HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. Cotton, M. A.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 165, 27 February 1847, Page 3

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. Cotton, M. A.

(Continued from our latl.J If the swarm has alighted on a small bough, nothing is easier than to hive them. Spread a doth on the ground, and on it place the bottom board of the hive. An assistant must then hold the stem on which the bees are settled on each side of the cluster, so that it may not fall to the ground, when you with a sharp knife cut it off. Place the twig with the bees hanging to it gently on the bottom board, and then set your hive over it, propping it up on one side that the bees which are still on the wing, may find their way in. Lap the cloth round over the hive on all sides but this one, and otherwise shade it well from the sun, and your work is done 'till the even, when you must set the hive where it is to stand. You should however keep an eye upon them or -else when you go to move your hive you may

find it empty, the bees having flown. But itt such a case it often happens that they have returned back to the parent stock, and I will tell you how to judge of it, if you did not see them go back. A stock which has thrown off a strong swarm has for some days after an exhausted look, until a number of young bees are hatch* ed to fill up the vacant space in the hive} so you may generally make a pretty good gUess whether the swarm which you safely hived, but wus gone by the evening has returned to the parent stock, or fled to the woods. If the parent hive is as crowded as before, if there it still a great fanning at the door, you may console yourself under your disappointment (and it is no slight one to find an empty hive when you expected to find a full one) by think* ing that the swarm has returned home again, finding that the Queen has not made her appearance at the appointed place. And in this case you must look out for a swarm the next fine day. 1 once had a swarm go back, which 1 knew was led by a Queen, for I saw her pass in procession along the lighting board. I was surprized at this, when my puzzle was cleared up by my little bee warden (the boy who watches tor my swarms, and is so fond of his work that he is more than half a bee himself) finding the Queen hung up in a cob* web between some palings over which the bees had passed in their way to the place where they alighted* This also proves that the bees do not follow the Queen to any place she lights upon, for were it so, the whole swarm should have been in and about the cobweb, but flies along with them to some spot fixed on by t'<e advanced guard of the swarm. I have since confirmed this idea by some other experiments, which I shall not now describe, but will probably give the result of them at some future opportunity. My little bee- war* den has learned from me to catch the Queen, as she is leading out the new swarm ; he can. very often lay bold of her after she has settled ;n the midst of the cluster (you may put your hand into the midst of it, if you do it softly and fearlessly), and has a very sharp eye for finding her on the ground, for she often falls at the mouth of the hive at swarming time, surrounded by a cluster of bees as a body* guard. The method of hiving bees which I have given above, can only be followed when the' swarm settles on a bough, which you can easily cut through with a sharp knife. If they settle on a branch which is too long to cut off, or one which you do not like to destroy* an apple tree for example, you must vary your mode of action. Have the hive held close under the swarm, so that the long beard of bees hangs down into the hive, itself, till it touches the bottom (or rather the top), then give the bough a sudden shake, and the bees will fall down into the hive ; brush off into it with a feather any clusters which may still cling to the bough, then, still holding the hive in tha same position, put the bottom board on it, as a sort of cover to the bees. By the help of another person turn the hive into its proper position, and set it on the ground, near the foot of the tree on which they settled : after . four or five minutes confinement, raise up one . side of the hive by means of a stick, so as to give the bees who are still flying about access ■ to their fellows, and if the Queen is safely hived, they will all speedily join her. But if you see that the stream of bees is setting out of the hive rather than into it, you may sus» pect that all is not right ; search any cluster which you may see lying on the ground near the hive, any bunch which may still be on the tree, and if you see the Queen seize her gently, and put her into the hive. A novice should not attempt to hive his bees fur himself, if they settle in more difficult places, but send for some more experienced master in the craft if one is within reasonable distance, having first carefully shaded the bees, or else they may perhaps be off before his arrival. If there is no help at hand, he must c'en do the best he can. If they cluster on a post, or stem of a large tree, you mujit use a bunch of feathers, or still better your hand, and so coax as many of the clusters as possible into the hive. Look out sharp for the Queen, for if you secure her, and get her into the hive, all is right, and the rest will follow. I believe that the old Queen always leads the first swarm, ior this reason : That as soon' as any combs are built in the new box the Queen lays a vast number of eggs in them, as though she were only continuing a process begun in the old hive. I have taken a comb with eggs in it out of a hive the second day after swarming. I hardly think a young Queen leading a colony a day or two after she issues from the cell could produce eggs so soon. This matter however I hope to clear up some day by marking the Queen of a hive in the early spring, and tracing her through all her swarmings during the course of the summer. I said that second swarms give more certain signals of swarming. If you put your ear close to the top of the hive in the still of the' even, some days after the first swarm has ri*

'sen, you will hear one of these signals — a cry very unlike any other ever heard from a bee Live. Peep, pc peep, pc pc peep, — cries one Queen, — Peep, pc peep, pc pc peep, answers another in a higher key. One cry is that of the reigning Queen, the other is that of a full grown Queen bee, still confined in her cell, "where she is kept by the worker bees a close prisoner, for if she had her will, and was allowed to come forth, before the moment of swarming, either she, or the reigning Queen ; would fall in single combat. When this noise is heard in a strong stock, look Out for -some more swarms. A Bee master who -has only been used to the English rate of increase, will 'be perfectly surprised and as it were overwhelmed with the multitude of swarms which will after the first or second year issue from bis hives. Further increase will no longer be an object with him. What he will then desire is to get as much honey as possible from his existing stock. How this is to be done I purpose to tell you when I speak of bee produce. 1. forgot to mention above that there is one State of the weather, which often induces a swarm to rise later in the afternoon than two q'clock. When it has v been -raining in the morning, and for -several days before, and then the sun bursts out and a hot sultry evening succeeds, on such an even as this, aswarm which has been for some days baulked by the weather, will often rise as late as four o'clock : have your eyes well open then, as indeed you always should amongst your bees, either to do something for them, ot to learn something 'from them. '(To be continued.)