Fig. 67.—Hiving a swarm. (Original—from photograph.)
When a swarm has fairly settled it is best to hive it as soon as possible, lest others coming out may join it, occasioning a loss of queens, and sometimes of bees, or much trouble in separating them. The operation of hiving may appear very formidable to the novice and attended with great risks, but a little experience will dispel such apprehensions. The bees before swarming usually fill their sacs with honey and are quite peaceable, so that by the use of a little smoke in hiving there is seldom any difficulty. But to be doubly sure the novice should sprinkle sweetened water over the cluster, and at the same time wear a veil to protect his face. Of course, the hive has been ready for some time and has been standing in the shade so it will not be heated. If the cluster should be on a small limb which can be readily cut off, it can be laid down in front of the new hive, which should have a full-width entrance or be raised up in front. The bees will go trooping in, but if not fast enough gentle urging of the rear guard with a feather will hasten matters. If the bees have clustered on a branch which it is desirable to preserve, yet where the hive can conveniently be placed directly under the cluster and close to it, the swarm may be shaken into the hive at once ([fig. 67]); or the hive may be located on the stand it is to occupy and the bees shaken into a large basket or into a regular swarm catcher and poured in front of the hive. If the cluster is on the body of the tree it will be necessary to place the hive near and smoke or brush the bees into it. They will go up more readily than down, and may often be dipped with a small tin dipper or a wooden spoon and poured in front of the hive. Whatever plan be pursued, expedition is advisable, and it is best before leaving them to see that nearly all of the bees are inside of the hive: at least no clusters, however small, should be left on the tree, as the queen might be among those left behind, in which case the swarm would desert the new hive and return to the tree or go wherever the queen had settled, or, failing to find her, would return to the hive whence they had issued, unless meanwhile some other swarm should issue, which they would be likely to join. A few bees flying about or crawling excitedly over the spot from which the main part of the swarm has been removed need not be heeded. They will find their way back to the stand from which they came. As soon as the swarm is fairly within the new hive the latter should be carried to its permanent stand, and well shaded and ventilated. It is better policy, however, to place the hive containing the first swarm on the stand of the parent colony at once, removing the latter to a new location. The new swarm, having the old queen, with nearly all of the flight bees, will be in prime condition for storing honey, so that supers may be placed on it as soon as it has made a fair start in its new home—that is, on the second or third day after the swarm was hived. If there are uncompleted supers on the parent colony which has been removed, they should be lifted over to the new hive on the second or third day, as the parent colony, having parted with so many of its workers, will not be able to store at once. But the new swarm, placed in a clean hive with starters only, will be in shape to store in sections at once and produce the whitest combs and honey which the source of the yield will permit.
CLIPPING QUEENS.
To prevent swarms from absconding and to facilitate the work of hiving them, as well as to keep track more easily of the ages of queens, many persons prefer to clip the wings of their queens as soon as mated. The first season one of the large or primary wings is clipped half away; at the opening of the second season the Other large wing, and the third season an additional clip is taken from one of the large wings, and with it a portion of one of the secondary or smaller wings. With finely pointed scissors this operation can be performed while the queen is loose on the combs, but there is much danger of clipping one or more of her legs also. If she be caught by her wings with the thumb and first finger of the right hand, and then grasped by the thorax with the thumb and first two fingers of the left hand, her wings can easily be reached with the scissors. It will not do to grasp the queen by the abdomen? and of course there should be but little pressure exerted on the thorax. There are some objections against clipping. The queens, being unable to fly, are liable to get lost in the grass or stray into the wrong hives when they swarm during the absence of the attendant. They certainly look unsightly when thus maimed, and occasionally the bees are more disposed to replace such queens than unmutilated ones. It is of course preferable to lose one of these occasionally rather than the whole swarm. When the queen is clipped the operation of hiving is very easy if the bee keeper is on hand to catch the queen as she falls from the entrance to the ground. When the swarm is fairly out and while the bees are still circling in the air an empty hive should be set in place of the one from which the swarm has issued. The bees, missing their queen, will soon begin to return to their old location and will shortly crowd the entrance of the new hive. When about one-fourth have entered the queen may be allowed to run in, and the treatment will then not be different from that given any newly hived swarm.
