Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-10-01
Forced SWarming of Bees.

One reason why many do not keep
a few hives of bees is their fear of an
nual loss In absconding swarms, says
Berkshire county contributor to the
Country Gentleman. What is more
discouraging than to learn of some Of
your heaviest colonies casting
swarms that decamped because no
one was present to hive them. If you
will try the forced swarming method
your loss in such absconding swarms
will be reduced to a minimum. If you
have decided to keep 10 colonies of
bees you should have at least five ex-
ira hives Now the honey flow has
begun and the supers have been on
all strong colonies for a week. First
remove the super, then the hive body,
bees and all. On the old stand place
one of your extra hives containing
empty combs or full sheets of founda-
ton. Place a wide board in front Of
the hive close to the entrance.
All is now in readiness and you
should work quickly and thoroughly.
Remove frame from the old hive
body, give it two or three sharp
shakes over the board-dc not hit the
board, but shake off nearly every bee
Place this frame in an empty hive
body that is conveniently near. Re-
move another frame, shaking as be-
fore, and place this frame with the
first in the empty hive body Con-
tinue this operation until most of the
bees have been shaken on to the
board, and when all frames have been
so treated brush all bees out of the
old hive body in front Of the new hive
The entire swarm, with the exception
of a few bees that did not readily
leave the combs, is now on the
board in front of the new hive hurry
ing into their new home. Care
should be taken, when shaking the
frames, to see that the queen is safely
in the new hive. In a short time
every bee has entered the new hive,
and all thoughts of swarming by this
colony is over for this season. Re
place the super and cover and all
trouble from the hive is passed.
There are one or two colonies very
light in bees an the prospects of their
ever building up are remote This
method OF artificial swarming is a
help to such swarms. Place on their
hive the body containing thousands of
young in all stages of development,
and in a very short time these hatch
ing bees have populated this small
swarm, and when all the young have
Matched remove the hive body, sub
shutting a super of honey boxes to be
filed There may be more hatch
ing bees than are required to build up
the weak colonies. Where this condi-
ton exists the old hive body, contain
ing few bees and the maturing
young, is placed next to the new hive
but facing the opposite direction. In
20 days all the young will have ma
tured, and these may be shaken into
the new hive, adding thousands of
workers to this populous colony, $aS
hive body containing the empty combs
should be stored in one corner of the
bee house well protected from the wax
moth mice and any proving enemy
the comb may have. A nice supply OF
empty combs should be in the posses
sion Of every bee-keeper.
This method of forced swarming
should be resorted to just as the first
honey flow begins. If done before It
will be done in vain, for it is not until
the honey flow is assured that the
swarming impulse invades the hive,
and at this time the bee -keeper wiz
be successful in his efforts to check
sWarming, keeping the colony at
high pressure effort at a time when
all hives should be numerically strong.