1891). 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



149 



I b'rom Progressive Bee-Keeperj 



MANAGENG SWARMS HAVING 



QJEi-NS WITH CLIPPED 



WINGS. 



G. M. DOOMTTLK. 



Many seems to think that if they 

 clip the wings of their queens they 

 will have trouble with their bees in 

 swarming time. This thought] eotnes 

 from a misunderstanding of the mat- 

 ter, I am sure, for with me it is a very 

 simple thing to care for a swarm 

 whose queen has a clipped wiug, so, 

 with the hopes that it may help some, 

 I will give the four ditferent ways I 

 manage, either of which works well 

 with me. The first way is to hive the 

 bees on the returning plan, allowing 

 the swarm to occupy the place of the 

 old colony. This is done as follows : 

 When the swarm is seen issuing, step 

 in front of the hive far enough so that 

 you will not be liable to step on the 

 queen should she have gotten out be- 

 fore you reach'^the hive, and also so 

 you can take in quite a bit of territory 

 with the visions, for if too close, you 

 will see but little of the ground, which 

 causes a longer search with less pros- 

 pects of finding the queen, than if 

 farther off. As soon as the queen is 

 found, let her run into a wire-cloth 

 cage, she entering the same readily if 

 it is held a little in front of her and 

 in an upright position. When she is 

 in the cage, put in the movable stop- 

 per so as to secure her, when she is to 

 be placed in front of the old hive, or 



anywhere you please ; only so you do 

 not step on the cage and kill her, as I 

 knew a certain person of about my 

 size to do once. Next, move the old 

 colony to a new stand and place the 

 new hive where it stood, placing the 

 caged queen at the entrance. In from 

 five to thirty-five minutes the bees v»'ill 

 miss their queen, (generally in from 

 five to eight minutes,) and come back 

 to where they started in search of their 

 queen, running with fanning wings 

 into the new hive, when the queen is 

 to be set at liberty and allowed to go 

 in with them. The second plan is the 

 one which I use when I wish to leave 

 the old colony on the old stand, and is 

 as follows : Proceed to hunt up the 

 queen, as before, and as soon as she is 

 found, turn the old hive halfway 

 around and off of the ground (to the 

 rear) where it stood. Now place the 

 new hive where the old one stood, 

 placing the queen at the entrance of 

 the new hive as bef(;re. As soon as 

 they come back and all enter the new 

 hive, take the new hive and carry it 

 where you wish to stand it, bringing 

 the old hive back to it? former posi- 

 tion. By these two ways, it will be 

 seen that the bees hive themselves. 

 No climbing of trees, cutting off limbs, 

 or anything of that kind, which our 

 fathers thought it necessary to do. 

 My third is, when the bees begin to 

 cluster on the branch of a tree, which 

 I care nothing for, and where they 

 can be easily gotten at, I attach a w' ire 

 to the cage, and hang it with the 

 clustering bees ; and when I get ready 

 to care for them I cut the branch from 

 the tree, and carry them to the hive, 

 which has been previously placed 

 where I wish the colony to stand, and 

 treat them the same as any swarm is 



