Bee Keeping for Profit. A New System of Bee Management (1891) / Third Edition.

by Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton

Now the bees are to be hived, and we will see how it is done in the old way.

The bees in this case have clustered on a limb of a valuable pear tree. "Very sorry they have pitched there," says a man of perfect knowledge in bee-keeping,' "I dislike to injure that tree, but there is no help for it."

But first a hive must be prepared. It is not quite ready. (This is bad management.) It must be washed out thoroughly on the inside with salt and water, and rubbed over with some sweet scented herbs. A bottom board must be got ready, etc., etc. At last the hive is ready. Now this wise bee-keeper places a table near where the swarm clustered, sets his hive on the table, raises one edge four or six inches, takes his saw—Oh, it is a pity to cut that nice limb full of fruit from the pear tree, but it must be done, thinks this man of perfection in bee management.

He grasps the limb firmly near the cluster of bees. They are very cross and uneasy. They have been clustered an hour or more, while he has been getting his hive ready. He saws of!' the limb on which the bees are hanging, and places it carefully, with the bees adhering, on the table, by the side of the hive, covers all very nicely with a clean sheet, and leaves them alone to enter the hive. At about sunset he will place the hive with the bees in it on the stand it is to occupy.

At the time designated (about sunset) he goes out to his hive on the table. It has been a very hot afternoon, and the hive was where it received the full force of the sun's rays. He carefully raises the sheet. There is the limb on which the bees clustered—but where are the bees? they are not on the limb! Why, in the hive, of course. That is where he expected to find them. He peeps carefully under the hive to see how they are getting along, but astonishment is depicted on his countenance when he discovers that his hive is empty. His bees have left for other parts beyond his knowledge. He tries to think of some reason why the bees have gone, and seeks to lay the blame upon the hive. "Oh!" he says, "I guess they did not like the hive, but I guess I shall have better luck next time."

To a progressive bee-keeper, one who has correct and practical knowledge of the natural habits of bees, it is very plain why they left. They were actually driven away by mismanagement. The heat of the sun pouring down upon them was enough of itself to drive them off. Then placing the limb, with the cluster adhering to it, on the table near the hive, showed lack of knowledge of the natural habits of bees. The hive might as well have been in the house, as placed where it was. Then an hour or more taken to get the hive ready, gave the bees time to send out their scouts, to look up a location of their own, and when these scouts returned, they left with them for a new home. I contend every swarm does this, viz: They swarm out of the old parent stock, led by the old queen. They cluster on some object, as a tree, bush or vine, near the old home. Then they immediately send out a few bees or scouts to look up a new home. These scouts may be gone a longer or shorter time. When they return, if they find the bees clustered where they were when they left, they soon lead them off to the new quarters, but if before the scouts are sent out or before they return, the swarm is hived and placed on the stand it is to occupy, then the swarm will not leave, for the scouts know not where to find them, or if they should find them, the bees would seldom leave a good clean hive, for a home in the woods. These scouts may often be seen playing about the place where a swarm has clustered, for several days after the swarm has been hived.

Had this bee-keeper placed his hive on the table, as soon as the bees were clustered, and raised the front edge one inch, instead of four or six inches, and then, instead of cutting off the limb, if he had taken a basket or pan, placed it beneath the cluster of bees, and by a sudden jar of the limb dislodged them from it into the basket or pan, then emptied them down in front of the hive and sprinkled lightly with a little water, at the same time disturbing them gently with a quill or light brush so they would not collect around and block up the entrance except a very few that may be flying in the air (and these will return to the old hive) in this way getting them all into the hive, and immediately carrying it to the stand it was to occupy, covering it with a board to shade it from the hot rays of the sun, or placing it in the shade of a tree—he would have saved his bees, the damage to his pear tree, and much perplexity.

By the old methods of managing bees, there was no means of knowing when to expect swarms; consequently the bees were sometimes watched all summer, in expectation of swarms any pleasant day, as outside indications were favorable for them; yet they would often adhere to the old hive throughout the entire summer.

With the Controllable Hive and New System of Bee Management, as shown in this work, swarming is brought completely under the control of the bee-keeper. It is well for him to understand correctly what are the requisites and preparations for natural swarming by the bees, when left to themselves in a natural state. They are as follows: The bees must be obtaining honey freely, either from flowers, or from feed supplied them. The combs must be filled with brood in all stages of growth, from the egg just deposited in the cell, to the perfect bee just emerging. (And from this bee-keepers will note what conditions are required at the time swarms are forced, as recommended in my plan.) When this condition of affairs is reached, the bees construct queen cells, (that is if they decide to swarm; they will do as they like about it, if left entirely to themselves,) from which in about sixteen days the queen will hatch, unless the bees should change their intentions, and decide not to swarm, and destroy all the queen cells. Remember, they are having it all their own way. When these cells are sealed over and finished is the time (if everything is favorable) when the first swarm leaves, led off by the old queen. Some of the most reliable works on bees have taught that the queen cells must be half finished before the queen will deposit the egg that is to produce the queen; but this I find by close observation is a mistake; for if you take the queen away from a stock, with no queen cells in any stage of formation in the hive, the bees will rear a queen from a worker egg, deposited in an ordinary worker cell. And who shall say they do not do this when the queen is present? I am satisfied they do.

Thus we see in natural swarming, with the bees left to themselves, the old queen leaves with the first swarm at about the time the queen cells, are sealed over and finished, which is about eight days before the young queens hatch.