THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 249 
The distance to which bees will fly for nectar has been variously esti- 
mated at from 1 to 3 miles depending on the amount of nectar near 
at hand, or limitation of range due to some natural barrier as a body 
of water, mountain, etc. : 
The keeping of bees all in one large apiary has the advantage and 
certainly is to be practiced whenever the resources of the surround- 
ing country will warrant it. With only one yard, there is economy in 
providing honey houses, tools, and often in transporting the crop after 
harvesting. 
TRANSFERRING: GENERAL MANIPULATIONS. 
The first attempt in the handling of bees will probably be the trans- 
ferring of the colony or colonies purchased in the old box or anti- 
quated frame hives to modern movable frame hives. It will be assumed 
in giving directions for transferring, that little or nothing is known 
of the handling of bees and directions for general manipulations will 
be incorporated in the directions for transferring rather than devoting 
a separate paragraph to this subject. 
Beginners should always protect the fact with a veil and have the 
smoker within easy reach. The old hive from which the bees are to 
be transferred is lifted from the stand and the new hive body with 
frames, containing full sheets of foundation is set in its place. Full 
sheets of foundation of worker size cell base will insure straight even 
frames of worker cells, This should-be strengthened by wiring. Avoid 
rough handling, and quick movemenits, especially if the bees have not 
been subdued by the use of the smoker. After bees have been partly 
subdued by the smoke, the hive may sometimes be jarred about to ad- 
vantage causing the bees to further gorge themselves with honey until 
' they become quite tractable. If the old hive is a plain box without 
frames, it must be inverted. If the bottom is nailed fast, it or one 
side must be removed. Set a tightly fitting box over the exposed side, 
and by beating on the old hive, (fig. 12.), the bees are made to enter 
the empty box, after which it can be removed and the bees shaken out 
at the entrance of the new hive:. The bees should not be shaken on 
the ground, but provided with a runway consisting of a board the 
width of the hive or greater. This should slope gently upward from 
‘the ground to the hive entrance. As the bees are shaken onto this 
board, the queen can often be seen entering with the other bees. The 
operation will not be successful unless the queen enters the new hive, 
since the bees will not remain without the queen even though they all 
pass into the new hive. The bees must be repeatedly drummed from 
the old hive until the queen is secured. The bees will not remain longer 
than a half hour or so in the new hive without the queen and this will 
serve as an indication to the operator whether he will need to repeat the 
drumming. The cover should now be lifted from the new hive to note 
whether the frames are properly spaced.. This only applies to frames 
without a self-spacing device. It is probably better for the inexper- 
ienced bee keeper to have frames which will space themselves when 
_ forced together one against the other. These are termed self-spacing 
qj, frames. 
