23 



It is also possible at times to purchase colonies in box hives 

 very cheaply. As these can be readily transferred to standard 

 hives it may be considered good business to buy them. To 

 transfer bees from a box to a standard hive, take the box a 

 few feet from where it stood and put the standard hive in its 

 place ; see that the standard hive has sufficient frames with 

 comb foundation to accommodate the bees, also a comb con- 

 taining a little honey and very young brood is advised. This 

 being done, remove the top of the box hive and place an empty 

 box without bottom over it. Tap soundly on the sides of the 

 lower box with a stick and the frightened bees will start to 

 move into the upper box. After a time they will all be clus- 

 tered in the upper box and can then be shaken into the stand- 

 ard hive. In the meantime, all bees on the wing will return to 

 the old location and enter the new hive, and in a short time 

 will all be at work, just as though nothing had happened. It 

 is well to save as much of the young brood as possible. This 

 can be cut out of the old box and placed above the queen ex- 

 cluder in the new hive. In this way it will be taken care of 

 by the worker bees and in the course of two or three weeks, 

 when the last bees have emerged from the cells, the old combs 

 can be removed and rendered down for what honey and bees- 

 wax they contain. 



In purchasing bees it is often necessary to move them from 

 one place to another. Their transportation is not particularly 

 difficult or hazardous, if careful attention is given to the fol- 

 lowing details. If possible a cool day should be selected and 

 ventilation provided according to the strength of the colony 

 and the length of time it is likely to be confined. The best 

 method of securing the ventilation is to remove the hive cover 

 and more or less of the frames of honey that are in the hives, 

 fastening the balance of the frames so that they cannot get 

 out of place- To keep the bees in, attach wire gauze over the 

 top and entrance to the hive and, thus prepared, move with 

 care to the new location. 



If there is plenty of bloom at the time and the directions 

 given above are carefully followed, the bees will go to work 

 vigorously, and the frames will rapidly fill with honey and 

 brood. As these frames are filled, more frames with comb 

 foundation should be given, and as soon as necessary an extra 

 hive body ought to be added. A queen excluder is always 

 placed between the bottom box and the hive body above to 

 prevent the rearing of bees in the hive body. The surplus 

 honey is taken -from the frames in the hive body, and the 

 queen is excluded from this so as not to mix the brood and 

 honey in the same frame. 



