38 ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 



comb or frame of foundation, wherever you got your frame of brood, 

 and close the upper hive except the entrance they have through the ex- 

 cluder Into the hive below. Now leave them In this way about five days, 

 then look over the combs carefully, and destroy any larvae you may find 

 in queen-cells unless they are of a good strain of bees that you care 

 to breed from, for they frequently start the rearing of queens above the 

 excluder very soon after their queen has been kept below by the ex- 

 cluder. If so, you had better separate them at once; but if they have 

 not started any queen-cells above, then leave them together ten or 

 eleven days, during which time the queen will get a fine lot of brood 

 started in the lower hive, and every egg and particle of larva that was 

 In the old hive on top will have matured, so It will be capped over and 

 saved; then separate them, putting the old hive on a new stand. It will 

 then be full of young bees mostly, and capped brood, and in about 24 

 hours they will accept a ripe cell, a virgin, or laying queen, as they will 

 realize that they are hopelessly queenless. I would advise you to giva 

 them a laying queen, as I never like to keep my full colonies a day 

 longer without a laying queen than I can help. In this way you have 

 two strong colonies from one, as you have not lost a particle of brood 

 nor checked the laying of your queen; and with me It almost wholly 

 prevents swarming. This is the way we have made our increase for 

 several years, and we like it much better than any other way we have 

 ever tried. In doing so you keep all your colonies strong during the 

 whole summer, and it is the strong colonies that count in giving us our 

 surplus. 



The mere fact of having a large number of colonies does not amount 

 to much unless they are strong in bees and are well cared for at all 

 times. This is a fact that many have sadly overlooked; and when the 

 season comes to a close, giving them a small surplus, they feel disap- 

 pointed and lay the fault on many things that have had but little to do 

 with their failure. 



In making your increase in the above way your new swarm on the 

 old stand is In fine shape for a clamp of sections, as it has a large work- 

 ing force backed up by having its hive nearly full ot brood, and but lit- 

 tle honey, as the bees have been in the habit of storing their honey in 

 the old hive that was on top, so they will soon go to work in the sections 

 and have no notion of swarming. Then the old hive that has been set 

 away can usually spare 15 or 20 lbs. of honey, which can be taken with 

 the extractor, giving its new queen plenty of room to lay, and in a short 

 time will be one of your best colonies, and also have no desire to 

 swarm. 



Now, if you have done your duty by your bees since taking them 

 from their winter quarters, as I have recommended in the above, keep- 

 ing them snug and warm, and feeding them a little thin warm syrup 

 nearly every day for the first 30 days after they commence to fly, you 

 can have two good strong colonies in the place of one ready to com- 



