Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained Part 20

SWARMS NECESSARY TO BE SEEN.

It is essential that you see them, that you may know where they cl.u.s.ter, otherwise it might be difficult to find them. They are apt to go farther from the parent stock than others; sometimes fifty rods, and then settle in two places, perhaps that distance apart, in some high or inconvenient place to get at. (Let me not be misunderstood: I do not say they all do so, or even the majority; but I wish to say that a greater portion of these swarms do so than of the first.) If they cl.u.s.ter in two places, a queen may be in each, and they will remain, and when you have hived one part you may think you have all. If one cl.u.s.ter is without a queen, they will join the other if near; but when distant, will be very likely to return to the old stock soon, unless put together. I had a swarm light in two places, in exactly opposite directions from the stock. In one, a good swarm had cl.u.s.tered; in the other, some less than a pint. The small part had one or more queens, the other none. It was perceived at once by their movements. Now, if we provide a hive for a swarm, and get a few to set up the call or buzzing, they will not leave till that is stopped. There is generally no difficulty to start it. The surest way is to jar a portion or all directly into the hive. It takes a few minutes to get composed, and miss the queen. In my case I got them in the hive, and before they missed the queen, carried them to the small cl.u.s.ter, which I got in a dipper and emptied in front of the hive; they entered, and all were peaceable. You will therefore see the necessity of watching such swarms, to see if there is no separation, if nothing else.

RETURNING AFTER SWARMS TO THE OLD STOCK.

Much has been said about returning all after swarms to the old stock; the advantages of which will depend on the time of issuing; whether late or early, the yield of honey, etc. It would be unusual to have many after swarms without a liberal yield of honey, for the time being; but to tell of its continuance is the question to be answered. Second, and even third swarms, if early in the season, and the honey continues plentiful, may be hived, and these, together with the old stock, will prosper. Here the apiarian needs a little judgment and experience to guide him.

WHEN THEY SHOULD BE RETURNED.

It is always best, if possible, to have good strong families. When after swarms are late it is safest to return them, as the old stock will need them to replenish the hive, and prepare for winter. Also a less number of worms will infest it, when well provided with bees; and the chances of box honey are greater.

METHOD OF DOING IT.

But the process of returning such requires some little patience and perseverance. I have said there may be a dozen young queens in the old stock. Now suppose one, two, or more leave with the swarm, and you return the whole together, there is nothing to prevent their leading out the swarm again the next day. Therefore it is policy to keep the queens back. The least trouble is to hive in the usual way, and let them stand till the next morning. It will save you the trouble of looking for more than one, if there should be more, for all but that are destroyed by that time. There is a chance, also, for the old stock to decide that no more should issue, and allow all but one to be slain there. When this is the case, and you find the one with the swarm, you will have no further trouble by their re-issuing. They should be returned as soon as the next morning, otherwise they might not agree, even when put in the old home. To return them, and find a queen easily, get a wide board a few feet long; let one end rest on the ground, the other near the entrance, that they may enter the hive without flying; then shake out the swarm on the lower end of the board; but few will fly, but soon commence running up towards the hive; the first one that discovers the entrance will set up the call for the others. If they do not discover it, which is the case sometimes, scatter some of them near it, and they will soon commence marching up, when you should look out for, and secure the queen, as they spread and give a good chance. By applying your ear to the hive, the piping will tell you if they are to issue again. It is evident, if you follow these directions, that the swarm cannot issue many times before their stock of royalty will be exhausted; and when but one queen remains the piping will cease, and no further trouble will be had. To prevent these after swarms, some writers recommend turning over the hive and cutting out all the royal cells but one. This I have found impracticable with a great many stocks. Some of the cells are too near the top to be seen, consequently this cannot always be depended upon. As for a rule about returning, it is somewhat difficult to give one. If I should say, return all such as issue after the 20th of June, the variation in the season might be two or three weeks, even in the same lat.i.tude; i.e., the course of flowers that had bloomed by that date in one season might, another year, require two weeks more to bring out. Also, the 20th of June, in lat.i.tude of New York City, is as late as the 4th of July in many places further north. I once had a second swarm on the 11th of July, that wintered well, having nearly filled the hive. Yet, in some seasons, the first swarms, of the last of June, have failed to get enough. In sections where much buckwheat is raised, late swarms do more towards filling their hives than where there is none.

MORE CARE NEEDED BY AFTER SWARMS WHEN HIVED.

Should it be thought best to hive after swarms, and risk the chances, they should receive a little extra attention after the first week or two, to destroy the worms; a little timely care may prevent considerable injury. They are apt to construct more combs in proportion to the number of bees, than others; consequently, such combs cannot be properly covered and protected. The moth has an opportunity to deposit her eggs on them, and, sometimes, entirely destroy them.

TWO MAY BE UNITED.