AUTOMATIC HIVERS.
Thus far the automatic hivers have been only partially successful, so that the experimental stage has not yet been passed; but the practical perfection of such a device is looked forward to with considerable confidence.
PREVENTION OF AFTER-SWARMING.
The parent colony, removed from its old hive as soon as the first swarm issues, will rarely cast a second swarm, especially if a young queen is at hand to be introduced within a day or two. The surplus queen cells are likely to be destroyed by this young queen, with the assistance of the workers. A laying queen will be readily accepted by a colony which by swarming and removal has lost its old bees, and ten to fifteen days will be gained in the production of brood. Unless increase is especially desired it is best to limit it in this way to first swarms. If still less increase is wanted, methods which will be referred to later may be followed to prevent swarming as far as possible, and such chance swarms as do issue may be returned to the parent hive. If the queens are two or more years old, they may in most instances be profitably destroyed at this time and young ones introduced from nuclei; but whether introducing young queens or returning the swarm with its old queen, great care must be taken to destroy every queen cell, otherwise the introduced queen may be killed or the swarm may again issue. If, however, no young queen is at hand and it is desirable to replace the old queen, all cells but one may be destroyed, but this must on no account be jarred or dented. The danger of overlooking a cell where the hive is crowded with bees makes this method somewhat uncertain: moreover, when the bees have once got the "swarming fever" they may swarm again without preparation in the way of queen cells. It is also very troublesome to remove supers to get at the brood combs. These difficulties will induce many who may wish to limit the number of their colonies to prefer hiving the swarms on starters of foundation on the old stands and giving them the supers, while the parent colonies are placed near them with entrances turned away for a few days. The flight bees return, of course, to the old stand. The parent colony should be turned a little each day so as to bring it in five or six days side by side with the hive containing the swarm, which is on the old stand, and make its front face in the same way. By lifting it a day or so later, while the young bees are flying, over to the opposite side of the old stand and turning its entrance away from that of the hive on this stand, the bees that are flying, as well as those that have marked their last location, will join the swarm: and if the same operation be repeated at the end of another week most of the remaining bees will find their way within a day or two into the hive on the old stand. About this time—that is, some fifteen or sixteen days after the issuance of the first swarm—the young queen will commence laying and may be put in place of the old one which issued with the swarm. If honey is still coming in, the young queen, with accompanying bees, may usually be safely introduced at this time by shaking them in front of the hive from which the queen has been removed, both lots of bees having been smoked beforehand so as to get them to fill themselves with honey: or the two combs between which the queen is found may be lifted, with adhering bees, and placed in the center of the colony to which the queen is to be given. Before doing this it is best to smoke the latter pretty thoroughly, and if two of the brood combs from this hive have been removed a few hours before and placed, after their bees have been shaken off, in the colony to be united, and all other combs taken away from the latter, the bees, with their queen, will be clustered on these brood combs, and they may be lifted up without disturbance and placed in the middle of the other hive, whose supers and cover are to be put in place at once and the bees left to quiet down and resume storing. Under these circumstances the loss of a queen will be very rare: nevertheless, in the case of an exceptionally valuable one, cages and other methods are advisable. (See Chapter IX.)
ARTIFICIAL INCREASE.
The time lost in watching for swarms and hiving them, the occasional losses of swarms, and the vexations attendant upon their issuance, such as their clustering in tall trees, uniting and killing queens, and the delay in their swarming when the time has come for it, have led bee keepers to devise methods which would save their time and avoid as far as possible the uncertainties connected with this feature of their work. Where increase is desired the question is one of considerable importance. In the more northern States, where the main honey yield comes on suddenly and is abundant for a short period only, and swarming is confined mainly to a period of four to six weeks, or even to three weeks if the colonies are of pretty uniform strength, this question has less weight; but farther south, where the yield is more prolonged and the period during which swarms are liable to issue is sometimes extended over three or four months, it is of considerable moment, and the bee master who intends to multiply the number of his colonies will do well to follow some good system of control.