Chapter 2

Bees do not often engage in robbery in the spring, unless it is in such hives as have had their combs broken by frost or otherwise, so as to cause the honey to drip down upon the bottom board. Much care should be exercised by the apiarian to see that all such hives are properly ventilated, and at the same time closed in such a manner as to prevent the entrance of robbers in the day-time, until they have mended the breach, so as to stop the honey from running.

Clear water should be given them every day, so long as they are kept in confinement.

I have known many good stocks to be lost in the spring, by being robbed; and all for want of care. Bees rob each other when they can find but little else to do; they will rob at any time when frost has destroyed the flowers, or the weather is so cold as to prevent their collecting honey from them. Cold, chilly weather prevents the flowers from yielding honey without frost, as was the case in the summer of 1835, in many places.

Bees need but little air at any time when they rob, and yet more is necessary for them when confined by compulsory means, than otherwise. When deprived of their liberty, they soon become restless, and use their best efforts to make their way out of the hive--hence the importance of leaving a small space all around the bottom, to admit air and to prevent their melting down.

RULE V.

ON EQUALIZING COLONIES.

Hive one swarm in the lower apartment of the hive; collect another swarm in a drawer, and insert the same in the chamber of the hive containing the first. Then, if the swarms are small, collect another small swarm in another drawer, and insert the same in the chamber of the hive containing the first, by the side of the second. In case all the bees from either of the drawers, amalgamate and go below with the first swarm, and leave the drawer empty, then it may be removed, and another small swarm added in the same manner.

REMARKS.

It is of prime importance to every bee cultivator, that all his colonies be made as nearly equal in numbers and strength, as possible. Every experienced bee-master must be aware that small swarms are of but little profit to their owner. Generally, in a few days after they are hived, they are gone;--no one can trace their steps: some suppose they have fled to the woods--others, that they were robbed: but after all, no one is able to give any satisfactory account of them. Some pieces of comb only are left, and perhaps myriads of worms and millers finish off the whole. Then the moth is supposed to be their destroyer, but the true history of the case is generally this: The bees become discouraged, or disheartened, for want of numbers to constitute their colony, abandon their tenement, and join with their nearest neighbors, leaving their combs to the merciless depredations of the moth. They are sometimes robbed by their adjoining hives, and then the moths finish or destroy what is left.

Second swarms are generally about half as large as the first, and third swarms half as large as second ones.

Now if second swarms are doubled, so as to make them equal in number with the first, the owner avails himself of the advantage of a strong colony, which will not be likely to become disheartened for want of numbers, nor overcome by robbers from stronger colonies.

It is far less trouble, and less expense, for the bee-owner lo equalize his colonies, than to prepare hives and drawers of different sizes to fit colonies.

When colonies and hives are made as near alike as possible, many evils are avoided, and many advantages realized: every hive will fit a place in the apiary--every drawer a hive, and every bottom board and slide may in any case be used without mistakes.

Swarms may be doubled at any time before they become so located as to resume their former hostility, which will not be discovered in less than three or four days. Bees are provided with a reservoir, or sack, to carry their provision in; and when they swarm, they go loaded with provision suited to their emergency, which takes off all their hostility towards each other; and until these sacks are emptied, they are not easily vexed, and as they are compelled to build combs before they can empty them, their contents are retained several days. I have doubled, at a fortnight's interval in swarming, with entire success. The operation should be performed within two or three days--at the farthest four days. The sooner it is done, the less hazardous is the experiment.

As a general rule, second swarms only should be doubled. Third and fourth swarms should always have their Queen taken from them, and the bees returned to the parent stock, according to Rule 10.

RULE VI.

ON REMOVING HONEY.

Insert a slide under the drawer, so far as to cut off all communication between the lower apartment and the drawer. Insert another slide between the first slide and the drawer. Now draw out the box containing the honey, with the slide that is next to it. Set the drawer on its window end, a little distance from the apiary, and remove the slide. Now supply the place of the drawer, thus removed, with an empty one, and draw the first inserted slide.

REMARKS.

Care must be exercised in performing this operation. The apertures through the floor into the chamber must be kept closed by the slides during the process, so as to keep the bees from rushing up into the chamber when the box is drawn out. The operator must likewise see that the entrances into the drawer are kept covered with the slide, in such a manner as to prevent the escape of any of the bees, unless he is willing to be stung by them.

If the bees are permitted to enter the chamber in very warm weather, they will be likely to hold the occupancy of it, and build comb there, which will change the hive into one no better than an old-fashioned box.

