SWARMING. 



434 



SWARMIXG. 



swarm, after which the hive is moved away. 

 In this respect a brushed or " shook"' swarm, 

 as some call it. will secm-e more comb honey 

 than a natural swarm because it has the ad- 

 ditional strength of the young bees. The 

 queen from the old hive (if one has been 

 raised or introduced) should, of course, be 



T 





FIG. 1.— A CASE OF TOO SMALL AX EXTKAXCE. 



It was a warm day when this picture was taken. The bees, being- 

 unable to ventilate through the small entrance [SS.K in.) clustered out. 



removed before the last drive, and given to 

 some other colony. 



While this plan of forcing the swarm 

 ahead of time at the convenience of the api- 

 arist generally gives satisfaction among bee- 

 keei'.ers. some do not make it work: but so 

 many have reported favorably through the 

 bee-journals that we are satisfied that, if de- 

 tails are carefully followed.it wiU prove suc- 

 cessful with most people. 



combs of brood are then shaken in front of 

 the entrance as before. The beeless brood 

 should, of course, be given to other colonies 

 that can use them to advantage. 



This involves the principle of the brushed 

 or shaken swarm idea, and has the further 

 advantage that the bees are not liable to 

 swarm out as when they 

 are shaken all at one drive 

 on nothing but foimdation. 



COXTROL OF SWAKMING BY 



MEAXS OF LARGE OR 



PLURAL EXTRAXCES. 



When we see colonies 

 clustered out at the begin- 

 ning of a honey-flow, there 

 is a lack of room, a too con- 

 tracted entrance, or both. 

 A colony that hangs out 

 day after day when there is 

 a light flow of honey is 

 almost sm:e to start cell- 

 building: for bees will 

 swarm much worse during 

 a light or moderate yield 

 than when it is heavy. 



If bees have been hang- 

 ing out for perhaj s a week, 

 in all probability there will be queen-cells 

 with eggs or larvte in them. The thought 

 of swarming seems to be in the mind of 

 the colony. WhOe the cells may be cut 

 out and delay the swarm, it is better to 

 enlarge the entrance and give room. Far 

 better still is it to provide a very ample 

 entrance before the bees cluster out at all 

 in the first place; and before they feel 

 cramped for room they should be given 

 We have often made 



Another plan has been suggested that is extra super capacity, 

 somewhat similar to that already described; colonies that were clustering out go into the 

 but instead of shaking all the 

 bees at once the operation is 

 performed at two different 

 times. For examj)le. a colony 

 in an eight-frame hive has 

 fom- combs of brood taken out 

 of the center of the brood-nest 

 and in their place is put an 

 equal number of frames of full 

 sheets of foundation. The 

 combs removed are now shak- 

 en one by one in front of the 

 entrance. Two or three days 

 afterward, when work gets 

 nicely started on the first 

 frames of foundation the re- 

 maining old combs with their 

 brood and honey are removed and a second 

 set of frames are put in their place. The 



FIG. 2.— A HITE WITH PROPER VEXTILATIOX AT THE 



BOTTOM TO PRETEXT CLUSTERIXG OUT 



AT THE EXTRAXCE. 



hives by simply enlarging the entrances and 

 giving room. Other colonies that are given 



