36 A Modern Bee-Farm 



The bees have not always time to finish capping all the 

 queen cells started ere the excitement culminates in the issue 

 of the first swarm, the old queen coming with them, seldom 

 first or last, but generally when half of the bees are On the 

 wing. Bees of all ages come out, including those but just 

 emerged from the cell. If the weather is warm, even these 

 soon gain sufficient strength to fly and settle with the swarm ; 

 otherwise, if they cannot crawl back to the hive, many will 

 perish ; thus showing the necessity of a wide board reaching- 

 from the ground to the entrance, not only in this instance, but 

 at all times, as many adult bees are lost in failing to reach the 

 entrance during chilly weather. The workers out in the fields 

 at the time of swarming and the large number of young 

 hatching soon make up the strength of the hive and prevent 

 the remaining brood getting chilled. 



Securing the Swarm. 



, If the apiary be located near high trees the swarms (if 

 permitted to issue) will sometimes give trouble by clustering 

 in them ; though they may as often settle upon any low shrub, 

 or even a post or wall. In the former case a straw skep must 

 be carried up and the bees shaken into it when inverted under 

 the clustering mass ; descend the ladder as rapidly as possible, 

 keeping the skep the same way, and then turn it the right 

 way up on to a sheet previously spread upon the ground, with 

 a brick or piece of wood under it, so that one edge of the 

 hive may be raised to enable the flying bees -to draw in. 

 Where the cluster is formed on a wall or any other like place, 

 brush the bees off' into the skep with a wing ; but if among 

 branches of wall trees, little can be done in that way, and they 

 must be driven up into the skep as it is fastened above them,; 

 by the use of smoke ; or, better still, make everything more 

 certain by first capturing the queen and secure her in a cage 

 fastened under the edge of the skep when placed on the 

 ground : in this case if only a handful of bees can first be • 



