Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained Part 16

To make this subject as plain as possible in this place, I may repeat some things said before. The facts related have come under my own observation. I have probably taken more pains than most bee-keepers, to understand this matter to the bottom _from the beginning_, (I mean the bottom of the cells). But few apiarians have made the number of examinations that I have to get at the _modus operandi_ of swarming.

Perhaps I ought not to expect full credit for veracity, when I a.s.sure the reader that I have inverted more than one hundred stocks to get a peep at the royal cells, some of them near a dozen times in one summer.

I have inverted them frequently for the purpose of obtaining cells. But generally to see when such cells are being made, when they contain eggs, when these eggs are sufficiently matured for swarming, or abandoned and destroyed, &c.

By these signs I predict with certainty (almost) when to expect swarms, and when to cease looking for them.

INVERTING A STOCK RATHER FORMIDABLE AT FIRST.

To a person that has never inverted a hive full of bees, even to overflowing, or never has seen it done, it appears like a great undertaking, as well as the probability of ruining the stock! But after the first trial, the magnitude of the performance is greatly diminished, and will grow less with every repet.i.tion of the feat, until there is not the least dread attending it. Without tobacco smoke I hardly think it practicable, but with it, there is not the least difficulty. It would be very unsatisfactory to turn over a hive and nothing to drive the bees away from the very places on the combs that you wish particularly to inspect. The smoke is just the thing to do it!

As for the bad effects of such overturning and smoking, I never discovered any.

REQUISITES BEFORE PREPARATION OF QUEEN'S CELLS.

I have found the process for all regular swarms something like this: before they commence, two or three things are requisite. The combs must be crowded with bees; they must contain a numerous brood advancing from the egg to maturity; the bees must be obtaining honey either by being fed or from flowers. Being crowded with bees in a scarce time of honey is insufficient to bring out the swarm, neither is an abundance sufficient, without the bees and the brood. The period that all these requisites happen together, and remain long enough, will vary with different stocks, and many times do not happen at all through the season, with some.

These causes then appear to produce a few queen-cells, generally begun before the hive is filled, (sometimes when only half full, but usually remain as rudiments till the next year, when the foregoing conditions of the stock may require their use).

STATE OF QUEEN'S CELL WHEN USED.

They are about half finished, when they receive the eggs; as these eggs hatch into larvae, others are begun, and receive eggs at different periods for several days later. The number of such cells seem to be governed by the prosperity of the bees: when the family is numerous, and the yield of honey abundant, they may amount to twenty, at other times perhaps not more than two or three; although several such cells may remain empty. I have already said that a failure, (or even a partial one), in the yield of honey at any time from the depositing of royal eggs till the sealing of the cells, (which is about ten days), would be likely to bring about their destruction. Even after being sealed, I have found a few instances where they were destroyed.

STATE WHEN SWARMS ISSUE.

But when there is nothing precarious about the honey, the sealing of these cells is the time to expect the first swarm, which will generally issue the first fair day after one or more are finished. I never missed a prediction for a swarm 48 hours, when I have judged from these signs, in a prosperous season. When there is a partial failure of honey, the swarm sometimes will wait several days after finis.h.i.+ng them.

Cl.u.s.tERING OUTSIDE NOT ALWAYS TO BE DEPENDED UPON.

The cl.u.s.tering out of the bees I find but a poor criterion to judge from, further than full hives do swarm--many such do not.

EXAMINATIONS--THE RESULT.

I will detail a few circ.u.mstances, that have led to these conclusions.

Some years ago the honey began to fail, when only about one third of my good stocks had cast swarms; and all at once, the issues began to "be few and far between." I had previously examined, and found they had gone into preparations pretty extensively; by having not only constructed cells, but occupied them with royal eggs and larvae. Now I examined again, and found five out of six had destroyed them, (at the same time the bees cl.u.s.tered out extensively). This put an end to all hopes of swarms here. Some few had finished their cells, and these, I had some hopes, would send out the swarms; but the dry weather caused some misgivings. After waiting three or four days and none coming, I found these sealed cells destroyed also, and had no more swarms that season. Subsequent observations have fully confirmed these things. One season some of the hives commenced preparations at two different periods, and then abandoned them without swarming at all, through the summer. The first time it was the last of May, the next in July.

