Roman Beekeeping: Part 10

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

Next there is another method of retaining the swarms produced from our own apiaries. The keeper ought always diligently to go round the hives, for there is no time when they do not need his care; but they demand still more careful attention when the bees feel the approach of spring and the hives overflow with new offspring, which, unless they are promptly intercepted by the constant watchfulness of the keeper, fly off in different directions. For such is the nature of bees that each brood of ordinary bees is generated together with its king and, when they have acquired enough strength to fly away, they despise the society of their elders and even more the orders which they give; for as the human race, which possesses reason, allows no partnership of the kingly power, much less do the dumb animals who are lacking in understanding. Therefore the new chieftains come forth with their following of young bees, which, remaining in a mass for one or two days at the very entrance of their abode, by their coming out show their desire for a home of their own, and if the man in charge immediately assigns it to them, are as content with it as if it were their native place. If, however, the keeper has been away, they make for some strange region as if they had been driven away unjustly.

To prevent this, it is the duty of a good overseer in spring-time to keep an eye upon the hives until about the eighth hour of the day (after which the new battalions of bees do not take to impetuous flight), and carefully watch their departures, for some of them, when they have broken out, usually immediately rush away. He will be able to find out beforehand their decision to escape by putting his ear to each of the hives in the evening; for about three days before they intend to break out an uproar and buzzing arises like that of an army setting out on the march. From this, as Vergil very truly says,

You can foreknow the purpose of the herd;

The martial roar of the hoarse brass reproves

The loiterers, and a voice is heard whose notes

The broken sound of trumpets imitates.

The bees, therefore, which behave like this ought especially to be kept under observation, so that, whether they sally forth to battle (for they wage a kind of civil war amongst themselves and as it were foreign wars with other swarms) or break out in order to escape, the keeper may be at hand, ready for either event. Fighting either of the bees of one swarm quarrelling amongst themselves or of two swarms at variance with one another is easily quelled; for, as the same poet says,

By casting of a little dust the strife

Is stayed and laid to rest,

or else by sprinkling over them honey-water or raisin-wine or some similar liquid, that is to say the sweet taste of things familiar to them, abates their wrath. The same expedients too are wonderfully efficacious for reconciling king-bees when they are at enmity; for there are often several leaders of one people, and the common herd is as it were divided into factions by the quarrels of its chiefs. This must be prevented from happening often, since whole nations are destroyed by civil war. And so, if good feeling exists between the princes, peace continues and no blood is shed. If, however, you have often noticed them fighting a pitched battle, you will take care to put to death the leaders of the factions; but when they are actually fighting, their battles can be calmed by the above-mentioned remedies.

Next, when a host of bees has settled in a mass on the neighbouring branch of a leafy shrub, you should take notice whether the whole swarm hangs down in the form of a single bunch of grapes. This will be a sign either that there is only one king-bee in it or, at any rate, that, if there are several, they are reconciled and on good terms with one another, in which case you will leave them as they are until they fly back to their abode. If, however, the swarm is divided into two or even more clusters, you need have no doubt that there are several chiefs and that they are still in an angry mood, and you will have to search for the leaders in the parts of the clusters where you see the bees most closely massed together. Having, then, smeared your hand with the juice of the herbs already named, that is, balm and wild parsley, lest they fly away at your touch, you will gently insert your fingers and, after separating the bees from one another, you will search until you find the author of the quarrel.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 459-465.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (4-70 CE)

Historic Beekeeping

A collection of historic documents about bees and beekeeping.

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