John M. Weeks

“ The cobwebs must be kept away from the immediate vicinity of the hive, and all other annoyances removed.
The management of bees is a delightful employment, and may be pursued with the best success in cities and villages, as well as towns and country. It is a source of great amusement, as well as comfort and profit. They collect honey and bread from most kinds of forest trees, as well as garden flowers, orchards, forests, and fields; all contribute to their wants, and their owner is gratified with a taste of the whole. ”

“ Perhaps not one swarm in a thousand knows where they are going until after they have left the old stock, alighted, and formed into a compact body or cluster; and not then until they have sent off an embassy to search out a place for their future residence. Now if the bees are hived immediately after they have alighted, before they send off their embassy to seek a new tenement, they will never fly away, admitting they have sufficient room, (for it is want of room that makes them swarm in the first place,) and their hive is clear of every thing that is offensive to them. ”

“ Large hives, that never swarm, are never destroyed by the moth, unless they lose their Queen, melt down, or meet with some casualty, out of the ordinary course of managing them. They are not often in the least annoyed by them, unless there are bad joints, cracks, or shakes, so as to afford some lurking places for the worms. The reason for their prosperous condition is obvious. The stock of bees are so numerous that their combs are all kept well guarded during the moth season, so that no miller can enter and deposit her eggs. ”

“ A clean hive is all that is needed for a swarm of bees, with careful and humane treatment.
A cluster of bees should never be shook or jarred any more than merely to disengage them from the limb or place where they are collected, nor should they fall any great distance, because their sacks are full when they swarm, which renders them both clumsy and harmless, and harsh treatment makes them irritable and unmanageable. ”

“ A bee-hive should be made in a perfect workmanlike manner, so as to have no open joints; the boards should be free from shakes and cracks, because the bees will make their tenement perfectly tight, so as to exclude light and air, by plastering up all such places as are left open by the workman, with a kind 49 of mortar, or glue, of their own make, which is neither honey nor wax, but is very congenial to the growth of worms in the first stages of their larva state, and being secured from the bees by the timber, in a short time they are able to defend themselves by a silken shroud. ”

“ While the moths are thus engaged in establishing their posts on the frontiers of the bees, the latter are constantly and indefatigably engaged in providing themselves with another Queen, to supply the place of the old one, which has departed with a swarm, and raising young bees to replenish their reduced colony. Now as the moths have got possession of the ground on their frontiers, it requires a tremendous effort on the part of the bees to save their little colony from a complete overthrow. ”

“ Bees will never swarm but once the same season unless they make more than one Queen, immediately after the departure of the first swarm; and not then, if the bees permit the oldest Queen to come in contact with the cell where the young ones are growing. Queens entertain the most deadly animosity towards each other, and will commence an attack upon each other the first moment opportunity offers. The old Queen will even tear all the cradles or cells to pieces where young ones are growing, and destroy all the chrysalis Queens in the hive. ”

“ Bees are creatures of habit, and the exercise of caution in managing them is required. A stock of bees should be placed where they are to stand through the season before they form habits of location, which will take place soon after they commence their labors in the 68 spring. They learn their home by the objects surrounding them in the immediate vicinity of the hive. Moving them, (unless they are carried beyond their knowledge,) is often fatal to them. The old bees forget their new location, and on their return, when collecting stores, they haze about where they formerly stood, sad perish. ”

“ Combs are rendered useless by being filled up with old bread, which is never used except for feeding young bees. A greater quantity of this bread is stored up yearly than is used by them, and in a few years they have but little room to perform their ordinary labors.—Hence the necessity of transferring them, or the inhuman sentence of death must be passed upon them, not by being hung by the neck until they are dead, but by being tortured to death by fire and brimstone. ”

“ Swarms, when first hived, may be moved at pleasure without loss of bees, admitting they are all in the hive; their habits will be formed in exact proportion to their labors.—The first bee that empties his sack and goes forth in search of food, is the one whose habits are first established. I have observed many bees to cluster near the place where the hive stood, but a few hours after hiving, and perish. Now if the swarm had been placed in the apiary, immediately after they 69 were hived, the number of bees found there would have been less. ”

