CHAPTER X.INCREASE OF COLONIES.

An abundant secretion of honey and general prosperity of the colony—with combs crowded with bees and brood—are the immediate conditions which incite a colony of bees to swarm. If a colony in prosperous condition be found when the gathering season has fairly opened, with eggs or larvæ in partly finished queen cells, a swarm may be expected in a few days should the weather continue favorable. The first one from a given hive usually issues within twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the sealing of the first queen cell. In the case of strong colonies this may occur in favored situations in the North early in May, in the Middle States in April, and in the extreme South in March. But most of the swarms will come, in each section, a month later. When the flow of honey is prolonged the period during which swarms may issue is also extended, and in case a second flow occurs in midsummer, after an interruption, a second swarming period may occur.

The outward indications immediately preceding swarming are a partial cessation of field work on the part of colonies that have been industriously gathering and the clustering or loitering of the workers about the entrances at times when they have usually been engaged in collecting and when other colonies no more populous are at work. Apparently many are awaiting the signal to migrate, while some seem not to have caught the spirit, but continue their field work. Suddenly great excitement seizes the workers that happen to be in the hive at the time. They rush forth pellmell, accompanied by the old queen, and after circling about for some minutes cluster on some neighboring tree or shrub.

It very rarely happens that a swarm fails to cluster before leaving, but it may do so if it has swarmed before and returned to the hive because the queen failed to accompany it. Spraying water on the leaders or advance portion of the swarm from a force pump, firing a gun among them, or throwing the reflection from a mirror on them will disconcert the absconding swarm and nearly always cause the bees to settle, but the remedy must be at hand and applied instantly.

Fig. 67.—Hiving a swarm. (Original—from photograph.)

When a swarm has fairly settled it is best to hive it as soon as possible, lest others coming out may join it, occasioning a loss of queens, and sometimes of bees, or much trouble in separating them. The operation of hiving may appear very formidable to the novice and attended with great risks, but a little experience will dispel such apprehensions. The bees before swarming usually fill their sacs with honey and are quite peaceable, so that by the use of a little smoke in hiving there is seldom any difficulty. But to be doubly sure the novice should sprinkle sweetened water over the cluster, and at the same time wear a veil to protect his face. Of course, the hive has been ready for some time and has been standing in the shade so it will not be heated. If the cluster should beon a small limb which can be readily cut off, it can be laid down in front of the new hive, which should have a full-width entrance or be raised up in front. The bees will go trooping in, but if not fast enough gentle urging of the rear guard with a feather will hasten matters. If the bees have clustered on a branch which it is desirable to preserve, yet where the hive can conveniently be placed directly under the cluster and close to it, the swarm may be shaken into the hive at once (fig. 67); or the hive may be located on the stand it is to occupy and the bees shaken into a large basket or into a regular swarm catcher and poured in front of the hive. If the cluster is on the body of the tree it will be necessary to place the hive near and smoke or brush the bees into it. They will go up more readily than down, and may often be dipped with a small tin dipper or a wooden spoon and poured in front of the hive. Whatever plan be pursued, expedition is advisable, and it is best before leaving them to see that nearly all of the bees are inside of the hive: at least no clusters, however small, should be left on the tree, as the queen might be among those left behind, in which case the swarm would desert the new hive and return to the tree or go wherever the queen had settled, or, failing to find her, would return to the hive whence they had issued, unless meanwhile some other swarm should issue, which they would be likely to join. A few bees flying about or crawling excitedly over the spot from which the main part of the swarm has been removed need not be heeded. They will find their way back to the stand from which they came. As soon as the swarm is fairly within the new hive the latter should be carried to its permanent stand, and well shaded and ventilated. It is better policy, however, to place the hive containing the first swarm on the stand of the parent colony at once, removing the latter to a new location. The new swarm, having the old queen, with nearly all of the flight bees, will be in prime condition for storing honey, so that supers may be placed on it as soon as it has made a fair start in its new home—that is, on the second or third day after the swarm was hived. If there are uncompleted supers on the parent colony which has been removed, they should be lifted over to the new hive on the second or third day, as the parent colony, having parted with so many of its workers, will not be able to store at once. But the new swarm, placed in a clean hive with starters only, will be in shape to store in sections at once and produce the whitest combs and honey which the source of the yield will permit.

