262 



TEANSFEERING. 



place. Let the combs occupy the same relative position 

 that they did in the original hive. 



CAUTION. 



When all is arranged, if no bees are flying, set the new 

 hive on the floor in a dark room, with the front raised, 

 shake the bees down by it and they will readily enter. 

 The next morning, return it to the old stand. If bees are 

 at work and there is a scarcity of honey, get what bees 

 you have in the hive into which they were driven, to enter 

 the new hive, and as soon as they have licked up all the 

 dripping honey, which will take an hour or two, return them 

 to the stand, taking care that no honey is left on the out- 

 side of the hive to attract robbers. A very little might 

 excite plundering, and the transferred colony is in a bad 

 condition to repel such attacks. 



It would be well to almost close the entrance, .allowing 

 room for only one bee to pass at a time. If the colony 

 is a strong one and covers all the combs, they will weld all 

 the combs together wherever they touch each other, and 

 also where they come in contact with the frames, in arvery 

 few days, when the frames may be taken out, and the 

 splints that held the combs in place, removed. 



There will frequently be occasions when it is desirable 

 to transfer only the bees to a new hive, or to a hive with 

 empty combs. The combs, where the bees are, may be old, 

 or contain diseased brood. If it is only old, and is healthy, 

 you need only to drive out the bees, and introduce imme- 

 diately. But should it be otherwise, as when the bees 

 have been wintered in diseased combs, with the intention 

 of transferring in early spring to hives containing combs 

 and honey, reserved for this purpose in the fall, it can be 

 done thus. First, drive the bees into an empty hive pre- 

 viously made warm. If all do not go in readily, break out 

 the combs and brush them in. A less number of bees will 



