1907 



GLEA^UNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1193 



HIVING SWARMS HAVING QUEENS WITH CLIP- 

 PED WINGS. 



"S.ay, Doolittle, do you ever talk with 

 folks on subjects which are out of season?" 



"Well, Smith, is there any subject about 

 bee-keeping which is out of season when a 

 bee-keeper has the bee-fever on?" 



"1 guess not. But some are telling in the 

 bee-papers that articles on bees should ap- 

 pear in print at just the season of the year 

 when the matter contained can be put in 

 practice." 



"1 know such has been spoken of; but a 

 live Ijee-keeper can keep track of a thing he 

 wishes to know about until the time comes 

 to put it in practice." 



"1 am glad to hear you talk in this way, 

 for my special errand over hei'e at this time 

 is to know how best to hive bees when a 

 swarm issues having a clipped queen. I 

 know that this is out of season, as the swarm- 

 ing season is past; but I have had such pro- 

 voKing work with a few swarms this summer 

 that it seems as if I could not wait till another 

 year before I know how to be master of the 

 situation." 



"Well, about the best way is to set the 

 parent hive from its stand and put a swarm- 

 equipped hive in its place. As soon as the 

 bees miss their queen they will come back to 

 the t>ld stand and begin to run into the equip- 

 ped hive, when you will let the queen run in 

 with them, and then your swarm has in re- 

 ality hived itself." 



"Yes, I know that way; but I wish some 

 way of having them alight, for it has happened 

 more than once that two or three swarms 

 are in the air together, and then they will all 

 pile into one hive when they come back, and 

 I have no means of getting them where I 

 want them. I want them to alight the same 

 as does a natural swarm " 



"I do not allow natural swarming now; 

 but when I used to I had no trouble in hav- 

 ing the bees alight where I wished them to, 

 when holding a swarm away from a hive for 

 any length of time, where such a thing was 

 desirable." 



"That is just what I want. How is it 

 done?" 



"'Have you a Manum swarm-catcher?" 



"No." 



"Well, you want to procure one during 

 the winter, so as to be ready for next swarm- 

 ing season." 



"I will do that if you can show me that 

 success will come from its use." 



"Very well. When your swarm issues, 

 proceed to secure the clipped queen in your 

 wire-cloth cage, the same as you do in hiving 



swarms on the returning plan, when you will 

 put the cage containing her in the swarm- 

 catcher, leaving the lid or cover to the catch- 

 er open. Now raise the catcher by the pole 

 in the air, and keep it where the bees are 

 the thickest, when, with about two swarms 

 out of three, they will scent the queen and 

 alight right in or on the catcher. When they 

 have begun to alight about the queen, set 

 the pole up according to directions and go 

 about what you wish until you are ready to 

 hive them." 



"How long will they stay there in waiting 

 for my motions?" 



"As long as you want them to." 



"Will they stay two hours?" 



"Yes, or two (lays." 



" But won't they go off if I leave them too 

 long?" 



"I think not. I have left swarms thus 

 over night, and 1 have had them start to go 

 off, being gone from live to twenty minutes, 

 but they always return as soon as they find 

 out the queen is not with them." 



"But don't they go back to the old hise 

 when they return?" 



"I have never had them do so. I suppos- 

 ed they might do this, but in every instance 

 where they have tried to go off they have re- 

 turned back to their queen. ' ' 



' ' You said about one swarm out of three 

 might not alight on the catcher. What do 

 you do in these cases?" 



" Whei'e they begin to alight before they 

 find out that their queen is in the catcher 1 

 carefully push the catcher up under the limb 

 they are alighting on, holding it there for a 

 minjite or two, till quite a cluster has collect- 

 ed on and in the catcher, when it is lowered 

 a little and swung one side so that none of 

 the limbs or leaves of the tree will be clus- 

 tered- upon when the swarm has all gotten to- 

 gether, when the pole is fixed accoi'ding to 

 directions, and left till I get ready to hive 

 the swai'm." 



"That is easier than I thought possible, 

 and relieves my mind quite a little. Now 

 tell me how you hive them when you are 

 ready." 



"Having the swarm all clustered on and 

 in the catcher, the same is carefully lowered 

 so as not to detach a part of the swarm by 

 hasty, jerky movements, when the bees are 

 carried to the pi'epared hive by taking hold 

 of the pole in such a place that pole and bees 

 will just balance. Arriving at the hive, a 

 small portion of the cluster is detached from 

 the rest by poking them off with the blade of 

 my pocket-knife or otherwise, right in front 

 of the entrance, when they will run in, set- 

 ting up the call of 'home is found.' As soon 

 as this occurs the open mouth of the catcher 

 is lowered to the alighting-board, letting it 

 down carefully so as not to kill any bees, 

 when the line of march will be started for 

 the hive, and the bees go in the same as they 

 do witli a natural swarm having a (jueen 

 with her wings uncut." 



"But will they not run up to the hive so 

 fast that they will clog the entrance and 

 cluster on the outside of the hive?" 



