Mysteries of Bee-keeping ExplainedQuinby, M. (Moses)
Science
Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained
Quinby, M. (Moses)
Bees
Occasionally a swarm will issue, and in a few minutes return to the old
stock. Mr. Miner gives a cause for this, very ingenious, and romantic,
but unfortunately there are but few facts to sustain this hypothesis,
(at least I have not discovered them.) There are other causes that
appear to me more reasonable; the most common is the inability of the
old queen to fly, on account of her burden of eggs, old age, or
something else. I have sometimes, after the swarm had returned found
the queen near the stock, and put her back, and the next day she would
come out again, and fly without difficulty, (perhaps she had discharged
some of her eggs.)
Their returning is more frequent in windy weather, or when the sun is
partially obscured by clouds. About three-fourths of them will not
re-issue until a young queen is matured, eight or ten days afterwards;
and a few, not at all. But when the queen returns with the swarm, they
usually come out again the next day, or day after, and some not till
the third or fourth. I have known two instances where they issued again
the same day.
REPETITION PREVENTED.
Sometimes a swarm will issue and return three or four days in
succession, but this I generally remedy, as it is often owing to some
inability of the queen, and she may be frequently found while the swarm
is leaving outside the hive, unable to fly. In such cases it is only
necessary to have a tumbler ready, and watch for her; and as soon as
she appears, secure her, get the empty hive for the swarm, a sheet, and
put down a bottom-board a few feet from the stock. The swarm is sure to
come back; the first bees that alight on the hive will set up the call;
as soon as this is perceived, lose no time in setting the old stock on
the board, and throwing the sheet over it to keep out the bees. Put the
new one in its place on the stand, and the queen in it; in a few
minutes the swarm will be in the _new_ hive, when it can be removed,
and the old one replaced. This I have done many times. But should the
swarm begin to cluster in a convenient place, when you have so caught
the queen, by being expeditious she may be put with the swarm, before
they have missed her and may be hived in the usual way.
LIABILITY TO ENTER WRONG STOCKS.
In all cases, whether you set a new hive in place of the old one or
not, whenever a swarm returns, if other stocks stand close on each
side, they are quite sure to receive a portion of the bees--probably a
few hundreds; these are certain to be massacred. To prevent which, it
is necessary to throw sheets over them until the swarm has gathered on
their own hive. This is another reason for plenty of room between
stocks. Should no queen be discovered during their issue, or return,
she should be sought for in the vicinity of the hive, and put back if
found, and the swarm will be likely to issue several days earlier, than
to wait for a young queen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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