 the stock, the queen of the swarm should be removed, because, 

 otherwise, the two queens will fight, and if the queen of the 

 swarm has not been fertilised, being the queen of an after- 

 swaim, or cast, the fertile queen will pjrobably be killed. 

 If you cannot find the queen otherwise, allow only a 

 few bees to enter the hive, keeping the bulk of the swarm well 

 back from the entrance : then place a piece of excluder zinc 

 (109) over the entrance : pick up the cjueen as she endeavours 

 to pass through the zinc ; remove the zinc, and let the swarm 

 go in. Sometimes, to further reduce the risk of fighting, it 

 is preferred to mix the bees more thoroughly by shaking those 

 of the stock also on to the hiving board, allowing them to run 

 in with the swarm. 



249. Uniting Driven Bees. — Driven bees (160) may be united 

 without difficulty. Dust the two lots thoroughly with flour. 

 If they are in skeps, bring the skeps together, mouth to mouth : 

 give them a "bump " on the ground, to throw the upper bees 

 into the lower skep : shake, and mix them well together, and 

 throw them on to the hiving board. If you do not remove one 

 queen, the bees will settle that matter for themselves. 



250. Uniting Driven Bees to a Stock. — For this operation, 

 extra precautions against fighting are desirable. Procure a 

 second, temporary, hive, and to it transfer about half the 

 frames from the stock hive, returning the adhering bees to the 

 latter as you proceed, and, without delay, hive the driven bees 

 by shaking some on to the frames and the remainder on to a 

 hiving board (236). Now bring the two hives close together. 

 After three or four days, unite the two lots as described under 

 the head of " Uniting Two Stocks." (246). 



251. Transferring Bees — When "spring cleaning" (384) is 

 being attended to ; when it is desired to change from the old 

 to the modern methods; and at other times, it is found neces- 



