Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1894 — Capturing Wild Bees. [ARTICLE]

Capturing Wild Bees.

The bees and brood from bee trees are often saved. If the swarm is not too high up, a ladder may be put up, and a piece of the wood taken out in front of the bees by boring a line of auger holes around the piece that is to be removed. Sometimes a scaffold is built against the side of the tree, and an axe or saw used in cutting in to the bees. Sometimes “climbers” are used to reach the bees if they are pretty high up, but this is dangerous work. L’sually it is better to fell the tree, taking care to have it strike smaller trees, and thus break the fall as much as possible. When the bees are reached the combs should be cutout, one by one, and fastened into the frames of a movable comb hive. They may be tied in, or small sticks may be tacked across on each side. The bees should be brushed off at the entrance of the hive> and as soon as there is a comb containing brood ..placed in the hive they will begin clustering on the brood. If there are many bees remaining in the cavity or flying about after the combs are removed, it is well to place the entrance of the hive as near the cavity as possible and leave it there several hours—possibly all night—by which time nearly all the bees will have entered the hive, when it may be carried home. If no honey is coming in, the bees should be fed a few days until the combs are securely fastened, when the sticks and strings may be removed. No harm will result from placing the captured one by the side of the one already in the yard.—[American Agriculturist.