NATURAL SWARMING.
General Facts connected with Swarming--Reconnoitring--Settling--
Hiving--Curious Incidents--Transferring Swarms to Bar-Frame
Hives--Division of Swarms--Placing Swarm in Permanent Position
--Number of Bees in Swarming--"Casts" and Later Swarms--Prevention
of Swarming--Feeding of Swarms.
The facts detailed up to this point will enable the subject of swarming
both natural and artificial to be understood very clearly, and we will
now speak of this most important matter in its various bearings.
Firstly, it must be mentioned that swarming is the result of so great
an increase in the population of a hive that work cannot efficiently
be carried on, in consequence of the crowd of bees. In ordinarily good
seasons the queen has produced so large a progeny by the second or
third week in May, that a colony will be ready to start. The workers,
being previously impelled by the growing numbers of the hive, will
have prepared some royal cells. As the time for the emerging of the
princesses approaches, the old queen, in her rage at the thought of
coming rivals, attempts to destroy her future compeers. In this,
however, she is thwarted by her otherwise obsequious attendants. In
her wrath, she utters a succession of shrill, angry notes, having the
sound of "peep, peep." To this one or more of the unhatched queens
will reply in similar tones; and these constitute what is known to
bee-keepers as "piping." It is especially noticeable previous to the
issue of swarms after the first, and may be heard, particularly in the
morning and evening, on placing the ear to the side or back of a hive
about to send off another colony, and especially about the eighth day
after the first issue.
Another indication of the approach of swarming is the clustering of
bees in idleness near and outside the entrance of the hive. This is
specially observable if, through unfavourable weather, an enforced
delay occurs in the departure of the colony.
When the old queen has become sensible that she must depart with a
portion of her subjects, she usually chooses a fine morning for her
exodus; and, under ordinary circumstances, takes her flight between
the hours of ten and one in the day. Occasionally, however, from some
cause, she will delay her start, and the writer has had one instance in
his own experience in which the swarm came out at the unusually late
hour of a few minutes after five in the afternoon.
All the bees who are about to accompany their sovereign, take the
precaution of securing a supply of food sufficient to last them
several days; for they instinctively know they will be so occupied in
wax-making and the internal preparations of their new home, that there
will be no opportunity for them to get supplies out of doors, while,
of course, they expect to tenant an empty dwelling. When all is ready,
and their honey-bags are distended to the full, they rush to the
entrance, from which they excitedly pour by hundreds and thousands.
Among them is their proper sovereign; for, as we have already hinted,
it is always, except in the rarest cases, that the old queen heads, or
rather accompanies, the swarm. Dzierzon records one case in which the
old queen refused to quit the hive, and three strong swarms were led
forth, within a few days of each other, by her royal daughters.
[Illustration: Fig. 60.--A Swarm.]
And now, when the main body of the emigrants has issued from their
quarters, the whole air seems alive with the excited, flitting, buzzing
insects. The noise of their humming can be heard for many yards away,
and a novice may well wonder what is to be the end of the commotion.
Ordinarily, however, within a few minutes, after their exodus, it will
be observed that a gathering of a thicker crowd is taking place at some
particular spot most frequently on some low tree or bush. There her
majesty has settled, and at once her loyal subjects assemble around
her, and form a living cluster. Quickly, from all sides, they continue
to gather, and in a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes a dense mass
will be hanging one to the other, till it seems wonderful the queen and
those in the interior of the living ball are not suffocated.
[Illustration: Fig. 61.--"Tanging."]
In country places it is still the custom to beat warming-pans, tin
kettles, frying-pans, or other unmusical vessels, with keys or sticks
or hammers, while the bees are swarming, under the idea that the noise
makes them settle the more quickly. That any effect is produced on
the insects is not any longer believed by apiarians; and there is good
reason for thinking that the origin of the practice was altogether
different from its supposed use. The probability is, that it indicated
at first nothing more than that some one wished to proclaim to the
neighbours the fact of his bees having swarmed, so that he might lay
claim to them wherever they might settle.
It sometimes happens that the inclination to cease flying is delayed
beyond the usual time. It is said by Langstroth that the throwing of
a few handfuls of dust into the air, or the flashing of sunlight by
a mirror among the bees, will have the effect of bringing them down.
Vergil, nineteen centuries ago, pointed out that, in what he called
their battles, but which were probably only the confusions of swarming,
the flinging of dust or earth among them would have a quieting effect.