REMARKS.

The failure of honey was the cause, without any doubt. And who shall say, these bees were not wise in their conduct? What prudent man would emigrate with a family, if the prospect of a famine was plainly indicated, when, by remaining at home, there was enough, at least for the present? Who can help but admire this wise and beautiful arrangement? The combs must contain brood; the bees must find honey during the rearing of the queens. If a swarm were to issue the moment of obtaining honey, the consequence might be fatal, as there would not be a numerous brood to hatch out, and replenish the old stock with bees sufficient to keep out the worms. Were they to issue at any time, as soon as the bees had increased enough in numbers to spare a swarm, without regard to the yield of honey, they might starve.

CONFLICTING THEORIES.

I find many theories conflicting with these views, which appear to call for some remarks. It is generally supposed that a young queen must be matured to issue with the swarms, and the old one with the old bees are permanent residents of the old hive.

BOTH OLD AND YOUNG LEAVE WITH SWARMS.

It is probable that no rule governs the issue of workers. Old and young come out promiscuously. That old bees come out may be known sometimes, by so many leaving, that not a quarter as many will be left, as commenced work in the spring. That young bees leave, any one may be satisfied on seeing a swarm issue; a great many too young and weak to fly will drop down in front of the hive, having come out now for the first time, and perhaps some of them had not been out of the cell an hour; these very young bees are known by the color.

CAUSE OF THE QUEEN'S INABILITY TO FLY SUGGESTED.

The old queen often gets down in the same way; but I would a.s.sign another cause for her inability to fly; that is, I would suggest it to be her burden of eggs.

EVIDENCE OF THE OLD QUEEN'S LEAVING.

That the old queen does leave with the first swarm is indicated by several things: one is, eggs may often be found on the board the next morning; another, when the first swarm has left, and before any of these royal cells hatch, the bees may be driven out and no queen will be found, or you may drive out the bees at the end of three weeks, and the brood of workers will be about all hatched, the drone brood not quite as near. The combs may also contain some eggs, and perhaps some very young larvae, that have been deposited by the young queen, which begins to lay usually sixteen or eighteen days after the first swarm.

This shows a cessation of laying eggs for about two weeks. First swarms will have eggs in the cells as soon as they are made to hold them, which is often within 24 hours after being hived; occasionally a new piece of comb will fall down, and, if the cells are deep enough, they are almost certain to contain eggs. I could add other proof, but the attentive observer will discover it himself.

MR. WEEKS' THEORY NOT SATISFACTORY.

Mr. J. M. Weeks, in his work on bees, says, "Two causes and two only can be a.s.signed why bees ever swarm: the first, the crowded state of the hive; the second, to avoid the battle of the queens." The first cause producing first swarms, the other second, third, &c. Mr. Colton's patent hive, it is said, can be made to swarm "at any time within two days," merely for want of room. By removing the six boxes attached to it, the bees are compelled to crowd into the main body of the hive, and swarm out in consequence. Now, if merely crowding the hive with bees is the only cause of first swarms, how is it that half or more of mine refused to swarm, when a great many, for want of room, were crowded outside for weeks, and great numbers maturing every day to crowd them still more? To me the reason is plain, that some of the before-mentioned requisites were wanting. Mr. Weeks further says, when the first swarm has left, "not a single queen, in any stage of minority, is left in the old hive; the bees, dest.i.tute of a queen, set about constructing several royal cells, take larvae or eggs and put in them, and feed with royal jelly, and in a few days have a queen."

Although I had not had much experience at the time of getting his work, I had some doubts, because I found that all hives that became full and began to run over, did not swarm, and some others swarmed before being quite full; it seemed as if something like a preparation beforehand was requisite. I knew of no means, for a long time, that would decide _positively_; when it occurred to me, if I examined the old stock immediately after the first swarm had left, I should find some preparations if there were any; a thing so simple and easy that I felt somewhat mortified not to have thought of it before. The first stock I looked at revealed the secret. I examined it the evening of the day that a swarm had left; I was gratified by finding two finished cells on the lower edges of the combs; other cells were in different stages of progression, from those containing an egg to the full developed larva.

