Live Stock. 



378 



June 1907. 



mediately. Leave them there for a few minutes and then repeat the operation of 

 hiving. You will succeed in the end ; and as a rule, with European bees, you will 

 succeed at the first try. 



This operation will probably strike] the inexperienced reader as frightfully 

 risky ! As a matter of fact, however, when bees swarm, they are so gorged with 

 honey that they never dream of stinging. Some of them will fly round your head 

 and even settle on your hands. But you need pay no attention to them. Do what 

 you wish to do with calm deliberation and without hurry. There is plenty of time. 

 And do not wave your arms about frantically to try and drive off the bees that are 

 flying round. You cannot do it, so it is useless to try ! You have only to remember 

 that the bees will not sting you, and you will remain calm. You could pour a swarm 

 of bees from one hand to another with perfect impunity ! 



Now suppose you decide to keep Mee-Messa (Apis Indica). Prepare your 

 hive in the same manner, but put the W. B. C. Metal Ends only on alternate frames. 

 You will receive the bees in a chatty probably. But of course, if you can find a 

 vagrant swarm on a tree, you will get to work as described above. With a chatty, 

 however, you have another problem to face. The bees already have comb in the 

 chatty, and you have to induce them to leave their comb and cluster in something 

 from which you can shake them in a lump. This operation is called " drumming." 



Get an empty chatty as nearly as possible the same shape as the one the bees 

 are in. Put down the chatty in which the bees are mouth downwards, being careful 

 to plug any holes in the sides with grass or paper. Put some touchwood or brown 

 paper in your smoker, set it smouldering, and having lifted the mouth of the chatty 

 slightly, puff two or three good blasts of smoke right inside. The bees will at once 

 begin buzzing furiously — not with anger, but with fright — an experienced man can 

 easily tell the difference in their notes. Then tap gently on the sides of the chatty— 

 not too hard, or you may break some of the combs loose. This will terrify the bees 

 still more, and they will begin to gorge themselves with honey. After two minutes 

 give a couple more good puffs into the mouth of the chatty, and turn the whole 

 thing upside down on the ground, propping it up with stones. The bees will not 

 come out— they are far too busy hilling themselves with honey. If you like to quiet 

 them still more, pour a little warm sugar and water between the combs, which they 

 will lick up. 



The bees are now thoroughly demoralized and prepared to leave their home, 

 which they think must be on fire. Place the new chatty on top of the old one, so 

 that the two mouths come together, and then commence a steady drumming with a 

 couple of sticks on the sides of the old chatty. This will frighten the bees still more, 

 until presently they will all begin to run up into the new chatty, where they will 

 cluster in a bunch. 



You now have them in exactly the same state as if they had swarmed 

 naturally— so gorged with honey that they are as harmless as flies — and you can 

 fling them down in front of the hive as before described. 



You can now take their old chatty and cut out the combs at your leisure. 

 The honey you can reserve for your own consumption ; but comb containing brood 

 should be tied with string on to frames, which can them be inserted in the hive • 

 This will induce the bees to settle down quietly in their new home. In a couple of 

 days you can go and cut the string loose, as the bees will by then have fixed the 

 comb firmly to the frames. 



If you can perform this operation in a room, I would advise you to do so, as 

 you will then run no risk of loosing the bees. But if the bees are properly filled 

 with honey they are very unlikely to take wing much, being only too glad to run 

 into a dark place at once. 



