"A stock of bees is usually to be obtained by purchase, although it
may indeed chance that you get an opportunity of hiving a 'vagabond'
swarm which may have settled in your garden or orchard. In the latter
instance, indeed, I think your property in the stragglers somewhat
questionable, and perhaps scarcely more so than it would be in a stray
ox or sheep, which accident had driven into your premises.
"You may procure stock either in the spring or autumn. I should prefer
the former period, because that is the fitting time for removal of
stocks from the old-fashioned awkward hives to the more improved
modern receptacles; but it is more difficult to ascertain the exact
condition of the stock you are about purchasing in spring than it
is in autumn. I am sorry to say, that unless you purchase your
stock from a friend, or from some one, at all events, that you can
confidently depend on, you are very likely to be taken in, and must
therefore be upon your guard against imposition. As some writer (I
forget who) quaintly enough remarks, 'Let it be with the bees as with
a wife--never _take them on the recommendation of another party_'
If you would purchase a stock in early spring, just after the bees
have been removed from their winter quarters, you need not attempt it
unless from a person on whose honour you can positively depend. During
the months of May or June, you can form some judgment for yourself,
and, if you act cautiously, may perhaps bid defiance to trickery. In
this case, you should visit the garden or other locality in which the
hive stands that you intend purchasing, about mid-day; stand opposite
to it, and observe attentively the actions of its inhabitants. If they
crowd busily in and out of the hive, giving evidence of their industry
by the laden appearance of their legs, and altogether exhibiting a
busy _earnestness_ in their toils, you may safely buy the hive; and
if you obtain this hive before swarming has taken place, you may look
upon yourself as a fortunate man.
"If the object of your intentions be an autumnal hive, you had
better ascertain that the massacre of the drones has taken place: an
observation of the stand and of the ground around the hive will tell
this. Observe the actions of these bees--see that they are lively and
industrious; and if, on your too near approach, one or two bees dash
at your face, do not be alarmed, but rather regard their pugnacity
as a sign of vigour, and buy the hive. Some writers speak of the
necessity of purchasing only such stocks as are in nice new hives.
This is an advice very necessary to be attended to; but it would not
be so, were you sure that the interior of the hive were filled only
with honey-comb, and with no old worn-out comb, the accumulation of
years. If you are in doubt on the subject, you should _fumigate_ the
hive in the evening, in the manner hereafter to be described; then,
turning up the hive, you can readily ascertain the character of its
contents. If the comb be black, have nothing to do with the stock. The
genuine colour of the comb is white, and, consequently, the lighter it
is, the more the stock is to be esteemed.
"Never, unless you can depend on the party, _send_ your hive to
receive a swarm: for you may, if you do, have a _second_ swarm
imposed upon you for a _first_--a comparatively valueless stock for
just the very thing you desire. The first swarm begin the formation
of the combs at the _middle_ of the apex of the hive; the _second_
does so at the _side_. These are the only criteria I can furnish,
for neither weight nor bulk are to be depended upon. It is to the
obstinate use of the old-fashioned hive that these difficulties, and
these opportunities for fraud, are attributable. Were the improved
system once established, these cautions would be no longer called for.
For old Wildman I entertain a very high respect, although in some
instances I am compelled to differ from him; yet I always investigate
closely the point at issue between us ere doing so, and, if I doubt, I
suffer the weight of his authority to act as a 'casting vote.' Wildman
has given some good advice as to the purchase of stocks; and in this
advice he speaks like an oracle. Attend to him:--
"'The person who intends to erect an apiary should purchase a proper
number of hives at the latter end of the year, when they are cheapest.
The hives should be full of combs, and well stored with bees. The
purchaser should examine the combs, in order to know the age of the
hives. The combs of that season are _white_; those of a former year
are of a _darkish yellow_; and when the combs are _black_, the hives
should be rejected, because old hives are most liable to vermin and
other accidents.
"'If the number of hives wanted have not been purchased in the autumn,
it will be necessary to remedy this neglect, after the severity of
the cold is past, in the spring. At this season, bees which are
in good condition will get into the fields early in the morning,
return loaded, enter boldly, and do not come out of the hive in bad
weather, for when they do, this indicates that they are in great want
of provisions. They are alert on the least disturbance, and by the
loudness of their humming we judge of their strength. They preserve
their hives free from all filth, and are ready to defend it against
every enemy that approaches.
"'The summer is an improper time for buying bees, because the heat of
the weather softens the wax, and thereby renders the comb liable to
break, if they are not very well secured. The honey, too, being then
thinner than at other times, is more apt to run out at the cells,
which is attended with a double disadvantage--viz., the loss of the
honey, and the daubing of the bees--whereby many of them may be
destroyed. A _first_ and strong swarm may indeed be purchased: and, if
leave can be obtained, permitted to stand in the same garden until the
autumn; but, if leave is not obtained, it may be carried away in the
_night_ after it has been hived.
