BEE MANUAL. 197 



prevent any person undertaking it. It has already been stated 

 that the bees fill themselves with honey just previous to 

 swarming, and as " bees gorged with honey never volunteer an 

 attack," they may be handled at this time with little risk of 

 their stinging; and so long as they are not unnecessarily 

 hurt they may be tumbled and shaken about to an astonishing 

 degree without attempting to defend themselves. Usually 

 swarms cluster in such a manner that they may be shaken 

 into a box or other receptacle with the greatest ease, though 

 it may occasionally happen that a swarm will settle in a very 

 awkward place for taking it ; however, there are few difficul- 

 ties in this way that may not, by the exercise of a little 

 ingenuity on the part of the operator, be successfully over- 

 come. 



First swarms, headed as they are by laying queens, are not 

 long before they commence to settle. If it is a still, hot day 

 the bees will choose the shady side of a tree or shrub, and, if 

 a windy day, the lee side. Should they, however, cluster in a 

 spot where the hot rays of the sun are beating down upon 

 them, or the wind is blowing the cluster about, it may be taken 

 for granted that the swarm will not remain long in that posi- 

 tion, and if compelled to rise again there is no knowing where 

 the bees may make for ; at any rate there would be but little 

 chance left of the owner securing them. A swarm should 

 always he taken as soon as possible after it has settled, and 

 the sooner it is located in the hive to commence work the 

 better. My own plan of taking and hiving swarms is as 

 follows : When I find the swarm settling, I take a bottom 

 board and a hive already fitted with frames of comb or foun- 

 dation — the latter is temporarily removed from its permanent 

 position- — and place them close under or near the cluster, the 

 hive being set as level as circumstances will admit and the 

 frames spaced correctly. The front of the hive is propped up 

 a little on the bottom board, and some kind of cloth- — a sack 

 ripped open will do — is spread in front, one edge resting on 

 the bottom board. By this time the bulk of the bees will 

 probably have settled. I now take a light, convenient-sized 

 box similar to the one described — several of which are always 

 at hand — and shake or brush the bees into it, getting as much 

 of the cluster in as I can, and turning the box partly on its 

 side in my hands I empty a few bees out of it on to the 



