Swarming (bees)

“ Yes, put an empty frame into the middle of a brood-nest at a time when there was any likelihood of swarming, and I should expect a good share of the comb built to be drone, especially if there was no drone-comb in the other frames.
3. Bees having a young queen are not so likely to swarm as those having an old one, and rearing a queen in a hive in the fall would not interfere with the harvest as would rearing one before the harvest. ”

“ It is at this time, when hundreds of young bees are daily coming into existence, that the collateral boxes are of the utmost importance—both to the bees domiciled in them, and to their proprietors; for when the brood become perfect bees in a common cottager's hive, a swarm is the necessary consequence. The queen, accompanied by a vast number of her subjects, leaves the colony, and seeks some other place in which to carry on the work nature has assigned her. But as swarming may by proper precaution and attention to this mode of management generally be prevented, it is good practice to do so ”

“ At the time of swarming bees are practically harmless, for they have taken so much honey that they do not feel disposed to sting. The old straw skeps are often used for taking a swarm, for they may be more conveniently handled than the larger and heavier wooden hives. The hive which is to be their permanent home is placed close at hand too, with a clean white cloth on a board leading to the door in front of it. ”

“ The symptom of swarming, is generally the unusual number of bees seen hanging at the mouth of the hive, and if a piping noise, or a shrill note, which is made by the queen is heard, it is a sure index the bees will swarm, if the weather be warm and dry.
If the bees work a comb under the floor-board, as is sometimes the case, it is a sign they will not swarm; a more certain sign is when they throw out the young dead queens with the drone brood. ”

“ A swarm on the wing is a most agreeable spectacle to the Bee-master. It is true his harvest of honey might be more plentiful, were the population to remain undivided, and be accommodated with additional room, either by means of storifying or collateral hiving; still, to the lover of nature, the development of the instincts and habits of this interesting insect, which takes place in the process of swarming, is a source of genuine pleasure. ”

“ Late swarming is not only hazardous to the bees thrown off, but is injurious to the parent stock, which suffers in proportion to the loss of labourers, that should contribute to the general store of food, and assist in rearing the brood, which is generally abundant, though the season be far advanced.
Hence it is the usual practice, early in the autumn, to suffocate both the swarm and the stock, in order to secure whatever wax and honey may have been collected up to that time. There is however another alternative, as will be seen under the head of Uniting Swarms or Stocks. ”

“ With a very forward stock, and in exceedingly fine weather, bees do occasionally swarm in April. The earlier the swarm, the greater is its value. If bees swarm in July, they seldom gather sufficient to sustain - 22 - themselves through the winter, though by careful feeding they may easily be kept alive, if hived early in the month.
The cause of a swarm leaving the stock-hive is, that the population has grown too large for it. Swarming is a provision of Nature for remedying the inconvenience of overcrowding, and is the method whereby the bees seek for space in which to increase their stores. ”

“ This is kept up without cessation till swarming time, when the hive becomes crowded with bees, then, as preparation for swarming, the queen deposits eggs, from which the bees, by a special course of treatment, rear queens. When they are sealed over, as shown in the plates, the old queen leaves the hive with the first swarm to seek a new home. In about ten days the young queens hatch and lead out after-swarms—second, third, etc. When swarming is over, the strongest queen destroys the others, and reigns over the old swarm till another swarming season. ”

“ Unless increase is particularly desired, both natural and artificial swarming should be done away with as far as possible, so that the energy of the bees shall go into the gathering of honey. Since crowded and overheated hives are particularly conducive to swarming, this tendency may be largely overcome by giving plenty of ventilation and additional room in the hive. Shade is also a good preventive of swarming. Extra space in the hive may be furnished by adding more hive bodies and frames or by frequent extracting, so that there may be plenty of room for brood rearing and storage at all times. ”

“ A swarm is never seen except in a fine day, or, to speak more correctly, at a time of the day when the sun shines, and the air is calm. Sometimes we have observed all the precursors of swarming, disorder and agitation, but a cloud passed before the sun, and tranquillity was restored; the bees thought no more of swarming. ”

“ If a hive of bees reached burning-time with a fully charged storehouse, it was probably due to the fact that the stock had cast no swarm that year, and had, therefore, preserved its whole force of workers for honey-getting. Under the light of modern knowledge, any stall of bees that showed a lessened tendency towards swarming would be carefully set aside, and used as the mother-hive for future generations; for this habit of swarming, necessary under the old dispensation, is nothing else than a fatal drawback under the new. ”

“ When bees go from the old stock to the tree without alighting, it is when they lie out of the hive before swarming, and the embassy are sent forth before the swarm leaves the old stock. When the first swarm comes forth, eggs, young brood, or both, are left in the combs, but no Queen; for the old Queen always goes forth with the swarm, and leaves the old stock entirely destitute. Not a single Queen, in any stage of minority, is left in the hive. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Afterward Sandy explained how bees swarm. A colony of bees will permit but one queen in a hive. Sometimes, when a new one is hatched, the swarm divides, part of the bees going off with the new, or sometimes the old queen, to form a new colony.
This is called "swarming," and the idea is to capture the new swarm, and so increase your number of colonies. Sometimes the bees will go off to the woods, and make a home for themselves in a hollow tree, being thus lost to the keeper. A swarm of bees will make in a season many pounds of honey more than they need to feed themselves during the winter. ”

