528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUBB. 



(^EPl^. 



own. We always allow natural swarming, and do not 

 clip the queens' wings, because so many would get 

 lost in our grassy apiary; and besides, we don't quite 

 like the plan. Up to this time we had not placed un- 

 sealed brood in the new hives. But one morning a 

 large first swarm issued. We hived them as usual 

 by shaking them down in front of the hive and let- 

 ting them run in ; then we carried them into the api- 

 ary, placed a board shade over them, shoved the 

 hive out beyond the bottom-board, to give plenty of 

 ventilation, and supposed they would stay, as all 

 other swarms hived in the same way had done. The 

 day was very warm; the thermometer rose to 100° in 

 the shade. About one o'clock we saw them leaving 

 their hive; and with a mirror and a pail of water we 

 endeavored to make them cluster; but our efforts 

 had no effect upon them, and they were lost. Then 

 we resolved that henceforth brood should be placed 

 in all the new swarms. For the next few days seve- 

 ral swarms were hived, which made no attempt to 

 leave, and we began to think that brood was a sure 

 cure. But another very warm day came, and with 

 it another large swarm, which was given brood. 

 They stayed quietly three or four hours, and then 

 were seen coming out. We pelted them as much as 

 possible with dry dirt and water, but they kept 

 steadily on their way, and we had to say good-by. 

 Soon after, another swarm departed in the same 

 way. We were now fully convinced that brood did 

 not always keep bees. These three were lost out of 

 the 30 new swarms of the season. 



In 1882 we lost three in the same way — two with 

 and one without brood. Four others attempted to 

 leave, but I succeeded in confusing them enough so 

 they clustered, and were rehived. They were stop- 

 ped in the following manner: Having become some- 

 what provoked at losing so many bees, I said I would 

 drown the next swarm before I would let them go 

 off. So the next swarm I saw coming out, with a 

 pail of water and a whisk - broom I ran to the hive, 

 sat down before the entrance, and deluged them 

 with water as fast as they came out. This bothered 

 them so much that they clustered (but I did not 

 drown any of them, for a bee can live through a 

 great deal of drenching); all the other swarms had 

 started straight for the woods. After this I treated 

 all absconding swarms to a cool bath as they were 

 leaving the hive. I always succeeded in making 

 them cluster but once, and they swarmed out the 

 second time, and were more than half out before we 

 saw them. So four were lost out of the 50 hived, 

 and four others would have been, had nothing been 

 done to stop them. 



During the past season, all the swarms (30 in num- 

 ber) hived before the 36th of June, made no attempts 

 at leaving. They were hived without brood, in emp- 

 ty hives, for we had tested the plan pretty thor- 

 oughly, and couJd not see that the swarms were any 

 more inclined to stay when we gave them unsealed 

 brood than when they were without it. But at this 

 time the weather became very warm, being over 90° 

 In the shade, and continued so for three days, in 

 which time we had 13 swarms, and 8 of these were 

 determined to leave; but only one succeeded in do- 

 ing so, and that was because they had a clipped 

 queen that we found, too late, could fly. Most of 

 these swarms came out three and four times. Each 

 time they were hived they would stay quietly for 

 four or five hours, and then come out again. When 

 they were hived quite late in the afternoon they 

 would remain over night, and come out about nine 



o'clock the next morning. I have not a doubt but 

 that each one of these swarms would have gone di- 

 rectly to the woods had nothing been done to pre- 

 vent it. 



In the February number of Gleamngs, page 90' 

 N. N. Shepard states that when he sees new swarms 

 deserting their hives he at once closes the hive, 

 letting it remain so for about a minute, then opens 

 it, allows about a quart of bees to escape, and again 

 closes it, continuing in this way until the bees are 

 all out. This confuses them so much that they will 

 always cluster. We had alwajs been afraid to close 

 the hive for fear the bees would smother; but when 

 we saw that it had been tried with success, we re- 

 solved to try the plan at the tirst opportunity; and 

 having had plenty of opportunities during one week 

 we have tested the plan quite thoroughly, and con- 

 sider it a sure prcA-entive of the bees going to the 

 woods without clustering. Our bees would not 

 come back to the hive, but some would try to unite 

 with some new swarm near by, and others would 

 cluster. If we could secure their queen, her wing 

 was clipped (although that would not prevent their 

 swarming out agaio)and we knew they couldn't leave. 

 We usually sprinkle the bees with water as they 

 come out of the hive, in order to check the rush a 

 little, so that we may catch the queen when she 

 comes out, which will be when the swarm has about 

 half issued. These eight swarms we hived and re- 

 hived about twenty times, so you may know that 

 business was lively for that week. Since then we 

 have hived a good many swarms, but have had no 

 trouble with them. 



Now, all these swarms were well ventilated, the 

 hive shaded with trees, or else with wide board 

 shades; at no time of the day was the sun allowed 

 to shine on them. The hives were large; had been 

 made and painted in the winter, and we could see 

 no reason for the bees disliking them. We always 

 hive our swarms as soon as pc ssible after they are 

 clustered, and then move them away quite a dis- 

 tance. We have tried hiving with brood, and without 

 it, about equally, and are of the opinion that it 

 makes no difference with this kind of absconding. 

 But we think that it is the intcnseheat that causes 

 their dissatisfaction, for we have never had a swarm 

 try to leave when it was not above 90° in the sh;ide. 

 If any one else has, we should like to have him re- 

 port. All of the 18 cases mentioned above were 

 large first swarms, four of them double. We do not 

 allow second swarming. If all these swarms had 

 succeeded in going to the woods, our losses in this 

 way would have been greater than in all other ways 

 combined. We are rather inclined to think that 

 these swarms look up a location after they are hived, 

 but we have no way of proving it. Do bee-keepers 

 in the North have less trouble from this cause than 

 those in the warmer climate of the South? Can any 

 thing be done to lower the temperature of the hives 

 during these warm days? Any information in re- 

 gard to this matter will be read by us with interest. 



Brookfield, Mo. Anna STANCi-ipr. 



I think, after reading the above, we shall 

 have to conclude that friend Poolittle knows 

 pretty well what he is about, after all. And 

 one point seems to come out quite clearly ; 

 viz., that strong first swarms, especially dur- 

 ing severe hot weather, are rather an excep- 

 tion to the rule, if there be one, that bees are 

 loth to desert unsealed brood. Now, my 

 plan of lixing these heavy colonies so they 



