CHAPTER XVI.
NEIGHBOURING HIVES SHOULD BE UNITED.
I HAVE already said, in Chapter III. that bees which have not swarmed voluntarily return to the place they have been accustomed to, even after having been shut up for months: the same thing would happen if you united swarms distant from each other. Next day, or the day after, you would have the mortification to see the bees return by hundreds to their old residence, flutter about for a length of time, and lose their lives, either by falling down from fatigue, or throwing themselves into the neighbouring hives, where they are put to death. Not having left their new dwelling with the same precaution that a swarm uses to reconnoitre the one it has chosen, or that has been given to it, and, supposing themselves at home, in spite of the disorder of the night before, they rush out on a rapid flight, and, returning from their excursion, go back to the place of their ancient domicil; and thus the purpose of fortifying your hives, and of preserving them, by uniting them, is defeated. I have frequently tried to unite distant hives, and always met with this result.
There is only one remedy for this that I know of, but it is an imperfect one, and gives a great deal of trouble. It is, to put in some combs of wax into the hive that has been emptied, and replace it in its old situation. The bees return to it in great numbers the following day, and some days after; at length, after a great deal of bustle, they settle towards evening on the combs, and, before night, when they are quite tranquil, I take the combs one after another, and, with a feather, sweep off the bees, so as to make them fall upon the board of the one that contains their companions, and which they now enter with evident marks of joy. This operation may require to be repeated for seven or eight days, with this difference, that every succeeding day fewer will return. Thus the evil may be repaired, though incompletely and with infinite trouble.
It is to avoid the perplexity which displacing them occasions to these precious insects, and also the loss that results to myself, that I move the united hive a little to one side, so that it may occupy the space that was before between them. As displacing them only a few inches does not confuse them, for the same reason, when I join three hives, as I often do, I never displace the middle one, but remove those I have emptied on the right hand and on the left, which is sufficient to prevent mistakes, and the bees, finding no hive on either side, enter the middle one without hesitation. It is a very essential point, however, to join only neighbouring hives, as being less troublesome and more successful.
It would be a good plan to mingle in the apiary strong and weak hives alternately, and to place small and late swarms near each other, in order to unite two and two, or three and three, in autumn, if they have not enough of provision laid up for their winter subsistence.
When a deprived swarm happens not to be near another in the same state, there is nothing to hinder it being united to any old well provisioned hive that may be near it, as it will thrive all the better for such an addition to its population. I have done so oftener than once, and always with success.