§ VI. ARTIFICIAL SWARMING.
Every bee-keeper knows the anxiety he feels in watching and expecting a swarm to come forth, fearful lest his favourites should, "like riches, take wing and fly away"—a mischance that it is desirable to prevent. In our description of natural swarming this will be found fully treated of; we propose here merely to point out how, especially with movable frames, this work of Nature may be assisted. We call it assisted, because artificial swarming should, as nearly as possible, resemble natural swarming; that is, it should be performed at the same time of the year, and when the populous state of the hive makes a division desirable. This is easily known to be the case when bees hang out in clusters at the entrance, wasting their time in enforced idleness instead of being abroad gathering honey. It is also necessary that there should be drones about at the date chosen.
When such is the state of the hive, the advantages of movable-frame hives are strikingly manifested. With the others the bees will often persist in wasting their time as just stated when a swarm would put all to rights; while they are often just as awkward the other way and will send out swarm after swarm which the strength of the hive cannot spare and which in themselves are unable to form colonies capable of self-support and of repelling robber bees. The great expenditure of time and labour by the bee-keeper, with the fear that after all the swarm may come off at a time when he is absent, and thus be perhaps lost, are additional objections to depending upon the natural process. An apiarian may if he pleases give the bees their chance, and then if they do not swarm readily he may resort to artificial means. But if he wishes to dispense with the former altogether he will have to adopt measures of prevention against it, as his forced colony must not be procured till the proper time of natural swarming. Some clip the wings of the queen, which seems a clumsy proceeding at the best—though recommended by high authorities from Virgil to Langstroth—as the royal mother may still wander forth and thus fall to the ground and be lost. Others block the entrance of the hive with some obstruction which only workers can pass, by which means the drones will also be kept at home. If this be the method pursued care must be taken that the obstructions are removed both after sunset and before sunrise to permit of the dragging out of the bodies of such as have fallen among the hourly victims of the gathering season.
The best time for performing the operation is about ten o'clock in the morning of a fine summer's day. The following directions should be carried out: Place ready a counter or bench that is firm and strong, and which has space on it for the inhabited—or, rather, the over-inhabited—frame hive, and the empty one, which is about to be made the receptacle of a separate stock. The operator, attired in his bee dress, and having the other appliances ready, may now open the hive[26] (as described at [page 270]), and proceed to take out the frames, carefully examining both sides of each comb to find the queen:[27] she is generally in the centre of the hive, so that it is not always needful to take out every one of the frames. As these are examined they may be put into the empty hive, and when the object of the bee-master's search is found he must carefully remove the frame containing her majesty, and may place it temporarily in the empty hive, at one end by itself, or he may make use of the bar-frame holder ([Chap. IV. § xi.]). Next he must proceed to put the frames back into the old hive, closing up the vacancy caused by the removal of the comb with the queen on it, and leave the empty frame at the end. Then he may place the frame containing the queen, with the few bees that may be upon it, in the centre of the empty hive; and, finally, putting all the other empty frames in, and replacing the lid, he will place this hive in the exact position occupied by the old stock. The bees that are on the' wing will go to the old spot, and, finding the queen there, they will rally round her, and if a time is chosen when a large number are abroad, they will on their return very soon form a sufficient number to constitute a swarm; comb-building will at once begin, the frames will, in a week or so, be filled, and a satisfactory stock will thus be established.
[26] Bees are apt to take the interference more quietly if the stock is moved a little distance from its accustomed Stand; in such case, put an empty hive in its place, to amuse returning bees. These can be shaken out when the hive it is desired they should inhabit is restored. If this is kept in a closed bee-house the entrance should be shut down until the hive is replaced, when the clustered bees may be at once admitted.
[27] Italian queens are more easily detected, being of a brighter colour, and, generally, larger than English queens.