"'I suppose that, in the stocks purchased, the bees are in the hives
of the old construction. The only directions here necessary are, that
the first swami from these stocks should be put into one of my hives;
and that another of my hives should, in a few days, be put under the
old stock, in order to prevent its swarming again.'"
But perhaps you have a swarm from one of your own stock-hives,--not so
desirable as the purchase of a swarm from a neighbour. A swarm will
occasionally emerge from hives and bee-boxes, in spite of every plan of
preventing it. The signs of swarming are some of them appreciable by the
most expert bee-master only. A common sign of the emergence of a swarm
is inactivity in work, and about the hive clusters hanging from the
bee-board--arising, probably, from the old queen finding no princess ready
to take her throne--and a high temperature within. If, in addition, the
weather is moist and warm, the issue of a swarm may be expected. From
ten o'clock to three has been stated as the period within which swarming
occurs. Every swarm I have had for twelve years has issued between twelve
and three.
A strong swarm will consist of from ten thousand to twenty thousand bees;
a caste, or second swarm, of five thousand. Two thousand bees fill a pint
measure. Scouts are generally sent out to select a residence for the
young family. House-seeking is an arduous work for human tenants, and no
doubt the pioneer bees find great difficulty in fixing on what seems to
them suitable. I have seen them settle under the leaves of a standard
rose, sometimes on the bough of an apple-tree, and at other times in a
sheltered recess in a laurel-hedge. No sight is more exciting than that
of a swarm of bees. The air is clouded with the circling bees--vocal with
their united music, while the eyes of the bee-master quietly watch their
descent. As soon as the queen settles, the bees cluster around her and
hang from the branch on which she has settled. As soon as the great mass
has settled, take your bee-box or hive, hold it with one hand, mouth or
bottom upward, beneath the swarm, enclosing as many of the pendent bees
as the situation will allow. With the other hand shake the bough from
which they hang, and on the great mass tumbling into the hive, carry it
away half-a-dozen yards; set it upright on the bottom board, or a white
sheet previously spread on the grass; raise the edge of the hive with a
piece of wood or stone a few inches from the ground, and cover the hive
with a branch or two to keep off the direct rays of the sun.
[Illustration]
If the queen be inside the hive, the bees that are already inside
will remain, and you will find the bees that linger about the branch
on which they first settled steadily enter, and by sunset they will
all be within. If the queen has not been caught, and still remains on
the bough or branch on which the swarm first settled, the bees will
leave the hive and re-cluster as they were. You must then repeat the
process. You need not be afraid of stings. But if your nerves do not
respond to your convictions, begin by spreading a square of gauze over
your hat, the brim of the hat keeping it from your face; push the
ends and corners under your coat, buttoning it to the chin. This will
protect your face, ears, and neck, and a pair of worsted gloves will
protect your hands. But practice will dispel fear, and save you from
the necessity of such defences. If this homely and cheap defence seem
to you insufficient, you can purchase at Neighbours', in Regent-street,
for five shillings, a perfect fit.
It is thus represented by its inventor in Messrs. Neighbours' list.
[Illustration: "Is made of light net, called _Leno_, fits over the hat or
cap, with sleeves tied at the wrists, and strings at the bottom to draw
and fasten round the waist, the sleeves being made of a stronger material.
Price 5_s._; by post, 6_s._"]
If you have more than one bee-shed, do net place the young colony in the
shed in which its mother hive stands.
A few straggling bees often hang about the branch next day. Lay on it a
few nettles, and they will speedily forsake it, and return to the hive
from which they issued, where, of course, their labours are not lost to
the bee-master.
Sometimes a caste, or second swarm, will issue from the same hive.
These are occasionally feeble in comparison of the first swarm. Are we
to preserve it, and make the most of it? or are we to unite the weaker
and later caste to a stronger one? Almost all apiarians recommend the
uniting of two weak castes, in order to make one strong family, or uniting
the feeble swarm to an old stock. Mr. Cotton, the most affectionate of
bee-masters while he lived, advocates the use of the usual anesthetic,
fuzz-ball or puff-ball, or frog's-cheese; and while the bees are in a
state of insensibility pouring the one family into the hive of the other.
The instrument employed for this purpose is made of tin plate.
[Illustration]
The ignited puff-ball, which may be gathered and dried, or purchased for a
trifle from Neighbours' in London, or Pettitt in Dover, is placed in the
box A. The part B is then fitted into A. The orifice D is introduced into
the hive, a little rag or clay is packed round it to keep in the smoke.
The mouth is to be applied to the end C, and thus the smoke is driven into
the hive. The bees will soon become still as death. The queen had better
be picked out and removed from the caste.
The tube of an ordinary bellows may be introduced for this fumigation, as
perhaps more effective and less troublesome. It will then appear thus:--
[Illustration]