20 



Farmers' Bulletin 1198 



placing the combs of brood in an extra 

 hive body as the bees are shaken from 

 them and putting in their places 

 frames of foundation and one empty 

 comb, or whatever is to be used it 

 establishing the new brood nest as in 

 hiving swarms (p. 16). To avoid the 

 necessity of finding the queen, the 

 combs should be shaken or brushed 

 sufficiently free of bees to insure that 

 the queen is left in the hive when the 

 brood is all taken away. If extracted 

 honey is being produced, put a queen 

 excluder Over the brood chamber, re- 

 place the supers, and finally place the 

 hive body now containing the removed 

 brood on top as though it were an ad- 

 ditional super, first destroying all 

 queen cells if any have been started. 

 Ten days later again destroy all queen 

 cells that are built on the combs of 

 brood now above the supers. 



To accomplish the same thing with- 

 out shaking the bees from the combs, 

 find the queen and place her, together 

 with a comb of brood and adhering 

 bees, in ah extra hive body which is 

 filled with frames of foundation or 

 empty combs as described above. Lift 

 the original brood chamber from the 

 bottom board and put the extra hive 

 body now containing the queen in its 

 place. Put the queen excluder and 

 the supers in place and finally place 

 the original brood chamber above the 

 supers, first destroying all queen cells, 

 if any have been built. Ten days 

 later destroy all queen cells in the 

 original brood chamber. When a 

 comb of brood is placed in the new 

 brood chainber in this way, care must 

 be taken that it does not contain any 

 queen cells, and if preparation for 

 swarming is general in the apiary it 

 is not advisable permanently to leave 

 this comb in the new brood chamber, 

 because If preparation for swarming 

 has already been in progress the bees 

 sometimes start queen cells on this 

 comb of brood and later cast a swarm. 

 When the bees are inclined to do this, 

 the frame of brood should be removed 

 a few days after the treatment. 



As the brood emerges In the origi- 

 nal brood chamber the vacated cells 

 are filled with honey during a good 

 honey flow and the former brood 

 chamber now becomes a super. If It 

 contained some Inferior honey when 

 it was put above, which would reduce 

 the quality of the crop, it may be 

 better to reserve these combs of honey 

 for winter stores. If increase is de- 

 sired, this upper hive body of emerg- 

 ing brood may be removed from the 

 hive a week or 10 days after it was 

 put up and used to form a new 



colony. When this is done, the queen 

 cells should not be destroyed, unless 

 it is desirable to give this new colony 

 a queen cell reared from better stock 

 (see p. 3). If a queen excluder has 

 not been in use previously, it will be 

 more difficult to find the queen as 

 well as to destroy the queen cells. 



When comb honey is being pro- 

 duced the procedure is practically the 

 same, except in the disposition of the 

 brood that is removed. This can not 

 well be placed above the comb-honey 

 supers and the emerging bees added 

 to the colony, as when producing ex- 

 tracted honey, but the emerging brood 

 may be placed in a separate hive lo- 

 cated by the side of the original hive 

 (fig. 7), so that a large number of 

 the emerging bees may be united later 

 with the swarm when they are old 

 enough for field work, simply by mov- 

 ing the hive to another location while 

 these young bees are at work In the 

 fields (see p. 15). 



When the brood is removed In comb- 

 honey production It is necessary, 

 therefore, to leave enough bees with 

 the brood to care for it. This can be 

 done by placing the hive body which 

 contains the brood back on the hive 

 immediately after the shaking Is com- 

 plete, but placing it above a queen ex- 

 cluder until enough bees return to 

 these combs to care for the brood be- 

 fore It is established as a separate 

 hive. Another way to do this Is to 

 find the queen before shaking any 

 bees from the combs, then transfer 

 two or three combs to the extra hive 

 body without shaking off the adhering 

 bees, in order to have bees enough in 

 this hive to care for the brood, the 

 queen, of course, being put back into 

 the brood chamber on the old stand. 

 In either case. If increase is made 

 from this removed brood, these new 

 colonies should be supplied with good 

 queen cells, since when artificial 

 swarms are made in this way condi- 

 tions often are not as favorable for 

 the development of a good queen as 

 in the case of the parent colony in nat- 

 ural swarming. 



2. Use two hive bodies for brood 

 rearing previous to the swarming sea- 

 son. For extracted honey, add supers 

 of empty combs above these two hive 

 bodies as soon as more room is needed 

 and do not use a queen excluder 

 (fig. '8, A). Under these conditions 

 the queen usually abandons the lower 

 hive body as the season advances 

 (fig., 8, B). Ten days or more after 

 she has abandoned it, when all the 

 remaining brood in this hive body 

 will have been sealed, find the queen, 