This operation we once performed—exactly as described above except that there was no frame-extracting—with one of our improved cottage hives. Whilst inspecting our bees we caught sight of the queen on the comb in one of the bell glasses. This was a chance not to be missed, and we immediately resolved to form an artificial swarm, for the hive was very full of bees. Besides, being obliged to be away from the apiary most of the week, we were glad of the opportunity of so easily establishing a colony without the uncertainty and trouble of hiving a natural swarm. In the first place we slid a tin under the bell glass, and, removing the stock hive from underneath, we took it a few feet away; then we placed an empty improved cottage hive where the old stock had stood, and put the glass of comb containing the queen and a few bees over one of the holes in the crown of this new empty hive. The bees that were left abroad belonging to the old stock returned as usual to their old entrance as they supposed; soon a sufficient number formed a large cluster in the hive and began comb-building, the queen remaining in the glass until the cells below were sufficiently numerous for her to deposit her eggs in them. The experiment answered exceedingly well. Both hives prospered: the old hive either had some princesses coming forward to supply the loss of the queen, or the bees used the power that they possess of raising a queen from worker brood in the manner we have previously described ([page 16]).
The foregoing account illustrates the successful formation of an artificial swarm; but, with a cottage hive, gaining possession of the queen is on this method quite a matter of chance. With a movable-frame hive she can at any suitable time be found.
Precisely the same plan is to be adopted with the old stock in the frame hive as we have described in the case of the cottage, that is, to remove it some few paces off: when the hives are in a bee-house a similar result may be obtained by placing the new swarm for a day or two so as to be reached by the same entrance as the old stock, and the latter may be removed to one close by. Some apiarians recommend that a space be left between the two hives, by arranging them on the right and left of the old entrance, in order that too large a proportion of bees should not enter the new hive at the old position, to the impoverishment of the other. But we have found the mode adopted with the cottage hive answer so well that we see no reason for recommending any different plan.
It is the office of the bee-master to assist, not in the least degree to oppose, Nature. We know that when a natural swarm issues forth it has its queen, and when located in a new abode it commences building worker combs, leaving the building of the few requisite drone combs to a later period. But if a division of the hive should be made, by putting half the combs in one hive and half in another, the hive that is either queenless or contains an embryo queen will busy itself with building only drone comb (see [page 17]); thus a number of receptacles for useless bees are provided, while all the time the colony is rapidly dying off from the wear-and-tear of the working season.
In the plan we have recommended for forming two separate families we nearly follow the natural course of things; the comb that the queen is upon is the only one that is taken from the hive, and this vacancy should be filled in by moving the frames together, so as to leave the empty frame at the end. The swarm under the government of the queen construct the combs, and furnish their new abode, as before stated, with worker cells. By adopting the plan above described, the movable-frame hive will prove far superior to any of the dividing-hives, which provide for equal division of the combs.
There are, however, quite a host of other modes of procedure more or less varied from the above, and their number is doubtless capable of almost unlimited extension. Mr. Langstroth, in the tenth chapter of his "Honey Bee," describes a considerable variety of them, nearly all of which are accomplished wholly or in part by the process of driving. The following he particularly recommends as approaching nearest of any to natural swarming. Two hives exactly alike are placed one above the other with their entrances different ways; they have holes made through their floor-boards to allow of communication from the crown-board of whichever for the time occupies the lower position. Free passage being thus given from one to the other, a number of the young bees will use the upper entrance. After some ten days a swarm is driven from the lower and received into the upper, upon which the positions of the hives are reversed, the forced swarm being put below. Most of the mature bees will unite with the swarm from association with the lower entrance; but the young ones which have habituated themselves to the upper one will now cling to the parent stock and form a sufficient strength to keep it properly going. In the course of a few days the upper hive may be placed by the side of the lower, and then, by successive short steps, removed to any other part of the apiary. If it was found that either hive was too weak the positions should be again reversed.
