The Townsend Bee Book 25 
usually get from four to six worker combs from an old hive, and 
the rest of the space in the new hive should be filled with frames 
containing full sheets of foundation. It would not do to use 
frames with starters only, for the bees would build drone comb, 
as will be explained in a further article. 
The above plan was the orthodox method of transferring at 
the time I began beekeeping. Since then we have used other and 
better methods. 
A MODERN WAY OF TRANSFERRING WITHOUT CUTTING 
COMBS 
In modern methods of transferring bees from box hives, or 
from any undesirable hives, for that matter, none of the old combs 
are used in the new hive. With a good press, nearly all the wax 
can be obtained from the old combs, so that full sheets of foun- 
dation may be substituted in the new hives; and, of course, the 
combs drawn from such full sheets of foundation are vastly better 
than old patched-up pieces of combs taken from old hives. 
During late years we have done none of our transferring 
until the beginning of the clover-honey flow in June. Mr. A. H. 
Guernsey, of Ionia, Mich., has successfully practiced for several 
years the following plan: 
At the opening of this clover-honey flow, or as fast thereafter 
as the colonies to be transferred get strong and have their hives 
full of honey and brood, the cover is removed from a colony to be 
transferred, and a full set of good combs placed in a hive-body 
and set on top. The next step is to go to a colony that has brood 
in all stages, and select a comb, perhaps half full of brood. This 
comb should be one that the queen is laying in, and also one on 
which cells are started, but not yet occupied with eggs. The bees 
should be shaken off this comb, care being taken to see that the 
queen is left in her own hive. This comb may now be exchanged 
for one of the central combs in the new body that has just been 
set over the hive containing the colony to be transferred. After 
about three days, in the warmest part of the day, carefully remove 
this comb of brood before mentioned and look for the queen. If 
she is not found, look every day until she is found, and then place 
a queen-excluder between the two bodies, the queen being in the 
upper story. In 21 days the lower body can be removed free from 
brood, the sides knocked off, and the honey and wax saved. 
Full sheets of comb foundation might be substituted for the 
combs in the new hive, as mentioned above, but the bees would 
