§ lll.j TRANSFERRING OLD STOCKS. 225 



extracted, for the cells are not exactly horizontal, but 

 inclined slightly upwards. Supply guide-comb or wax 

 strips to any frames that are wholly unoccupied. 



The frames now filled are placed in the hive, when 

 the bees may be let into it in the manner Mr. Woodbury 

 recommends for a swarm (see page 220). It may be as 

 well to keep them confined a few hours, giving them 

 water at the top, by means of a soaked sponge laid on' 

 perforated zinc, until they make the combs secure ; the 

 object of this being to exclude the bees from other hives, 

 who, if feloniously inclined, might come to rob. For the 

 same reason the operation of adjusting the combs should 

 not be performed in the open air, or the bees from 

 surrounding hives will be sure to come in great numbers 

 to obtain a share of the honey necessarily exposed. It 

 should be done inside a room with the temperature at 

 about 70 degrees — not cold enough to chill the brood, 

 nor yet hot enough to soften the combs. An expert 

 apiarian could perform the operation in less than three- 

 quarters of an hour, and with little loss. A week or so 

 after a swarm has left the old stock is perhaps the very 

 best time for such a removal. In some instances a rout- 

 ing of this kind has a beneficial effect ; old stocks of 

 hives that have previously appeared to be dwindling are 

 often aroused to activity by their removal into a fresh 

 domicile. After the winter's doze this is especially the 

 case, say if done on a warm day early in April. We 

 have ourselves frequently shifted the stock from a well- 



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