PART II 



Spring Management 



TAKING BEES FROM THE CELLAR IN THE SPRING. 



THE THEEE DIFFERENT METHODS AND THEIE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 



Let US think over the many ways of taking bees from the cellar 

 and see if there is not some one way much better than any other; for 

 we don't want to make any mistakes this summer, especially at the 

 start; for if we do, it frequently means spring dwindling, weak colonies, 

 trouble from robbing, small surplus, and discouragement in the end. 

 These can, many times, be traced back to a bad blunder made in taking 

 our bees from the cellar. 



I will first speak of the two most common ways of setting out bees, 

 and in doing so I will call your attention to some serious fault in each; 

 then I will describe the way we now do, which we think is far better 

 than the way we used to do, and as many are doing now. 



First, we have a fine warm morning, and we wish the bees were 

 out; so, come on, boys, let us set out the bees, and out they go. We 

 finish about 1 o'clock, and find that they have all come through the 

 winter in quite good condition, and the boys say, "Oh, my! father, what 

 a nice big fly they are having! I'll bet there are some hives over there 

 in the middle of the yard that have two pailfuls of bees now." 



"Yes, I see, boys; and since the wind has sprung up from the east, 

 nearly all those hives at the east end are getting far more bees than 

 belong to them. Don't you see how they head up against the wind? 

 Then look over here at those hives at the west end of the yard, and 

 see how very few bees are going into them." 



Then I draw a long sigh and say to myself, "It is done. I have 

 made a big blunder, and I can see only spring dwindling, weak colonies, 

 and small surplus for this season." 



My friend, I hope you have never had and never will have your 

 apiary in that condition. I have been there many times, and I know 

 well what the result will be. 



Now we will take up another way of taking out our bees. It is 

 this: 



As the sun set to-night it had every appearance of a fine day to- 

 morrow; so come, boys, I think we had better set out about 100 col- 

 onies of bees to-night, for we have a big lot to handle, and it will not 

 be so hard to make several jobs of it. So we took out about 100 col- 



