1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



133 



[Concluded from last month.] 



DO BEES CHOOSE A LOCATION BEFORE 

 SWARMING? 



We have ample proof that they sometimes 

 do, but whether such is always the case or 

 not, we have no means of determining posi- 

 tively, so far as I can see. It is my opinion 

 that, although they usually do so, there are 

 many exceptions. When a swarm of bees 

 catches the fever by hearing the swarming 

 note of a neighboring colony, it seems diffi- 

 cult to understand that they could have se- 

 lected their tree, and made the same provi- 

 sion for housekeeping that the first one may 

 have done. The proof of this has been giv- 

 en many times through our journals. A 

 neighbor of ours once saw bees going in and 

 out of a tree, and supposing of course that it 

 contained a colony, went with his boys the 

 next day, and cut it down. It contained no 

 sign of a bee. While they were standing 

 still and wondering at this strange state of 

 affairs, the boys doubtless joking their fa- 

 ther about his seeing bees where there were 

 none, lo! and behold! a swarm appeared in 

 the air. They came to the very spot where 

 the now prostrate tree had stood, and seemed 

 as much astounded as a colony whose hive 

 has been moved away. After some circling 

 around, they clustered in a neighboring tree, 

 and were hived. They had selected this as 

 their home, it seems, and an advance party 

 had gone ahead the day before, to clean out 

 and fix the hollow ready for the swarm, and 

 it was these house cleaners that my friend 

 saw at work. I gave the above in Glean- 

 in* is a year or two ago, and a large number 

 of corroborating instances were furnished 

 by our readers. The number of bees that go 

 out to look up a location is not usually great, 

 but they may often be seen about swarming 

 time prowling about old hives, and hollows 

 in trees, as if they were looking for some- 

 thing. After awhile, swarms come and take 

 possession of these places, if they seem suit- 

 able, and of late, a hope has been expressed 

 through the journals, that we might take ad- 

 vantage of this disposition and fix hives so 

 attractive, that the bees will come out, se- 

 lect the "house and lot" that suits their taste 

 best, and then, when they get ready, "move 

 in." When this is accomplished, we shall 

 have automatic swarming. 



DECOY HIVES. 



Many of the friends have followed out the 

 idea given above, by locating hives in the 

 forests, in the trees, and such hives have in 

 many cases been quickly accepted and ap- 

 propriated. I believe we are indebted to Mr. 



J. II. Martin, Hartford, N. Y., for first sug- 

 gesting the idea. Hives left standing on 

 the ground in the apiary, have many times 

 been selected by swarms, and, if I am cor- 

 rect, the bees, in such cases, often come out 

 of the parent hive, and go directly to these 

 hives without clustering at all. I have sug- 

 gested, through our journal, the possibility 

 that hives could be so arranged that the 

 bees would be attracted by them, and use 

 them instead of going for the woods. When 

 this shall be successfully done, I think it 

 will be a great achievement, and even if we 

 succeed in securing only half of the run- 

 away swarms, it will be no inconsiderable 

 item. 



AUTOMATIC SW ARMING. 



From what has been said, it will not take 

 much of a jump of the imagination, to con- 

 ceive of a hive so arranged as to swarm it- 

 self, mechanically. We usually keep a hive 

 suspended on a spring balance, with the 

 white dial so placed that the amount of hon- 

 ey gathered each day can be seen at a 

 glance, even when only passing near the 

 apiary. On coming to dinner one day, the 

 dial showed that the hive had lost instead 

 of gaining, and the loss amounted to exactly 

 8 lbs.; you see, this was the weight of the 

 swarm which had issued during the fore- 

 noon. Of course, the hive rose an inch or 

 two. after having been lightened so much. 

 Well, the same idea has been used in con- 

 nection with Quinby's queen yard for auto- 

 matic swarming. The hive must first be 

 made double ; that is, an empty hive is 

 fastened to the one filled with bees, and the 

 two are balanced on a pivot. A weight is 

 added to the empty one each morning, and 

 suitable slides are so arranged that when 

 the swarm goes out, the hives tilt, opening 

 an entrance into the new hive, and closing 

 the old one. The queen, having her wings 

 clipped, is confined in the queen yard ; the 

 bees rush back on missing her, and their 

 old entrance conducts them right into the 

 new hive, the queen following in with the 

 rest. I believe this machine has been 

 brought into shape so as to work in practice, 

 but, like many other things, the amount of 

 machinery required for each hive, and the 

 labor of adjusting the weights each morn- 

 ing, on every hive, more than balances the 

 trouble of hiving, and the possible loss of 

 swarms which issue in the old way. 



Another automatic swarmer has been in- 

 vented and brought into practical use, by 

 1). A. Jones, of Beeton, Ont., Canada. This 

 is based on the principle, or rather the pecu- 



