The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1866]: Being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of management, with full directions, adapted for the cottager, farmer, or scientific apiarianNeighbor, Alfred
Science
The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1866]: Being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of management, with full directions, adapted for the cottager, farmer, or scientific apiarian
It is necessary only to send the lower or stock hive to the party
furnishing the swarm, taking the precaution to fix the slides at top
with tacks, as the hive has to be inverted to receive the bees. They
are shaken into it in the usual manner,[10] as they cluster around the
branch of the tree or shrub on which they may have chosen to alight.
After the hiving is accomplished, the hive should be left near to
catch any stragglers, for there will always be a few; towards evening,
close the entrance, and remove them to the exact position they are
intended permanently to occupy. Success depends on this, and also on
their careful removal on the day or evening of swarming. The following
morning the bees labour in the new location, marking well their
habitation before they take flight, and to which they will not fail to
return, loaded with luscious store.
[Footnote 10: Sometimes swarms alight on trunks of trees or on walls,
where it may be difficult to shake or brush them off. In the _Journal
of Horticulture_, Mr. Woodbury mentions an instance of this kind,
which he experienced last summer:--"A swarm clustered among the large
branches of a pear-tree, just at their point of union with the trunk.
In this case he merely supported a straw hive just over the swarm with
the left hand, whilst he struck the trunk of the tree with the open
palm of the right. The vibration thus produced sent the bees up into
the hive with great rapidity, and the entire swarm was speedily hived
in the most satisfactory manner." A few whiffs of smoke will accelerate
upward movement of swarms in such circumstances.]
A fortnight must be allowed for filling the stock-hive; then, if the
weather be fine and warm, they will prepare to swarm again, as will be
indicated by the thermometer rising rapidly to 100 degrees or upwards.
One of the zinc slides on the wooden top must now be withdrawn, and a
bell-glass put on, covered and protected by the upper hive; the other
glasses may then be given in the same manner, a day or two after which,
should the weather continue favourable, all signs of swarming will at
once disappear, the bees now having increased store room, which they
will readily fill with comb. It is often found useful to attach a piece
of clean empty honey-comb to the ventilating tube of the glass; it is
an attraction, and induces the bees to commence working in it sooner
than they otherwise would do. The ventilator should always remain open
during the day, to allow the hot air to pass away from the interior,
thereby contributing to the whiteness and beauty of the work; the bees
enjoy the refreshment of coolness thereby afforded, and they work the
faster for it. At evening, all ventilation should be stopped, and the
glasses wrapped round with flannel or some warm material, for the
reasons mentioned at page 65.
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