SWARMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 8

SWARMS.

Ab soon as the population of a hive begins to orowd the combs the bees will make preparations for swarming. The very favourable spring has made the bees veiy forward, and I expect swarming to commence very early this season. Let me recommend that the hives be in readiness for as many swarms as the beekeeper intends to have. Preparations beforehand are generally well done, but work done in a hurry is seldom finished in a satisfactory manner. " Can I prevent the bees swarming?" is a question very often asked when a person has as many bees as he requires. I do not know of any plan that , will with certainty prevent swarming, but it can be considerably delayed bygivjngthemroom. I do not mean by this giving them a lot of empty space in the hive, but by seeing that the queen has sufficient empty oomb in which to deposit all the eggs she wants to. This must alway* be done before it is actually wanted— before she feels crowded, for if the bees get what is called the "swarming fever" nothing but swarming will quieten them. If the beekeeper therefore finds queen cells on when giving more room it will be better for him to allow the swarms to come off, and then arrange so as to get them all at work in one hive afterwards, than to fuss with cutting out queen cells, for the bees will only put onieome more and swarm in spite of him. I am aware that the , above is opposed to most of the text books, which teach that if you want to prevent swarming it is necessary to out out all queen cells every eight or nine days, but I have had bees swarm within 12 hours after I cut out every queen cell, and I have also had them swarm, even when I had made four or five nuolei, from one strong hive. They swarmed out of these small hives, in spite of the fewness of their numbers. When they have begun preparations for swarming more room, at the sides or at the top will Beldom be taken possession of, but another set of combs below will very often prevent them, especially if these are given before they are wanted. The very essence of SIMMONS 1 NON-BWABMING SYSTEM is that there should be between the brood nest and the door an empty space in which the bees oan build comb if they wish. If the combs in this space are never allowed to be completed, it will greatly assist in preventing swarming. Another important point in preventing swarming is ventilation. When a two-Btorey Langstroth hive is full of bees and brood the heat inside is considerable, and will of itself cause the beeß to swarm if there is not ample room given at the entrance for ventilation. My plan is when a hive as above is pretty orowded, to lift the front of the hive on two little blocks, |in in thickness, TLis allows the bees to pass in and out at the sides as well as the front, and when the hive is three storeys high and full of bees, a little blook is placed at each oorner of the bottom board, and the beeß can then pass in all aronnd. Though the above is written as a guide to beekeepers who want to prevent their bees from p warming. I do not like to praotise it all the season. I want to be certain that the bees are on combs absolutely free from foul brood; and therefore try to prevent swarming only until the clover is just beginning to blossom. The swarms are then hived on dean combs, and the brood nest does not require to be interfered with again during the season unless the queen fails to give satisfaction, , WHEN A HIVE INTENDS TO SWABM it can generally be deteoted early in the day by the aotion of the bees. Instead of all the inmates being steadily at work quite a number will be listlessly standing on the alighting board, or crawling up the front of the hive, while others will be running around in a Btate of excitement ; and the bees returning home laden, Beeming to recognise what the pent up excitement means, will stand at the entrance fanning for a second or two before passing in to deposit their load. If we look in- f side, as some of ns having an observatory hive' can, we shall see the queen instead of methodically depositing her eggs in the cells, restlessly roaming over the combs, gradually communicating her excitement to all the bees, who presently oommenoe a rush, and thousands of heads are seen dipping into honey cells and filling their honey sacks, bo that their new home may be well provided with food as soon aB they get there. They rush impetuously out (the queen being sometimes nearly first, at other times nearly last), until with a 71b swarm in the air, one wonders how so many bees can stow themselves away in a hive. When all that intend to join the swarm are in j the air they commence to select a ! place on which to duster. Sometimes the queen settles first ; at others she joins the cluster as soon as it commences to form. The •f ryingpan and key are seldom brought into use in the colonies, though when I was a boy the first sound of "tanging the bees" used to make all the boys within bearing almost aB ■ excited as the bees were, and tops and marbles were for the time being neglected. As soon as the bees are

all clustered they should be hived, but without any of that hurry or flustering so frequently seen, and whioh often results in the bees resenting being handled roughly, and stinging anyone who may be near, It is very seldom that the bees of a swarm will offer to sting, but where there are a number of hives kept the Bwarm is often joined by quite a number of bees flying from other hives, and these bees often sting if bandied roughly. The hive into whidh the, swarm iB to be put Bhould be brought as oloae to the cluster as possible, and the front blocked up Jin, and a oloth spread on the ground in front ; the bees shonld then be shaken into a small box or wooden pail and poured out on the olotb, a few being shaken dose up to the entrance^ I think .the hive they are being placed into is better kept in the Bhade before being used.. When bees swarm out after being hived, it is often because the hive is hot and close. After the bees are all in the hive and settled, remove it at onoe to the stand it is to occupy. Some people, to prevent first swarms from flying away, clip the queen's wings. As she only leaves the hive when swarming, this does not interfere with the prosperity of the colony at all, but I found when trying it that if the queen could not find her way back into the hive she generally got lost in the grass. The beeß very seldom found her, and when returning, as they always do if the queen is not with them, instead of going all of them buck to the hive they come out of they would disperse and enter several hives. I therefore discontinued clipping the , queen's wings after one season's experience. "^