ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 31 r 



They are more easily made, as a general 

 thing, than natural swarms are hived. 

 How often has the bee-keeper, while 

 getting ready to hive a swarm, been 

 troubled with having swarm after swarm 

 issue and persist in clustering together ? 

 We have had as many as four clusters to- 

 gether in one monstrous swarm. Then 

 the qustion is what to do with them ? To 

 hunt up even two queens and put them 

 in two hives is tedious business — to run 

 them into three or four hives at a venture 

 runs the risk of getting all the queens in 

 one hive, when the other bees will either 

 leave or join the hive with the queens. 

 There is considerable loss in hiving two 

 or three prime swarms together, unless 

 the honey season is short or the swarms 

 very small. Artificial swarming saves all 

 of this, makes a certainty of increase of 

 stocks, and having tew, if any, late 

 swarms. We say few, if any, because with 

 a large number of hives, occasionally a 

 hive that has been divided will throw 

 off a swarm, but the two cases are 

 so few that they are hardly worth men- 

 tioning. 



BEES, Swarming, Artificial. — This 

 should be undertaken only when honey is 

 abundant in the fields and the nights 

 warm. To divide them, have a hive at 

 hand of the same size and pattern as 

 your others. Then from four hives take 

 each two frames and place them in the 

 new hive, supplying them in the old with 

 empty frames. Then move a hive which 

 you have not disturbed, arodor more away 

 to a new place, and place the new hive 

 where that one stood. This should be done 

 in the fields. These will come in loaded 

 to their old place, and find it strange; and 

 as it contains stores and young bees hatch- 

 ing, and eggs from which to rear another 

 queen, they will at once proceed to rear 

 one, and remain and work as contended 

 as ever. This process may be repeated 

 every two weeks until you have secured 

 sufficient increase. The hives from which 

 you take the combs, and the ones which 

 you move to a new place, will lose so 

 many bees that they will not think of 

 swarming, but will energetically make up 

 their loss, and be better than if nothing 

 had been taken from them. This is the 

 safest of all ways to divide bees, and can 

 be safely practiced by beginners. 



BEES, Swarming of. — It is generally 



supposed that a hive will not swarm until 

 most, if not all, of the cells are so filled 

 that the queen has no place to lay her 

 eggs, and as this is not apt to happen un- 

 less bees are gathering honey freely, it is 

 useless to look for swarms, particularly in 

 the spring, until warm, dry weather, as 

 either cold or wet weather is unfavorable 

 for the secretion of honey. Swarms sel- 

 dom or never issue until at least one 

 queen cell is capped over. 



Those using the movable comb hive 

 can by examining the frames every few 

 days tell almost to a certainty when to 

 expect a swarm, though occasionally bees 

 will change their mind and permit the 

 queen to destroy the royal cells. 



No rattling of pans or any other noise 

 is needed to make a swann settle; in 

 fact, I never was able to satisfy myself 

 that throwing dirt or water among the 

 bees ever had any tendency to make them 

 settle, though others think it will. 



The sooner bees are hived after clus- 

 tering, the better the chances are of their 

 remaining with you. 



Hives need no rubbing with leaves or 

 salt to induce bees to go into them ; be 

 sure they are clean, and free from cob- 

 webs. 



There is another thing very necessary, 

 the lack of which has caused the loss of 

 many a swarm of bees, and that is a cooL 

 hive. 



After hiving a swarm, put the hive on 

 a ventilating bottom board; it should 

 not be raised, as bees are more inclined 

 to remain in the hive if the ventilation is 

 from below, and the entrance the only 

 place they can get out. The hive should 

 be well shaded, and in very warm weather 

 sprinkling or syringing with water fre- 

 quently will help keep the hive cool, and, 

 of course, have a tendency to make the 

 bees satisfied with their new home. 



Occasionally a swarm will leave a hive 

 when it seems as if all had been done 

 that could be to keep them. If a swarm 

 appears determined to "secede," put a 

 box of honey on it, shut it up on its ven- 

 tilating bottom board, and take it into 

 the cellar, keeping it there four or five 

 days ; it might be well to give water by 

 putting a dish full under the bottom board 

 and pressing it up to the wire screen, 

 then the bees can help themselves. 



We never knew a swarm desert a hive 



