THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
153 
Cleansing the Hives. 
If many bees have died in the hive during the 
winter, they should be removed : this is easily 
accomplished if hives have loose bottom- boards. 
Get an extra bottom-board and exchange it for 
the bottom-board of the next hive, and so on. 
As nearly all the dead bees have fallen to the 
bottom-board, by scraping the latter you have 
pretty thoroughly cleansed the hive. This 
operation offers very slight disturbance to the 
bees, and it is but a moment’s work to lift the 
hives and exchange bottom-boards. 
If the hives have tight bottom-boards, or are 
in packing-cases, a part of the combs containing 
the fewest bees should be lifted out, and this 
portion of the hive cleansed ; then move the 
remaining combs and bees to the clean side of 
the hive, and finish removing the dead bees, 
after which the combs first removed may be 
replaced. 
If the hives are of the same pattern and look 
alike, so that a change of hives will not confuse 
the bees, they may be cleansed by transferring 
the first colony into a clean hive, by simply 
lifting the comb and bees into the latter, and 
placing it in the position of the first hive ; then 
scrape the hive just emptied, and transfer the 
next colony into it, and so on. 
It is not always necessary to go through the 
operation of cleaning all the hives. If there are 
a few dead bees, the better plan is to allow each 
colony to clean its own hive. In the spring 
following a mild winter, during which the bees 
have had frequent flights, the hives will seldom 
contain many dead bees. 
When there is an abundant crop of late fall 
honey, some colonies will store so much in the 
brood-chamber as to leave insufficient room for 
brood-rearing. Colonies left in this condition 
cannot increase rapidly in numerical strength. 
If the hive is overburdened with honey, some of 
the full combs should be exchanged for empty 
ones. Then by uncapping some of the remain- 
ing full combs, the honey will be rapidly trans- 
formed into brood. Uncapping the honey seems 
to create the impression among the bees that 
there is great demand for labour, and they con- 
sequently rear young bees as rapidly as possible 
to meet this apparent need. Thus these other- 
wise superfluous stores can be converted into 
full and strong colonies to gather the white 
clover and linden harvests when they come. 
The matter of reducing the stores to the 
proper amount should be looked to in the fall, 
and all honey, not needed for wintering, ex- 
tracted. No more than 80 pounds of honey per 
colony should be left for wintering. 
Qceenless Colonies. 
Very often colonies become queenless during 
the winter. As a rule it is poor economy to 
purchase queens early in the spring to re-queen 
them. If the colony is strong it may pay to re- 
queen. Queens in April are quite valuable, and 
usually cost as much as an ordinary queenless 
colony is worth. If the queenless colony is 
strong, the better way would be to unite it with 
the weakest colony that has a good queen. The 
queen begins laying from the middle to the last 
of February, and the entire absence of eggs or 
larvie in a colony after the middle of March or 
first of April is sufficient evidence that they are 
queenless, or that the queen is worthless. 
Queenless colonies are liable to be robbed by 
other bees during the first warm days of spring. 
The bees seem to lose courage by the loss of 
their queen, and submit to the robbers with little 
resistance. Robbing can be easily detected by 
the great number of bees flying to and fro from 
the hive that is being robbed, and by the fine 
bits of honey-comb and rubbish about the 
entrance of the latter. 
Robbing — Uniting Colonies. 
When it is found that a colony is being robbed, 
the entrance to the hive should be closed for 10 
or 15 minutes, to allow the robbers to secure 
their load of honey, and then opened to allow 
them to fly away with it. The robber bees that 
have collected to enter the hive, may be kept 
away with smoke, while the lobbers that have 
been confined are leaving. After the robbers are 
out, the entrance should be closed until evening, 
and then, if queenless, the bees united with 
another colony. 
In uniting, reduce the number of Combs in the 
colony with which you wish to unite the robbed 
colony, and remove the remaining combs and 
bees to one side of the hive, and confine them 
there with the division-board. Place the robbed 
bees in the remaining space in the hive on two 
or three combs containing sufficient honey to 
last them two or three days. All means of 
passage between the two divisions of the hive 
should be closed for two or three days, and 
during this time the robbed bees should not be 
allowed to fly. 
After this confinement they will go together 
with little or no fighting, and very few bees will 
be lost by trying to find their old home. They 
may be brought together by lifting out the 
division- board and properly arranging the combs. 
They can also be united by drumming both 
colonies for ten minutes, keeping the entrance 
closed : this frightens them, and they fill them- 
selves with honey, when they lose all disposition 
to fight. This is probably the better way, if the 
hives are alike, and the two colonies to be 
united are side by side. But if unlike, and some 
distance apart, the former method is the best. 
Each colony should be confined in space 
according to its numerical strength. Remove 
empty combs and use a division-board to confine 
the bees to the proper space. They should have 
no more combs than they can cover in moderate 
spring weather. 
In handling bees at this season of the year, 
care should be exercised that they do not “ ball” 
and kill the queen. “Balling" the queen is a 
very singular and annoying peculiarity ; the bees 
seem to blame the queen for any disturbance in 
the home, and often try to kill her when the 
hive is opened for manipulation. If you notice 
a little ball of bees about an inch or less in 