Sometimes, unfortunately, a strong and wayward queen will lead off her
colony far beyond the precincts of the apiary in which she has been
living. The writer has, during the past season (1883), had to regret
the vagaries of such a queen, who, the previous year, came into his
possession through her abandoning her former master, without giving
any clue as to her ownership; and this year, after twice settling, and
being once hived, within some two hundred yards of the apiary, took
wing again, and was entirely lost, though followed more than half a
mile. Few things are more vexing to the bee-keeper than such mishaps;
and it becomes necessary to take all precautions which are possible
against them. When, therefore, a swarm has once decidedly gathered
into a cluster, it should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun;
for the excitement, the close massing, combined with the natural warmth
of the surrounding air, will raise greatly the temperature of the mass;
and, to escape suffocation, a second flight is sometimes undertaken.
A wet sheet, an umbrella, a sack supported on stout sticks, and many
another simple expedient will answer the purpose of promoting a
requisite coolness.
Next, immediate preparations should be made for hiving. As a rule,
bees, when swarming, are very good-tempered, because they are gorged;
and, like Englishmen, improve in disposition under the influence of
good food. Some curious stories, indeed, have been told of the perfect
inoffensiveness of these insects when thus forming a colony. We will
give two of these, narrated by Bevan.
A gentleman wishing to hive a swarm that had settled on the branch of
an apple-tree, gave the hive in which he was going to place them into
the hands of a maid-servant She, being a novice, and somewhat timid,
covered her head and shoulders with a cloth, to protect her face. On
shaking the tree, most of the bees fell upon the cloth, and quickly
crept under it, covering the girl's chest and neck up to her very
chin. Her master instantly impressed her with the necessity of being
perfectly quiet, and refraining from all buffeting, while he began to
search for the queen. Having found her majesty, he gently removed her;
but, to his disappointment, the swarm showed no signs of following
her. Suspecting at once that there was a second queen in the cluster,
he made another search, and found his supposition was correct. On
securing her, and placing her with a small cluster of bees in the
hive, the rest followed in crowds, till, in two or three minutes, not
a single one was left on the girl, who was thus relieved from her
anxious, and what might have proved most dangerous position, had she
excited and alarmed the insects.
The other incident is no less striking. A skilled bee-master had a
little friend who was very much afraid of being stung. One day, a swarm
having come off, the queen was observed to settle by herself at a short
distance from the cluster. The gentleman at once called the child to
him, that he might show her the queen. Becoming interested in the
somewhat uncommon sight, the girl desired to observe the royal insect
more closely; so the bee-master, having made her put on gloves, placed
the queen in her hand. Immediately the whole of the bees in the swarm
thronged around. With an admonition to the child to remain motionless
and speechless, and without fear to retain her self-possession, the
gentleman quietly covered her head and shoulders with a very thin
handkerchief, and made her stretch out her right hand, in which the
queen was. The swarm at once began to settle, and hung from the girl's
hand and arm as if from the branch of a tree. Delighted at the novelty
of the affair, and finding herself unstung, the child then requested to
have her head uncovered. After a while, when the bees were all quiet, a
hive was brought. By a vigorous shake the swarm was made to fall into
their abode, and every one of the insects was got rid of without the
infliction of a single wound.
Probably it would not often happen that such completely harmless
results would follow such occurrences: for, it is not unfrequently the
case that a few bees, perhaps having joined the swarm without having
had the opportunity to fill themselves with honey, prove somewhat
spiteful; and, notwithstanding the general quietness of a just-emerged
colony, even experienced apiarians by no means always escape punishment
when dislodging a swarm. It is, however, quite easy to secure complete
protection by means of a properly made veil to guard the face and
neck, and gloves to cover the hands. We strongly advise all novices,
therefore, to make use of these preservatives from stings, when
proceeding to get the bees into the hive intended to receive them.
Some persons advise that the skep into which the swarm is to be brushed
or shaken, should be dressed with a mixture of beer and sugar, applied
with a wisp of elder-branch and leaves. It is just possible that the
sweetened liquid may be drunk by some of those not quite satiated
with honey, and that thus an increased quieting influence is exerted
upon the whole mass; but the most skilled apiarians have given up
the practice, in the belief that it is useless, if not positively
mischievous, by wetting the bees, rendering many of them helpless, and
probably destroying numbers of them.
