202 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



surrounded lier majesty ; and I subsequently 

 gave them a young fertile queen. 



Usually, swarms that are queenless, or are 

 unattended by a queen, are permitted to return 

 to the parent stock, in the expectation that they 

 will re-appear better provided, in a day or two. 

 But it is by no means certain that they Avill do 

 BO. Sometimes a sudden change of Aveather 

 occurs, bees lose the swarming impulse, and the 

 hoped-for increase is expected in vain. If it 

 can possibly be prevented, I never permit a 

 prime swarm to return under such cimcumstan- 

 ces. As soon as I perceive from the indications 

 in the hiving-basket, that the swarm is queen- 

 less — the bees not clustering properly, and some 

 continually leaving for home — I place the 

 basket on a frame covered with wire guaze, and 

 close all the openings to prevent the es- 

 cape of the bees. They soon become tumultu- 

 ous and clamorous, whereupon I procure a fer- 

 tile queen from one of my nuclei colonies, cage 

 her, and insert her in the hive. In an instant 

 all is quiet, the bees soon become attached to 

 their new ruler, and in the evening I liberate 

 her, and set them on their stand. Or if I have 

 any weak colonies at the time, I strengthen 

 them by means of these bees, w'hich will remain 

 in any locality Avherever placed, and may if de- 

 sirable be divided among several colonies. 



4. Uniting and Btrengtlicning. — It is often 

 necessary to resort to each of those processes, 

 and yet tJiey are apt to be failures. A colony 

 may be strengthened without endangering the 

 life of the queen, if bees be brought from a dis- 

 tance and kept confined, queenless, in a well 

 ventilated transporting hive, and then run into 

 a weak colony in the evening. I have never 

 lost a queen when thus introducing bees. In 

 fact beesof difTcreut colonies standing near each 

 other, will intermix in the evening without 

 quarreling, and without manifesting hostility to 

 to the queens. In like manner bees which, in 

 the course of the day, mistake their hive and 

 lighting at the entrance as strangers, beg their 

 way in by fanning, rarely meet with a hostile 

 reception. In view of this fact, wdien I wish to 

 introduce bees to strengthen a weak colony, I 

 place an inclined board in front of the 

 Live, shake the bees on it, brush a few workers 

 to the entrance, and the whole number speedily 

 move forward humming and fanning, being 

 peaceably received in their new quarters. The 

 hive to be strengthened may also be removed 

 from its stand and set on a table, and the bees 

 to be added, shaken down in front of the en- 

 trance. 



If the bees to be added have a queen, there 

 may be trouble and loss. The bee books tell us 

 "invert the hive containing the swarm, and set 

 on it the one which is to be strengthened, and 

 the queen will be dispatched as she ascends." 

 Very plain, and very fine; pity it should so fre- 

 quently fail. I once strengthened in this man- 

 ner a weak colony containing a beautiful Italian 

 queen, by introducing an afterswarm which I 

 supposed to be queenless. On the following 

 day I made an examination, and believed ail 

 was right; but on the third morning I found 

 the Italian queen dead at the entrance. I re- 

 examined the hive, and found a young black 



cjueen moving about veiy sedately on one 

 of the combs. She had obviously killed her 

 yellow rival. 



In order to pack a large number of bees in a box 

 for transportation to my apiary, I shake them 

 from the swarming-basket, from combs, honey- 

 boards, &c. , into a vessel of water, and then 

 transfer them by means of a strainer to a large 

 sized cigar box provided with a wire gauze bot- 

 tom. Set in the sun for a time, the bees 

 become dry and active ; and the box will con- 

 tain safely a considerably larger number than 

 could otherwise be confined therein. They 

 must of course be supplied with food, if their 

 confinement is protracted. Outlying bees may 

 be brushed from the front of their hives into 

 water, for the same purpose ; but being treated 

 on an empty stomach, bees are apt to be 

 pugnacious, if a clean sweep is not skilfully 

 made. 



5. Transferring comhs, and encasing queens. — 

 Several years ago I lost a queen in consequence 

 of transferring combs in the brooding apart- 

 ment of a hive. She was killed by lier own 

 bees. A similar occurrence would probably 

 have taken place in my apiary this year, had I 

 not been present. I had a small colony in a 

 square box hive, and wished to transfer it to 

 another hive, in order to strengthen it with bees 

 from other stocks. The queen, bred in one of 

 my reserve nuclei, had been fertilized two days 

 before, but had not yet begun to lay. I trans- 

 ferred the combs to the new hive, and found the 

 queen among a crowd of bees in their old home; 

 whence I transferred her also to her new quar- 

 ters. I closed the hive, and soon after the bees 

 of all my stocks began to fly or disport briskly. 

 Those of the new hive did so likewise, 

 but the excitement continued long after the others 

 had become settled. Sus'pecting something 

 wrong, I immediately made an examination, 

 and ibund the queen encased by a cluster of 

 workers. I lifted out the cluster to liberate the 

 queen ; and just as I was about to seize her, 

 she took wing and escaped. Of course I 

 thought she was lost, for being a stranger bred 

 in a distant hive, she would certainly be killed 

 outright if she attempted to enter any one of 

 the forty stocks then in my apiary. I kept a 

 good lookout nevertheless, and finally saw her 

 near her oAvn hive, having been seized by sev- 

 eral of the workers who were endeavoring to 

 kill her. Rescuing her from the imminent dan- 

 ger, I caged and replaced her among her still 

 excited subjects. Next day, finding peace and 

 quiet restored, I liberated her, and she at once 

 mingled with the crowd without molestation. 



When an unusual degree of excitement is ob- 

 served among the bees of any colony, at their 

 first flight in the spring, or when a young 

 queen makes her wedding excursion, or after 

 they have been disturbed by any operation, a 

 thorough examination shoifld be immediately 

 made. In most cases the queen will be found 

 encased by a cluster of workers, and unless 

 quickly rescued, she is sure to be killed. 



6. UseofoldCombs.—lX.\s,yf&^\ known that 

 old brood combs are warmer than new ones, 

 and better suited for wintering. Hence the ad- 

 vantage of using such as are still in good con- 



