CAUSE OF THEIR SUPERIOR THRIFT.
One cause of superior thrift may be found in the circumstance, that all moth eggs and worms are frozen to death, and the bees are not troubled with a single worm before June. No young bees have to be removed to work them out. Nearly every young bee that is fed and sealed up, comes forth perfect, and of course makes a vast difference in the increase.
SWARMS PARTLY FILLED PAY BETTER THAN TO CUT OUT THE HONEY.
Any person wishing to increase his stocks to the utmost, will find this plan of saving all part-filled hives, of much more advantage than to break it out for sale. Suppose you have an old stock that needs pruning, and have neglected it, or it has refused to swarm, and give you a chance without destroying too much brood. You can let it be, and put on the boxes; perhaps get twenty-five pounds of cap honey; and then winter the bees as described, and in the spring transfer them to the new combs. Again, if there is no stocks to be transferred in the spring, keep them till the swarming season. If a swarm put into an empty hive would just fill it, the same swarm put into one containing fifteen pounds of honey, it seems plain, would make that number of pounds in boxes. The advantage is, in the comparative value of box or cap honey over that stored in the hive; the difference being from thirty to a hundred per cent.
ADVANTAGES IN TRANSFERRING.
I would now like to show the advantages I derived in transferring the twenty swarms before mentioned. We will suppose that each family, from the first of October till April, consumed twenty pounds of honey. That in the centre combs, where there is most bee-bread, &c., is eaten first; if any is left, it is at the top and outside. If I had attempted to take out and strain this twenty pounds in the fall, it would have been so mixed with dead brood, and bee-bread, that I probably should have rejected most of it. The remainder, when strained, might have been five pounds, not more. The market price for it is about ten cents per pound; amount fifty cents. We will say the new hive kept through the winter to receive the bees in the spring contained fifteen pounds; this would also have averaged about ten cents per pound, amounting to $1.50. All that a stock of this kind costs me appears to be just $2.00, and worth at least $5.00. The advantage in changing twenty would be $60.00. The labor of transferring will offset against the trouble of straining, preparing, and the expense of getting the honey to market.
ANOTHER METHOD OF UNITING TWO FAMILIES.
I have occasionally adopted yet another method of making a good stock from two poor ones, which the reader may prefer. When all your old stocks have been reinforced that need it, and you still have some swarms with too few bees and too little honey for safety as they are, two or more can be united. The fact, which has been thoroughly tested, that two families of bees, when united and wintered in one hive, will consume but little, if any more, than each of them would separately, is a very important principle in this matter. If each family should have fifteen pounds of honey, they would consume it all, and probably starve at last, after eating thirty pounds. But if the contents of both were in one hive, it would be amply sufficient, and some to spare in the spring.
UNITING COMB AND HONEY AS WELL AS BEES.
The process of uniting them is simple. Smoke both the stocks or swarms thoroughly, and turn them over. Choose the one with the straightest combs, or the one nearest full, to receive the contents of the other; trim off the points of the combs to make them square across, and this one is ready; remove the sticks from the other, and with your tools take out the combs with the bees on as before directed, one at a time, and carefully set them on the edges of the other; if the shape will admit it, let the edges match; if not, let them cross. Small bits of wood or rolls of paper will be needed between them, to preserve the right distance. When both hives are of one size, the transferred combs will exactly fit, if you are careful to place them as they were before. You will now want to know, "what is to prevent these combs from falling out when the hive is turned over?" This hive is to remain bottom up in some dark place for some time, or till spring. (See method of wintering bees.) The bees will immediately join these combs fast; the hive being inverted, the honey in these combs will be consumed first; and when the hive is again set out in spring, it will be a rare occurrence for any pieces to drop out. Should any pieces project beyond the bottom of the hive, they may be trimmed off even after they are fastened, any time before setting out. An additional cross-stick may pass under the bottom of the combs, to assist in holding them, if you desire. You will probably never discover any difference in the subsequent prosperity in consequence of the joining or crossing of the combs in the middle. I have had them in this way, when they were among the most prosperous of my stocks. As this operation is to be put off till November, it will be an advantage in another way; that is, families of the same apiary can be united, and will mostly forget the old location by spring, and no difficulty arise by returning to the old stand, etc.