The Portland daily press., 1895-05-18
swARMINa AND HIvlNe OF BEES.
As Successfully Conducted by wisconsin
Beekeeper For Seventeen Years.


As Successfully Conducted by wisoonsin
Beekeeper For Seventeen Years.
Bees in small hives will swarm ear
her and more in nAmber, other things
being equal. IF we wish to control the
swarming tendency, and we must if we
expect to get good crop of honey, good
sized hives are better than small ones.
think it is better to give them room to
occupy just as soon as the strength Of
the colony will perlnit-don't wait un-
til your hive is chock full Of bees. By
giving room in advance they will not be
apt to swarm SO early, and when
swarm comes off it will be very large.
Such swarms are A No. for making
comb for extracted honey. Thus writes
correspondent of The American Bee
Journal, who describes his methods, as
successfully practieed for the past II
years. He says:
A record should be kept Of the date
OF the swarning, because in seven or
eight days we must go through the Far
ent hive and dispose Of all the strplns
queen cells, as only one queen is neces-
sary for each colony. At such times the
opportunity is good to supersede poor
stock with good. II the surplus queen
cells are not cut out, there will nearly
always be several after swarms, which
are very annoying and improbable, I'M
less we want increase. By managing
thus, you have only doubled your stock,
and your bees should be in prime order
to get honey. It is nice to have some
small, smooth trees near by, but they
should not be allowed to get over about
IL feet high, for the bees TO cluster on.
No large trees should be near the apiary.
II you have no trees, just go to the
woods and cut some and put in front Of
the apiary about two rods. Put down
as you would hop pole. The bees will
cluster on them, and You can pull and
carry the swarm where you choose.
When you first see swarm coming
out, go to the hive, stand beside it and
see If the queen is able to fly with the
swarm. II not, you will find her ON the
ground. If she is not yet able 10 f1y,
place her in cage quickly and put her
with the swarm, OF else remove the old
hive out of the way and place a new
empty one on the old stand. Place the
queen in it, and the swarm will hive
themselves, although care should be
taken and not let them go into other
hives, as they sometimes will
Now when the queen flies with the
swarm, if you wish them to al;ght
quickly, don't get in their way nor in
terrupt them, unless they should move in
direction where there are no trees. In
that case sprinkle with water or scatter
dust among them. The first OF prime
swarm will rarely ever try to run away
if properly treated. I use light box on
a pole about 10 feet long. The box is
like an old fashioned box hive, with
one end open and lots Of holes bored in
it for a swarm catcher. When about two
quarts of bees have clustered, ras the box
up and shake them in and turn kse open
end out so the others can fly in. You
if the pole is the right length ana pre-
pare the hive if not ready. R.gss here
let me say the hive must be large eucugh
SO the bees will have reasonable room
and the entrance large enough, and the
hive must be woll shaded, or they will
not stay.
When the bees are all settled in the
box, you can carry them where you wish.
To hive them take the top Of the hive
off and the queen excluder and put
quart or two i'll to start them. Put the
excluder and covers Cd carefully and
shake soIne in front of the entrance
They will soon SO II. You can hurry
them up by brushing them >>srsfHiIy.
When you pour some of the bees sus, hc'&
the box out Of the way, CT it will draw
them to it. Gently tapping the hive
will help to get them in. You can PVT
sections on Immediately or extracting
super over o queen excluding honey
board. Should the bees be very cross
while swarming, the smoker is the best
remedy.