Management in Bar-frame Hives. 57 



could also be interviewed. All this work would have 

 to be done quietly but quickly, or perhaps the brood 

 would get chilled. Quietness is essential, as sometimes 

 at this time of the year bees will ' ball ' the queen if 

 they are much disturbed. If each stock can be given 

 either a clean or new hive, so much the better, and 

 the hives which the bees have used during the winter 

 can be taken away for cleaning and painting. This 

 must never be done on a cold day, and only in the 

 middle of a warm one. 



It often happens that bees are ready to swarm, 

 but the weather is not satisfactory, and perhaps 

 this will continue for some days. In cases of this 

 sort, the bees will be idle, and a great deal of the 

 most valuable time will be lost. The writer prefers a 

 natural swarm as a rule to an artificial one, but when 

 bees will neither swarm nor work, artificial swarming 

 must be resorted to without delay. The matter is very 

 simple. The conditions of success are fine weather, 

 crowded beehives, and the presence of drones. The 

 process is then as follows : — Take an empty hive and 

 fill it with frames of foundation, leaving room for one 

 more frame. Then examine a strong hive, and take 

 out the frame on which is the queen, and put it in the 

 hive in the place where one frame was left out. Then 

 place the new hive on the stand of the old one, moving 

 the latter some distance off. All the old bees will 

 flock into the new hive and make the swarm. If left 

 alone, the old hive having young bees and brood 



