1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



347 



MOVING BEES DURING THE SW ARM- 

 ING SEASON. 



AliSO SOMETHING ABOUT SETTING BEES ON DIF- 

 FERENT STANDS WHEN TAKEN FROM THE 

 CELLAR. 



@N page 165 friend Daniels speaks about moving 

 bees in and out of cellars like so many potato- 

 barrels " and not one word about losing bees 

 in all the years I have been reading bee-pa- 

 pers." Why, friend D., unless I'm very much 

 mistaken there has been a good deal said about it, 

 and I think that the majority of bee-keepers insist 

 that, when taken out of the cellar, each hive must 

 be put on the stand it occupied before going into 

 the cellar. Certainly I have no recollection of any 

 case where bees were taken out for a fly, put back 

 in the cellar again, and then, when taken out nexl 

 time, no care taken to put them on the same stands. 

 In all cases it is entirely safe to put a colony 

 back on its own stand. Sometimes, however, it is 

 not convenient. Take my own case. In my cellars 

 are now bees from four apiaries. Without much 

 trouble I could put all that belong in the home api- 

 ary on their owu stands. Even then if I had noth- 

 ing but these, and if a goodly number should die 

 in wintering, I believe I should rather have 

 the survivors fill out the rows solid as far as they 

 might go, rather than have vacancies. But those 

 colonies which come from the out-apiaries can not 

 be put back where they stood last fall without a 

 great deal of trouble. You see, it is not easy to 

 have regular places for them for the few days in 

 fall and spring that they stand near the cellar. But 

 after those bees have been in the cellar about five 

 months they don't seem to pay any attention to 

 their old location. I set them where it happens to 

 suit best, without paying any regard to their pre- 

 vious location. 



Before going any further I want to advise you, if 

 you are a beginner, to set it down as a rule, that, if 

 you don't want to lose bees, you must be careful 

 not to change their location. You haven't a great 

 many colonies as yet, and you can easily place 

 them in spring where they stood the previous fall. 

 Experiment somewhat gingerly to fee what your 

 bees will do with your management before you risk 

 putting many on stands new to them. 



Now I may go on to say that, in my own case, 

 even if they do mix up some I don't know that it is 

 any loss, although I should rather have each bee 

 stay in its own hive. If I should move bees as does 

 friend France (see page 81) I should rather expect 

 trouble; still, I can readily believe that he gets 

 along all right with it. But as to having a cluster 

 cling to the old stand when put on a new stand in 

 spring, I never had a single case. 1 can imagine that, 

 if I had very few colonies, or only a single colony, 

 and should give it a stand in the spring, a few rods 

 from the old place, a large number of the bees 

 miglit gather at the old stand and keep up such a 

 commotion there as not to hear the hum of the 

 bees at the hive, and so cling to the old stand. 

 But if a large number of colonies were in easy 

 hearing I have little fear but that the old stand 

 would be speedily deserted, and the bees would go 

 into hives most likely not their own; for on first be- 

 ing taken from the cellar, bees of different colonies 

 seem to mix peaceably. Another thing: If, during 

 the rush of the honey-flow, a colony with no others 

 near it should be moved half a mile, or, indeed, any 



distance within the scope of its previous flight, I 

 should expect to see a cluster at the old stand. 

 Prom the headlong way in which a bee rushes from 

 the hive in a bee-line after a load of honey, one 

 can easily believe that it pays little attention to its 

 surroundings till it is some distance away. Now, 

 suppose this bee should be taken to a new location 

 two miles away. On going out to-morrow morning 

 it strikes within a few rods upon a linden-tree upon 

 which it had been at work the previous day. Even 

 if this tree is two miles from its old home, it knows 

 well the way back, and it doesn't know the way to 

 its new location. Is it not the most natural thing 

 for it to fly straight back to its old home? By the 

 way, is not this some proof that bees in general do 

 not fly so very far, for I think it is generally under- 

 stood that bees moved in the harvest two miles 

 from home, will never return? If that distance 

 was within the range of their previous flight, would 

 they not return? 



Now, upon coming back to the old stand I should 

 expect to see a large cluster remain there. But if 

 another colony were within a very few feet, or a 

 number of colonies within a very few rods, I should 

 hardly expect to see a single bee remain for any 

 length of time on the old stand. I have often re- 

 moved a colony from its stand in the middle of 

 the harvest, and I don't believe a colony thus mov- 

 ed ever lost a dozen bees, or, rather, that a dozen 

 of such bees were ever entirely lost, for the whole 

 field force will fail to find the hive when thus 

 moved; but they will peaceably unite, when loaded 

 with honey, with one of the nearest colonies. 



On page 81 you say, friend Root, " When they are 

 moved so far that they do not meet familiar objects 

 on their first flight, of course they will all go back 

 to the hive." Now, I am a little skeptical about 

 that, unless some modifying words are used. How 

 far will a bee in a strange place dart from its hive 

 before it recognizes that there are no familiar ob- 

 jects? I wish that some one who can, would an- 

 swer that question. 1 hardly think it awakens fully 

 to the situation till it is at least a number of feet 

 from the hive. When it does think about it, it 

 doesn't know where to go; and if other hives are 

 standing near, will it not be just as likely to go to 

 one of them? There is likely to be an unusual com- 

 motion at the hive which has been moved, and this 

 will probably prevent many from going wrong, but 

 I have for a long time had some suspicion that 

 when I moved bees to an out-apiary, there was 

 more or less mixing up. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



Eriend M., I am well aware that bees do 

 mix up a great deal from one hive to the 

 other ; and especially is this the case when 

 they are first taken from the cellar. We can 

 tell exactly how much they mix by having a 

 part of our apiary Italians and the other 

 part pure blacks. We shall then find black 

 bees scattered among the Italians, and Ital- 

 ians scattered among the blacks. In regard 

 to your point about moving, so that they do 

 not meet familiar objects, the first colony of 

 bees I ever owned was very carefully 

 watched. I was down before the hive in 

 the morning before a bee had gone out, and 

 I have repeatedly watched bees from colo- 

 nies that had been brought in the night be- 

 fore ; that is, I would sit down by the hive 

 and see how the inmates behaved when they 