Several more hives showed the same result. I now got bold enough to examine some previous to swarming, as I have already explained.

MR. MINER NOT CORRECT.

Mr. T. B. Miner, in his work, has allowed the preparation of queen cells previous to swarming, but he has put off the time of the swarm issuing eight or nine days too long. That is, he has the young queen matured so that she commences piping first, which does not occur more than one time in fifty.

Now I think it more than probable that many readers will have some doubts in regard to my statements about this swarming matter. Yet I think I can give directions sufficiently particular that they may remove them themselves. They should bear in mind that they have no right to be _positive_ on any subject without an investigation.

PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS FOR TESTING THE MATTER.

I will now give more minute directions for an examination. Full hives require a little more care than those containing fewer bees. Don't let the crowded state of the hive, even if some are outside, deter you from gratifying a laudable curiosity, (such hives are most likely to possess these cells.) Let the satisfaction of ascertaining a few facts for yourselves stimulate you to this exertion, the risk is not much; what I have done you may do. This is better than to rely on any man's "_ipse dixit_." I do it without any protection whatever for face or hands; but, if you have too much fear of stings, a veil to protect the face may be put on, but do without it, if you can find the courage, as you will want a good view. The best time is, when most of the bees are out at work near the middle of the day; but then the bees from the other hives are sometimes cross, and interfere. On that account I prefer morning or evening, although there are more bees to be smoked out of the way. If you are accustomed to smoking tobacco, you will find a pipe just the thing for making a smoke here; if not, vide a description of an apparatus in chap. 18th, p. 281. When you are ready to proceed, some smoke must be blown under the hive before you touch it; then raise the front side a few inches, and blow in some more; now carefully lift the hive from the stand, avoiding any jar, as this would arouse their anger; turn it bottom upwards; also, be careful all the time not to breathe among them. More smoke will now make them crowd among the combs out of your way while you examine. It is very common for the bees to set up a buzzing, and rush up the sides of the hive, but a little smoke will drive them back; get them out of the way as much as possible, and look on the edges of the combs for the queens' cells, where most of them are. If the hive is fully supplied with honey, they will be near the bottom, if not, farther up among the combs; in some hives they cannot be seen even where they exist. Yet they may be found in four out of five, by a thorough search. I have found nine within two inches of the bottom, some on the extreme ends of the comb. I would here give a caution about turning over hives with very new combs, before they are attached to the sides of the hive, as they are apt to bend over.

EMPTY HIVES TO BE READY.

We will now suppose that some of your stocks are ready to cast their swarms: we will also presume that your empty hives for the reception of swarms are ready before this period; to prepare a hive after the swarm has issued is bad management; negligence here argues negligence elsewhere; it is one of the premonitions of "bad luck."

BOTTOM-BOARDS FOR HIVING.

You will want also a number of bottom-boards, expressly for hiving; get a board a little larger than the bottom of the hive, nail strips across the ends on the under side to prevent warping; in the middle cut out a s.p.a.ce five or six inches square, and cover with wire cloth. These are for your large swarms in very hot weather, to be used for four or five days. They are much safer than to raise the hive an inch or more for ventilation. They are also essential for many other occasions. I would not do without them, even if the expense was ten times what it is.

DESCRIPTION OF SWARM ISSUING.

When the day is fair and not too much wind, first swarms generally issue from ten o'clock till three; if you are on the lookout, the first outside indication of a swarm, will be an unusual number of bees around the entrance, from one to sixty minutes before they start. The utmost confusion seems to prevail, bees running about in every direction; the entrance apparently closed with the ma.s.s of bees, (perhaps one exception in twenty,) presently a column from the interior forces a pa.s.sage to the open air; they come rus.h.i.+ng out by hundreds, all vibrating their wings as they march out; and when a few inches from the entrance, rise in the air; some run up the side of the hive, others to the edge of the bottom-board. If you have seen the old queen come rus.h.i.+ng out the first one, and the rest following her, as we are often told she does, you have seen what I never did in a first swarm! Second and third swarms conduct themselves quite differently. I have seen the old queen issue a few times, but not till half the swarm was out.