SWARMING 
801 
four feet high, by 12 or 15 inches square, 
one end being open, and made to fit against 
an ordinary hive-front. 
It very often happens that the apiarist 
is on hand just at the time the swarm 
begins to pour out from the entrance. 
With one of these wive swarm-catchers han¬ 
dy he simply attaches the mouth to the en¬ 
trance, and the outpouring bees fly pell-mell 
into the top of the cage, and are there con¬ 
fined. When the apiarist succeeds in catch¬ 
ing two-thirds of the bees, the rest will clus¬ 
ter on the outside. The cage is set mouth 
end down very near where the bees come 
forth. Meanwhile the apiarist prepares 
his hive, if he has not already done so, and 
then brings the cage of bees and dumps 
them into the hive, replaces the cover, and 
the swarm is hived without having had any 
swarm in the air—not even giving them a 
ghost of a chance to fly all over the neigh¬ 
borhood, and possibly finally alight upon 
the limb of a tree 40 feet from the ground. 
But it should be borne in mind that the 
swarm-catcher is serviceable only when the 
apiarist happens to be on the ground just 
as the bees are beginning to pour forth. 
A large cage that comes down over the 
whole hive is much better than something 
adjusted to the entrance, because it can be 
set down over the hive and proceedings 
stopped. As soon as the bees are all out, 
the cage is lifted gently, and carried to the 
hive where it is proposed to dump the 
swarm. The cage is held squarely over the 
prepared hive with its cover oft, and given 
one quick jolt. This will dislodge the bees 
so that most of them will land in and 
26 
around the hive. As soon as they have 
settled, the cage is removed and the cover 
put on the hive. 
THE AUTOMATIC HIVING OF SWARMS. 
For many years back there has been an 
effort on the part of beekeepers of an 
inventive turn of mind to get up an ar¬ 
rangement that would automatically hive 
swarms in the absence of an apiarist or 
attendant; and since out-apiaries have be¬ 
gun to assume such importance where the 
production of honey is carried on ex¬ 
tensively, some sort of device that will 
hive the swarms automatically—yes, do the 
work just as well as if the apiarist were 
present himself, is greatly to be desired. 
Several devices have been introduced; but 
most of them have been proved to be more 
or less a failure. 
The general plan contemplates some 
scheme having an empty hive placed near 
the colony expected to swarm. This empty 
hive may be alongside, in front of, or 
below the other one. In the case of the 
first-mentioned plan, an entrance-guard is 
placed in front of each hive; and con¬ 
necting the two is a tube of wire cloth or 
perforated zinc. When the swarm comes 
forth, the queen, finding herself barred by 
the perforated metal, runs along until she 
finds the tube communicating with the 
entrance-guard of the other hive. In this 
tube she runs up against a bee-escape or 
wire-cloth cone. She passes this; but, 
being unable to return, is compelled to 
enter the entrance-guard of the new hive. 
Upon discovering that the queen is not 
with them, the bees rush back to the old 
stand; a part of them find the queen in 
front of the new hive, enter with the 
queen and “set up housekeeping.” But 
the plan often fails because the majority 
fail to find her, and re-enter the parent 
colony. 
WHERE TO LOCATE NEWLY HIVED SWARMS. 
Wherever the swarming season comes on 
during the main honey flow, as in the clover 
region of the northern States and the or¬ 
ange region of southern California, the 
early-hived swarms should be located on the 
old stand, the old hive being placed close to 
one side if comb honey is being produced, 
or placed on top of the supers if extracted 
honey is being produced, in order to keep 
