5th, Hives should not be placed high, on a first or second floor, as I have sometimes seen them, unless they be completely sheltered; because the wind is less powerful near the ground than in elevated situations.
CHAPTER II.
PROPER TIME TO TRANSPORT A SWARM TO THE SITUATION DESIGNED FOR IT.
Most people who have bees allow their swarms to remain till the evening in the place where they have alighted, and do not move them to the apiary till after sunset. This method has many inconveniences, which have been already pointed out by a most judicious and experienced author. As soon as a swarm has congregated in the new hive, and seems to be at ease in it, the most industrious among the bees fly off to the fields, but with a great many precautions. They descend the front of the hive, and turn to every side, to examine it thoroughly; then take flight, and make some circles in the air, in order to reconnoitre their new abode: they do the same in returning.
If the swarm has taken flight in the morning, the same bees make several excursions during the day, and each time with less precaution, as, becoming familiarized with their dwelling, they are less afraid of mistaking it; and thus, next morning, supposing themselves in the same place, they take wing without having observed where they have spent the night, and surprised, at their return, not to find the hive in the same place, they fly about all day in search of it, until they perish with fatigue and despair. Thus, many hundreds of the most industrious labourers are lost, and this may be entirely avoided, if the swarm be removed as soon as the bees are perceived coming out, with the precautions I have mentioned. This sign alone is sufficient. Sometimes I do not even wait until all the bees clustered in front, or on the sides of the hive, are re-united to their companions in the interior, as they are never long in being so; and this plan has always fully succeeded with me.
CHAPTER III.
SITUATION OF THE HIVES OUGHT NEVER TO BE CHANGED.
I have seen people shift about their hives very inconsiderately, but change of place invariably weakens them, as the bees will return to their old residence, the environs of which are so familiar to them. A hive should remain as fixed to the spot as the ancient oaks, in the hollows of which they delight to establish themselves,—where they have their young, their companions, their beloved queen, and all their treasures. When the young bees take wing for the first time, they do it with great precaution, turning round and round, and fluttering about the entrance, to examine the hive well before taking flight. They do the same in returning, so that they may be easily distinguished, conducting themselves nearly after the same maimer as the workers of a newly hived swarm.
When they have made a few hundred excursions, they set off without examining the locality, and, returning in full flight, will know their own hive in the midst of a hundred others. But if you change its place you perplex them, much the same as you would be if, during a short absence, some one lifted your house and placed it a mile off. The poor bees return loaded, and, seeking in vain for their habitation, either fall down and perish with fatigue, or throw themselves into the neighbouring hives, where they are speedily put to death.
The following fact proves how much these precious insects are attached to place, and how far they retain the recollection of it.