“ If any further description is desired, the observer can easily satisfy himself by the use of a microscope.—Every swarm of bees is composed of three classes or sorts, to wit: one Queen or female, drones or males, and neuters or workers. The Queen is the only female in the hive, and lays all the eggs from which all the young bees are raised to replenish their colony. She possesses no authority over them, other than that of influence, which is derived from the fact that she is the mother of all the bees ”

“ The Queen is much more tenacious of life than any other bee, and may live to a great age. But one Queen exists in the same hive any great length of time. When there are more than one, the peculiar sound of each, as 55 explained in remarks on Rule 2, is heard by the other, which always results in a battle between them, or the issue of a swarm in the course of a day or two.
Bees, when placed in a dark room in the upper part of the house, or some out-house, are easily cultivated a short time with little trouble, and are sometimes made profitable to their owner ”

“ The government of a hive is nearer republican than any other, because it is administered in exact accordance with their nature. It is their peculiar natural instinct, which prompts them in all their actions. The Queen has no more to do with the government of the hive than the other bees, unless influence may be called government. If she finds empty cells in the hive, during the breeding season, she will deposit eggs there, because it is her nature to do so ”

“ Bees, when deprived of their female sovereign, cease their labors; no pollen or beebread is seen on their legs; no ambition seems to actuate their movements; no dead bees are drawn out; no deformed bees, in the various stages of their minority, are extracted, and dragged out of their cells, and dropped down about the hive, as is usual among all healthy and prosperous colonies.
Colonies that have lost their Queen, when standing on the bench by the side of other 39 swarms, will run into the adjoining hive without the least resistance. ”

“ Many Apiarians, and men of the highest literary attainments, as well as experience, have nearly exhausted their patience, in examining the peculiar nature and habits of this insect; and have tried various experiments to devise some means of preventing its depredations. But, after all that has been done, the spoiler moves onward with little molestation, and very few of our citizens are willing to engage in the enterprize of cultivating this most useful and profitable of all insects, the honey-bee. ”

“ Swarms may be doubled at any time before they become so located as to resume their former hostility, which will not be discovered in less than three or four days. Bees are provided with a reservoir, or sack, to carry their provision in; and when they swarm, they go loaded with provision suited to their emergency, which takes off all their hostility towards each other; and until these sacks are emptied, they are not easily vexed, and as they are compelled to build combs before they can empty them, their contents are retained several days. ”

“ When a swarm comes forth and has alighted, cut off the limb if convenient—shake it gently, so as to disengage the bees, and let them fall gently on to the table, board, or ground, (as the case may be,) place the hive over them before many rise into the air, taking care at the same time to lay one or more sticks in such a manner as to raise the hive so as to give the bees rapid ingress and egress. If the bees act reluctantly in taking possession of their new habitation, disturb them by brushing them with a goose-quill or some other instrument, not harsh, and they will soon enter. ”

“ If they are kept out in the cold, they need as much air in the winter as in the heat of summer. It is in a mild temperature only, that it is safe to keep them from the pure air. If placed below frost in a dry sand-bank, they seem to need scarcely more than is contained in their hive at the time they are buried, during the whole winter. If kept in a clean, dry cellar, the mouth so contracted as to keep out mice, gives them enough. But if they are kept in the apiary, there should be a slow current of air constantly pressing in at the bottom and off at the top thro’ the ventilator. ”

“ Hives made so small as to swarm, are liable to reduce their colonies so small as to leave combs unguarded, especially when they 52 swarm three or four times the same season. All swarms, after the first, sally forth to avoid the battle of the Queens; constantly making a greater draft, in proportion to the number left, until the combs are partly exposed, which gives the miller free access to their edges.—The seeds of rapine and plunder are thus quickly sown, and soon vegetate, and fortify themselves by their silken fortress, before the bees are aware that their frontiers are invaded. ”

“ Hives made so large as not to swarm may lose their Queen, and then they will abandon their habitation and emigrate into the adjoining hive, leaving all their stores to their owner, which, unless immediately taken care of, the moths will not fail to destroy.
The moths are often complained of when they are not guilty. Hives are frequently abandoned by their occupants, in consequence of the loss of their Queen, unnoticed by any observer, and before any thing is known of their fate, the hive is destitute of bees, and filled with moths. ”

“ When colonies and hives are made as near alike as possible, many evils are avoided, and many advantages realized: every hive will fit a place in the apiary—every drawer a hive, and every bottom board and slide may in any case be used without mistakes. ”

