85 



draw cut tlif fomi.l.Uiuii into r.uiiili. If then^ be a super on the old colony, next day 

 trausfei' it to the new one, liees anil all ; l.ut il' the e.ijuiha he foi- e.xtiacted honey, place 

 a queen exeludei- helween the hodies. 



The old hive has heen so thoroughly weakened that it will have very little aniljition 

 to again swarm. The new colony is in possessi(,ii of ijractically all the held Ijees, so will 

 rush ni the nectar. There is no room for it in the lirood-ehandjer, since theie is no 

 comb ready, so it is stored in the super. Just as fast as the new combs are built below, 

 the ((ueen is ready to take possession and fill tlie cells with eggs. In the meantime, in 

 the old hive, the bees will probably permit one (|\u'en to hatch out and destroy the 

 rest. As young bees are hatching all the time, the colony will get (piite strong and 

 possibly lay up enough stores to carry it over the winter. 



At one time it was thought that cutting out all (pieen-cells was a sure preventive 

 of swarming, but it merely delays it. If near the end of the How, the delay may carry 

 it past the crisis, when the desire will vanish; but it not, then the result i.s rather 

 problematical. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 Frames, Sections, and Foundation. 



A honey-comb is about 1 inch in thickness in ordinary conditions, with a sjjace of 

 about s inch between each pair. In a state of nature the bees do not build them in the 

 symmetrical form we like to get in the modern hive ; the perfect comb is verjr largely 

 the work of the liee-keeper. He provides a fi-ame not the least bit like anything the 

 bees would ruiturally use ; he compels them to build straight, and to start at a certain 

 part of the top bar ; furthermore, he limits their activity principally to the construction 

 of worker-cells, pei'mitting the lu.xur}' of a few drone-cells where the bees would make 

 hundreds. 



Uniform thickness of comb is secured b^' a self-spacing device on the upper part of 

 the end bars of the frames, wdiieh are there l-p inches wide. Now, the bees naturally 

 glue together the end bars where they are in contact ; therefore, the smaller the touching 

 surfaces the better. If j^ou look at an end bai' you will see that the narrow side of one 

 is flat, while that of the other is brought to an edge. In the hive a sharp edge is 

 intended to touch a flat edge. Since frames may be turned round we must, in putting 

 the parts of them together, point the sharp edges in oppo.site directions ; furthermore, 

 we must have a uniform way. The writer, for instance, when he holds up a frame for 

 inspection, as in Fig. 10, has the sharp edge against the fingers of his right hand, but 

 against the thumb of the left. 



If a swarm be hived on perfectlj' empty frames, there is no reason, from the stand- 

 point of the bees, why they shcjuld build a comb from the top bar of each and that truly 

 in the centre. The bee-keeper forces them by fastening artificial foundation along the 

 centre of the bar, and once they have begun they will naturally carry the comb straight 

 down to near the bottom bar, sometimes all the way. Through nujtives of economy 

 many bee-keepers use merely a strip of foundation, say an inch wide, but the present- 

 day tendency is to use full sheets in each frame : first, to Vie sure of getting evenly-built 

 combs ; second, to prevent the building of drone-cells. There are many conflicting 

 theories as to how the bees decide when they shall build drone-comb, but this much 

 seems to be true : a swarm pro\ides worker-cells at first so that the queen may start 

 laying, and will build no other kind for twenty -one days if she can use each cell as fast 

 as it is made ; but at the end of tliat time the cells first occupied are again empty, hence 

 she may be unable to keep the new ones full, and then the cond>buildeis may turn their 



