A Manual or an Easy Method of Managing BeesWeeks, John M. (John Moseley)
Science
A Manual or an Easy Method of Managing Bees
Weeks, John M. (John Moseley)
Bees
It is obvious to every cultivator that old stocks should be transferred. I
have repeatedly transferred them in the most approved manner, by means of
an apparatus constructed for that purpose; but the operation always
resulted in the loss of the colony afterwards, or a swarm which would have
come from them. When it is necessary to transfer a swarm, insert drawer
No. 1 into their chamber in the spring, say the first of May. If they till
the drawer, let it remain there; if they need to be changed to a new hive,
they will recede from the lower apartment and make the drawer their winter
quarters, which should remain until warm weather has so far advanced as to
afford them bread. Then they may be removed to an empty hive, as directed
in the Rule. Now the drawer contains no bread, and should remain in the
old stock until the bees can provide themselves with a sufficient quantity
of that article to feed their young bees with; for bread is not collected
early enough and in sufficient quantities to feed their young as much as
nature requires. If the bees fail in filling the drawer, one should be
used that is filled by another swarm.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The reader might have expected many things demonstrated in this work,
which are omitted by design.
The structure of the worker is too well understood by every owner of bees
to need a particular description. So also of the drone; and the Queen has
already been sufficiently described to enable any one to select her out
from among her subjects. 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; and they, being endowed with knowledge
of the fact that they are wholly dependent on her to propagate their
species, treat her with the greatest kindness, tenderness and reverence,
and manifest at all times the most sincere attachment to her by feeding
and guarding her from all danger.
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