I have succeeded best in removing honey by the following method, to wit:--Shut the window-blinds so as to darken one of the rooms in the dwelling-house--raise up one casement of a window--then carry the drawer and place the same on a table, or stand, by the window, on its light or glass end, with the apertures towards the light. Now remove the slide, and step immediately back into the dark part of the room. The bees will soon learn their true condition, and will gradually leave the drawer, and return home to the parent stock; thus leaving the drawer and its contents for their owner; not however until they have sucked every drop of running honey, if there should chance to be any, which is not often the case, if their work is finished.

There are two cases in which the bees manifest some reluctance in leaving the drawer. The first is, when the combs are in an unfinished state--some of the cells not sealed over. The bees manifest a great desire to remain there, probably to make their stores more secure from robbers, by affixing caps to the uncovered cells, to prevent the effluvia of running honey, which is always the greatest temptation to robbers.

Bees manifest the greatest reluctance in leaving the drawer, when young brood are removed in it, which never occurs, except in such drawers as have been used for feeding in the winter or early in the spring. When the Queen has deposited eggs in all the empty cells below, she sometimes enters the drawers; and if empty cells are found, she deposits eggs there also. In either case, it is better to return the drawer, which will be made perfect by them in a few days.

Special care is necessary in storing drawers of honey, when removed from the care and protection of the bees, in order to preserve the honey from insects, which are great lovers of it, particularly the ant. A chest, made perfectly tight, is a good store-house.

If the honey in the drawers is to be preserved for winter use, it should be kept in a room so warm as not to freeze. Frost cracks the combs, and the honey will drip as soon as warm weather commences. Drawers should be packed with their apertures up, for keeping or carrying to market. All apiarians who would make the most profit from their bees, should remove the honey as soon as the drawers are rilled, and supply their places with empty ones. The bees will commence their labors in an empty box that has been filled, sooner than any others.

RULE VII.

THE METHOD OF COMPELLING SWARMS TO MAKE AND KEEP EXTRA QUEENS, FOR THEIR APIARIAN, OR OWNER.

Take a drawer containing bees and brood comb, and place the same in the chamber of an empty hive; taking care to stop the entrance of the hive, and give them clean water, daily, three or four days. Then unstop the mouth of the hive, and give them liberty. The operator must observe Rule 6 in using the slides.

REMARKS.

The prosperity of every colony depends entirely on the condition of the Queen, when the season is favorable to them.

Every bee-master should understand their nature in this respect, so as to enable him to be in readiness to supply them with another Queen when they chance to become destitute.

The discovery of the fact, that bees have power to change the nature of the grub (larva) of a worker to that of a Queen, is attributed to Bonner. But neither Bonner nor the indefatigable Huber, nor any other writer, to my knowledge, has gone so far in the illustration of this discovery as to render it practicable and easy for common people to avail themselves of its benefits.

The Vermont hive is the only one, to my knowledge, in which bees can be compelled to make and keep extra Queens for the use of their owner, without extreme difficulty, as well as danger, by stings, in attempting the experiment.

The idea of raising her royal highness, and elevating and establishing her upon the throne of a colony, may, by some, be deemed altogether visionary and futile; but I will assure the reader, that it is easier done than can be described. I have both raised them, and supplied destitute swarms repeatedly.

When the drawer containing bees and brood comb is removed, the bees soon find themselves destitute of a female, and immediately set themselves to work in constructing one or more royal cells. When completed, which is commonly within forty-eight hours, they remove a grub (larva) from the worker's cell, place the same in the new-made Queen's cell, feed it on that kind of food which is designed only for Queens, and in from eight to sixteen days they have a perfect Queen.

As soon as the bees have safely deposited the grub in the new-made royal cell, the bees may have their liberty. Their attachment to their young brood, and their fidelity to their Queen, in any stage of its minority, is such, that they will never leave nor forsake them, and will continue all their ordinary labors, with as much regularity as if they had a perfect Queen.

In making Queens in small boxes or drawers, the owner will not be troubled by their swarming the same season they are made. There are so few bees in the drawer, they are unable to guard the nymph Queens, if there are any, from being destroyed by the oldest, or the one which escapes from her cell first.

In examining the drawer, in which I raised an extra Queen, I found not only the Queen, but two royal cells, one of which was in perfect shape; the other was mutilated, probably by the Queen which came out first. Now when there are so few bees to guard the nymphs, it would not be very difficult for the oldest Queen to gain access to the cells, and destroy all the minor Queens in the drawer.

When a drawer is removed to an empty hive, for the purpose of obtaining an extra Queen, it should be placed some distance from the apiary, the better to prevent its being robbed by other swarms. When it is some distance from other colonies, they are not so likely to learn its comparative strength. There is but little danger however, of its being robbed, until after the bees are out of danger of losing their Queen, which generally occurs in the swarming season.

