1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



415 



seem to bo well covered with bees, and the 

 woatlier Is warm, 1 shake a part of them off in 

 front of the hive before putting the combs into 

 the box. If few bees or cool weather, I put ail 

 into the box, setting the box in the shade, and a 

 rod or so from the hive, as soon as ail of the 

 frames of brood and bees on them are in the 

 box. 



I now put the frames brought from the shop 

 into the hive and rearrange it, by which time 

 the swarm will return, if the queen has a 

 clipped wing. If the queen is not clipped, then 

 the swarm is to be hived in this prepared hive 

 on the old stand, the same as any swarm is 

 hived. I next put the combs of brood and bees 

 which are in the box into a hive where I wish 

 the colony to stand, and adjust the entrance to 

 suit their wants, when they are left till the next 

 morning. By this time nearly all of the old or 

 field bees have gone back to their old location, 

 so that the young bees which remain are ready 

 to accept any thing in the shape of a queen. 



I DOW go to my queen-nursery, where I gener- 

 ally have on hand virgin queens just hatched 

 (or if I do not have these I get a ripe queen- 

 cell)., and select such a queen as I wish them to 

 have, place her in a wire-cloth cage, and take 

 her to this hive. Upon opening the hive I take 

 out one of the central combs, holding the same 

 up before me. As the bees are all young they 

 will at once take to filling themselves with 

 honey; and while they are so doing I let the 

 queen run on the comb where there are a few 

 cells of honey not occupied with other bees fill- 

 ing out of them, when the queen will commence 

 to fill herself the same as she sees the others 

 doing. 



The frame is now lowered down into the 

 hive, and the^hive closed. In this way the bees 

 and queen appear natural, and I have yet to 

 lose the first queen put in under such circum- 

 stances. 



As the bees now find they have a queen, they 

 proceed at once to destroy all of their own 

 queen-cells, so that no after-swarm ever issues 

 —at least an experience covering 15 years says 

 that none do. 



The other plan which I use is fully as suc- 

 cessful as the above, but is used where I wish 

 to treat swarms the way they are generally 

 treated by hiving them on a new stand, in 

 which case I proceed as follows: 



As soon as the swarm is hived I go to the old 

 hive from which it came, and mark on it with 

 a pencil, "Sw'd, 6-10." which tells me at a 

 glance that a swarm came from that hive June 

 10, should that be the dale on which the swarm 

 issued, and the one which was marked on the 

 hive. If it should be another day the date is 

 different;r.but the plan is the same, and suited 

 to any day on which any first swarm is cast. 

 On the evening of the eighth day from the date 

 on the hive I listen a moment at the side-of the 



old hive; and if swarming has been " according 

 to rule " I hear the young queen piping, when 

 I know that a queen has hatched, and an after- 

 swarm will be the result if not stopped. If no 

 piping is heard I do not listen again till the 

 evening of the 13th day; for the next rule is 

 that the colony swarmed upon an egg or small 

 larva being in the queen-cell, which allows 

 the queen to hatch from the 12th to the 16th 

 day after the first swarm. If no piping is 

 heard by the evening of the 17th day no 

 swarm need be expected. With cool weath- 

 er and a failure of nectar very few after-swarms 

 issue, or none at all; but with continued good 

 weather and honey- flow, scarcely a colony will 

 fail to try for after-swarming so that, with the 

 bad weather, it is hardly worth while to listen 

 at all. In nine cases out of ten, if the colony 

 intends to swarm, the piping will be heard on 

 the eighth day after the first swarm is cast, so 

 that this listening is no tedious job, for not 

 more than a moment is generally required at 

 any hive. When it is heard, I go early the 

 next morning and take every frame out of the 

 hive, shaking the bees off from each (in front 

 of;the entrance) ;as I take'themjout, and return 

 themj^again, so I may be*'sure not to missjja 

 queen-cell, but cut all off, for we know that 

 there is a queen hatched from the piping which 

 we have heard. Once in a great while the bees 

 will take a notion to go with the queen when 

 she goes out to be fertilized, but such an oc- 

 currence is rare, and has nothing to do with 

 what is known as after-swarming. 



In'the above two we have sure plans for ac- 

 complishing what we desire, under all circum- 

 stances which may arise, while those spoken of 

 at first will work at times and at others not. 

 The sure plan is to be preferred in the end, 

 though it may take a little more time when 

 doing it. 



PROTECTING THE APIARY FROM TBLTEVES BY 

 AN ELECTRIC ALARM. 



I wish to protect my bees from thieves, with 

 an electrical bell, such as you describe on page 

 266, 1895, but " I don't know " the first thing 

 about putting up the wires. I might fasten 

 them so the current would be grounded, or lose 

 all of its strength before reaching the bell. 

 Will a home-made battery, such as you use for 

 wiring frames (described on page 105, 189.5), 

 answer? Does it need three batteries? Will 

 an ordinary door-bell ring loud and long enough 

 to wake a sound sleeper? I can get an electric 

 door-bell for 75 cts. of Montgomery Ward & 

 Co., Chicago; a battery for 50 cts., or the whole 

 outfit for $1.75, including 100 feet of insulated 