To prevent swarms from absconding and to facilitate the work of hiving them, as well as to keep track more easily of the ages of queens, many persons prefer to clip the wings of their queens as soon as mated. The first season one of the large or primary wings is clipped half away; at the opening of the second season the Other large wing, and the third season an additional clip is taken from one of the large wings, and withit a portion of one of the secondary or smaller wings. With finely pointed scissors this operation can be performed while the queen is loose on the combs, but there is much danger of clipping one or more of her legs also. If she be caught by her wings with the thumb and first finger of the right hand, and then grasped by the thorax with the thumb and first two fingers of the left hand, her wings can easily be reached with the scissors. It will not do to grasp the queen by the abdomen? and of course there should be but little pressure exerted on the thorax. There are some objections against clipping. The queens, being unable to fly, are liable to get lost in the grass or stray into the wrong hives when they swarm during the absence of the attendant. They certainly look unsightly when thus maimed, and occasionally the bees are more disposed to replace such queens than unmutilated ones. It is of course preferable to lose one of these occasionally rather than the whole swarm. When the queen is clipped the operation of hiving is very easy if the bee keeper is on hand to catch the queen as she falls from the entrance to the ground. When the swarm is fairly out and while the bees are still circling in the air an empty hive should be set in place of the one from which the swarm has issued. The bees, missing their queen, will soon begin to return to their old location and will shortly crowd the entrance of the new hive. When about one-fourth have entered the queen may be allowed to run in, and the treatment will then not be different from that given any newly hived swarm.

Thus far the automatic hivers have been only partially successful, so that the experimental stage has not yet been passed; but the practical perfection of such a device is looked forward to with considerable confidence.

The parent colony, removed from its old hive as soon as the first swarm issues, will rarely cast a second swarm, especially if a young queen is at hand to be introduced within a day or two. The surplus queen cells are likely to be destroyed by this young queen, with the assistance of the workers. A laying queen will be readily accepted by a colony which by swarming and removal has lost its old bees, and ten to fifteen days will be gained in the production of brood. Unless increase is especially desired it is best to limit it in this way to first swarms. If still less increase is wanted, methods which will be referred to later may be followed to prevent swarming as far as possible, and such chance swarms as do issue may be returned to the parent hive. If the queens are two or more years old, they may in most instances be profitably destroyed at this time and young ones introduced from nuclei; but whether introducing young queens or returning the swarm with its old queen, great care must be taken to destroy every queen cell, otherwise the introduced queen may be killed or the swarm may again issue. If, however, noyoung queen is at hand and it is desirable to replace the old queen, all cells but one may be destroyed, but this must on no account be jarred or dented. The danger of overlooking a cell where the hive is crowded with bees makes this method somewhat uncertain: moreover, when the bees have once got the "swarming fever" they may swarm again without preparation in the way of queen cells. It is also very troublesome to remove supers to get at the brood combs. These difficulties will induce many who may wish to limit the number of their colonies to prefer hiving the swarms on starters of foundation on the old stands and giving them the supers, while the parent colonies are placed near them with entrances turned away for a few days. The flight bees return, of course, to the old stand. The parent colony should be turned a little each day so as to bring it in five or six days side by side with the hive containing the swarm, which is on the old stand, and make its front face in the same way. By lifting it a day or so later, while the young bees are flying, over to the opposite side of the old stand and turning its entrance away from that of the hive on this stand, the bees that are flying, as well as those that have marked their last location, will join the swarm: and if the same operation be repeated at the end of another week most of the remaining bees will find their way within a day or two into the hive on the old stand. About this time—that is, some fifteen or sixteen days after the issuance of the first swarm—the young queen will commence laying and may be put in place of the old one which issued with the swarm. If honey is still coming in, the young queen, with accompanying bees, may usually be safely introduced at this time by shaking them in front of the hive from which the queen has been removed, both lots of bees having been smoked beforehand so as to get them to fill themselves with honey: or the two combs between which the queen is found may be lifted, with adhering bees, and placed in the center of the colony to which the queen is to be given. Before doing this it is best to smoke the latter pretty thoroughly, and if two of the brood combs from this hive have been removed a few hours before and placed, after their bees have been shaken off, in the colony to be united, and all other combs taken away from the latter, the bees, with their queen, will be clustered on these brood combs, and they may be lifted up without disturbance and placed in the middle of the other hive, whose supers and cover are to be put in place at once and the bees left to quiet down and resume storing. Under these circumstances the loss of a queen will be very rare: nevertheless, in the case of an exceptionally valuable one, cages and other methods are advisable. (See Chapter IX.)

The time lost in watching for swarms and hiving them, the occasional losses of swarms, and the vexations attendant upon their issuance, such as their clustering in tall trees, uniting and killing queens, and the delay in their swarming when the time has come for it, have led beekeepers to devise methods which would save their time and avoid as far as possible the uncertainties connected with this feature of their work. Where increase is desired the question is one of considerable importance. In the more northern States, where the main honey yield comes on suddenly and is abundant for a short period only, and swarming is confined mainly to a period of four to six weeks, or even to three weeks if the colonies are of pretty uniform strength, this question has less weight; but farther south, where the yield is more prolonged and the period during which swarms are liable to issue is sometimes extended over three or four months, it is of considerable moment, and the bee master who intends to multiply the number of his colonies will do well to follow some good system of control.

