MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 265Q. If you should find your bees weak in the spring in numbers,what would be the'best way to strengthen them?A. If I found a colony very weak in early spring, I wouldn'ttry to strengthen it. I would unite it with a stronger colony, orelse I would wait till other colonies were so strong that they hadat least six frames of brood each, and then I would swap itsflame of brood for one from another colony. The frame takenfrom the weak colony would likely not be very well "filled withsealed brood, and the one given should be well filled. Afterwardmore brood could be added, when the sealed brood had prettywell hatched out.Q. In putting frames of capped brood into inferior colonies,is it not of importance to put in first one, or may a greater numberbe put in? I imagine that the surface of brood must be proportionateto the number of bees in a colony relatively weak.A. You must use caution or you may have a lot of dead brood.If all the brood in the comb be sealed, and if it be old enough tobt hatching out, then very little care is needed, for such advancedbrood will keep up its own heat nearly as well as the mature bees.But you will seldom have such combs, and if there be considerableunsealed brood, or brood that has been sealed only a short time,then there must be enough bees in the hive to cover it well. Oneway to avoid chilling is to take the frame of brood with the adheringbees. Only if you add too many strange bees you mayjeopardize the queen. Let the strange bees never be more thanhalf as many as the bees already inthe weak colony.Q. As a rule, every beekeeper has some weaklings in his yard,I don't care how much attention he gives them. To strengthenthem, what is your plan, to swap frames, or go to strong colonies,give them a good shaking and leave them with the queen and oneframe of brood in the hive on the old stand, and put the rest ofthe brood under the weak colony? Very likely there would bequeen-cells started.A. Early in the season the former plan ; at the approach ofswarming, the latter.Q. Did you ever practice the strengthening of a weak colonyby reversing the hives, respectively, of a weak and a strong colony?As you seem to understand German, I will state that Berlepschrecommends this during a "volltracht," which, I suppose,means "full-flow." This looks very easy, only may be too late forsecuring full advantage from the strengthened colony.A. I think I never tried strengthening in that way. There isdanger of the death of the queen in the weaker colony unless in