14 
SPRING MANAGEMENT OF REES 
more than a handful of bees with no brood. Fix these last 
named in this way: 
Go to the strong colony you wish to set them over and get 
a frame of brood with adhering bees, being sure not to take 
their queen; then put the queen of the weak colony in this comb 
with the strange bees and put it into the weak hive; leave them 
in this way about half a day, then set them on top of a strong 
colony where you got the brood with a queen-excluder between. 
Do all this with a little smoke, and avoid exciting the strong 
colony in any way. If a cool day, and the bees are not flying, 
1 usually leave the strong colony uncovered, except with the 
excluder, for a few hours before setting on the weak colony. 
The whole thing should be done as quietly as possible, so that 
neither colony hardly realizes that it has been touched. When 
the weak colony has been given some brood, and put on top 
in this careful and still manner, hardly one queen in a 
hundred will be lost, and in about 30 days each hive will be 
crowded with bees and matured brood. Then when you wish 
to separate them, set the strongest colony on a new stand and 
give it also some of the bees from the hive that is left on the 
old stand,, as a few of the working force will return to the 
old location, especially if they are black bees or degenerate 
Italians. 
In every case that has come to my notice where this method 
has been reported a failure it has been by one of two causes — 
either from lack of brood in a weak colony to hold the queen 
and her few bees in the upper hive, or by smoking the 
strong colony so that, as soon as the weak one was set on top, 
the bees from below would rush up and sting every thing above. 
Therefore avoid using smoke or doing any thing that will ex- 
cite the strong colony. 
If done in a careful manner the bees in the lower hive never 
seem to realize that any strangers have been put above them, and 
they will all work in harmony together. 
From the many complimentary letters I have received during 
the past summer I am sure that, when Gleanings gave this 
method to the bee-keeper of the world, it was the means of 
saving thousands of colonies for its many readers; so, give that 
paper all credit; and if you will put this method in practice next 
spring, as I have explained, it will be worth more to you 
than all you have ever paid out for bee-journals. 
It is only necessary to add that some bee-keepers 
(and a good many of them) build up weak colonies 
by removing a frame of brood about to hatch, and add 
the same with the adhering bees to the weak colony. 
Ever since the invention of movable-comb hives this 
plan has been followed; but it is advisable only when 
the strong colony can bear the loss without incoi^^ 
venience. It should always be borne in mind that^^ 
weak colony with kindly treatment will build up very 
quickly when fed steadily — that is to say, if the queen 
is virile and active. 
