164 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



the combs the colony should have. In the hive left on the 

 stand, I leave or put from one to three frames, generally 

 two. These combs must be sure to have no queen-cells, 

 and may be most safely taken from a young or weak 

 colony having no inclination to swarm. The two combs 

 are put in one side of the hive, two or three dummies 

 placed beside them, and the rest of the hive left vacant. 



The question may be asked, "Will not the bees build 

 comb in this vacant part of the hive?" No ; at least they 

 do not for me. Oueenless colonies are little given to 

 comb-building, and not at all inclined to make a fresh 

 start in a new place. 



If I did not do so at the time of taking out the 

 frames, I now shake the bees off from about half the 

 frames, not being particular to shake them off clean. 

 These bees are of course shaken off into the hive on the 

 stand. The supers are now put on this hive with its two 

 or three frames of brood, the cover is put over the supers, 

 and the "put-up" hive filled with brood is placed over all. 



GETTING THE BEES TO DESTROY QUEEN-CELLS. 



A plenty of bees will be left to care for the brood, the 

 queen will commence laying, all thought of swarming is 

 given up, and every queen-cell torn down by the bees. In 

 perhaps two days I take a peep to see if the queen is lay- 

 ing, for it sometimes happens that at the time when I 

 "put up the queen" (as I call the operation I have just 

 described), there is already a young queen just hatched, 

 and then the old queen is pretty sure to be destroyed. In 

 this latter case I may remove the young queen and give 

 them a laying one, or I may let the young queen remain. 



PUTTING DOWN THE QUEEN. 



In ten days from the time the swarm issued — some- 

 times ten days from the time I "put up the queen" — I put 



