By the process already described, we have secured a goodly number of
fine queens, which will be in readiness at the needed time. Now, as
soon as the white clover harvest is well commenced, early in June, we
may commence operations. If we have but one colony to divide, it is
well to wait till they become pretty populous, but not till they swarm.
Take one of our waiting hives, which now holds a nucleus with fertile
queen, and remove the same close along side the colony we wish to
divide. This must only be done on warm days when the bees are active,
and better be done, while the bees are busy, in the middle of the
day. Remove the division-board of the new hive, and then remove five
combs, well loaded with brood, and of course containing some honey,
from the old colony, bees and all, to the new hive. Also take the
remaining frames and shake the bees into the new hive. _Only be sure
that the queen still remains in the old hive._ Fill both the hives
with empty frames--if the frames are filled with empty comb it will be
still better, if not it will pay to give starters or full frames of
foundation--and return the new hive to its former position. The old
bees will return to the old colony, while the young ones will remain
peaceably with the new queen. The old colony will now contain at least
seven frames of brood, honey, etc., the old queen, and plenty of bees,
so that they will work on as though naught had transpired, though
perhaps moved to a little harder effort by the added space and five
empty frames. The empty frames may be all placed at one end, or placed
between the others, though not so as to divide brood.
The new colony will have eight frames of brood, comb, etc., three from
the nucleus and five from the old colony, a young fertile queen, plenty
of bees, those of the previous nucleus and the young bees from the old
colony, and will work with a surprising vigor, often even eclipsing the
old colony.
If the apiarist has several colonies, it is better to make the new
colony from several old colonies, as follows: Take one frame of
brood-comb from each of six old colonies, or two from each of three,
and carry them, bees and all, and place with the nucleus. _Only, be
sure that no queen is removed._ Fill all the hives with empty combs,
or foundation instead of frames, as before. In this way we increase
without in the least disturbing any of the colonies, and may add a
colony every day or two, or perhaps several, depending on the size
of our apiary, and can thus always, so my experience says, prevent
swarming.
By taking only brood that is all capped, we can safely add one or two
frames to each nucleus every week, without adding any bees, as there
would be no danger of loss by chilling the brood. In this way, as we
remove no bees, we have to spend no time in looking for the queen, and
may build up our nuclei into full stocks, and keep back the swarming
impulse with great facility.
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