100 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
settle near the place they have left, and if 
caught without delay in a suitable hive, they 
will not leave it. 
Bees, when swarming, do not attempt to 
sting, and the sooner they arc caught there is 
the less danger of being stung; hut if they 
have been out for some time, sprinkle a little 
cold water over them, and treat them gently. 
Place the hive, or box, right under the swarm, 
and give the branch they are on a good shake, 
when they will nearly all fall in ; cover the 
opening quickly, and put the hive upright, 
opening the entrance after a few minutes. 
If the queen is in the hive, all the flying bees 
will soon follow, and when only a few are 
left flying about, take the hive very gently 
and carry it to the new stand. 
Through my experience in taking thousands 
of swarms, I have ascertained that the size of 
hive should be in proportion to the size of the 
swarm. A small swarm, if put into a large 
hive, dislikes it ; the bees seem to feel that it 
is too large to keep clean, and they cannot 
defend themselves as well, or keep warm in 
cool weather, while, on the other hand, a 
strong swarm, in a small hive, has not room 
enough to work, and the heat inside is too 
great. All these matters are taken into con- 
sideration in the construction of my hives, 
and although all are the same size, the glass 
division serving the purpose, closing up the 
hive with three, four, or more frames, as 
required, according to the strength of the 
swarm. 
Notwithstanding the remarks I have made, 
I have further found, by long experience, that 
it is often very troublesome to catch swarms, 
for they will sometimes fly to a very high 
tree where it is very difficult to get at them, 
or they may perhaps fly some distance and 
settle in a neighbour’s garden, and frequently 
in windy weather the queen gets lost, and 
half the value of the swarm is lost thereby, 
or several swarms come out at the same time 
and get mixed in their flight and settle all in 
one mass, which they generally do, soon 
killing some, or perhaps all, the queens of 
the different swarms. To prevent all this 
trouble and loss I use a swarming bag ; 
by the use of this I catch all the swarms 
separately, and without difficulty. The open 
end of the bag is fastened before the entrance 
of the hive at the very moment the swarm 
commence rushing out, the other end is tied 
up and hung on a stick at a little higher 
elevation. As soon as the bees are all out and 
in the higher end of the bag, the end to the 
entrance is unfastened and tied up ; the swarm 
can then be hung in a well shaded spot, and 
sprinkled sometimes with water till there is 
leisure to put it in a hive. I have caught ten 
swarms in these bags in as many minutes. 
What could I have done without the swarm 
catcher? Of course, this method requires 
practice, but all experienced beekeepers know, 
or ought to know, by the manner of the bees 
outside a hive, five minutes before the swarm 
issues. , 
A great deal more could be said about 
swarming ; but to describe everything in 
detail would require the space of a book, to 
the kind reader must excuse me if I mention 
briefly the principal points only, and I shall 
now proceed to describe artificial swarming. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 
As the black bees, in the old gin cases, &c., 
generally in use, as a rule, swarm often 
enough, I need not mention how to make 
artificial swarms from such hives, so my 
remarks will be for those who keep frame 
hives, more particularly for those who have 
the Italian bees, as they do not naturally 
incline to swarm as often as the black bees. 
Although there are various methods, I shall 
recommend the one following I have proved 
to be the best : — 
An artificial swarm can be made when a 
hive is full of bees and brood, by dividing it 
in the following manner : — 'lake seven or 
eight frames out and put them into the frame- 
holder, then select from them four or five 
frames with the most capped brood — one with 
honey, then put them, with all the bees on 
them, except the queen, into a new hive, 
and brush some more young bees from 
the other frames as well, the remainder 
of the frames are returned to the old hive, 
with the queen, and empty frames or 
some with worker comb in them are added 
to replace those that have been taken away, 
so that the loss of brood, &c., is soon 
repaired. An impregnated queen should be 
kept, in readiness to introduce to the new 
swarm. This should he caged for a day or 
two till the bees know her and become friendly 
to her. We always keep a number of pure 
fertile queens, and introduce one under a 
cage at the same time the new swarm is 
made, and fewer of the bees will leave for 
their old home. If no queen can be introduced, 
the bees in the new hive ought to be shut up 
for a day in a cool dark place, with the 
ventilation board open, or else too many bees 
would return, and after two days a nearly 
ripe queen cell should be introduced, or other- 
wise the bees have to make their own queen 
cells, and are kept without a queen fora much 
longer time, and consequently are all the time 
getting weaker. Should the young queen get 
lost on her marriage flight, which sometimes 
happens, some very young brood-eggs and 
two days’ old larvae must be given to the 
queen less bees to enable them to raise another 