“ If bees are given the right amount of room, stores, and protection early in the fall, nothing that the beekeeper can do will benefit them until it is necessary to handle them because of preparations for swarming or because of the incoming nectar. Of course if bees are well packed they get so strong in the spring that if crowded they begin preparations for swarming earlier than do colonies which have been neglected during the winter. By following the methods here described the season for swarm control is advanced, so that usually it is entirely passed before the honey-flow begins. ”

“ To avoid this evil we must have recourse to artificial swarming. The general period proper for the operation is about eight or ten days previous to the time when natural swarms might be looked for. At that time it is likely royal brood will be found in the combs, or at all events, abundance of eggs and larvæ of workers, from which to rear an artificial queen,—and the males are also at this time numerous;—a state of things indispensable to the success of artificial swarming. The mode of operation is various, and has been described by almost every writer on the subject of Bees. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Swarms.—Those persons who are anxious to commence Bee-keeping by purchasing swarms, must now provide themselves with such kinds of hives as they are wishing to see their Bees placed in, and send them to the persons of whom they have agreed to purchase, that the Bees maybe hived into them at the time of swarming. Should it be straw hives that are chosen, let there be no sticks placed withinside them for the Bees to fasten their combs to, for they cause them much trouble in forming the combs, and render the extraction of the combs almost impossible. ”

“ When the apiary is situated in a garden, there will be no want of bushes and low-growing shrubs on which the bees may alight when swarming. But when it is located on a lawn or smooth level, the swarm is extremely apt to fly off altogether, or to take up its station on some high tree in the vicinity, from which it is difficult to dislodge it. ”

“ Should a continued tract of bad weather take place about the usual period of swarming, the old queen would have time and opportunity to destroy all the royal progeny,—for the bees never oppose the queen mother in such cases,—and thereby entirely frustrate the hope of multiplication by natural swarms. ”

“ We may even return the bees to their old home by taking the same precautionary measures, with a good hope that storing and not swarming will engage their attention in future; and if we exchange their position with that of a nucleus, we shall be still more likely to succeed in overcoming the desire to swarm; though some seasons, usually when honey is being gathered each day for long intervals, but not in large quantities, the desire and determination of some colonies to swarm is implacable. Room, ventilation, changed position of hive, each and all will fail. ”

“ The result will probably have been that the habit of excessive swarming fastened itself on the bees, in whom, particularly in the black varieties, it is much too general. For some years, however, modern and scientific bee-keeping has done much to correct this dangerous habit; and it is possible, perhaps, that in time the bees themselves will learn to abandon it. ”

“ Bees managed upon the Depriving System, rarely swarm and are seldom found clustering at the mouth of the hive, for every bright hour during the honey season they seem to turn to profit, when however Clustering or Swarming takes place, it generally arises from the Box not having been put on sufficiently early in the season, or for the want of a second Box ”

“ If swarms are desired, we arrange in early spring to have them issue in the swarming season, and at such a time as will best suit our convenience. When no swarms - 25 - are wanted, we turn the whole force of bees to storing surplus honey in small glass boxes, throughout the entire season, and have no swarms, yet have the same increase of bees that would be gained if they swarmed. Then all the bees work at storing honey in boxes, instead of swarming out ”

“ Some time before you expect to take a swarm, be sure to have a suitable hive in which to take it, and also every other requisite properly ready. A bee veil or dress will preserve the most sensitive from the possibility of being stung. This article is fully described on page 209. But bees when swarming are in an eminently peaceful frame of mind; having dined sumptuously, they require to be strongly provoked before they will sting. Yet there may be one or two foolish bees who, having neglected to fill - 216 - their honey-bags, are inclined to vent their ill-humour on the apiarian ”

“ Some corroboration of this idea is given by the circumstance that, if there be not sufficient room for the extension of a very strong population in their abode, and the conditions for swarming are not satisfactory, the older bees will remain idle in clusters, often outside the hive, leaving to the younger ones the execution of the internal work. ”

“ I increased to 100, from natural swarming, and they made a little over 5000 lbs. of box honey, including that not capped. I hived no second swarms. I used virgin Queens mostly, and cells. Often some would be about hatching; I would then put them in after a swarm issued. Bees seem to be wintering well.
D. C. McCalhoun, Hornellsville, N. Y. Feb. 1st, ’75. 32 swarms in spring, made 3000 lbs. surplus, increased to 50, (of course it was all extracted) and have sold it all for 15 cts. per lb. delivered on track. The honey was nearly all from basswood, clover did not do much. ”

“ Some extensive apiarists, who desire to prevent increase of colonies, cage the old queen, destroy cells, and exchange this hive—after taking out three or four frames of brood to strengthen nuclei—with one that recently swarmed. Thus a colony that recently sent out a swarm, but retained their queen, has probably, from the decrease of bees, loss of brood and removal of queen-cells, lost the swarming fever, and if we give them plenty of room and ventilation, they will accept the bees from a new swarm, and spend their future energies in storing honey. ”