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by permission you can use the same remedy as with 
your own bees ; but if this is refused then you must 
use the remedies that will make them willing. But 
should you not find the robbers in your own or 
neighbor’s hives, and are undecided whether they are 
robbing or not, catch some of the bees as they are 
passing out and in the hive, pull them apart that you 
can examine their honey sacks ; if honey should be 
found it is quite likely you have caught a robber. Ex- 
amine a number in this way, and if you find their 
honey sacks filled as they are going out and empty as 
they are going in, it is proof positive ; (their honey 
sacks when filled are about the size of a small pea, 
and when the bee is forcibly pulled apart this little 
sack is exposed to view ;) you may be sure the robbery 
has commenced. You must now close the entrance of 
the hive nearly up, leaving space enough for two or 
three bees to pass out and in at a time ; if they cannot 
now defend themselves, close the regulator so that but 
one bee can pass out and in at a time. Should they' 
not be able to defend themselves, then the entrance 
must be closed altogether. When this is done all of 
the ventilators of the hive should be opened, or there 
would be great danger of melting them down ; at the 
same time the besieged hive should be put down cellar 
where it is cool, and kept there until near evening, 
when they should be set upon the stand and the 
entrance opened, and what robber bees there may be 
in the hive allowed to depart, and then by contracting 
the entrance, by slipping the regulator to the left, so 
that there will be a space of one-quarter inch allowing 
only one bee to pass at a time. By following this 
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