The facility of hiving depends altogether upon the place chosen by the
cluster for settling. From the end of a bough, or from a low shrub or
bush, there is no difficulty in securing the swarm. Taking a clean
skep in one hand, and holding it just under the mass of insects, a
sharp shake is given with the other hand to the branch, and nearly the
whole of the bees will fall into the hive. Comparatively few will fly,
the vastly larger proportion having clung too tightly to one another
readily to disengage themselves. As soon as possible, a floor-board
should be quietly and gently placed over the open end of the skep,
which must now be inverted, so as to rest on the board. One side may be
slightly propped, to afford the flying bees opportunity of more speedy
admission to the interior than the ordinary entrance hole would give
them. Another quarter of an hour or twenty minutes will suffice for
all but a small number of stragglers to join their companions inside.
Meantime, a shade should be again provided, till all have entered.
[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Hiving a Swarm.]
If it is intended to locate the colony in a bar-frame hive, this should
have been also previously made ready, the frames being furnished with
sheets of guide-comb. The coverings being then removed from the top,
and the skep containing the bees held above the frames, by a sharp jerk
downwards, and a rap or two on the top and sides of the straw hive,
all the bees may be made to fall on the bars of the frames. They will
speedily crawl down on to the sheets of guide-comb, especially if a
light cloth be gently laid above them.
Another method of transferring them from the skep is to spread a
sheet, or newspaper, in front of the bar-frame hive, which should be
slightly raised in front from the floor-board. Then, by a smart jerk,
as before, the bees are thrown on to the sheet or newspaper, close
to the entrance, and they will immediately run in and up on to the
comb-foundation.
Sometimes a swarm will divide into two parts, each of which will settle
separately. In such a case, it is tolerably certain that two queens
have emerged together, as very often happens with second or later
swarms. When such a division of forces occurs, unless each portion is
sufficiently large to form a stock by itself, it will be advisable to
hive them separately, and then speedily to unite them, leaving the
rival sovereigns to fight for the supremacy.
Occasionally a colony settles around the stem of a tree, or some place
equally inconvenient for being detached. The difficulty may sometimes
be met by brushing as many bees as can be got at into a hive, or by
holding a hive above the place of settling, and by smoke driving
the insects upwards, till they learn the whereabouts of comfortable
quarters. At other times there is no resource but making the swarm
take to flight, in the hope that a more suitable place will be chosen
by them for their next assemblage. There is a danger, however, that if
thus compelled to move, a too distant excursion may be made, and the
whole colony thus be lost.
As soon as all, or very nearly all, the bees have gone up into the
skep, or into the quarters they are to occupy, it is advisable to
move them to the stand intended for their permanent position. Some
apiarians, however, recommend waiting till evening for taking this
step. We must dissent from their opinion for two reasons: firstly,
because it often happens that, in a place away from the apiary,
something may occur to disturb the bees, and they will forsake the
hive. In fact, last season (1883) we have ourselves lost a valuable
colony, which, through not being brought home at once from the place
where they had settled, were meddled with by a passing dog, and took
another flight far away, and, though followed long and diligently
inquired after, they were not again discovered. Then, too, the sooner
the bees are placed in their proper position, the sooner will those
going in quest of supplies learn their new home. If left so little as
six or eight hours in the spot at which they first settle, many will
continue to hover about it all the succeeding day, and even longer. For
these reasons, therefore, we advocate a speedy carrying of a swarm to
the site selected for it.
It is an established fact that, previously to swarming, bees often
send forth scouts to select a place for settling. Neighbour records
a curious instance of this kind. He says: "A lady, who lived about a
quarter of a mile from our apiary, sent to us to say that a swarm had
gone in at a hole over her stable, and to ask us to come and hive them.
On our going to do so, her gardener told us that he had seen, three
days previous, two or three bees as if reconnoitring; next day several
came, and about eleven o'clock on the third day the whole swarm went
in, and took up their position between the rafters [? joists] under the
flooring. The difficulty was now to get at them. A carpenter was sent
for, the boards were taken up, a hive was set over, with a brood-comb
placed in it attract them, and by dint of smoke and brushing to with a
feather, the queen and her retinue were coaxed to ascend into the hive.
Some of the bees had already gone out to forage, and there were many
flying about that had not settled; so, to secure these, and to make it
easy for them, we brought the hive out, and erected a sort of platform
on a pair of steps close to the hole, which we stopped. By night-time
all the out-flying bees had joined the swarm, and were easily removed."
The number of bees in a swarm varies considerably, but the usual amount
is from 10,000 to 15,000. In rarer cases, there will be from 20,000 to
25,000. Von Berlepsch, by careful experiments, estimated that about
4,000 gorged bees weighed 1 lb.: so that a good swarm will weigh from 3
lbs. to 5 lbs. As may be easily understood, the more numerous the bees,
the better for the future of the colony, provided there is space in the
hive for them to work in.
