98 MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



it a portion of one of the secondary or smaller wings. With finely 

 pointed scissors this operation can be. performed while the queen is 

 loose on the combs, but there is much danger of clipping one or more of 

 her legs also. If she be caught by her wings with the thumb and first 

 finger of the right hand, and then grasped by the thorax with the thumb 

 and first two fingers of the left hand, her wings can easily be reached 

 with the scissors. It will not do to grasp the queen by the abdomen? 

 and of course there should be but little pressure exerted on the thorax. 

 There are some objections against clipping. The queens, being unable 

 to fly, are liable to get lost in the grass or stray into the wrong hives 

 when they swarm during the absence of the attendant. They certainly 

 look unsightly when thus maimed, and occasionally the bees are more 

 disposed to replace such queens than unmutilated ones. It is of course 

 preferable to lose one of these occasionally rather than the whole swarm. 

 When the queen is clipped the operation of hiving is very easy if the 

 bee keeper is on hand to catch the queen as she falls from the entrance 

 to the ground. When the swarm is fairly out and while the bees are 

 still circling in the air an empty hive should be set in place of the one 

 from which the swarrn has issued. The bees, missing their queen, will 

 soon begin to return to their old location and will shortly crowd the 

 entrance of the new hive. When about one-fourth have entered the 

 queen may be allowed to run in, and the treatment will then not be 

 different from that given any newly hived swarm. 



AUTOMATIC HIVERS. 



Thus far the automatic hivers have been only partially successful, so 

 that the experimental stage has not yet been passed ; but the practical 

 perfection of such a device is looked forward to with considerable 

 confidence. 



PREVENTION OF AFTER-SWARMING. 



The parent colony, removed from its old hive as soon as the first swarm 

 issues, will rarely cast a second swarm, especially if a young qtteen is 

 at hand to be introduced within a day or two. The surplus queen cells 

 are likely to be destroyed by this young queen, with the assistance of 

 the workers. A laying queen will be readily accepted by a colony which 

 by swarming and removal has lost its old bees, and ten to fifteen days 

 will be gained in the production of brood. Unless increase is especially 

 desired it is best to limit it in this way to first swarms. If still less 

 increase is wanted, methods which will be referred to later may be fol- 

 lowed to prevent swarming as far as possible, and such chance swarms 

 as do issue may be returned to the parent hive. If the queens are two 

 or more years old, they may in most instances be profitably destroyed 

 at this time and young ones introduced from nuclei; but whether intro- 

 ducing young queens or returning the swarm with its old queen, great 

 care must be taken to destroy every queen cell, otherwise the introduced 

 queen may be killed or the swarm may again issue. If, however, no 



