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, with the movable 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.
When such, is, the state of the hive, the facility of affording an artificial swarm with a movable 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, attired in his bee-dress, and having the other appliances ready, may now open the hive[17] as before described, and proceed to take out the frames, carefully examining both sides of each comb to find the queen;[18] 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 maybe upon it, in the centre of the empty hive; and, finally, 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 swarming.
[17] Bees are apt to take the interference more kindly if the stock be moved a little distance from its accustomed stand; in such case, place 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 the hive be 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.
[18] Italian queens are more easily detected, being of a brighter colour and, generally, larger than English queens.
This operation we performed, exactly as described above, with one of our improved cottage-hives, one afternoon at the latter end of May, 1862. 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 division 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 a power that they possess of raising a queen from worker-brood in the manner we have previously described.[19]
The foregoing account illustrates the successful formation of an artificial swarm; but, with a cottage-hive, gaining possession of the queen is 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-hive, 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 to the entrance used by the bees when with the old stock, and the old stock may be removed to an approximate entrance. Some apiarians recommend that a space be left between the two hives, by placing the hives 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 impregnated queen, and, when located in a new abode, it commences building worker-combs, leaving the building of the few 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; thus a number of receptacles for useless bees is provided, which tends to weakness, and eventually to loss of the hive.