18 ARKANSAS EXPERIMENT STATION 



beekeeper produces comb honey. In the case of extracted honey 

 the bees usually need to be disturbed only a few times during 

 the summer. 



Hiving a Swarm. If a swarm issues from a hive and is ac- 

 companied by the queen it usually settles in a tree nearby. Here 

 it may remain for several hours. Apparently the bees do this in 

 order to make sure that the queen is with them. Sometimes a 

 colony in which the queen has been clipped makes an effort to 

 get away, a large number of bees will leave the hive and some 

 of them may settle in a tree nearby. However, they soon dis- 

 cover that the queen has remained behind and as a rule they 

 speedily return to the hive. 



A swarm, when it has settled in a tree, may easily be hived 

 by removing it either by cutting off the twig on which the bees 

 have settled or by shaking the swarm into a large sack. The 

 bees are then shaken directly into a hive equipped with frames 

 and full sheets of foundation. Sometimes bees settle on the 

 trunk of a tree or in some other place from which they cannot 

 easily be removed. In this case a branch of a tree or an inverted 

 basket is placed over the swarm and with the aid of a little smoke 

 the bees are induced to ascend into this branch or basket. Bees 

 in the act of swarming are in a peacable mood and rarely cause 

 much trouble to the operator. To make sure that the bees will 

 not forsake the new hive it is well to place a wire entrance guard 

 over the entrance and leave it there for the remainder of the day. 



Artificial Increase. If an increase in the number of colonies 

 is desired, this may be accomplished by allowing some of them 

 to swarm, and hiving each swarm as it issues. This requires 

 rather close attention, and even then the issuing swarm may get 

 away. 



A very common method of artificial increase is the one 

 known as the "shaking" method. When evidences of swarming 

 appear in a colony, the hive with its contents is placed to one 

 side, and in its place is put a new hive equipped with frames and 

 full sheets of foundation. The super is taken from the old hive 

 and placed on the new hive. The combs are then taken from 

 the old hive and the bees are shaken in front of the new hive. 



The queen, of course, must first be located and placed in the 

 new hive. By shaking her off she may easily be injured or lost 

 The old hive with the brood and some young bees is now put in 

 another place. When shaking bees from off the frames it will 

 be noticed that the young bees are not so easily shaken off as 

 are the old bees. In order to give the brood proper protection 

 It is well to leave a considerable number of young bees on the 

 combs and return them to the old hive. If no bees are left with 

 the brood in the old hive a large proportion of it may get chilled 



