394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



HOW TO MANAGE SWARMS HAVING OUEENS 

 WITH THEIR WINGS CLIPPED. 



"Good morning, Mr. Smith. What can I 

 do for you this mornng ? " 



" I see by Gleanings for March 1 that you 

 advise clipping the wings of queens where 

 natural swarming is practiced. A friend of 

 mine tells me that clipped queens cause much 

 trouble in swarming, and I came over to have 

 a talk with you on the matter, so I may learn 

 your methods of managing swarms that have 

 clipped queens." 



" What your friend tells you seems strange 

 to me, for I would rather care for three swarms 

 whose queens have their wings clipped than 

 for one where the queen is not clipped. Your 

 friend can not understand the best plans of 

 managing such swarms, it seems to me, or he 

 would not talk about trouble with them." 



" Very likely he does not. Will you tell 

 me something about your ways of working 

 witu such swarms? " 



"Certainly. The first thing, necessary is 

 two or three light strong poles. I use three — 

 one 10 feet long, another 14 feet, and the third 

 18 feet. This is so I can secure a swarm from 

 any tree in or about the apiary, and hold it 

 for any length I may desire before hiving, or 

 hive it before all of the bees get clustered, 

 just as I desire, for there is nothing so nice as 

 to know that you are master of any situation 

 that may arise in the apiary." 



" That sounds very nice ; but how do those 

 poles help you to master the situation during 

 the swarming season where the queens have 

 their wings clipped ? " 



" Give me time and I will tell you. In the 

 small end of each I bore a hole of suitable 

 size to receive the iron or handle end of one 

 of Manum's swarm-catchers, keeping both 

 the catcher and the poles in a handy place in 

 the apiary." 



" Yes but I have not got a Manum catcher. 

 What shall I do in such a case?" 



" I do not think I can give you better advice 

 than to tell you to send to some of the Root 

 Company's supply houses and get one, for 

 this catcher is the most convenient thing I 

 know of to have about the apiary in swarm- 

 ing time, no matter whether you have the 

 queen's wings clipped or not." 



" Do you put the clipped queen in the catch- 

 er?" 



" Yes and no. Besides the catcher we want 

 a small round wire-cloth cage, called a queen- 

 cage, the same being about an inch in diame- 

 ter, and four or five inches long, with a per- 

 manent stopper in one end and a movable one 

 in the other, having a piece of pliable wire at- 

 tached to the cage near the end having the 

 movable stopper." 



" How is this used? " 



"Seeing a swarm issuing I take this round 

 cage and step to one side of the front of the 



hive, and stand five or six feet away, so I can 

 take a view of the whole front of the hive, 

 and several feet of the ground in front of the 

 entrance, at a glance, when, if the queen is 

 out, I almost instantly see her, and If not out 

 I see her as soon as she issues. I used to get 

 close to the entrance to look for her, and often 

 looked a long time before I found her, owing 

 to the short range of vision which contracted 

 the breadth of field seen at one time." 



" When you found her did you catch her 

 and put her in the round cage ? ' ' 



" When the queen was found I put the open 

 end of the wire-cloth cage down so she could 

 crawl into it, which she does immediately, as 

 it is natural for a bee or queen, which can not 

 fly, to ciawl up any thing and every thing she 

 comes in reach of. Having the queen in the 

 cage I place my thumb over the open end and 

 go to the front of the hive ; and as soon as she 

 turns in the cage to go toward the end having 

 the permanent stopper in it I put the open end 

 to the entrance of the hive, holding it there 

 till twelve or fifteen bees run in as they are 

 tumbling out of the entrance to go with the 

 swarm, when the queen and bees are to be se- 

 cured by putting in the stopper." 



" What do you want those twelve or fifteen 

 bees with the queen for ? " 



" They will set up a buzzing pretty soon, 

 and help to call the swarm to where the queen 

 is, for this cage of bees is to be secured to the 

 inside of the swarm-catcher by means of the 

 wire that was attached to it, and the iron to 

 the catcher inserted in the hole in the end of 

 one of the poles which was provided, when 

 the catcher is held up among the thickest of 

 the flying swarm." 



"And will the swarm alight in it and on it? " 



"Yes, quite generally they will, but some- 

 times they will begin to alight on some limb 

 while we are caging the queen and getting 

 the catcher ready, especially if we are a little 

 slow." 



"If they begin alighting on a limb, what 

 then do you do? " 



" As soon as I see that they have begun to 

 alight I know there is little use in trying to 

 get them to alight on the catcher by holding 

 it up in the air, so I take the right length of 

 pole that will make the catcher reach them, 

 and as soon as a quart or so have settled on 

 the limb I put the opened catcher under the 

 cluster, jarring the limb at the same time by 

 suddenly pushing up on the pole, which causes 

 all of the clustered bees to fall into the catch- 

 er. With a downward motion the cover of 

 the catcher is brought over some limb in such 

 a way that it is closed, when I have the bees 

 prisoners. The bees in the round cage with 

 the queen now set up a humming noise, which 

 causes those in the catcher to do the same, 

 and this loud humming, or 'call,' as it is 

 termed, attracts the flying bees which remain 

 outside of the catcher, and soon we have the 

 whole swarm in and on the catcher." 



" And do you hold the pole and catcher all 

 this time ? " 



"No. As soon as the bees begin to alight 

 on the catcher the big end of the pole is set 

 on the ground in such a way that the pole 



