SWARMING. 



121 



vain, to stay or to overtake his truant swarm. The law, as it 

 applies to the ownership of truant swarms, seems to be, that 

 if tlie bees have been seen issuing from their hive, and have 

 been kept in siglit by the owner, or by someone on his behalf, 

 while they have been followed, and until they have entered the 

 premises where they cluster, they may be legally claimed and 

 removed. Otherwise, they become, in the eyes of the law, 

 fcra natura, or wild bees, and may be claimed by anyone who 

 takes possession of them. 



212. Clipping Queen's Wings — ]\Iany devices have been 

 employed to induce swarming bees to cluster in accessible 

 places, and to counteract the instinct which impels them to 

 depart to "fresh woods and pastures new." Decoy hives, fur- 

 nished with some combs, will sometimes entice swarms to take 

 possession of them. Dry, dark combs, and even black hats 

 and stockings, tied to the lower branches of trees in the apiary, 

 are said, by reason of their resemblance at a distance to cluster- 

 ing bees, to have an attraction for swarms. But in spite of 

 every such device, swarms will frequently cluster in the high 

 branches of trees, or in other inaccessible places, and they may 

 decamp altogether before they can be secured by the owner. 

 The difficulty may be prevented by the simple expedient of 

 clipping the queen's wings ; for, if the queen cannot fly, the 

 swarm will not decamp ; and if it should settle upon a high 

 branch, it will, when the absence of the queen is discovered, 

 return to the hive. Accordingly, if the queen be picked up, 

 she can be allowed to run in w'ith the bees when the swarm 



returns to the hive (either the 

 parent hive or a nev^f hive placed 

 on the old stand), and thus the 

 trouble of following and secur- 

 ing the swarm may be obviated. 

 The proper time for clipping is 

 in the early spring when the 

 population of the hive is small, 

 and when, therefore, the queen 

 can be more readily found. To 

 clip a queen's wings, proceed as 

 follows : — Take out the frame on 

 which the queen is found, draw- 

 ing the carbolic cloth over the 

 ^ brood nest, and rest a corner of 

 ' the frame on the hive : follow 

 the queen with a small scissors 

 as she moves about, and watch 

 your opportunity to pass a blade of the scissors under the 

 larger wing on one side, and clip off a portion of it (Fig. 82K 



^^ 



Photo by] 



U. G. Dtgges.] 



Fig. 82. 

 CLIPPING QUEEN'S WIXG. 



