Show UNITING SWARMS I read a recent article regarding uniting colonies which was of particular partic-ular interest to me as I have been uniting all swarms that come out since the 15th and < the smaller ones since the 10th Where the cluster is not too far from the stand I take to it a hive with a small colony just as I would an empty one and spread a sheet < and set the hive on it then shake the cluster in front of it I used considerable smoke on both coloniesmost on the outside oneand have not failed to have them go right in and go to work without any fighting at all I have not found more than a dozen dead bees in front of any hive afterwards I of course return the hive to its old stand as soon as possible I have in each case except the last swarm taken the queen from the hive as I was more certain to find her though in one case I should have preferred pre-ferred to have kept the queen In the hive The last swarm I hived at a considerable consid-erable distance from home in a small box and took it home and as I preferred pre-ferred the queen in the hive I shook the box in front of < the hive intending intend-ing to catch the queen in the new colony col-ony as she was about to go in but she eluded me and got Into the hive with the others The next morning I looked < < through the hive and found the oli queen attending to business undisturbed undis-turbed in one side of the hive she is a full blood gray Carniolan and the other a threebanded Italian enclosed in a ball of bees nearly all ofwhich were her own breed The others were mixed ithrough the hive I rescuefl lief fromthe hands of flier friends aha f put her into a cage and introduced her to another colony The article referred to showed me that I could safely let both queens into the hive without danger to the united colony and the above experience shows that I have at least a good chance of saving the queen that I prefer in such casesE L Dunham in American Bee Journal |