Show THE SWARMING OF BEES within the last forty years apiculture has taken a mighty stride in advance of its previous known history the interior of a beehive is no longer a mystery for with the movable frame beehive the brood the combs the queen and all her subjects can be examined and if anything is wrong with the colony of bees it can be righted the honey can be taken from the combs without resorting to the cruel process of killing the industrious tittle little workers with brimstone but for that plan tile the day has passed and the apiarist has learned to manipulate his bees with success and profit many persons undertake to manage an apiary without studying the habits and workings of the bees hence they make a failure of their work blame the present mode of handling bees and say the old plan I 1 is the best now I 1 wish to give the plan of artificial sw swarming or dividing that I 1 have used for many years and which I 1 have found to work well all the hives that are used in the apiary I 1 have of the same size and when I 1 find the drones flying around from the hives I 1 know that the bees are preparing to swarm I 1 then open the strongest colonies and select about beigh frames of honey from the three best banded italian bees taking only two frames from a hive and place them with all adhering bees into a new hive I 1 am careful to remove the queen from her own hive and also examine the frames closely for she may hide herself among the bees on the frames I 1 return the empty frames or combs if I 1 have them into the four hives from which the eight frames have been taken these the bees will soon fill again a 1 n I 1 next nex t remove another hive and g d p put t the now new one in its place th this is w will III receive all the bees that are out at work and ensure a very strong and populous swarm the bees from the different hives will soon become reconciled to each other and finding they have no queen will commence immediately to make queen cells in about twelve days itis it is advisable to examine the now new colony and it will then be found that there are many queen cells I 1 have discovered no fewer than twenty in one hive thus there axe are queen cells to make many artificial swarms or divisions by taking two or three frames of honey brood and bees from the strongest colonies and placing them in the new hive a person can make one new swarm from two old ones give them a queen cell from the first prep prepared axed hive and there will be a swarm started in better condition con than on the old plan this method can be r repeated ep e ate d through all the hives until t the h e q queen en cells have been used or all the bees divided the second day is the best beat time to give them the queen cells they will accept of them and not destroy them cut the piece of comb containing the the queen cell wedge shape and insert it within the comb of the newly divided swarm about the centre my advice is do not try to get rich in one season by divid dividing ng your bees too much or before they are ready to be divided if you divide a good strong colony you get two halves if you divide a half or poor colony you get two quarters and thus injure them my plan has been to keep them strong by liking king out two or three frames from each hive in making your divisions you do not discourage the bees and they work with a will to replace what you have taken away you can repeat this dividing about every two weeks if desired without injury if you do not remove the old queen from the hive you will find a lot or new worker comb built in the frames of the hives do not allow drone comb to be in the centre of the hives containing hybrids or dark queens but raise the rones from your best italian queens by so doing you will improve or keep them pure it is quite necessary to have a bright yellow banded drone to mate with the young yellow italian queen or your stock of bees will soon run ran down to hybrids which are very cross and will sting more than the pure italians if you have black dron drones es 1 in n yo your u r at even ing contract coia tract the entrance witha with a piece bece of tin in order to keep the grones drones in the hive allowing the bees to go in ahdout and out this they can canio do through an eighth of an inch open opening I 1 n g there are other modes of dividing but I 1 have found this plan work very well and I 1 can control the swarming to any required number of new swarms natural swarming is all right if you only knew what time the bees were going to swarm and where they were going to cluster on what tree or hush bush or whether they had concluded to so go to the mountains for it is very provoking to remain at home several days or even weeks watching for the bees to swarm they fly in and out or cluster on or under the hive for days then all of a sudden out they come and away they go in an apiary of fifty to a hundred hives if you depend on natural sw armingto secure your increase you may have several sw a boiss ue out at the same time I 1 have had five swarms swarm come out within two hours then you have your hands full of work to secure them especially if they cluster in the top to of a tree I 1 have known bees bebe to be placed in an empty hive remain two days in their new home then swarm out again and leave for parts unknown therefore I 1 think that is better than an uncertainty and if the artificial swarming is done in a roper proper manner and at the right S time me it is a certainty to secure or hive a natural swarm of bees I 1 would say when the bees are discovered in a cluster on a bush or on the low limb of a tree sweeten some water and sprinkle them thoroughly with it then spread a sheet upon the ground or on a table if the bees are clustered high enough place the empty hive on the outer edge of tile the cloth with the entrance turned in then strike the limb a sudden blow which will cause the bees to loose their hold of the limb and drop in a bunch on the cloth brash them lightly towards the entrance of the h hive I 1 ve they will then commence commence to euter enter it and all will go in keep a sharp shar p lookout for the queen do not be mistaken about the drones which are large I 1 stout bees and many of them are with the swarm when the queen enters the hive the work is d dae e if it if is very warm weather you yon may shade the hive until the evening and then remove the hive to the place which you intend it to occupy all the summer if the swarm has clustered out of reach get a ladder sprinkle them saw off the limb bring them down to the cloth and let them walk into the hive but be sure you have the queen in the hive give them a frame of brood honey etc if you have ha veto to buy ithrom your neighbor examine them nesa day clay and place see inch the frames three eighths of an inch apart filling the hive with frames see that the bees build straight combs to start with if not you must help them by cutting the combs and straightening them into the frames f rames so that at any time each frame can easily be taken out of the hive in handling or working with bees you ou must move slowly and without fear fear or hurry and do not squeeze them more than you can possibly help much more could be said upon this subject but this will suffice for the present A |