CHAPTER XV 



UNITING ROBBING 



Any stocks found weak in the autumn sEould be united 

 to form one or more strong stocks. Such united stocks 

 winter well, and consume, pro rata, less food than 

 weak ones. Hives to be united should be gradually 

 moved close together, moving one or the other, as the 

 case may be, only on fine days, and then not more than 

 three feet at a time. When close together, remove the 

 queen from one of the hives, together with all frames 

 destitute of brood. Space the remaining frames as 

 widely apart as possible, and liberally dust the bees with 

 flour from a common flour dredger. Between each 

 pair of widely-spaced frames, place a frame from the 

 other hive, having first dusted the bees with flour in 

 like manner. Remove the empty hive, and the operation 

 is complete. 



Bees deprived of comb, brood, and stores will readily 

 unite with others in a similar plight, the queens fighting 

 for supremacy. 



Instead of alternating the combs from the hives to be 

 united, the bees can be shaken off on to a board (arranged 

 as for hiving swarms) placed in front of a third hive, 

 when, as a rule, they will run in peaceably. Should any 

 signs of fighting be seen, smoke the bees vigorously. 



Swarms readily unite, as also do driven bees. 



Robbing 



In the springtime, before honey begins to come in, 

 and in the autumn, after the honey flow has ceased, bees 



