586 
MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 
leaving all the supers on the hives until the 
season is over. By that time it is important 
that robbers be given no opportunity to 
help themselves to sweets, when the honey 
is taken off; but before doing so the condi¬ 
tion of the supers should be determined in 
advance. In order to keep ahead of the 
bees it is necessary to make .an examination 
from time to time. Toward the early part 
of the season it is customary to place the 
empty supers under those partly filled. As 
the season begins to draw toward its close, 
the process is reversed—that is to say, the 
empties are put on top of those partly 
filled. 
In order to determine the amount of 
honey in any super, it is not necessary to 
take off the cover and pull the hive apart. 
If it is tiered up four and five stories high, 
it involves a large amount of labor and 
considerable lifting to pull the supers off 
one by one, inviting the attention of rob¬ 
bers in the operation. If one is supplied 
with a good strong steel hive-tool and a 
smoker, he can get a fair idea of the filling 
of any super, without even removing the 
cover from the hive. In the series of snap¬ 
shots on previous page, the reader will be 
able to gather, almost at a glance, the ex¬ 
act method to be used in determining what 
the bees are doing. 
Take an example. Let the operator start 
with the hive shown in Fig. 5, previous 
page. It has three supers. The middle one 
is the one on which the bees began work 
first, and at the time of this examination it 
should be completely filled. The bottom 
super was placed under after the middle 
one was about half filled. The colony was 
again crowded for room, but since there 
was only a week or so more of honey flow, 
the third super was put on top, so that the 
first two will be certain to be completely 
filled before the bees begin work on the 
third. 
At this time it is desired to know what 
the bees have actually done; so, without 
removing the telescope cover on top nor 
the super cover directly beneath, the thin 
blade of the hive-tool, broad end, is en¬ 
tered between the two lower supers, at the 
hack end of the hive; for one should al¬ 
ways endeavor to keep out of the flight of 
the bees. This is gradually shoved in un¬ 
til the blade has been pushed in anywhere 
from 3/2 to a full inch. A gap is now 
formed, of approximately 1-16 inch, just 
wide enough so that a little smoke will 
drive back the bees. A slight pressure 
downward separates the two* upper supers 
about an inch at the back end, when more 
smoke is blown in. The tool is pushed 
down a little further, making the gap a 
little wider. (See Fig. 6.) But the operator 
is not quite satisfied as to the condition of 
the supers, so he pushes the tool and su¬ 
pers upward, as shown in Fig. 7, until he 
has the hive-tool in position as shown in 
Fig. 8. Here it acts as a prop, when, with 
the intelligent use of the smoker, he can 
drive back the bees enough so that he can 
see the condition of the two supers, or 
Fig. 13.—How a smoker and a hive-tool will enable 
one to leani the condition of the 
supers at one glance. 
enough to determine whether the bees need 
more room. 
But suppose he is not quite satisfied 
yet. As shown in Fig. 9, he lifts the supers 
higher, disregarding the liive-tool falling on 
the ground. When doing this he slides 
the two supers about an inch backward so 
that the other end will fulcrum on a safe 
bearing. If the super is slipped forward, 
as shown in Fig. 7, it can be readily seen 
that it cannot be tilted up very high with¬ 
out sliding off in front. See Figs. 9, 10, 11. 
Usually an examination of this sort is 
quite sufficient. If the supers are not filled 
