Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained Part 21

NECESSITY OF CARE.

As this tumult cannot be seen but a few days at most, it is well--yes, it is necessary--to make it a duty to glance at the hives at this period after swarming, _every morning_; a glance is sufficient to tell you of the fact. Remember to reckon from the date of the first issue; this occurs when the first royal cells are sealed over, and is the best criterion as to when the queen will leave. If the first swarm issue and return, it can make no difference; reckon from their first issuing.

REMEDY.

When you discover a loss, first ascertain if there is any after swarm to be expected from another stock, (by listening for the piping); if so, wait till it issues, and obtain a queen from that for your stock; even if there is but one, take it, and let the bees return; they would be likely to come out again the next day; if not, it is very often no great loss.

Should no such swarm be indicated, go to a stock that has cast a first swarm within a week; smoke it and turn it over, as before directed, find a royal cell, and with a broad knife cut it out, being careful not to injure it. This must now be secured in the other hive in its natural position, the lower end free from any obstacle, that would interfere with the queen leaving it. It will make but little difference whether at the top or bottom, providing it is secure from falling.

I generally introduce it through a hole in the top, taking care to find one that will allow the cell to pa.s.s down between two combs. It being largest at the upper end, the combs each side will sustain it, and leave the lower end free. In a few hours the bees will secure it permanently to the combs with wax. This operation cannot be performed in a chamber hive, as it is impossible to see the arrangement of the combs through the holes. To put it in at the bottom is some more trouble; the difficulty is, to fasten it, and prevent it resting on the end. I have done it as follows: Get an _old_ thick piece of dry comb some three inches square; cut out an inch of the middle. At right angles with this, in one edge in the centre, make another to intersect it, just the size of the cell, and have the lower end reach into the opening. This comb will keep it in the right position, and may rest on the floor-board. It can now be put in the hive, cutting out a piece of comb to make room for it if necessary.

Soon after such cell is introduced, the bees are quiet. In a few days it hatches, and they have a queen as perfect as if it had been one of their own rearing. This queen of course will be necessitated to leave the hive, and will be just as liable to be lost, but no more so than others, and must be watched the same. It is unnecessary to look for a cell in a stock that has cast its first swarm more than a week before, as they are generally destroyed by that time, (sometimes short of it,) unless they intend to send out an after swarm.

MARK THE DATE OF SWARMS ON THE HIVE.

Should you have so many stocks that you cannot remember the date of each swarm without difficulty, it is a good plan to mark the date on one side or corner of the hive, as it issues. You can then tell at once where to look for a cell when wanted.

It will sometimes happen that a queen may be lost at the extreme end of the swarming season, when no other stock contains such cells. I then look around for the poorest stock or swarm that I have on hand, one that I can afford to sacrifice, if it possesses a queen, to save the one that has sustained this loss; this is not often the case, but is sometimes. I have a few times put just bees enough with the queen to keep her in a box, and kept them for this purpose, as was mentioned in the last chapter. When introduced, the bees are generally killed, but the queen is preserved.

OBTAINING A QUEEN FROM WORKER BROOD.

There is yet another method to be adopted, and that is, to obtain a piece of brood-comb containing workers' eggs, or larvae very young. You will generally find it without much trouble, in a young swarm that is making combs; the lower ends usually contain eggs; take a piece from one of the middle sheets, two or three inches long, (you will probably use smoke by this time without telling). Invert the hive that is to receive it, put the piece edgewise between the combs, if you can spread them apart enough for the purpose; they will hold it there, and then there will be ample room to make the cells. They will nearly always rear several queens. I have counted nine several times, which were all they had room for. But yet I have very little confidence in such queens, they are almost certain to be lost.

THEY ARE POOR DEPENDENCE.

Therefore I would recommend getting a royal cell whenever it is practical. There is yet another advantage; you will have a queen ready to lay eggs two or three weeks earlier, than when they are compelled to commence with the egg. I have put such piece of brood-comb in a small gla.s.s box on the top of the hive instead of the bottom, because it was less trouble, but in this case the eggs were all removed in a short time; whether a queen was reared in the hive or not I cannot say; but this I know, I never obtained a prolific queen, after repeated experiments in this way.

