Some recommend placing the forced swarm on the old stand, and removing
the parent hive with the bees that are deemed sufficient, to a new
place. If this is done, and the bees have their liberty, so many of them
will leave for the familiar spot, that the hive will be almost deserted,
and a very large proportion of its brood will perish. The bees in this
hive, if it is to be set in a new place, must have water given to them,
and be so shut up as to have an abundance of air, until late in the
afternoon of the third day, when the hive may be opened, and they will
take wing, almost as though they were intending to swarm. Some will even
then, return to the place where they originally stood, and join the
forced swarm, but the most of them, after hovering in the air for a
short time, will re-enter the hive. During the time that they have been
shut up, thousands of young bees will have emerged from their cells, and
these, knowing no other home, will aid in taking care of the larvæ, and
in carrying on the work of the hive.
Instead of trying to make an equitable division at the time of driving
out the bees, I prefer to expel all that I can, and to rely upon the
bees returning from their gatherings, to replenish the old stock. If the
number appears to be too small, I open temporarily the entrance of the
hive containing the forced swarm, and permit as many as I judge best, to
come out and enter their old abode. It must here be borne in mind, that
bees which are thus ejected from a hive, do not, in all respects, act
like a natural swarm, which having left the parent stock, of its own
accord, never seeks, unless it has lost its queen, to return; whereas,
many of the forced swarm, as soon as they leave the hive into which they
have been driven, will return to their former abode. The same is true of
bees which are moved to any distance not far enough to be beyond the
limits of their previous excursions in search of food. If we could only
make our bees when moved, or forced to swarm, adhere to their hives as
faithfully as a natural swarm, many difficulties which now perplex us,
would be at once removed.
Having ascertained that the parent hive contains a sufficient number of
bees to carry on operations, about sun-set, after the bees are all at
home, it may be removed to a new stand, and the bees, after being
supplied with water, must be shut up, according to the directions
previously given. If the hive is so constructed that water cannot be
conveniently given them, the following plan I have found to answer most
admirably. Bore a small hole towards the top on the front side, and with
a straw, water may be injected with scarcely any trouble. A mouthful
once or twice a day, will be sufficient. If the bees are confined
without water, they will not be able to prepare the food for the larvæ,
and multitudes of them must necessarily perish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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