Should the bees cluster on some large tree or other out of the way place, the manner of hiving must be varied. Set your hive near by with a wide board in front to keep the bees out of the grass and dirt. Arrange the hive as before directed. If the bees are clustered on a small limb, high above your reach, secure a basket to a pole, and raise it directly beneath the cluster. Dislodge the bees from their position, when they will fall directly into the basket, which you should take down quickly and shake the bees from it down to the entrance to the hive, and proceed as before. Keep the limb on which they were clustered in motion for a few minutes, to prevent their return. Should they cluster on the body of a tree, or a large limb, where they cannot be shaken off, set your hive near by, as before directed, and with a handled dipper dip them off and turn them down in front of the hive near the entrance. Dip very carefully, so as not to crush any of the bees. They will not attempt to sting if you treat them well, and prove to them that you are their friend. After you have dipped off a portion of the bees, and got them moving into the hive, if the queen is with them, they will all leave the cluster and join their companions who are entering their new home. But if the queen remains with the cluster, as soon as those entering the hive discover that she is not with them, they will leave the hive and rejoin the cluster. So it is well to keep dipping as long as you can get any of the bees, or till you are certain the bees are leaving the cluster and entering the hive of their own accord.
It sometimes happens in natural swarming, that when a swarm issues, led by the old queen, which has occupied the hive for a year or more, that she finds herself unable to fly, and drops down in front of the hive. In this case, if left to themselves, the bees, after flying about for perhaps five or ten minutes, will return to the hive from whence they came, and remain until the young queens hatch, issuing again, about the time a second swarm would have come out, or perhaps a little earlier.
If you are on hand you can prevent the swarm returning, but you must be lively. If you find the bees are flying longer than usual without clustering, and appear scattered and disorganized in their movements, look in front of the hive from which they issued, for the queen. You will probably find her within two or three feet of the hive. Put her in a tumbler, and cover closely, to prevent her escape. As soon as you find the bees have commenced to return to the old hive, set it back out of the way, and throw a sheet or some other covering over it.[6] Then set your Controllable Hive in its place, with the bottom board drawn back as directed in hiving a new swarm. Set the tumbler containing the queen over the brood section, so the confined queen can pass down into the hive, but leaving no chance for her to escape by any other way. The bees will then enter the hive readily. And as soon as all are in, which will be in a few minutes, remove the hive to a new stand and shade as directed before. Set the old stock back in its former place.
[6] If other hives are near, on each side, it will be well to throw the covering over them also, to prevent the swarm entering any other than the designed hive, as they might possibly do, if the hives were only a few feet distant.
The foregoing circumstance often happens when bees are managed on the old swarming plan, and queens that are unable to fly are usually very old. On my plan of management such cases are of rare occurrence.
Natural swarms usually issue between nine o'clock in the forenoon, and one o'clock in the afternoon. Occasionally one will issue earlier in the forenoon or later in the afternoon; but as a general rule they make their appearance between the hours specified.
Very early swarms hived in Controllable Hives should have access to the boxes on one side only. In about ten days after being hived, and as soon as the bees are well at work in these, give them access to the other side. Swarms that are hived late in the season, will not require boxes, until the next season, as it is necessary to have the brood section filled, or nearly filled, before the bees have access to the boxes.
It is important that we have the combs in the brood section built straight in the frames, so as to be easily lifted out separately. To aid in securing this object, when a swarm is first hived in a controllable hive, raise the rear of the hive four inches, by putting under it a piece of joist, having the hive perfectly level from side to side. This gives the frames a pitch forward, and will greatly aid in securing straight combs. Let the hive remain in this position for a week or ten days, then set it down level. If you have it to spare, one frame filled with comb placed in the brood section near the center will insure straight combs in the balance. If no precaution is taken in this direction, the bees will sometimes build the comb crosswise of the brood section, notwithstanding the triangular comb guides in the frames of each controllable hive. As straight combs in the brood section are very important, we should employ every available means to aid in securing them.
It is well to keep on hand a few plain boxes, each with four movable frames, like those in the controllable hive. If at any time a swarm comes out at the very last of the honey season, hive them in one of these boxes. They will probably enlarge or quite fill the four frames with comb, and perhaps store a little honey. Then, in the fall, put these four frames, with the bees and comb, in a controllable hive, and add two frames, well filled with honey, from a stock that can spare it. In this way you will build up a good stock for winter, whereas if you had hived them in a full sized controllable hive so late in the season, they would probably have put a little comb in each of the six frames, but not enough to winter, rendering it necessary for you to feed with the liquid feed in the fall. It is better to have four frames nearly or quite filled with comb, than to have six frames with a very little comb in each.
It sometimes happens that a swarm of bees, which has worked well in boxes through the entire honey season, will swarm out about the time the yield of honey ceases. If managed on the old plan, such swarms are worthless, but by hiving them in a box with four movable frames, as directed, they make valuable stocks. All such swarms may be returned to the old stock, as directed in another chapter, yet we sometimes wish to increase the number of our stocks to the utmost, and it is convenient to know how to make valuable stock of these late issues. Then they can either be returned or hived, whichever the bee keeper thinks is most for his or her interest.