248 
Beekeeping 
over the entrance so that the bees can leave but cannot 
return, any other openings to the combs being carefully 
closed. Even better than a bee-escape is a cone of wire- 
cloth eight inches high with a hole at the apex just large 
enough for a single bee to pass. This is tacked on the house 
and the bees issue through the hole in the apex but do not 
find it again to return. A hive (with drawn combs in it if 
possible) is then placed so that its entrance is as near as 
practical to the entrance which the bees have been using. 
A queen should soon be introduced to the bees in the hive. 
The old queen does not desert her combs and continues lay¬ 
ing eggs, but, as her colony is depopulated, the amount of 
brood rapidly diminishes. As brood emerges, the young 
bees also leave through the wire-cloth cone and join the bees 
in the hive until in four or five weeks the queen is left prac¬ 
tically alone. When nearly all of the bees are out of the 
cavity and there is little or no brood, the bee-escape is re¬ 
moved, the entrance to the cavity is made larger if possible 
and if there is no honey-flow, the bees rob their old home 
and carry the honey to their new hive, leaving only the empty 
combs. These will usually do no damage as wax-moths 
soon destroy them. The entrance to the cavity should now 
be carefully closed to prevent another swarm from taking 
up quarters there and the hive is removed. This method 
takes considerable time, but is often best where the cavity 
is inaccessible. It is often difficult to close the cavity to 
prevent the bees from establishing a new entrance when a 
bee-escape is placed over the one to which they are accus¬ 
tomed. 
Transferring from hollow trees. 
The method to be used will depend on the accessibility 
of the cavity and the value of the tree. Usually the bees 
cannot be drummed out and the combs must be cut out 
after subduing the bees with smoke. If the colony is high in 
the tree and the tree is felled, the bees are disorganized by 
the jarring so that they can be handled easily. The hunting 
