§ III. TRANSFERRING OLD STOCKS.
We frequently find that the possessor of a stock of bees in a cottager's common straw hive is desirous of removing the whole stock, with brood and comb, into one of our improved hives, in which the honey may be obtained without the destruction of the bees. We mostly discourage such a transfer, attended as it is with much labour, and requiring a considerable amount of apiarian skill. An old-fashioned hive may very readily be turned into a humane one, simply by cutting out the middle of the top of the hive with a sharp-pointed knife; a piece may thus easily be taken out, so as to leave a round hole two or three inches in diameter, taking care that the knife does not penetrate much below the straw, lest it reach the comb or the bees. There should be ready a round adapting-board, with a corresponding hole, which may be secured on the top by putting four long nails through the same number of holes in the board; then a cap-hive or a glass may be placed on the top, for the purpose of admitting the bees, who will soon crowd therein to work. This hive or glass will form a super or depriving-hive, and can be worked as profitably as most of the improved hives. For the sake of more sightly appearance, an outside case, either of zinc, straw, or wood, may now be dropped over all, and then, if well painted, the whole will form no disfigurement to any flower-garden.
This is, beyond doubt, the easiest way of overcoming the difficulty, but as it may not satisfy all, we will now proceed to describe how a complete transfer of colonies may be effected. No hive offers such facilities for the placing of the combs in a perfectly upright position as does the frame hive. As before remarked, we should be slow to recommend any one to attempt the operation who is not already pretty well accustomed to the handling of bees and acquainted with their habits; but by carefully carrying out the following directions an apt bee-keeper may successfully perform the feat. The first thing is to get the bees away from the combs: there are two ways of doing this—one is by fumigation (see [page 207]), the other by driving ([page 226]). Whichever plan may be resorted to, place the bees in the temporary hive on their old stand until you are quite ready to admit them into the frame hive. Have in readiness all the necessary appliances. These consist of a large knife for cutting the hive, a good-sized table on which to lay the brood combs, a basin of water—for washing off honey which may besmear the hands—tape or string to fasten the combs in their frames, a pair of honey-cutters ([page 193]) for cutting out the combs, jars to hold the honey that runs out, and a feather for brushing off any bees that may remain. It is necessary that the operator should have on his bee dress and india-rubber gloves. If the old skep is not valued the operation will be facilitated by cutting it in half vertically between the two middle combs; but the honey-cutters will accomplish the object without this destruction if it is not desired. Mr. Cheshire's transferring board ([page 192]) comes in useful here. If one is possessed the frames may be laid upon it, and the combs, which should be cut as large as possible, must then be placed within these. Of course they will not exactly fit, but they must be adjusted, piece by piece, till they bind each other together; the few interstices the bees will soon fill up. If in any of the frames there is not sufficient comb, supply empty comb if it is to hand, and in default of such, fix an additional bottom bar inside the frame—a false bottom as it may be called—at whatever height the supply of comb requires. Drone comb, however, should be used very sparingly, and this only for the outside frames, in which it is not likely to be selected by the queen for breeding purposes, but left for storage of honey. Both filled and partly filled frames must now be made secure by tying pieces of tape or pliable wire (even string will answer) round the whole from top bar to bottom or false bottom; there should be two of these to a frame, or perhaps three if the pieces of comb are small. In two days or so the bees will have made all firm enough for the tape to be dispensed with, which should accordingly be done, as it is in the bees' way. To effect this, dismember first the cells from the tape by means of a sharp knife, and then cut the tape and draw it out. Care should be taken that the combs occupy the same position in the frames as in the hive from which they were extracted, for the cells are not exactly horizontal, but inclined slightly upwards. Supply guide-comb or wax strips to any frames that are wholly unoccupied.
The frames now filled are placed in the hive, when the bees may be let into it in the manner Mr. Woodbury recommends for a swarm (see [page 220]). It may be as well to keep them confined a few hours, giving them water at the top, by means of a soaked sponge laid on perforated zinc, until they make the combs secure; the object of this being to exclude the bees from other hives, who, if feloniously inclined, might come to rob. For the same reason the operation of adjusting the combs should not be performed in the open air, or the bees from surrounding hives will be sure to come in great numbers to obtain a share of the honey necessarily exposed. It should be done inside a room with the temperature at about 70 degrees—not cold enough to chill the brood, nor yet hot enough to soften the combs. An expert apiarian could perform the operation in less than three-quarters of an hour, and with little loss. A week or so after a swarm has left the old stock is perhaps the very best time for such a removal. In some instances a routing of this kind has a beneficial effect; old stocks of hives that have previously appeared to be dwindling are often aroused to activity by their removal into a fresh domicile. After the winter's doze this is especially the case, say if done on a warm day early in April. We have ourselves frequently shifted the stock from a well-occupied frame hive to a fresh one, in which the bees find a clean floor-board and walls, as well as freedom from insects that may have harboured in crevices during the winter.