When driving is the method resorted to, it becomes absolutely essential, in forcing a swarm, that the queen should go with the new colony; but on the other hand it is not in this case the object to drive all the bees from the parent stock, but to leave, say, a quarter to preserve warmth for the brood and to raise a new queen. If therefore the queen is not observed in the ascent of the bees after the drumming, those in the swarm must be turned and shaken over in the skep in order to find her (they will not attempt to fly, but only crawl). An inexperienced eye may still fail to detect her, and in that case it will be best to set both hives upon stands for a short time—the new one on the old stand and the old on some other—when within half an hour the one which is fairly quiet may be judged to be possessed of the royal presence. Should this be the old hive it must be again drummed, or the swarm may be returned to it and the operation renewed on a following day. It is, however, only with skep hives that any difficulty of this kind need be apprehended—there is always the power of capturing and transferring the queen from movable frames. When at last she is in the desired hive the swarm is secured, and the after measures depend on the number of bees that have accompanied her. If the stock retains one-half it may be moved to a new position and the swarm take its place upon the old stand. Whichever occupies this latter post will detach largely from the strength of the other, so that the reduction undergone by the parent stock will not be more than it will probably be able to sustain.
As detailed in the above article on "Driving" ([page 226]), there is a third hive made use of in this case, which has received the bees that returned home during the operation, and these are now added to whichever hive may most require them. Should too many have gone over with the swarm, this latter may be taken away and set in a cool airy place, while the old hive is carefully restored to its old stand, when the bees which were distractedly flitting in and out of the third hive will at once rush into it, and the impression made upon them by the occurrence will be such that they will now cling to it wherever it is placed. It must be forthwith removed to its intended permanent position, but if still short of bees this must be close at hand, so that if the forced swarm is kept where it is for a day or two a good number may desert to the old stock; its entrance should be closed until sunset as a precaution against robbers, but not so as to stop ventilation. The forced swarm, if not in their permanent hive, must now be treated as an ordinary transfer, and their fixed abode be brought in the evening to the old stand. Some additional covering may be needed at first, and in very cool weather the operation should not be attempted at all. There is no fear of all the bees deserting in the arrangement just suggested, and if inconvenient to complete the operation at once the swarm may be so left, even if there appears no need on account of the old stock.
The process of driving is the only method of obtaining artificial swarms from cottage hives, except in such rare cases of good fortune as the one mentioned on [page 236]; but even with frame hives it is often practised for the sake of its rapidity. But with an experienced operator the same result can be achieved by simply taking out the frames one by one and jerking off the bees on to the sheet in front of the new permanent hive; that on which the queen is found will be inserted therein just as it is—queen, brood, and workers. If the swarm is being collected in a skep the queen must be taken with the fingers and deposited therein, while the bees from as many frames as are needful must be shaken in after her.
There is sometimes a doubt whether a hive is strong enough to yield a swarm, though apparently overstocked. In such cases there is an excellent plan, devised by Mr. Langstroth and strongly approved by Mr. Cheshire, for obtaining a single swarm out of two hives. On a suitable morning, when large numbers are upon the wing, drum a strong stock till every bee has left it. Place the forced swarm on the old stand: this of course consists of bees in an unfurnished hive, while the old hive has lost all its bees, but retains its brood. Remove this hive to the stand of another strong stock, the hive of which goes to a third spot with the bees inside it at the time. Those of this last which were upon the wing will enter and remain with the first hive and raise a new queen; while sufficient will be transferred with the second stock hive to protect its brood also. Thus the first stock gives no bees to the swarm, but the whole of its brood; the second gives the larger half of its bees. If frame hives are the ones used, the shaking process of the last paragraph may be substituted for drumming; but as it may not be possible to shake off every bee without damaging the combs, a goose wing should be employed to brush off the more tenacious of the occupants.
Other modifications consist in either obtaining one swarm out of four or five hives, or else one less than their own number out of the same. For the former (frame hives) two combs may be taken from each and placed in a new hive, which is then set upon the stand of some strong stock. For the latter, a swarm is forced, after or before working hours, from each of these hives, while another swarm, that has been procured from some bee-keeper a mile or two off, and has been kept in a cool place, is now shaken on to a sheet, sprinkled to keep it from taking wing, and softly scooped up with a saucer and divided equally or as required among the hives that have yielded the swarms. The distance that these bees have come will prevent them from returning to their own home.