11 



MANIPULATION AND BEHAVIOR OF BEES. 



"When opening a hive a few puffs of smoke should be blown 

 into the- entrance and as soon as the cover has been removed a 

 little smoke should be blown into the hive to force the bees down 

 on to the frames. The smoke disturbs the bees and they fill 

 themselves with honey. Bees filled with honey are much more 

 docile and are less apt to sting, which makes them easier to 

 handle. While the bees are filling themselves with honey the 

 bee keeper may clean the tops of the frames if they are covered 

 with superfluous wax or propolis. A very handy implement for 

 this work is a putty knife ; it can also be used in spacing and in 

 separating frames so that they may be taken out without injur- 

 ing the bees. Great care should be taken when lifting out. frames 

 so as not to crush a single bee. When bees are crushed a small 

 amount of formic acid is set free and the odor of this creates a 

 desire among them to sting. The formic acid is stored in a 

 minute sack which conne'cts with the sting. 



Great care should' be taken also, not to injure the queen 

 and upon taking out frames one should look at once to see if she 

 is present. The most convenient way to remove a frame of bees 

 is to take it with both hands, one at each end of the frame, lift- 

 ing it carefully, always keeping it in a vertical position. When 

 it is well out of the hive, raise it to a position on a level with the 

 eyes, holding the frame between the thumb and fingers. Either 

 raise the right or left hand until the frame is in a vertical position 

 the long way; then, by twirling the frame to the right or left, 

 either side of it may be examinated with ease. By keeping the 

 frame in a vertical position none of the uncapped honey is spilt. 

 If honey is allowed to drip over the frames or on the outside of 

 the hives it is liable to cause robbing, especially during seasons 

 wheA little honey is being gathered. Frames should 

 always be held over the hives to prevent bees or queen from 

 falling to the ground and being lost. When a frame is taken out 

 of the hive and has been examined it may be rested against the 

 side of the box in as near an upright position as possible so that 

 the honey will not leak out. Frames of brood on which the queen 

 is crawling should not be set on the ground along side the hive 

 as she is liable to be lost in the grass, especially if she has her 

 wings clipped as she would be unable to fly back into the hive. 



The queen is generally found on the center frames of the 

 hive. It the bees are not disturbed to any great extent she may 

 be found quietly crawling over the surface of the comb in search 

 of empty cells in which to deposit her eggs. 



VARIETY OF CELLS. 



Three kinds of cells are always found in the brood 

 frames and when queens are being raised there are fopr. The 

 first cells below the frame bar are for the storing of honey and 

 are inclined upwards so that it will not run out. In a strong 

 colony there are very few honey cells as most of the space in the 