Whenever these swarms issue near enough together, it is best to unite them. I have said second swarms were generally half as large as the first. By this rule, two second swarms would contain as many bees as a first one, and four of the third, or one of the second issue, and two of the third, &c. If the first and second are of the ordinary size, I think it advisable always to return the third. But in large apiaries it is common for them to issue without any previous warning, just when a first one is leaving, and crowd themselves into their company, and seeming to be as much at home as though they were equally respectable.

Whenever the hives containing our swarms are full or very near it, the boxes should be put on without delay, unless the season of honey is so nearly gone as to make it unnecessary.

I have found it an advantage to hive a few of these very small swarms, on purpose to preserve queens, to supply some old stocks that sometimes lose their own at the extreme end of the swarming season. The cases to be mentioned at the last of the next chapter. I try and save one for about every twenty stocks that have swarmed.

CHAPTER XIV.

LOSS OF QUEENS.

OF SWARMS THAT LOSE THEIR QUEEN.

Swarms that lose their queen the first few hours after being hived, generally return to the parent stock; with the exception that they sometimes unite with some other. If much time has elapsed before the loss, they remain, unless standing on the same bench with another. On a separate stand they continue their labor, but a large swarm diminishes rapidly, and seldom fills an ordinary-sized hive. One singular circ.u.mstance attends a swarm that is constructing combs without a queen. I have never seen it noticed by any one, and may not always be the case, but _every_ instance that has come under my notice, I have so found it. That is, four-fifths of the combs are drone-cells; why they thus construct them is another subject for speculation, from which I will endeavor in this instance to refrain.

A SUGGESTION AND AN ANSWER.

It has been suggested as a profitable speculation, "to hive a large swarm without a queen, and give them a piece of brood-comb containing eggs, to rear one, and then as soon as it is matured, deprive them of it, giving them another piece of comb, and continue it throughout the summer, putting on boxes for surplus honey. The bees having no young brood to consume any honey, no time will be lost, or taken to nurse them, and as a consequence they will be enabled to store large quant.i.ties of surplus honey."

This appears very plausible, and to a person without experience somewhat conclusive. If success depended on some animal whose lease of life was a little longer, it would answer better to calculate in this way. But as a bee seldom sees the anniversary of its birthday, and most of them perish the first few months of their existence, it is bad economy. It will be found that the largest amount of our surplus honey is obtained from our prolific stocks. Therefore it is all-important that every swarm and stock has a queen to repair this constant loss.

A DISPUTED QUESTION.

We now approach another disputed point in natural history, relative to the queen leaving at any time except when leading out a swarm. Most writers say that the young queen leaves the hive, and meets her paramour, the drone, on the wing. Others deny this _positively_, having watched a whole summer without seeing her highness leave. Consequently they have arrived at the very plausible and apparently consistent conclusion, that nature never intended it to be so, since it must happen at a time when the existence of the whole family depends entirely on the life of the queen. The stock at such times contains no eggs or larvae, from which to rear another, if she should be lost. "The chances at such times of being devoured by birds, blown away by the winds, and other casualties, are too many, and it is not probable the Creator would have so arranged it." But facts are stubborn things; they will not yield one jot to favor the most "finely-spun hypothesis;" they are most provokingly obstinate, many times. When man, without the necessary observation, takes a survey through animated nature, and finds with scarcely an exception that male and female are about equal in number, he is ready, and often does conclude that one bee among thousands cannot be the only one capable of reproduction or depositing eggs. Why, the idea is preposterous! And yet only a little observation will upset this very consistent and a.n.a.logous reasoning. So it appears to be with the excursions of the young queens. I was compelled, though reluctantly, to admit that they leave the hive. That their purpose is to meet the drones, I cannot at present contradict. Also, that, when the queen is once impregnated, it is operative for life, (yet it is another anomaly), as I never detected her coming out again for that purpose. What then is the use of the ten thousand drones that never fulfil this important duty? It seems, indeed, like a useless waste of labor and honey, for each stock to rear some twelve or fifteen hundred, when perhaps but one, sometimes not any of the whole number is of any use. If the risk is great in the queen's leaving, we find it arranged admirably in its not being too frequent.

A MULt.i.tUDE OF DRONES NEEDED.

Instinct teaches the bee to make the matters left to them as nearly _sure_ as possible. When they want one queen, they raise half a dozen.

If one drone or only half a dozen were reared, the chances of the queen meeting one in the air would be very much reduced. But when a thousand are in the air instead of one, the chances are a thousand times multiplied. If a stock casts a swarm, there is a young queen to be impregnated, and be got safely back, or the stock is lost. Every time she leaves, there is a chance of her being lost, (one in fifteen). If the number of drones was any less than it is, the queen would have to repeat her excursions in proportion, before successful. As it is, some have to leave several times. The chances and consequences are so great, that on the whole no doubt but it is better to rear a thousand unnecessarily, than to lack one just in time of need. Therefore let us endeavor to be content with the present arrangement, inasmuch as we could not better it, and probably had we been consulted, would have so fixed "the thing, that it would not go at all."