The hive which has sent forth a colony usually contains large
quantities of brood and eggs, and some cells in which princesses
are more or less developed, so that queens would be provided in
proportional succession. If the stock has been so weakened that it is
not intended, by the workers remaining, that another colony should
issue during the season, the first queen who emerges is allowed to
destroy all her royal sisters remaining in the cells, and she, at once,
avails herself of the opportunity of so doing. If, on the other hand,
the amount of the on-coming brood is very large, and it is manifest
that again the hive will become too crowded, the queen is restrained
from her murderous propensities. She resents this interference by
uttering the sharp cries of "peep-peep," previously mentioned, and is
answered in similar tones by her still imprisoned rival sisters. This
is a sure sign of the approaching emergence of a second colony. Within
two or three days of the piping being heard, the expected event takes
place, though occasionally it may be delayed, by cloudy or wet or cold
weather, till the fifth day. Such a second exodus is called a "cast."
Sometimes in the excitement of "casting" several young queens, who have
been under guard, will escape; and as many as five have been known thus
to issue with a second swarm: indeed, Langstroth mentions one instance
of _eight_ queens having thus left the parent stock at one time. Of
course, when such an event occurs, if all are hived with the general
cluster, they will fight till one only is left to enjoy supremacy in
the community. If the settling of the swarm takes place in two or three
places, it is pretty sure that more than one queen has come forth. It
is best then to search for one or more, and to remove them, to be used,
if necessary, in other hives, and then to unite the separate clusters.
To third and later swarms from the same hive, the fanciful names of
"colts" and "fillies" have been given, but they are going out of
general use.
Swarms subsequent to the first are usually less than it in amount of
bees. For this reason it is advisable not to make them into separate
stocks, unless very strong, but either, after removing the queen, to
return them to the parent hive, or to unite two or more casts, so as to
form one strong colony. It may be remarked that there is this advantage
about a cast, that all the bees, queen included, are young, and so are
likely to work with vigour; and if sent off early in the season, and
naturally or artificially strong in numbers, they may become a powerful
community: but everything will depend upon the two conditions just
mentioned.
Where it is not really wished to increase the number of stocks, it
is much better to prevent "casting," by cutting out all queen-cells
five or six days after the first swarm. The reason of the delay in the
operation is, that, by that time, all eggs and larvæ left by the old
queen will have advanced to a stage at which the workers cannot convert
them into queens, even if they desire to do so.
Another reason, besides the weakness of after swarms, why efforts
should be made to prevent casting is, that the old stock often becomes,
by the swarming mania, too greatly diminished in population to prosper,
and a double loss is incurred--loss of honey, which would be stored
largely by a stock restrained from self-diminution, and loss of general
strength, through there not being bees enough to collect food for
store, and to look after the constantly hatching brood.
A curious illustration of sagacity in the workers is, that casts and
after-swarms, if allowed to build in a box as they please, select a
corner, instead of the middle, for beginning, knowing that, through the
smallness of their numbers, they are unlikely to fill their abode with
comb, and so taking the precaution to secure the snuggest and warmest
position for such combs as they will be able to construct. They feel
that their only chance of surviving as a colony is their being able to
keep up sufficient heat to hatch the eggs, and to bring forward the
brood in the early autumn and the next spring. First swarms, confident
in their strength, commence their work in the middle of a hive.
We have already mentioned that the bees, in swarming, start with their
honey-bags full. This supply will last them about three days. If, at
the end of that time, the weather should be dull and unfavourable for
flying abroad, great benefit will be conferred on the young colony
by giving a supply of syrup. We shall speak later on of the method
in which it is to be administered. As bees waste nothing, and never
remain idle because they have a store of food, whatever is given them
will be economically used. Moreover, they prefer their natural sources
of supply, and will not take advantage of their owner's generosity in
giving them syrup, if they can gather honey. At the same time, the
needs of a new stock are great during the first two or three weeks,
since much wax has to be made, and homes and provender for the coming
young have to be in readiness. It is, therefore, a wise and benevolent
and _paying_ plan to feed all swarms whom the weather prevents from
gathering abundant supplies in the fields. By this means no time is
lost in comb-building: all the workers remain vigorous for flight and
indoor duties: the queen, encouraged by finding no lack of food for
her future offspring, will get on with laying as fast as the cells are
ready to receive her eggs; and thus all the elements of a prosperous
community will be secured.