274 Beekeeping 



entrance at all times for it will prevent virgin queens from 

 leaving the hive to mate. Drones of course are also pre- 

 vented from leaving and if they are abundant they may 

 crowd the entrance, with disastrous results. 



(4) As the swarm issues, a wire-cloth cage may be placed 

 over the hive or fitted over the entrance. The bees then 

 cluster in the top of the cage, without causing confusion in 

 the apiary, and may be hived when convenient. 



Automatic hivers. 



Several years ago the desirability of some automatic hiv- 

 ing device was much discussed and numerous efforts were 

 made to devise apparatus which would deposit or lead the 

 issuing swarm to a new hive. These arrangements were 

 devised to place the swarm in a new location and beekeepers 

 now prefer that it be returned to the old location. 



Location for the swarm. 



After a swarm has issued, the old practice was to hive it 

 in a new location, thus dividing the working force. The 

 beekeeper should manipulate the two parts of the original 

 colony so as to prevent such a division. A method some- 

 times used is to return the swarm without the queen to the 

 old hive and about a week later (before the developing 

 queens emerge) the queen cells are cut and the colony is 

 requeened later. The usual method is to remove the hive- 

 body containing the brood while the swarm is out and to 

 return the swarm to a new hive on the old stand. By either 

 of these methods, the swarm is augmented by the returning 

 field bees and, if there were supers on the colony before 

 swarming, they are kept with the swarm and the bees 

 promptly return to their work. The most common error of 

 the inexperienced beekeeper in swarm management is to 

 put the supers on the "parent colony" (the one which re- 

 tains the brood). The population of the parent colony is 

 reduced by the loss of the field bees and after-swarming is 

 thereby made less probable. These manipulations make it 



