CHAPTEK XYI. 



FORCED SWARMING.* 



FORCED swarming is the driving out of a large 

 proportion of the bees from the mother hive into an 

 empty one, and allowing them to fill it with new comb. 



HOW EFFECTED. 



The driving is done by inverting the old hive and 

 setting an empty one, of .the same size, on the top of 

 it (as inverted) ; the lower hive is then to be jarred 

 by striking the sides rapidly with light sticks for ten 

 or fifteen minutes, which causes the bees to ascend 

 into the top box, or hive. When enough to compose 

 the swarm are out of the old hive, it should be placed 

 on the original stand for a few minutes, to allow the 

 bees that have returned from the fields to enter it ; 

 it is then to be placed on a distant stand, and the 

 hive containing the forced swarm placed where the 

 old one stood ; they are then given their liberty, and 

 are expected to quickly fill the new habitation, into 

 which they are thus driven. 



* The plan of forcing swarms was probably first practiced by 

 the German apiarists, and has long been known. 