The simplest method of artificial increase is to lift from the populous colony a portion of the combs, with adhering bees, and place them in another hive near the parent colony, taking care that the part without any queen should have a majority of the bees and should be on the old stand. If a mature queen cell is at hand to give to this part a day or two after the division, the new colony will soon have a laying queen, should all go well. But this last point will need looking after ten days or so later. Should a laying queen be at hand to supply to the queenless portion of the divided colony, the queen found in the hive at the time of the division had better be left in that part of the colony which remains on the original stand, since the old bees will of course return to that spot and will not as readily receive a strange queen as will the removed portion of the colony which has parted with its flight bees. By introducing a laying queen when the division is made the deposition of eggs will be begun a week earlier than if a cell only should be given. At this season of the year this will make a difference of a good many thousands of workers, and will also prevent the bees from clogging the brood combs with honey, as they would if left without a laying queen for a week or more. The supers are to be placed on this part on the old stand, which, having most of the flight bees, will be far better able to store surplus than the other portion. The plan of making the division nearly equal is quite objectionable in case it is followed closely by the main honey flow of the season, for it places neither colony in the best condition for immediate storing. But if only a moderate yet continuous honey flow, followed by a larger yield, is to be anticipated, both parts will have time to become populous, and the equal division, if done in time—that is, before the "swarming fever" has taken hold of the colony—will be likely to prevent swarming.

In case, however, some immediate work is expected of either part of the divided colony, it is preferable to make the division in such a way as to secure about all of the flight bees as well as most of the youngbees, which will soon become flight bees, in the hive on the old stand. This may be done by shaking or brushing nearly all of the bees from the combs of the hive to be divided, or, if the latter is a box hive, the swarm may be driven into an empty box, as described under "Transferring," in Chapter VII, and then hived as an ordinary swarm, the parent colony receiving also the same treatment as described under "Natural swarming."

Perhaps the safest plan, considering that the yield, even when one is acquainted with the flora, can not be foretold, is to follow the plan of making nuclei, and, as soon as these have laying queens, building them up gradually to full colonies by adding frames of brood, frames filled with worker comb, or with comb foundation, or merely starters, as may seem best. This system, besides being safe, has certain other advantages. It leaves the parent hives strong for the working season, yet tends to discourage swarming, because whenever colonies become overcrowded, and before they have contracted the swarming fever, one or more brood combs are removed and the colony is thus induced to continue work in the brood chamber to fill the empty space, while, of course, they are kept supplied with plenty of storage room above for surplus honey. Furthermore, it is easy to exchange the young queen of the nucleus, as soon as she commences laying, with the queen of the full colony. If the nucleus has been started early, the full colony will thus secure a queen of the current season's raising sufficiently early to reduce greatly the probability of its wanting to swarm that year, even though permitted to get very strong, as it is almost certain to do under such circumstances. These nuclei build straight combs and may be relied on to build, even without foundation, worker comb only.

On the whole, a rational method of artificial increase is preferable to natural swarming; but experience and judgment in carrying it out are required to make it advantageous. It should be cautiously undertaken by the beginner, and the main reliance placed upon natural swarming until the bee keeper is familiar with the bees' way.

The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure is that of giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be effective should be given early in the season, before the bees get fairly into the swarming notion, and the honey should be removed frequently, unless additional empty combs can be given in the case of colonies managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections should be given additional supers before those already on are completed. With colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as in those run for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. Free ventilation and shading of the hives as soon as warm days come will also tend toward prevention. Opening the hives once or twiceweekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But sometimes swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. The plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and is in general not worth the effort it costs and can not be depended on.

The removal of a queen at the opening of the swarming season interferes, of course, with the plans of the bees, and they will then delay swarming until they get a young queen. Then if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time or other yields come later in the season, is likely, or even nearly sure, to be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood rearing may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan is therefore not to be commended.

Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season with a young one of the same season's raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible to rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during the first season, and as they are vigorous layers the hive will be well populated at all times and thus ready for any harvest. This is important inasmuch as a flow of honey may come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon, and also since the conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield will also differ with the season, the same as the quantity may vary. Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter. The plan is conducive to the highest prosperity of the colonies and is consistent with the securing of the largest average yield of honey, since besides giving them vigorous layers it generally keeps the population together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be commended on all accounts as being in line with the most progressive management, without at the same time interfering with the application of other preventive measures.

Fig. 68.—The Simmins non-swarming system—single-story hive with supers:bc, brood chamber;sc, super;st, starters of foundation;c, entrance. (Redrawn from A Modern Bee-Farm.)

Fig. 69.—The Simmins non-swarming system—double-story hive with supers;bc, brood chamber;sc, supers;st, chamber with starters;e, entrance. (Redrawn from A Modern Bee Farm.)

