112 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



permanently to the box. Half of the 

 front of box is cut away, and the trap is 

 pushed in to fill the space and so that 

 the front of the latter is "flush" with the 

 front, or face, of the box. It will be 

 seen that the bottom of the metal when 

 the bees pass through is depressed, so 

 the bees enter the hive easily and with 

 as Utile delay as possible. 



The trap is provided with a small 

 swinging door at one end, so that the 

 queen can be taken or shaken out, also 

 for removing dead drones, etc. The 

 trap can be used separately for catch- 

 ing drones when not used as a self-hiver. 

 The box is provided with two covers ; 

 one is constructed of wire screen nailed 

 . to a light frame whicli is used so that 

 the interior of the box can be seen with- 

 out letting the bees out. The other, a 

 cbmmon board cover, is to keep out 

 sun and wet, and is placed directly on 

 the screen cover. One comb is placed 

 in the box just far enough back of the 

 trap for a bee space between. 



When a swarm issues, the queen enters 

 the trap. The bees after circulating 



Fig. 3. Combination droneand-queen-trap and 

 selfkiver. 



about in the air for a while return or 

 they may settle on some tree and hang 

 there for awhile, and then return to the 

 hive. As soon as they reach the en- 

 trance they discover their queen, the 

 very object they returned for, and 

 the bees at once cluster in the box on 

 the comb. I want it understood that 

 when I say the dees I mean al/ that 

 issued with the swarm ; not even one 

 bee will return to the brood-combs. 

 This arrangement is a self-hiver in every 

 sense of the word, as it catches the en- 

 tire swarm. 



It will be observed that the bees have 

 but one piece of metal to pass through 

 on their way out of and into the hive, 

 and that is at the regular entrance ; thus 



their passage in and out the hive is not 

 seriously obstructed When a swarm 

 has been self-hived in one of these 

 Swarmers, they may be easily and quick- 

 ly transferred to the hive they are to 

 to occupy. As soon as the bees are all 

 in the Swarmer, place the new hive 

 upon the ground (or on a blanket) 

 smoke the bees in the box and turn 

 them down in front of the new hive, 

 when they commence to run in, take 

 the trap from the box, open the door 

 and shake the queen and bees out 

 among those at the entrance of the 

 hive. Now isn't this an easy and inter- 

 esting operation as well as a labor and 

 bee-saving method ? Just think how 

 happy a fellow can be when he leaves 

 home in the morning to know that on 

 his return he will find his bees already 

 in a box to be hived if they have 

 swarmed during his absence. All he 

 has to do on his returning home is to 

 raise the board cover to the swarm-box. 

 If the box is full of bees a swarm has 

 issued. This is the only attention the 

 bees need. His wife or attendant won't 

 have a chance to say when the bee- 

 keeper returns home, ''the bees have 

 swarmed and decamped." No, sir, no 

 bees can decamp, nor will a swarm be 

 found hanging fifty feet in the air on the 

 limb of some neighbor's tree ; in some 

 chimney, or in tne coving of some 

 house. 



The other morning a swarm came off 

 just as I was going to the post office. 

 They settled on the limb of a tree near 

 bv, when I returned twenty minutes later, 

 the bees had returned to their old loca- 

 tion,self-hived and so quiet no one would 

 have selected that colony- as the one 

 that had just cast a swarm. Desiring to 

 test the self hiver again, the bees were 

 returned to the hive from which they is- 

 sued. I was away the next forenoon get- 

 ting at an out apiary, looking'for (pieens 

 to ship. On my return my wife said a 

 swarm of bees had been out, and settled 

 on a tree ; she had wet them down to 

 hold them till I returned, but when she 

 looked after them latt-r tiiey had left 

 and she had no idea where they had 



