One often sees well-stocked hives that do not swarm, and which, during the whole of the summer, form large clusters, until the cold of the autumnal evenings forces the idlers to re-enter their hives; and it were vain to disturb them, to smoke them, or torment them, in the hope of forcing them to swarm. Some people have thought they might attain their object by dividing them in two; but they did not succeed. There are, however, two ways of obtaining artificial swarms; and the one which the celebrated Shirach practised successfully in Alsatia, and which was followed with the same results in the north of Germany, requires a long course of difficult and complex operations. I shall, however, proceed to give my readers some idea of it.
In spring, a little box is prepared, about six inches square, with an opening in the top, about three inches square, and another the same size in front. Each of these openings is covered with a wire-grating, close enough to prevent any bee getting through. This box rests on a stand provided with twelve wooden pins, four or five inches long, placed perpendicularly, in two rows, at the distance of three inches from each other. These pins should be so far separate as that five pieces of honey-comb, each about as big as a person's hand, may be placed between them.
Between the farthest of the pins, on the right and left hand, are put three bits of empty combs, the same height as the pins: a piece of very fine honey-comb, not candied, occupies the fourth place; and the fifth, which is the centre, remains empty. It is to be understood that the pins supporting the combs on both sides, keep them in a perpendicular situation, and prevent them touching each other, and that the spaces left between the combs is much about the same as those in the hive to allow free passage to the bees. Neither the honey-comb nor the empty combs ought to touch the board, in case of the moths taking possession of them; they are rather made to rest on two little bits of wood, raised a little above the board, and crossed by the pins.
Above the combs and the pins, a large piece of comb is placed horizontally, and covering the whole, to keep in the heat while the hatching goes on.
After all these preliminaries, a fine day is chosen, about the end of April or beginning of May, according to the climate, and according as the season is more or less advanced; and, in the heat of the day, a little before noon, a strong hive, while in full activity, is lifted up, its top rested on the ground, and the bees driven off the combs with a little tobacco smoke, in order that the proper pieces may be seen and chosen.
A piece of comb, about the size of a hand, is then cut out, containing all the three kinds of brood, that is, eggs, nymphs, but principally the little maggots, just two or three days out of the shell. The hive is then replaced on its stand, and the little bit of comb that was taken out of it is put into the box, to occupy the empty space that was left in the centre, between the pins, and about a thousand or fifteen hundred bees, taken from a cluster in some other manner, are then introduced, and the box closed, to prevent them getting out.
Their extreme agitation, approaching to despair, produces a heat so great that they would be suffocated, but for the wire-gratings above and in front. Towards night, when they become tranquil, nothing more is heard but a soft murmuring, and they begin to construct one of the great cells, that has its opening underneath, and in which they nurse and rear queens. Before the cell is completed, they carry into it a little maggot, out of the egg within two days; which being then suitably nourished, becomes a perfect queen in less than a fortnight.
For three days the box should be kept shut, and the light carefully excluded, for it would only serve to increase the agitation of the prisoners; and the upper wire-grating, being of no farther use, may be plastered over with a little clay. The fourth day the box may be carried to the apiary, and the bees set at liberty, by opening a part of the wire-grating in front.
Having now got a new establishment, with the certainty of soon having a queen, they think no more of returning to the hives whence they were taken, but come and go, cleaning their little dwelling, and working like a weak swarm.
While they are thus occupied, a little cage should be prepared, in which to shut up the queen when her metamorphoses shall be completed.
This cage is of a semicircular form, and in size resembling the half of a large orange; it is made of wood, scooped out, and has a wire-grating on the front of it, so fine that no bee can get out or in: a hole is made in the lower part of it, large enough to permit a bee to pass through, and a wooden pin, from six to eight inches long, of the size of the hole, is prepared to shut it up with.
These preparations being completed, the box is opened fourteen or fifteen days after the bees have been put in, but it must be one of these fine spring days when the bees are busy at work: should the weather be cold or wet, the opening of the box must be delayed. The combs are then all taken out, and the queen will be easily discovered. She is much longer in the body, and altogether larger, than the other bees, as may be observed from the following figures, where Fig. 1. represents the Queen; Fig. 2. the Drone; and Fig. 3. the Working Bee [4].
[4] To those not much acquainted with bees, the following particulars may be useful.
