The first thing to do is to loosen the crown board or lid with a knife, drawing a piece of string underneath it to divide the wax or cement with which the bees make all secure. This string should be drawn through very slowly, so as not to irritate the bees. In hot weather, the crown board may be loosened by a lateral movement; but sometimes, for want of care, this loosening of the lid disturbs the bees, and as soon as it is removed, a number of them, enraged thereby, pour out and attack the operator. This and all other operations ought be done very carefully and gently; especial care should be taken not to prise the lid upwards, by way of wrenching it off, for the frames and combs are generally secured thereto, and there is a liability of rending the combs with it; this will greatly irritate the bees, and be otherwise injurious. When a hive of bees is enraged, there is little chance of pacifying them; it is best, under such circumstances to 'give in' at once, and not attempt to perform any operation, but to shut the hive up and beat a retreat, benefiting by the experience so as to do better in a day or so afterwards. There are various devices for intimidating or conciliating the bees, and one of these already spoken of is—smoke. So next time the experimenter makes his attempt let bill! raise the lid an inch or so, and blow a few puffs of smoke into the hive, which will cause the bees to retreat. This is best done by using our No. 12 fumigator, with a little of the prepared fungus lighted. Pipes or cigars are not convenient to use for this purpose when the head is enveloped in the dress. As soon as the lid is removed, a few bees will fly out to learn the cause of such an interference. Conciliation should then be introduced by having at hand a little sweetened water, which may be sprinkled, or rather let drop from a feather or brush. The sudden motion of the hand required in the act of sprinkling irritates the bees, so that instead of making them our friends, they may become our foes. Mr. Langstroth recommends that a fine watering pot filled with sweetened water, be used for the purpose. Care must be taken not to drench the bees; only just sufficient should be given to run down the sides of the combs as well as sprinkling the top. As soon as the bees really understand that syrup is being given them, they feast upon it instead of angrily attacking the operator. Thus pacified, and with gentle treatment, but little difficulty will be found in proceeding with the work required. But the unskilled operator should on no account neglect to put on a bee-dress and gloves as described above. We would err on the side of caution, although there is an old saying that "a cat in gloves catches no mice," and the apiarian will find that his fingers are not so free to work as he would like, for gloves make them rather clumsy in drawing up the frames.
The frames must now be gently prised from front to rear; this may be done with a small screw-driver or other stout instrument with a wedged end to go into the notches. The frames fit loosely so as to allow of a little movement from back to front; a lateral or side-way movement might kill the queen; or if not so fatal as that, might crush some of the bees and injure the brood combs, and must be carefully avoided. It, of course, depends upon what the operation is that has to be performed whether or no all the frames should be thus loosened. If it be for making artificial swarms, or for any purpose requiring an interview with her majesty, the whole of them must be loosened, because it often happens that all the combs have to be examined, sometimes twice over, before she can be discovered. Bees are very apt to build their combs in a slightly waving form, and in extracting one it will be needful to make room both for the comb and bees upon it to pass without scraping the next comb, and there will be a difficulty if the apiarian attempts to draw out one comb whilst the other frames are located in their appropriate notches. Let the operator gently proceed to lift say the third frame (allowing it to lodge on the little block that divides the notches) a little nearer to the fourth frame, and the second nearer the third, so as to admit of sufficient space to lift out the end one. Very carefully and slowly he should lift the frame by taking hold with thumb and finger of the projecting shoulders that rest in the notch; and he must not let it touch or scrape the next frame or the sides of the hive so as to crush or irritate any bees.
After the end comb is thus removed, it will be easy to extract the others, as there will now be plenty of room for drawing them out. A hive of exactly the same size should be at hand; and in case it be desired to remove the combs and bees into another hive, care should be taken that each comb occupies the same relative position that it did in the old hive.
In handling the frames, bear in mind that they are to be held perpendicularly. To gain a view of both sides of the comb when searching for the queen, or for any purpose requiring full inspection, with a little dexterity in twirling the frame round, the reverse side may be brought to face the operator, without letting the comb break away by its own weight and so fall out of the frame, which it will do if allowed to deviate from its upright or downright position. If the operator could see an experienced person perform the operation, he would quickly understand how combs may thus be handled without any risk of a smash.
When placing frames in the hive, care must be taken not to crush a bee between the projecting shoulders of the frame and the rabbets or notches on which they rest, and on no account must the frame be let down with a jerk, or the bees will become exceedingly fierce: the frame should be so slowly deposited in its place that a bee on feeling the slightest pressure may have the opportunity of escaping unhurt thereby. The crown board should be replaced by first resting its front edge in its place, and then slowly lowering the after part, looking carefully under, and momentarily raising it when necessary to avoid crushing a bee. Should the hive have its super on, the same directions may be followed. The super with its honey board may be bodily taken away, and so placed and confined for a time that robber bees cannot find an entrance, and also be far enough from the apiarian to be out of danger of being broken or overturned by him.
Advantages of Bar and Frame Hives.—It will be asked why all this trouble about bar and frames with straight combs built upon them? We have shown the full command which the bee-keeper has over a hive so constituted, and we now proceed to show how in skilful hands these advantages may be used successfully; though, in the hands of the unpractised and unskilful the contrary may be the result.
All the bars and frames in an apiary ought to be of precisely the same dimensions, so as to fit every hive. This is essential for the strengthening of weak hives. A hive that is weakly may often be advantageously strengthened by having put into it a comb of brood from a populous stock, to which an empty frame from the weak one may be given; no bees must be on the brood-comb—these should be shaken off or gently dislodged with a feather into the hive from which the comb is taken. The frames of the hive from which the comb has been taken, should be, one by one, placed so as to fill in the vacancy, leaving the empty frame nearest the side. When a hive has been in use many years, the combs become very black, and every bee that is bred in a cell leaves a film behind. It may be understood how in this way the cells become contracted, so that the bees that are bred in them are correspondingly reduced in size. After the lapse of say five years, it may be necessary to begin to remove the old combs. This may be done by cutting away the comb or by substituting an empty frame for one with old black comb, gradually moving the frames towards each other. By taking two away in this manner in the spring or summer of every season, the combs in course of five years may all be reconstructed and fresh clean ones be secured for breeding in, instead of the old black ones that otherwise would remain as long as the stock could live in the hive.
Artificial Swarming.—Every bee-keeper knows the anxiety there is in watching and expecting a swarm to come forth, fearful lest his favorites 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, with the moveable frames, this work of nature may be assisted—we say 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 the hive contain drones.
An empty hive should be placed on the stand when the living hive is removed, for the purpose of amusing returning bees. If the hive is kept in a bee-house, the entrance should be shut down unto the hive is restored, when the clustered bees may be at once admitted.
When such is the state of the hive, the facility of forming an artificial swarm with a moveable frame hive is a decided advantage. 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 having on bee-dress and the other appliances ready, may now open the hive as before described, and proceed to take out the frames, carefully examining both sides of each comb to find the queen: she is generally in the centre of the hive, so that it is not always needful to take out all the ten frames. As they are examined, the frames 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. 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; then putting all the other frames in, and replacing the lid, the bee-master 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 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. By doing this at the right time, just before the bees are about to swarm, or when there are many drones, all the trouble of watching and waiting for them is saved. Mr. Woodbury claims the honour of having originated this mode of artificial swarming; subsequently Mr. Langstroth and others have described a similar process, no doubt originally, as far as they knew, therefore still more useful to us as a confirmation of the value of Mr. Woodbury's discovery.