But what is the use of the drones in hives that do not swarm, and do not intend it, situated in a large room or very large hives? Such circ.u.mstances seldom produce swarms, yet as regular as the return of summer, a brood of drones appear. What are they for? Suppose the old queen in such hive dies, leaving eggs or young larvae, and a young queen is reared to supply her place. How is she to be impregnated without the drones? Perhaps they are taught that whenever they can afford it, they should have some on hand to be ready for an emergency. I have already said when bees are numerous, and honey abundant, they never fail to provide them. I once put a swarm in a gla.s.s hive. The queen was a cripple, having lost one of her posterior legs; in two months after she was replaced by one young and perfect. Here was an instance of drones being needed, when no intention of swarming was indicated; the hive was but little more than half full.

THE QUEEN LIABLE TO BE LOST IN HER EXCURSIONS.

This excursion of the queen, whenever I have witnessed it, always took place a little after the middle of the day, when the drones were out in the greatest numbers. At such times I have seen them leave amid rather more commotion than usual among the workers. I have watched their return, which varied from three minutes to half an hour, and seen them hover around their own hive, apparently in doubt whether they belonged in that, or the next; in a few instances they have actually settled on the neighboring hive, and would have there perished, but for my a.s.sistance in putting them right.

THE TIME WHEN IT OCCURS.

Thus we see that queens are lost on these occasions from some cause, and part of them by entering the wrong hive, perhaps most of them; if so, it is another good reason for not packing stocks too close. The hives are very often nearly alike in color and appearance. The queen coming out for the first time in her life, is no doubt confused by this similarity.

The number of such losses in a season has varied: one year the average was one in nine, another it was one in thirteen, and another one in twenty. The time from the first swarm also varies from twelve to twenty days. The inexperienced reader should not forget that it is the old stocks which have cast swarms, where these accidents happen; the old queen having left with the first swarm. Also all after swarms are liable to the same loss. I would suggest that these have abundant room given between the hives; if it is necessary to pack close, let it be the first swarms, where the old queen has no occasion to leave. Having never seen this matter fully discussed, I wish to be somewhat particular, and flatter myself that I shall be able to direct the careful apiarian how to save a few stocks and swarms annually, that is, if he keeps many. A few years ago, I wrote an article for the Albany Cultivator. A subscriber of that paper told me a year afterwards that he saved two stocks the next summer by the information; they were worth at least five dollars each, enough to pay for his paper ten years or more.

When a stock casts but one swarm, the queen having no compet.i.tors to interfere with her movements, will leave in about fourteen days, if the weather is fair; but should an after swarm leave, the oldest of the young queens will probably go with that, of course: then, it must be later before the next is ready: it may be twenty days, or even more; those with after swarms will vary from one to six. It _always must_ occur when no eggs or larvae exist, and no means left to repair this loss; a loss it is, and a serious one; the bees are in as much trouble as their owner, and a great deal more, they seeming to understand the consequences, and he, if he knows nothing of the matter, has no trouble. Should he now, for the first time, learn the nature of it, he will at the same time understand the remedy.

INDICATIONS OF THE LOSS.

The next morning after a loss of this kind has occurred, and occasionally at evening, the bees may be seen running about in the greatest consternation, outside, to and fro on the sides. Some will fly off a short distance and return; one will run to another, and then to another, still in hopes, no doubt, of finding their lost sovereign! A neighboring hive close by, on the same bench, will probably receive a portion, which will seldom resist an accession under such circ.u.mstances. All this will be going on while other hives are quiet.

Towards the middle of the day, this confusion will be less marked; but the next morning it will be exhibited again, though not so plainly, and cease after the third, when they become apparently reconciled to their fate.

They will continue their labors as usual, bringing in pollen and honey.

Here I am obliged to differ with writers who tell us that all labor will now cease. I hope the reader will not be deceived by supposing that because the bees are bringing in pollen, that they _must_ have a queen; I can a.s.sure you it is not always the case.

THE RESULT.

The number of bees will gradually decrease, and be all gone by the early part of winter, leaving a good supply of honey, and an extra quant.i.ty of bee-bread, as before mentioned, because there has been no young brood to consume it. This is the case when a large family was left at the time of the loss. When but few bees are left, it is very different; the combs are unprotected by a covering of bees; the moth deposits her eggs on them, and the worms soon finish up the whole. Yet the bees from the other stocks will generally first remove the honey.

AGE OF BEES INDICATED.

Hundreds of bee-keepers lose some of their stocks in this way, and can a.s.sign no reasonable cause. "Why," say they, "there wasn't twenty bees in the hive; it was all full of honey," or worms, as the case may be.

"Only a short time before, it was full of bees; I got three good swarms from it, and it always had been first rate, but all at once the bees were gone. I don't understand it!" Such bee-keepers cannot understand how rapidly a family of bees diminish, when there is no queen to replenish with young this mortality of the old ones. I doubt whether the largest and best family possibly could be made to exist six months, without a queen for their renewal, except, perhaps, through the winter.

When standing close on one bench, they are gone sooner than if on separate stands, as they often join a neighboring hive when they can walk to it.