8 N. H. COLLEGE EXTENSION SERVICE [Bulletin 15 



The entire period elapsing from the day the egg is laid until the full grown bee cuts its 

 way through the cell cap and emerges is in the case of drones about 24 days, in the case 

 of workers about 21 days, and of queens only 15 to 16 days. Usually about a week 

 passes before the queen is ready to mate, or the young workers are ready to go to the 

 field for nectar and pollen • these latter are believed to employ themselves during their 

 first few days mainly in the work of feeding young bees and in building wax. 



MAKING A START WITH BEES 



The beginner in beekeeping will find it much to his advantage in addition to his reading 

 and studies to visit some progressive beekeeper and receive from him a practical demon- 

 stration on the manner of opening hives and handling bees, and to practice this work 

 with him if the opportunity affords. 



Without experience a start had better not be elaborate. In general it will be advisable 

 to start with two or three colonies and to gradually enlarge as success attends one's 

 efforts. There are several ways of making a start in beekeeping. 



(a) Buying colonies. The best and surest method of starting beekeeping is to buy 

 healthy Italian colonies in the spring of the year in good condition and in modern hives. 

 If these colonies are strong and are to be moved any distance in warm weather, a wire- 

 cloth screen should be nailed over the top for ventilation. Following this at night, after 

 all bees are in, the entrance should be closed with wire cloth, and the bottom securely 

 stapled to the hive body. The hive covers should be removed during the moving of 

 colonies, or while they are standing closed, to provide a circulation of air up through the 

 entrance screen and out through the wire cloth covering the top of the hive body. 



(b) Hiving swaims. Another way in which many beekeepers have secured their 

 start is by fiuading and hiving clustered swarms. The method of hiving a swarm is sim- 

 ple. It is best, of course, to hive the swarm directly into a modem movable frame hive 

 with combs or sheets of foundation. If such is not at hand, then it is good practice to 

 hive them temporarily in an ordinary box and transfer them later to a movable frame 

 hive. The swarm is hived by cutting off the branch with the cluster of bees, holding 

 this over the box, or movable frame hive, and vigorously shaking off the bees into the 

 same. One need have little fear of stings when hiving a newly emerged swarm, since 

 just before swarming bees so fill themselves up with honey that they have little disposi- 

 tion to sting for several hours. As an insurance, however, and to lend added confidence, 

 it is always well to wear a black mosquito netting or wire veil. A swarm starts to build 

 comb and rear brood as soon as hived, and it is desirable in case any amount of brood is 

 started that this be saved and transferred from the box to the frames of the movable 

 hive. 



Buying nuclei, buying bees by the pound^ or transferring from box hives all call for 

 considerable judgment and dexterity in mampulation. As a rule, therefore, these meth- 

 ods are better suited to persons with some experience than they are to the novice. 

 Hence, if the beginner has no expert assistance, he will do well to start with swarms or 

 full colonies and use one or more of the following methods perhaps later on as a means 

 of increasing the number of colonies in his apiary. 



(c) Buying nuclei colonies in the south. Good colonies are frequently built up by 

 midsummer from two or three frame nuclei with queen bees and unhatched young 

 (brood) secured in early spring. Frequently a small surplus of honey is produced from 

 the resulting colonies the first year. The writer has observed numbers of these nuclei 

 which have come through by express from Mississippi to beekeepers of Hampden County, 

 Massachusetts. In a large percentage of cases they have arrived in perfect condition 

 and built up into strong colonies. 



(d) Buying bees by the poimd. Another method now used successfully is to buy bees 

 by the pound. It is claimed they usually ship better when they have a queen with them. 

 She may be enclosed in a small cage within the largef package of bees, or if she has been 

 previously introduced to these bees she may safely be shipped loose with them. When 

 the queen is shipped with the package bees, she may be released at once with these bees, 

 but in other cases the usual methods of queen introduction should be used. 



(e) Transferring colonies from box hives. As stated before, it is very unwise to 

 keep colonies in old-fashioned box hives. The beekeeper may therefore desire to transfer 

 some of jhis own bees to movable frame hives from box hives, or he may have the op- 

 portunity to buy good strong colonies in box hives and transfer these. Transferring 

 is accomplished by smoking the bees thoroughly in the box hive, then making a small 

 opening in the top of the same, boring two or three good-sized auger holes in the bottom 

 of the new hive and setting the latter over the former so that the opening in the old and 