Fig. 1. The Queen Bee: the head is of a triangular shape; her wings very short, not extending beyond the one-half of her body, which is longer, and more pointed, than that of the working bees. Her legs and corselet are copper coloured; thorax grey, and abdomen brown. There is only one queen to a hive; while there are from 10,000 to 15,000 workers, and perhaps 1000 or 1200 drones.
Fig. 2. The Drone, or Male Bee; the head is round, its large body is almost entirely covered by its wings. It has no sting. The drones appear only at the season of swarming, and are all put to death by the workers in the autumn.
Fig. 3. The Working Bee. Head somewhat triangular; the smallest and most numerous of the hive, which every one knows as the honey-bee, and which fabricates the combs, makes the honey, and feeds the young.
The queen must be seized by the wings and introduced, head foremost, through the hole into the cage, along with a dozen bees to bear her company, and then the hole through which they have passed is stopped up with the wooden pin. This being completed, an empty hive must be prepared, similar, in every respect, to the one out of which artificially the swarm is to be taken. A hole, parallel to that in the cage, is pierced in the bench on which it is to stand, and the end of the wooden pin fixed into it, so that the cage may be suspended, perpendicularly, about two-thirds the height of the hive. Between eleven and twelve of the same day, while the bees are mostly on the wing, a strong person takes one of the old hives, that is not likely to swarm, lifts it steadily, and rests it for a few seconds on a table, at hand for the purpose, while its place is instantly filled by the one containing the young queen and her cage. Any bees that may be grouped about the board are lifted up with a wooden spoon, and laid down at the door of the new hive; these ascend immediately; and all the working bees, returning in crowds from the fields, enter without hesitation; when, finding neither combs, nor honey, nor any provision whatever, they go out and return several times, and fly round and round it; while the inhabitants of the old hive, having no suspicion of their place being changed, leave it without precaution, return to the situation of their ancient dwelling, and increase the swarm that is forming.
Wearied at length of their researches, and finding in this new establishment a great number of their companions, with an imprisoned queen, they unite themselves together at the top of the hive, begin, even the same evening, to build combs; and thus is obtained an excellent artificial swarm. Next day, and some days after, many bees continue to join them from the old hive, which delays not to repeople itself from the brood-comb with which it is filled, as it is not more weakened than if it had swarmed naturally. The second day after this operation the new hive must be lifted up, the cage taken out, and the queen set at liberty, which is easily done, by drawing out two or three of the wires that form the grating. It would not be possible to make her descend by the hole through which she entered, and, by delaying too long to take her out, she would be completely surrounded by combs, that must be broken before she could be released. The precaution of keeping the queen in prison for two days is indispensable; for without this precaution she would be put to death as a stranger, or she might escape from the hive during the first tumult, which would cause the total failure of the swarm. But after being shut up in it for a little time, she is looked upon as the hope of the new colony, and sure of a favourable reception.
To succeed in this operation, there must be, at least, six inches between each hive: should they touch each other, many of the working bees would infallibly lose their lives, by throwing themselves into some of the neighbouring ones.
Such is the result of these tedious and difficult operations to obtain artificial swarms by the method of M. Shirach, at this time generally pursued in Germany. There is another, easier and less tedious, said to be in usage in the Archipelago, in Ancient Greece, and several other countries, which I have followed with great success.
Choose a hive of wood or straw, exactly the same in form and size of the one from which you mean to take the swarm. On a fine day in May, or, in mountainous countries, which are later, about the beginning of June, throw a few whiffs of tobacco-smoke into a well-stocked hive, turn it up, and, with a little more smoke, disperse the bees that are upon the combs; then cut out a bit of comb, about the size of the palm of a hand, taking care that there be the three kinds of brood, viz. eggs, maggots, and nymphs, already enclosed in the cells that serve them for cradles, but especially those maggots that have been hatched within two days; after returning this hive to its place, then proceed to fix the bit of comb with some wooden pins, in the top of the newly prepared one, and support it underneath with a thin chip of wood. Between eleven and twelve in the forenoon, lift a very populous hive (not the one out of which the brood-comb was taken), off its own board to another that must be ready to receive it, and put the empty one in the place it occupied. All the bees, returning from the fields, enter the one that has been substituted, seem at first to be greatly agitated, but, by degrees, gather round the brood-comb, and begin before night to construct a royal cell, to which they transport a maggot of two days old, and where it undergoes its metamorphosis, and comes out a queen. By this method, I have procured excellent swarms from hives that would not have swarmed naturally; and, the following spring, renewed the old hives, after the manner indicated in Chapter XXI, thus preserving my hives in good condition.