TRANSFEREING. 309 



within to fill themselves with honey, and to prevent them 

 from leaving for the fields. Repeat this process from time to 

 time, and in half an hour nearly all will have returned. If 

 any are clustered on the outside, they may be driven within 

 by smoke. 



The best time to buy full colonies of bees, is Spring. A 

 cool day may be selected, in which to move them, as the bees 

 are not flying, none can be lost. In the present thriving 

 state of bee-keeping, colonies of pure Italian bees (551) in 

 movable-frame hives can usually be bought at very reason- 

 able figures. If the Apiarist's means are very limited, black 

 bees (549) in old style box-hives may prove the cheapest, 

 if they can be found. But they should be promptly trans- 

 ferred into more practical hives, and Italianized; these manipu- 

 lations will help to give to the novice the practice which he 

 lacks. Italian bees and movable-frame hives are now a sine 

 qua non of success. 



No colony should be purchased, unless it has brood in all 

 stages, showing that it has a healthy queen. For transport- 

 ing bees, see (SSY, 603). 



Transferring Bees from Common to Movable-Frame 

 Hives. 



574. This process may be easily effected whenever the 

 weather is warm enough for bees to fly.* 



It has sometimes been done in "Winter, for purposes of 

 experiment, by removing the bees into a warm room, but the 

 best time for it, is when the bees have the least honey, at the 

 beginning of the fruit bloom. If it can be done on a warm 



• It may be remarked, by some reader, that the number of box hives 

 in existence in the United States is now so very limited, that a page 

 or two on this subject is a waste, but in a protracted experience we 

 have found that even the most practical Apiarist may occasionally be 

 compelled to hive bees in any kind of box. It is therefore well to 

 know how to transfer them safely to movable-frame hives, without 

 destroying either the worker combs or the brood. 



