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Repetition Prevented

Categories: SWARMING.
Bee Keeping: Mysteries Of Bee-keeping Explained

Sometimes a swarm will issue and return three or four days in

succession, but this I generally remedy, as it is often owing to some

inability of the queen, and she may be frequently found while the swarm

is leaving outside the hive, unable to fly. In such cases it is only

necessary to have a tumbler ready, and watch for her; and as soon as

she appears, secure her, get the empty hive for the swarm, a sheet, and

put down
a bottom-board a few feet from the stock. The swarm is sure to

come back; the first bees that alight on the hive will set up the call;

as soon as this is perceived, lose no time in setting the old stock on

the board, and throwing the sheet over it to keep out the bees. Put the

new one in its place on the stand, and the queen in it; in a few

minutes the swarm will be in the _new_ hive, when it can be removed,

and the old one replaced. This I have done many times. But should the

swarm begin to cluster in a convenient place, when you have so caught

the queen, by being expeditious she may be put with the swarm, before

they have missed her and may be hived in the usual way.



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