THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 257 
put in a wire cloth cage and placed at the entrance. As the bees re- 
turn on finding the queen absent from the cluster, the cage is opened 
and the queen allowed to enter with the other bees. The returning field 
bees from the old hive which has been set to one side will also return 
in greater number to the new hive on the old stand. If there were 
any surplus honey supers or extracting frames on the old hive they 
should now be transferred to the new hive, putting a piece of queen 
excluding zinc, (fig. 24.) between brood chamber and surplus honey 
to keep the queen below. 
If it is not desired to clip the wings of the queen an Alley’s queen 
and drone trap may be placed at the entrance, (fig. 20.) As the swarm 
Fig. 20.—Alley’s queen and drone trap. 
issues the queen is engaged in the trap where she may be found and 
the swarm is disposed of as above described. 
When the swarm is allowed to issue without securing the queen it 
usually clusters on a branch of a tree near at hand, where it remains 
for a varying period of time. In this case the branch can be cut away 
and the bees carried where they are wanted, or the hive can be brought 
and held under the branch, which is then jarred, causing the bees to 
fall into the hive held to receive them. 
Swarm CONTROL. 
While the clipping of the queen’s wings, and other methods of pre- 
venting the queen from joining the swarm are means of controlling 
the swarm after it issues, they are not attempts to curb the swarming 
impulse. The need of ventilation and addition of supers, etc., in pre- 
venting overcrowding have been mentioned. A large force of bees 
is only desirable as the rush of the honey flow comes on, for after 
this they. become consumers, not producers. Moreover it is possible 
that if eggs are laid and brood reared, up to and including the time 
of the honey harvest, excessive swarming may result where otherwise 
it might have been lessened and largely prevented by restraint of the 
queen. This can be done either by removing or by caging the queen 
for a time. As a rule, however, the queen should not be too much 
restrained, and the excess of brood in the hive can often be used to 
advantage in strengthening weak colonies. 
