In filling the frames with combs cut from a box hive, the largest and straightest sheets having the most sealed worker brood in them should be selected first and so cut that the frame will slip over them snugly, taking pains, as far as possible, to have the comb placed in the frame in the same position in which it was built, since most of the cells, instead of being horizontal, are inclined upward, the inclination of the deeper store cells being greatest. The comb, if not heavy, can be held in place temporarily by slender wire nails pushed through holes punched in the side and top bars. Before the introduction of wire nails the writer used long thorns pulled from thorn-apple trees, which served the purpose very well. In the case of combs heavy with honey or brood or pieced more or less it will be safer to use, in addition to a few wire nails, a pair or two of transferring sticks. These are simply slender strips of wood slightly longer than the depth of the frame and notched at each end. By placing such a stick on either side of the comb and winding annealed wire around the top and bottom ends so as to draw the sticks firmly against the surface of the combs the latter will be held securely in the frames. The midrib between the rows of cells should be pressed neither to one side nor the other; thus, if cells on one side are deeper than those on the other, they should be shaved down, unless the honey will be cut into too much, in which case the comb maybe allowed to project on one side until it has been fastened in the frame and the hive has been generally put in order by the bees, the point being not to force them to try to manage too much running honey at one time, lest robbing be induced. In many instances the comb when pressed into the frame will seem to be so firm as not to need nails or sticks, but in the heat of the hive, and with the weight of the bees that will cluster on it to repair the cut edges and fasten them to the bars of the frame, unsupported combs are very apt to give way, creating disastrous confusion. Thus the sticks, nails, or their equivalent should always be used ([fig. 54]). All frames should be filled with perfectly straight combs so as to be interchangeable. With care in fitting in and some trimming and pressing into shape afterwards, fully three-fourths of the worker combs cut from box hives can be made into good, serviceable combs in frame hives. The process is much facilitated if such combs are used in the extractor during the first season or two after transferring.
Fig. 54.—Transferred comb and inserted queen cell. (Original.)
Should the time be near the swarming season the combs will be so filled with brood and honey that the task will be much greater, and the transfer should be postponed until three weeks after the first swarm issues. The brood left by the old queen will have matured and issued from the cells by that time, and the young queen, if no accident has happened to her, will have begun laying; yet there will usually be only eggs, with perhaps a few very young larvæ, present in the combs at this time, so that the cutting out and fitting of the latter into frames will not be as troublesome nor attended with so much waste as just before the swarm issued.
Still another plan—one which it would not be best to employ before fairly warm weather has set in, but which will render the work of transferring the lightest—is to turn the box hive bottom upward and place on it the brood apartment of a frame hive, having in it frames filled with worker combs or with comb foundation, arranging at the same time to give the bees ready access from their combs to those above and no entrance to their hive except through the frame hive above. This can easily be done by making a temporary bottom board for the frame hive, with several holes through it, or with one large one about the size of the open end of the box hive. As soon as it is perceived that the queen has taken possession of the new combs—as she will be almost certain to do, especially if one of the combs placed above contains some brood—a piece of queen-excluding zinc placed over the opening between the two hives will keep her above, and three weeks later, when all the brood in the combs below has matured, the box hive may be removed and the combs transferred to frames, if worth using in this way; but if old or composed of drone cells or very irregular in shape these combs may be rendered into wax, after extracting any honey that may happen to be in them. Inverting the box hive will generally cause the bees to remove what honey they have stored in the combs. This honey will be utilized in building out the foundation placed in the added story, or, having these combs completed, the bees will store in them whatever remains. Should the queen fail to enter the superposed hive, the plan may be adopted of driving her with her workers into the added story, as described on page 72. When the lower combs have been nearly deserted it will be safe to assume that the queen has gone into the upper hive with the main force of workers, and the excluder zinc may be inserted.
QUEENLESSNESS IN SPRING.
The loss of a queen during winter or early spring can generally be discovered by noticing just at nightfall, after the first or second general flight, which colonies are restless and continue to buzz excitedly when the others are humming in a contented manner or have quieted down for the night. The workers of the queenless colony run in and out excitedly, searching over the front of the hive. Should it be opened they will not resent the intrusion, but, remaining on the combs, will at once set up a loud and prolonged buzzing. These symptoms become less pronounced from day to day. If a comb containing brood be inserted during this period it will be hailed with evident delight, manifested by the eager crowding of the bees from all sides toward it. A contented hum replaces the sound of mourning, and if young worker-larvæ are present preparations, as described on pages 88-89, are begun at once to rear a queen. However, if much reduced in numbers the colony should be joined to one with a queen, or several queenless ones united. The latter may be smoked and simply shaken or brushed together. But bees that have been queenless long when added to those that have not yet missed their own queen will frequently be killed at once. The queen should therefore be taken from her own bees and caged for thirty-six to forty-eight hours in the hive which has previously been queenless, and her own bees added when she is released. (See page 94.) A board leaned against the front of the hive will cause the bees to note their change in location when they fly out and they will then easily find their new quarters when returning from their flight.
CHAPTER VIII.
SECURING SURPLUS HONEY AND WAX.
If the colonies of bees have been brought to the opening of a given honey flow with a powerful population recently hatched it will require no great skill to secure a good crop, granted, of course, that the flowers actually do secrete the nectar. In the ordinary course of events some colonies are likely to come through to the early harvest in good shape, but if all those contained in a large apiary are in prime order at this time it is good evidence of skill on the part of the attendant, this even though the weather and other circumstances may have favored his work. To secure a yield of surplus honey the part remaining to be done, if all goes well, is merely to put the surplus receptacles in place, admit the bees, and remove the combs when filled and sealed. But if swarming complications arise the whole of the bee keeper's skill and ingenuity may again be called into requisition to keep the forces together and storing in the surplus receptacles. Should the expected harvest not come—that is, should the flowers from which the yield is anticipated not secrete honey, or should they bloom when the weather would not permit the bees to fly—of course no amount of skill could make up the deficiency. In such a case all that can be done is to carry the colonies through to the next honey yield in good shape—to keep up (by feeding if necessary) the populousness of the colonies. The flow may begin suddenly or before it is looked for; it may be excellent for only a very short time, a day or two even, and be cut off short in the midst of its greatest abundance. Thus the skill lies in having the colonies ready for whatever may come and a force sufficient to store the whole season's surplus in a few days.