274 
Beekeeping 
entrance at all times for it will prevent virgin queens from 
leaving the hive to mate. Drones of course are also pre¬ 
vented from leaving and if they are abundant they may 
crowd the entrance, with disastrous results. 
(4) As the swarm issues, a wire-cloth cage may be placed 
over the hive or fitted over the entrance. The bees then 
cluster in the top of the cage, without causing confusion in 
the apiary, and may be hived when convenient. 
Automatic hivers. 
Several years ago the desirability of some automatic hiv¬ 
ing device was much discussed and numerous efforts were 
made to devise apparatus which would deposit or lead the 
issuing swarm to a new hive. These arrangements were 
devised to place the swarm in a new location and beekeepers 
now prefer that it be returned to the old location. 
Location for the swarm. 
After a swarm has issued, the old practice was to hive it 
in a new location, thus dividing the working force. The 
beekeeper should manipulate the two parts of the original 
colony so as to prevent such a division. A method some¬ 
times used is to return the swarm without the queen to the 
old hive and about a week later (before the developing 
queens emerge) the queen cells are cut and the colony is 
requeened later. The usual method is to remove the hive- 
body containing the brood while the swarm is out and to 
return the swarm to a new hive on the old stand. By either 
of these methods, the swarm is augmented by the returning 
field bees and, if there were supers on the colony before 
swarming, they are kept with the swarm and the bees 
promptly return to their work. The most common error of 
the inexperienced beekeeper in swarm management is to 
put the supers on the “parent colony” (the one which re¬ 
tains the brood). The population of the parent colony is 
reduced by the loss of the field bees and after-swarming is 
thereby made less probable. These manipulations make it 
