258 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



for small apiaries of, say, less than 50 colonies, 

 it will not pay to spend valuable time watching 

 for swarms, especially in poor seasons; neither 

 will it pay to let them go to the woods. In the 

 large apiaries and out-yards the swarming sea- 

 son is usually a time of great anxiety and loss. 

 Even if one has all his time free to look after 

 the swarms, and every thing ready to do the 

 hiving, it is usually hard hot work; and losses 

 by doubling up and absconding are not always 

 avoided. 



Now, as the swarming season will soon be 

 here again, the question is, no doubt, puzzling 

 a good many — " How are we to control swarm- 

 ing?" Of all the many methods suggested of 

 late years, the drone and queen trap method is, 

 perhaps, the simplest and most satisfactory, so 

 far as generally known. What is easier than 

 putting the traps on the hives on the approach 

 of the swarming season, and, when a swarm 

 issues from one of them, simply putting an 

 empty hive in its place, attaching the trap 

 with the queen in it, and allowing the swarm 

 to return when they please? There is no 

 danger of the swarm absconding or doubling 

 up with others as long as you trap all the 

 queens. Should no one see the swarm it makes 

 little difference, as the bee-keeper can easily 

 determine any time, within two or three days, 

 what hives have been swarming out, by finding 

 a handful of bees with the queen in the trap, 

 and fixing them up as desired. Surely this 

 beats climbing trees, or running up and down 

 the apiary with swarm-catchers, a la B. Taylor, 

 all to pieces. 



But why not carry this idea out further, and 

 let the bees hive themselves? But how is this 

 to be done? is the question I have studied for 

 several years. Last year, and the one before, I 

 described my devices that had proved partially 

 successful; but the season developed serious 

 defects. When the weather became hot, the 

 strong colonies would crowd through the wood- 

 zinc boards under the empty hives, and take 

 possession and build comb there. This made it 

 difficult to tell when a hive had actually 

 swarmed, and it interfered too much with the 

 work in the sections. Then, again, a hive 

 would swarm ; and when I supposed them 

 nicely hived they would all go back through 

 the board to their old home, except, perhaps, a 

 handful or so, with the queen. To overcome 

 these difficulties I substituted a solid board, 

 except 4 inches of wire cloth at the rear end, to 

 afford ventilation to the old hive, for the wood- 

 zinc board. This worked ail right; and when 

 a swarm issued I would cut off the old entrance, 

 and every bee would go into the new hive, 

 where the queen was trapped, awaiting their 

 return. When not present to cut off the direct 

 entrance I would get only a part of the swarra; 

 but I could always tell what hives had swarm- 

 ed by looking in at the top, as the new hives are 

 so cut off that the bees never take possession 



without swarming. When I found these self- 

 hived small swarms I had but to cut off the 

 direct entrance to the old hive, to throw as 

 many workers as wanted into the new one. 



But now another difficulty appeared. When 

 all the entrance was cut off, except through the 

 bee-escape cones, from the old hive, the re- 

 maining bees would become alarmed, and com- 

 mence in a day or two to destroy all their un- 

 sealed brood. This may be caused by their in- 

 ability to get water, as bees never return when 

 once through the escapes. I now leave an inch 

 or so through the lower perforations, so that 

 some bees can work from the old hive. At first 

 I was a good deal puzzled to account for the 

 small number of bees, and entire absence of 

 brood in the old hive at the end of 10 or 12 days. 

 I found invariably that, when cut off so that 

 no bees could return, the unsealed brood would 

 be destroyed. This, perhaps, explains the 

 failure of such devices as the Langdon non- 

 swarmer. I found that about 8 to 10 days was 

 long enough to leave the old hive to boom the 

 new, after hiving the swarm. If the surplus- 

 cases are changed to the new hive at once, the 

 work goes on with little interruption. 



It has been urged against self-hivers, that 

 the work and expense of preparing so many 

 hives with foundation, in a large apiary, was 

 too much work and bother. It is not necessary 

 to prepare hives any faster than bees are 

 ready to occupy them. As soon as I suspect 

 there will be swarms soon, I put the queen-traps 

 on all the strong colonies, and keep adding 

 more as I have time. Now, as soon as a swarm 

 issues from one of these hives I allow them to 

 return once. This shows where an empty hive 

 to receive the swarm is needed. I usually 

 mark these hives, and fix them up during the 

 day or evening, as I find time. When they 

 again swarm out the next day or so, I simply 

 place at the entrance a square stick, and fasten 

 by a tack or two, to keep the bees from pushing 

 it away, thus cutting off the old entrance, and 

 compelling all the bees to go into the new hive. 

 It seems to me it would be difficult to manage 

 swarming more easily or more surely. Cer- 

 tainly it beats swarm-catchers, where one 

 must be constantly on the watch, and generally 

 on the jump, or cutting off limbs from valuable 

 fruit-trees, and hanging them in holes dug in 

 the ground " big as a barrel," to keep the 

 swarms from doubling up. 



I want to say, I do not claim that my device 

 is entirely perfect, and I have no hivers for 

 sale. Of course, in all such devices one must 

 use a good deal of common sense. I do not be- 

 lieve that a "you press the bottom and we do 

 the rest" hiver will ever be invented. The 

 truth is, bees act very differently one season 

 from another. I do know, however, that the 

 idea is entirely practicable, and will soon come 

 into general use. 



Milan, III. 