The Queen is sometimes lost, in consequence of the young brood being too far advanced at the time of the departure of the old Queen with her swarm. If the grubs had advanced very near the dormant or chrysalis state, before the bees learnt their necessity for a Queen, and the old Queen neglected to leave eggs, which is sometimes the case, then it would be impossible for the bees to change their nature, and the colony would be lost, unless supplied with another.

RULE VIII.

ON SUPPLYING SWARMS, DESTITUTE OF A QUEEN, WITH ANOTHER.

Take the drawer from the hive, which was placed there according to Rule 7, and insert the same into the chamber of the hive to be supplied; observing Rule 6 in the use of the slides.

REMARKS.

Colonies destitute of a Queen may be supplied with another the moment it is found they have none; which is known only by their actions.

Bees, when deprived of their female sovereign, cease their labors; no pollen or beebread is seen on their legs; no ambition seems to actuate their movements; no dead bees are drawn out; no deformed bees, in the various stages of their minority, are extracted, and dragged out of their cells, and dropped down about the hive, as is usual among all healthy and prosperous colonies.

Colonies that have lost their Queen, when standing on the bench by the side of other swarms, will run into the adjoining hive without the least resistance. They will commence their emigration by running in confused platoons of hundreds, from their habitation to the next adjoining hive. They immediately wheel about and run home again, and thus continue, sometimes for several days, in the greatest confusion, constantly replenishing their neighbor's hive, by enlarging her colony, and, at the same time, reducing their own, until there is not a single occupant left; and remarkable as it is, they leave every particle of their stores for their owner or the depredations of the moth.

Colonies lose their Queens more frequently during the swarming season than any other.

In the summer of 1830, I lost three good stocks of bees in consequence of their losing their Queens, one of which was lost soon after the first swarming--the two others not many days after the second swarming--all of which manifested similar actions, and ended in the same results, which will be more particularly explained in remarks on Rule 10.

The Queen is sometimes lost, when she goes forth with a swarm, in consequence of being too feeble to fly with her young colony; in which case the bees return to their parent stock in a few minutes. In fact all occurrences of this kind originate in the inability of the Queen. If she returns to the old stock, the swarm will come out again the next day, if the weather is favorable. If the Queen is too feeble to return, and the apiarian neglects to look her up, and restore her to her colony again, (which he ought to do,) the bees will not swarm again until they have made another, or are supplied, which may be done immediately by giving them any spare Queen, I have done it with entire success, and never failed in the experiment.

The Queen, when lost in swarming, is easily found, unless the wind is so strong as to have blown her a considerable distance. A few bees are always found with her, which probably serve as her aids, and greatly assist the apiarian in spying her out. She is frequently found near the ground, on a spire of grass, the fence, or any place most convenient for her to alight, when her strength fails her. I once had quite a search for her majesty, without much apparent success. At the same time there were flying about me a dozen or more common workers. At last her royal highness was discovered, concealed from my observation in a fold of my shirt sleeve. I then returned her to her colony, which had already found their way home to the parent stock.

The Queen may be taken in the hand without danger, for she never stings by design, except when conflicting with another Queen; and yet she has a stinger at least one third longer, but more feeble than a worker.

The Queen is known by her peculiar shape, size, and movements. She differs but little in color from a worker, and has the same number of legs and wings. She is much larger than any of the bees. Her abdomen is very large and perfectly round, and is shaped more like the sugar-loaf, which makes her known to the observer the moment she is seen. Her wings and proboscis are short. Her movements are stately and majestic. She is much less in size after the season for breeding is over. She is easily selected from among a swarm, at any season of the year, by any one who has often seen her.

RULE IX.

ON MULTIPLYING COLONIES TO ANY DESIRABLE EXTENT, WITHOUT THEIR SWARMING.

This large drawer, No. 1, should always be used for this purpose. Insert slides, as in Rule 6, and remove the drawer containing bees and brood-comb; place the same in the chamber of an empty hive; stop the entrances of both the new and old hives, taking care to give them air, as in Rule 4. Give clean water daily, three or four days. Now let the bees, in both hives, have their liberty.

REMARKS.

This operation is both practicable and easy, and is of prime importance to all cultivators, who wish to avoid the necessity of hiving them when they swarm; and yet it will not prevent swarming, except in that part of the divided colony which contains the Queen at the time of their separation. The other part being compelled to make another Queen, (and they generally make two or more) will be likely to swarm to avoid their battle, as explained in remarks on Rule 2. The hive containing the old Queen may swarm for want of room; but, at any rate, in performing the operation, it has saved the trouble of hiving one swarm, and prevented all danger of their flight to the woods.

Multiplying colonies by this rule is a perfectly safe method of managing them, admitting they are not allowed to swarm themselves so low as to leave unoccupied combs, which will be explained in remarks on Rule 10.

