Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1895-05-31
SWARMiNG AND HIVlNG OF BEES.
As successfully Conducted by a Wisconsin
Beekeeper For Seventeen Years.

Deekeepef EOr seventeen Years.
Bees in small hives will swarm ear
lier and more i'll number, other things
being equal. If we wish to control the
swarming tendency, and we must if we
expect to get IL good crop of honey, good
sized hives alo better than small ones. !
occupy just as soon as the strength Of
the colony will lermit-don't wait I'M
til your hive is chock full of bees. BY
giving room III advance they will not be
apt to swarm 10 early, and when a
swarm comes Off it will be very large.
Such swarlns are A No. 1 for making
comb for extracted honey. Thus writes
a correspondent of Tho American Fec
Journal, who describes his methods, as
successfully praeticod for the past /,
years. He says:
A record should be kept IF the date
Of the sw~arIning, because i'll seven on
eight days we must go through the par
ent hive and dispose Of all the surplus
queen cells, as only II queen is necrs-
sary for each colony. AT such times the
opportunity is good to sup~rscdc poor
stock with good. If the surplus queen
cells are not cut out, there will nearly
always be several after swarms, which
are very annoying and unprotitahlc, W.
less VIC want increase. BY MANAGING
thus, you have only doubled your stock,
and your bees should be in prime order
to get honey. 1t is nice to have
small, smooth trees near by, but they
.1a,,1 Ia ,,,t Io o11Nv-Cj Fl, ,,,t Dr-,,, r1,,.,,
IL feet high, fer the bees to cluster On.
No large trees should benear the ap!arv.
II you have no trees, just @ to the
woods and cut some and put IN front Of
the apiary about two rods. Put down
as you would a hop pole. The bees will
cluster Oh them, and you can pull and
carry the swarm where you choose.
When you first sec Il swarm coming
out, 60 to the hive, stand beside it and
see if the queen is able to fly with the
swarm. If not, you will find her OH the
ground. If she is not yet able to fly.
place her in a cage quickly and put hpr
with the swarm, or else rcmov the old
hive out Of the way and place Il nev'
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 ali%llt
quickly. don't get in their way Dor in-
terrupt them, unless they should move IN
II direction where there are no trees. in
that case sprinkle with water or scatter
dust among thnln. The first or prin"
swarm Will rarely ever Try to run away
if properly treated. I use Il light box or
Il pole about 10 feet long. The box /.
like in old fashioned box live, with
one end open and lots Of holes bored II
ii for y swarm catcher. When about two
quarts Of bees have clustered, put Hobo;
up and shake them in and turn the Opcrl
end out SO Tie others can fly i'll. Yea
r=n Just lean the box up against the tree
L Ire POI" is the right length and PFC
pare th2 hive if not ready. Right hero
let III" say the hive must be large rllnu4l,
50 the bees will have reasonable room
and tho oltruIr" large enough, and tlv
hive muSt he well shaded, or they Win
nos stay.
Vixen the bees are all settled i'll TIE
boz, yen can carry tl'Cm "heln you wish.
To hive ticm take the top OF the iiN,
off and IT," queen r&cluGcr and ll;t 4
quart TT two IN to start tlmM, Pat the
"Xcludcr and coVtr Oh carefully ia,
Shake Homr in front Of the c~Dtrunrp.
They Will soon go il. You can hu2,r
them UP by brushing them carefully.
When yOu pour some of the bees cut. hold
the box cut Of the way, CT it will draw
them to it. Gently tapping the hive
will help +" get them in. You can pu,
sections on Immediately OF Extracting
super oven Il queen excluding honey
board. should the bees be very cross
while >warming. the smoker is tn" best
remedy.