Swarming is frequently much later than usual if May be wet and cold,
and the stocks be very weak. It is very probable that second and
third swarms will be coming in July, and should it prove so, we would
recommend their being united to late swarms, or three or four of them
being put together.
Returning Swarms.--The necessity for returning swarms in some seasons,
I think, will be apparent to every one at all acquainted with Bee
management, and, indeed, in some cases of returning swarms; but this
cannot be done with any chance of success but in a bar hive, and there
the operator is sure to succeed. The manner of performing the operation
will be as follows:--As soon as the swarm has left the parent hive,
proceed immediately to open the hive and take out the bars, one by one,
and cutting from each comb every royal cell that is seen upon it, and
replacing the comb again in the hive. The cell in which the queen Bee
is born is entirely of a different construction from that of either the
drone or the common Bees. The cell of the latter is placed horizontally
in the hive, and that of the queen is placed perpendicularly; that of
the common Bee is an exact hexagon, and that of the queen circular;
besides, the cell of the queen is always fixed at the sides of the
combs, and generally upon that near the middle of the hive. This
operation of removing the royal cells will take about five minutes;
and, when done, return the swarm immediately to the hive. The old queen
which led it off, finding by this process that there is no royal brood
left in the hive to succeed her, will not again attempt to leave it.
Persons who have never practised this method will be surprised to find
how easily it is accomplished; for the parent hive will at this time be
found to be almost depopulated from the numbers that have left it in
the swarm, and those that are out collecting. In some cases the help
of a puff or two of tobacco-smoke may be useful, should the few Bees
left be angry, or the operator feel at all timid. The readiest way of
returning the swarm will be to lay a board upon the floor-board of the
hive, and parallel with it, upon which, by a smart and sudden movement,
shake the swarm, and as nigh to the entrance of the parent hive as can
be done conveniently, and with the finger, or a piece of wood, guide a
few Bees to the entrance, and the remainder will follow immediately.
Glasses and Small Hives.--The proper time for opening the communication
between the boxes, as well as for putting glasses or small hives upon
swarms that are in the Improved Cottage Hive, must in some measure
depend upon the season. In a good season it may be done from the
eighteenth to the twenty-first day after the time of their being hived.
In some seasons I have had a glass holding 10 lbs. of honeycomb filled
in less than a fortnight from the time of putting it on. When this
happens, a box or small hive should be placed between it and the hive
as directed at page 22; or, in all probability, a second swarm will
be thrown off. To prevent this, every possible means must be taken;
for the swarm coming so late in the season, as this must consequently
be, is generally of no value, except to unite to others, and the stock
itself is so weakened by it that it seldom lives through the following
winter.
Melted Combs.--Shading should always be had recourse to in such weather
as that of the middle of July, and more especially so for swarms of the
year. In those cases where it has; unfortunately taken place, it will
be better to shade immediately and nothing more, leaving the rest that
is to be done entirely to the Bees.
Shading.--Should the weather prove very hot and sultry, it will be
necessary to shade newly-hived swarms for a few hours in a day, say
from ten till two o'clock; a green bough answers very well for this
purpose--that from the fir trees, perhaps, is the best, as well as the
most durable. I have more than once seen the combs of a newly-hived
swarm so heated by a July sun as to fall from the top of the hive, and
the honey to run in a stream from its entrance, consequently the stocks
were ruined.
Wasps.--I am quite sure that it is needful for us all to use every
means in our power for the destruction of these sad enemies to our
Bees. As "prevention is always better than cure," that object is
attained by capturing the queen wasps at this time; and, indeed, as
long as they can be seen. Some persons recommend shooting them. I
have always found a garden-syringe to be a very useful thing; for if
filled with water and discharged at them, it seldom fails to bring
them to the ground, but it matters not by what means so that they are
destroyed.