It would appear that I have been more unfortunate with queens reared in this way, than most experimenters. I have no difficulty to get them formed to all appearance perfect, but lose them afterwards. Now whether this arose from some lack of physical development, by taking grubs too far advanced to make a perfect change, or whether they were reared so late in the season, that most of the drones were destroyed, and the queen to meet one had to repeat her excursions till lost, I am yet unable to _fully_ determine. To test the first of these questions, I have a few times removed all the larvae from the comb; leaving nothing but eggs, that all the food given them might be "royal pap," from the commencement, and had no better success so far. Yet occasionally prolific queens have been reared when I could account for their origin in no other way but from worker eggs. But you will find they are not to be depended upon generally.

Sometimes, after all our endeavors, a stock or two will remain dest.i.tute of a queen. These, if they escape the worms, will generally store honey enough in this section to winter a good family. This will have to be introduced, of course, from another hive, containing a queen; but this belongs to Fall management.

As respects the time that elapses from the impregnation of the queen till the commencement of egg laying, I cannot tell, but guess it might be about two or three days. I have driven out the bees twenty-one days after the first swarm, when no second swarm had issued--the young queen came out on the fourteenth day. I found eggs and some very young larvae.

When it is remembered that eggs remain three days before they hatch, it shows that the first of these must have been deposited some four or five days. When writers tell us the exact time to an hour (46 or 48) from impregnation to laying, I am willing to admit the thing in this case, but feel just as if I would like to ask how they managed to find out the fact; by what sign they knew when a queen returned from an excursion, whether she had been successful or not, in her amours; or, whether another effort would have to be made; and then, how they managed to know exactly when the first egg was laid.

Occasionally a queen is lost at other than the swarming season, averaging about one in forty. It is most frequent in spring; at least it is generally discovered then. The queen may die in the winter, and the bees not give us any indications till they come out in spring.

(Occasionally they may all desert the hive, and join another.) If we expect to ascertain when a queen is lost at this season, we must notice them just before dark on the first warm days--because the mornings are apt to be too cool for any bees to be outside--any unusual stir, or commotion, similar to what has been described, shows the loss. This is the worst time in the year to provide the remedy, unless there should happen to be some very poor stock containing a queen, that we might lose any way--then it might be advisable to sacrifice it to save the other, especially if the last contained all the requisites of a good stock except a queen. Some eight or ten, that I have managed in this way, have given me full satisfaction. I have at other times let them go till the swarming season, and then procured a queen, or introduced a small swarm; at which time they are so reduced as to be worth but little, even when not affected by the worms. To obviate this loss in this way, it might be an advantage to transfer the bees to the next stock, if it was not too full already; or the bees of the next stock to this. Let the age and condition of the combs, quant.i.ty of stores, &c., decide.

CHAPTER XV.

ARTIFICIAL SWARMS.

PRINCIPLES SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD.

Artificial swarms can be made with safety at the proper season. To the bee-keeper who wishes to increase his stocks, it will be an advantage to understand some of the principles. I have had some little experience that has led to different conclusions from those of some others. I have seen it stated, and found the a.s.sertion repeated by nearly every writer, that "whenever bees were deprived of their queen, if they only possessed eggs or young larvae, they would not fail to rear another,"

&c. There are numerous instances of their doing this, but it is not to be depended upon, especially when left in a hive full of combs, as the following experiments tend to prove.

SOME EXPERIMENTS.

Several years since I had a few stocks well supplied with bees, and every indication of swarming present, such as cl.u.s.tering out, &c., but they pertinaciously adhered to the old stock, through the whole swarming season! Others apparently not as well supplied with bees threw off swarms. I had but few stocks, and was very anxious to increase the number; but these were provokingly indifferent to my wishes. Taking the a.s.sertions of these authors for facts, I reasoned thus: In all probability there are eggs enough in each of those stocks. Why not drive out a portion of the bees, with the old queen, and leave about as many as if a swarm had issued? Those left will then raise a queen, and continue the old stock, and I shall have six instead of the three, that have been so obstinate. Accordingly, I divided each, examined and found eggs and larvae. Of course all _must be right_. Now, thought I, my stocks can be doubled at least annually. If they do not swarm, I can drive them.

THE RESULT UNSATISFACTORY.

My swarms prospered, the old stocks seemed industrious, bringing in pollen in abundance, which to me at _that_ time, was conclusive that they had a queen, or soon would have. I continued to watch them with much interest, but somehow, after a few weeks, there did not seem to be quite as many bees; a few days later, I was quite _sure_ there was not.

I examined the combs, and behold there was not a cell containing a young bee of any age, not even an egg in any one of these old stocks.

My visionary antic.i.p.ations of future success speedily retrograded about this time.

