38 



six hours the supers will ordinarily be free of bees. I« 

 some cases, there may be brood in the supers, especially drone 

 brood, and the brood will continue to hatch and some worker 

 bees will instinctively remain with the brood. In this, as in 

 all operations with bees, it is better to use a little smoke. 



Where many colonies are kept, eight or ten supers may be 

 piled up with an escape underneath and another escape (see 

 Fig. 25) fixed in the cover. In this way one can get along with 

 less escape boards. Where one has no escapes, the supers may 



Fig, 25. — ^Porter bee escape, used in 

 escape ^boards 



be tiered up in the same manner over a strong colony, being 

 very careful that no cracks are left so that bees can enter or 

 leave except through the entrance. Some very cool morning, 

 the top supers may be taken off tree or nearly free of bees. If 

 weather is warm this method will not work out. Supers from 

 different colonies may be tiered in this way where a little smoke 

 is used without fighting, as the bees are confused and all pass, 

 a few at a time, down through the escape. On flying out, all 

 but the very young bees return to their own colonies. The 

 bottom super of the pile should be from the colony on which 

 the supers are placed and should be full of bees. 



If only a few colonies are kept, a bee tight box could be used 

 by making a two inch hole at top over which fix a cone made 

 of wire screen with a hole at top just large enough for a bee to 

 pass out. 



The cost of a good escape board is so small that one cannot 

 really afford to get along without them and, with good care, 

 they will last a lifetime. 