“ Now if the bees can all get into the drawer, they will begin there; of course they will raise young bees and deposit bread in the drawer. If the swarm is so large as to be unable to work in the drawer, there is no danger of letting them in. At the same time there may be danger if they are prevented from entering, because they sometimes go off for want of room in the lower apartment. I therefore, recommend letting the bees into the drawers at the time of hiving them, in all cases, except when the swarms are small, then the rule should be strictly adhered to. ”

“ Large colonies never increase their stock in proportion to the swarming colonies. There is but one female in a large colony, and they can do but little more in raising young bees than to keep their stock good by replenishing them as fast as they die off or are destroyed by the birds, reptiles and insects, which are great admirers of them, and sometimes swallow them by dozens. ”

“ Nothing but bees should ever be put into a hive.
When bees die, the hive should be cleared of its contents, and scraped out clean, and the chamber rubbed with cloth wet in clean 14 water; then set it in its place in the apiary, and there let it stand until wanted for use. An old hive, thus prepared, is as good as a new one for the reception of a swarm. The apiarian should examine before using to see that the hive is free from spiders and cobwebs. ”

“ As soon as the bees have safely deposited the grub in the new-made royal cell, the bees may have their liberty. Their attachment to their young brood, and their fidelity to their 36 Queen, in any stage of its minority, is such, that they will never leave nor forsake them, and will continue all their ordinary labors, with as much regularity as if they had a perfect Queen. ”

“ The moth miller enters the hive, generally, in the night—makes an incision into the glue or cement with her sting, and leaves her eggs deposited in the glue, where it remains secure from the bees; it being guarded by the timber on its sides. Thus, while a maggot, (larva) the moth uses the cement for food until it arrives so far towards a state of maturity as to be able to spin a web, which is more fully explained in remarks on Rule 10. ”

“ A feeder should be made like a box with five sides closed, leaving a part of the sixth side open, to admit the bees from their common entrance with its floor level, when hitched on the front of the hive. It should be of sufficient depth to lay in broad comb, filled with honey. If strained honey without combs is used for feeding, a float, perforated with many holes, should be laid over the whole of the honey in the box, or feeder, so as to prevent any of the bees from drowning ”

“ The drone is probably the male bee, notwithstanding the sexual union has never been witnessed by any man; yet so many experiments have been tried, and observations made, that but little doubt can be entertained of its truth. ”

“ Bees sometimes die of starvation, with plenty of honey in the hive at the same time. In cold weather they crowd together in a small compass in order to keep warm; and then 59 their breath and vapor collect in frost, in all parts of the hive, except in the region they occupy. Now, unless the weather moderates, so as to thaw the ice, the bees will be compelled to remain where they are located until their stores are all consumed that are within their reach. ”

“ They will commence their emigration by running in confused platoons of hundreds, from their habitation to the next adjoining hive. They immediately wheel about and run home again, and thus continue, sometimes for several days, in the greatest confusion, constantly replenishing their neighbor’s hive, by enlarging her colony, and, at the same time, reducing their own, until there is not a single occupant left; and remarkable as it is, they leave every particle of their stores for their owner or the depredations of the moth. ”

“ When a drawer is removed to an empty hive, for the purpose of obtaining an extra Queen, it should be placed some distance 37 from the apiary, the better to prevent its being robbed by other swarms. When it is some distance from other colonies, they are not so likely to learn its comparative strength. There is but little danger however, of its being robbed, until after the bees are out of danger of losing their Queen, which generally occurs in the swarming season. ”

“ If she returns to the old stock, the swarm will come out again the next day, if the weather is favorable. If the Queen is too feeble to return, and the apiarian neglects to look her up, and restore her to her colony again, (which he ought to do,) the bees will not swarm again until they have made another, or are supplied, which may be done immediately by giving them any spare Queen, I have done it with entire success, and never failed in the experiment.
The Queen, when lost in swarming, is easily found, unless the wind is so strong as to have blown her a considerable distance. ”

“ If the hive is much larger than the one described above, with the chamber in proportion, which should hold about two-thirds as much as the lower apartment, the bees will not be likely to swarm during the season.
Bees in large hives never swarm; and those in hives much less than the one already described, do but little else than raise young bees and lay up a sufficient quantity of food to supply them through the coming winter, and are more liable to be robbed. ”