I had, it is true, my new swarms in condition to winter, although not quite full; but the old ones were not, and nothing was gained. I had some honey, a great deal of bee-bread and old black comb. Had I let them alone, and put on boxes, I should have probably obtained twenty-five or thirty pounds of pure honey from each, worth five times as much as what I did get; besides, the old stocks, even with the old comb, would have been better supplied with both honey and bees; altogether much better, as stocks for wintering. Here was a considerable loss, merely by not understanding the matter.

I carefully looked the bees over, and ascertained to a certainty that neither of them had a queen. I smothered what few there was left in the fall. I then knew of no better way. I had been told that the barbarous use of fire and brimstone was part of the "luck;" that a more benevolent system would cause the bees "to run out," &c.

FURTHER EXPERIMENTS.

Subsequent to these experiments, I thought perhaps the jarring of the hives in driving might have some effect on the bees, and prevent their rearing a queen. This idea suggested the dividing hive, when the division could be made quietly; but success was yet uncertain. I was told to confine the bees in the old stock twenty-four hours or more, after driving out a swarm; this I tried, with no better results. Again, I drove out the swarm, looked out the queen, and returned her to the old stock, compelling the new swarm to raise one. To be certain they did so, I constructed a small box about four inches square, by two in thickness; the sides gla.s.s. In this I put the piece of brood-comb containing eggs and larvae, and then put it on the hive containing the swarm, having holes for communication, a cover to keep it dark, &c.

They were very sure to rear queens, but from some cause were lost after they were matured.

Now, if others have been more successful in these experiments than myself, it indicates that some favorable circ.u.mstances attended them that did not me. I have not the least doubt but the result will be favorable sometimes. Yet from the foregoing, I became satisfied that not one of these methods could be relied upon. Instead of constructing a queen's cell, and then removing the egg or larva to it from another cell, I always found that the cell containing such egg or larva was changed from the horizontal to the perpendicular; such cells as were in the way below were cut off, probably using the material in forming one for royalty, which, when finished, contains as much material as fifty or a hundred others.

My experiments did not end here. I can now make artificial swarms, and succeed nine times in ten with the first effort, and the reader can as easily do the same. It must be in the swarming season, or as soon as the first regular swarm issues. You want some finished royal cells that any stock having cast a swarm will furnish, (unless in rare instances, where they are too far up among the combs to be seen.)

A SUCCESSFUL METHOD.

When you are all ready, take a stock that can spare a swarm; if bees are on the outside, raise the hive on wedges, and drive them in with a little water, and disturb them gently with a stick. Now smoke and invert it, setting the empty hive over. If the two hives are of one size, and have been made by a workman, there will be no chance for the bees to escape, except the holes in the side; these you will stop; (no matter about a sheet tied around it.) With a light hammer or stick, strike the hive a few times lightly, and then let it remain five minutes. This is very essential, because most of the bees, if allowed the opportunity, will fill themselves with honey after such disturbance.

All regular swarms go forth so laden. A supply is necessary when bad weather follows soon after. It is also used in forming wax, a very necessary article in a new hive. The amount of honey carried out of a stock by a good swarm, together with the weight of the bees (which is not much), will vary from five to eight pounds.

This, allowing time for the bees to fill their sacks, and supplying the old stock with a royal cell, I believe is entirely original: the importance of which the reader can judge.

ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD.

It is very plain that a queen from such finished cell must be ready to deposit eggs several days sooner than by any other method that we can adopt. It is also clear that if we have a dozen queens depositing eggs by the 10th of June, that our bees are increasing faster, on the whole, than if but half that number are engaged in it for a month later. There is yet another advantage. The sooner a young queen can take the place of the old one in maternal duties, the less time will be lost in breeding, the more bees there will be to defend the combs from the moth, and the surest guaranty for surplus honey.

When the bees have filled their sacks, proceed to drive them into the upper hive by striking the lower one rapidly from five to ten minutes.

A loud humming will mark their first movement. When you think half or two-thirds are out, raise the hive and inspect progress. They are not at all disposed to sting in this stage of proceeding, even when they escape outside. If full of honey, they are seldom provoked to resentment. The only care will be not to crush too many that get between the edges of the hives. The loud buzzing is no sign of anger.

If your swarm is not large enough, continue to drive till it is. When done, the new hive should be set on the stand of the old one. A few minutes will decide whether you have the queen with the swarm, as they remain quiet: otherwise uneasy, and run about, when it will be necessary to drive again.