RULE X.

ON PREVENTING THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE MOTH.

All such stocks as are infested with the moth, will manifest it as soon as warm weather commences in the spring, by dropping some of the worms upon the bottom board. Let the apiarian clean off the bottom board every other morning; at the same time strew on a spoonful or two of fresh, pulverized salt.

Immediately after a second swarm has come forth from a hive, the same season, the old stock should be examined; and if swarming has reduced their numbers so low as to leave unoccupied combs, the apiarian should take the Queen from the swarm, and let them return to the old stock. In case they remain in a cluster, hive them in a drawer, and return them immediately.

Third and fourth swarms should always have their Queens taken from them and the bees returned to the parent stock.

REMARKS.

"This insect (the moth) is a native of Europe; but has found its way into this country, and naturalized itself here."--THATCHER.

This unwelcome visitor has interested the attention and called forth all the energies of the most experienced apiarians of our country, and of many of the greatest naturalists in the world. Their movements have been observed and scrutinized by the most learned--their nature has been studied; various experiments have been tried to prevent their depredations; but after all, the monster in gaudy hue marches onward, committing the greatest havoc and devastation, with but little molestation. I have lost my whole stock at least four times since 1808, as I supposed by the moth. I tried all the experiments recommended in this and other countries, that came to my knowledge; but after all, I could not prevent their ravages.

In 1830, I constructed a hive (which has since been patented) which I supposed would afford all the facilities for managing bees in every manner that their nature would admit of, and at the same time render their cultivation most profitable to their owner. By constructing windows of glass, on every side of the hive, nearly the size of its sides, and darkening them by closing doors on the outside of the windows, which may be opened at pleasure, I have been able to discover many important facts, both in relation to the nature and economy of the bee, and its enemy the moth; but, probably, much yet remains to be learned concerning both.

The moth, when first discovered by the common observer, is a white worm or maggot, with a reddish crusted head, and varies in size according to its living. Those which have full and unmolested access to the contents of a hive, will frequently grow as large as a turkey-quill, and an inch and a half in length. Others are scarcely an inch in length when full grown. They have sixteen short legs, and taper each way from the centre of their bodies to their head and exterior or abdomen.

The worms, like the silk-worm, wind themselves into a cocoon, and pass the dormant (chrysalis) state of their existence, and in a few days come out of their silken cases perfect winged insects or millers, and are soon ready to deposit their eggs, from which another crop will be raised.

The miller, or perfect moth, is of a grayish color, from three-fourths of an inch to an inch in length. They usually lie perfectly still in the day time, with their head downwards, lurking in and about the apiary. They enter the hive in the night, and deposit their eggs in such places as are uncovered, of course unguarded by the bees. These eggs hatch in a short time, varying according to circumstances, probably from two or three days to four or five months. At an early stage of their existence, while yet a small worm, they spin a web, and construct a silken shroud, or fortress, in which they envelope themselves, and form a sort of path, or gallery, as they pass onward in their march; at the same time being perfectly secure from the bees, in their silken case, which they widen as they grow larger, with an opening in their front only, near their head, they commit the greatest havoc and devastation on the eggs, young bees and all, that come in their way as they pass.

When the moth has arrived to his full state of maturity, he makes preparation to change to a miller, by winding into a cocoon, as has been already explained. The miller is surprisingly quick in all its movements, exceeding by far the agility of the quickest bee, either in flight or on its legs. Hence the enemy becomes so formidable that the bees are easily overcome and soon fall a sure prey to him.

Now, in order to remedy the evils of the moths, and prevent their ravages, and at the same time aid the bees in their prosperity, and make them profitable to their owner, I found it necessary to use a hive differing materially from the old box, and commenced operations in the one already referred to, (called the Vermont hive,) in a course of experiments which have produced results perfectly satisfactory. From six years experience in its use, I have not the least doubt that bees may be managed to the best advantage, and without ever being materially injured by the moths.

A bee-hive should be made in a perfect workmanlike manner, so as to have no open joints; the boards should be free from shakes and cracks, because the bees will make their tenement perfectly tight, so as to exclude light and air, by plastering up all such places as are left open by the workman, with a kind of mortar, or glue, of their own make, which is neither honey nor wax, but is very congenial to the growth of worms in the first stages of their larva state, and being secured from the bees by the timber, in a short time they are able to defend themselves by a silken shroud.

Now the miller enters the hive and makes an incision into the bee-glue, or cement, with her sting, and leaves her eggs. These eggs hatch there, and the brood subsist on the glue until they have arrived so far toward maturity as to enable them to encase themselves in a silken shroud; and then they move onward.