Arranging frames with starters or combs merely begun between the brood nest and the flight hole of the hive while the bees are given storing space above or back of the brood-nest (figs.68and69) La a plan strongly recommended by Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, and which has come to be known as "the Simmins non-swarming method," some features of it and the combination into a well defined method having been original with him. It is an excellent preventive measure, though not invariably successful even when the distinctive features brought forward prominently by Mr. Simmins—empty space between the brood combs and entrance, together with the employment of drawn combs in the supers—are supplemented by other measures already mentioned; but when, in addition to the space between the brood and the flight hole, the precaution be taken to get supers on in time, to ventilate the hive well, and to keep queens not over two years old, swarming will be very limited. If to these precautions be added that of substituting for the old queens young ones of the current season's raising, before swarming has begun, practical immunity from swarming is generally insured.

Fig. 70.—Beehives with Langdon non-swarmer attached:A, B, hives;S, S′, supers;D, non-swarming device;e, e′, entrances corresponding to hive entrances;sl, slide for closing entrance;c, c′, conical wire-cloth bee-escapes;ex, ex′, exits of same. (From Insect Life.)

This device (fig. 70,D), first described and illustrated in Insect Life for April, 1893 (Vol. V, No. 4), is designed to do more than merely prevent swarming. The following claims are made by the inventor:

(1) It prevents all swarming without caging queens, cutting out queen cells or manipulation of brood combs.(2) Two light colonies that would not do much in sections if working separately make one good one by running the field force of both into the same set of supers.(3) No bait sections are needed, as the bees can be crowded into the sections without swarming.(4) The honey will be finished in better condition, that is, with less travel stain, because the union of the field forces enables them to complete the work in less time.(5) There will be fewer unfinished sections at the close of the honey harvest for the reason just mentioned.(6) Also for the same reason honey can be taken off by the full case instead of by the section or holderful.(7) Drones will be fewer in number, as a double handful will often be killed off in the closed hive while the other is storing honey rapidly.(8) Artificial swarms and nuclei can be more easily made, as combs of brood and bees can be taken from the closed hive in which the queen can be found very quickly.(9) It enables one to care for more than twice as many colonies as under the swarming system.

(1) It prevents all swarming without caging queens, cutting out queen cells or manipulation of brood combs.

(2) Two light colonies that would not do much in sections if working separately make one good one by running the field force of both into the same set of supers.

(3) No bait sections are needed, as the bees can be crowded into the sections without swarming.

(4) The honey will be finished in better condition, that is, with less travel stain, because the union of the field forces enables them to complete the work in less time.

(5) There will be fewer unfinished sections at the close of the honey harvest for the reason just mentioned.

(6) Also for the same reason honey can be taken off by the full case instead of by the section or holderful.

(7) Drones will be fewer in number, as a double handful will often be killed off in the closed hive while the other is storing honey rapidly.

(8) Artificial swarms and nuclei can be more easily made, as combs of brood and bees can be taken from the closed hive in which the queen can be found very quickly.

(9) It enables one to care for more than twice as many colonies as under the swarming system.

Results according with the claims mentioned above have been reported from various localities, but numerous adverse reports have also been given, the latter indicating clearly that some modification of the device is necessary if it is to be made generally serviceable. A further trial of the principle under varying conditions and climates will also be required to decide its exact value.

The manner of using the device is simple. Before the colonies swarm the device is attached to the fronts of two adjacent hives. The slide (fig. 70,sl) having been inserted at one end of the device, the bees returning from the fields are all run into the other hive, on which the supers are then placed. Before the colony, thus made doubly populous, decides to swarm, the slide and supers are both changed to the other hive. This is repeated every four or five days during the swarming period.

Some races of bees show greater inclination than others toward swarming, and the same difference can be noted between individual colonies of a given race; therefore, whatever methods be adopted to prevent or limit increase, no doubt the constant selection of those queens to breed from whose workers show the least tendency toward swarming would in time greatly reduce this disposition. Indeed, it is perfectly consistent to believe that persistent effort, coupled with rigid and intelligent selection, will eventually result in a strain of bees quite as much entitled to be termed non-swarming as certain breeds of fowls which have been produced by artificial selection are to be called non-sitters. These terms are of course only relative, being merely indicative of the possession of a certain disposition in a less degree than that shown by others of the same species. It might never be possible to change the nature of our honey bees so completely that they would never swarm under any circumstances, and even if possible it would take a long period, so strongly implanted seems this instinct. But to modify it is within the reach of any intelligent breeder who will persistently make the effort. Such work should be undertaken in experimental apiaries where its continuance when a single point has been gained will not be affected by the changes of individual fortunes.

Many features connected with swarming still remain mysteries. The whole subject requires still more study, and its full elucidation would no doubt be of great practical value to apiculture. The field is inviting.

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