SWARMING. 



436 



SWARMING. 



placed over the supers, tliey project on the 

 front and rear, and on the sides enough to 

 give a reasonable amount of shade. In the 

 middle of the day the hive is fairly well 

 shaded. 



Further particulars on the subject of en- 

 trances, and their relation to the prevention 

 of swarming, will be found under the head 

 of Entrancks. 



DOOLITTLE MODIFIED SHOOK - SWARMING 

 METHOD. 



This is a plan that involves some of the 

 principles of shook swarming; and in cer- 

 tain localities it can be employed to very 

 good advantage. The method in brief is as 

 follows: Sets of partly filled extracting- 

 frames from weak colonies the year before, 

 as will be explained later, are kept over 

 winter in the honey-house, until the spring 

 or early summer, when upper stories are fill- 

 ed with them, and placed on all strong colo- 

 nies. The idea of this procedure is to make 

 the colony below feel rich in stores so that 

 there will be no curtailment of brood-rear- 

 ing. If any honey should come in from fruit- 

 bloom or other sources before the main flow 

 it is promptly carried upstairs without 

 crowding the queen below. 



A week or two prior to the expected 

 honey-flow or swarming season this upper 

 story is lifted off and the old colony moved 

 to one side. On the old stand is placed an- 

 other empty hive. The set of combs, all save 

 one, that were originally in the upper story, 

 containing more or less honey, are now put 

 down in the empty hive on the old stand. One 

 comb is left out in the center, and replaced 

 by a frame partly filled with brood from an- 

 other hive. On tliis hive, at the parent stand 

 thus prepared is placed a comb -honey super 

 containing sections filled with full sheets of 

 foundation, and having at the center ten or 

 twelve other sections with partly drawn 

 combs. On tliis super is placed another of 

 sections with only full sheets of foundation. 

 Last of all the cover is put on. The frames 

 of brood put in the old hive removed to one 

 side are now taken out and shaken in front 

 of the entrance of this newly prepared hive 

 at the old stand. The brood is then stacked 

 up on the few weak colonies not run for 

 comb honey. As the bees hatch the combs 

 are more or less filled with honey during the 

 season, thus furnishing the sets of extract- 

 ing-frames to be used for the comb-honey 

 colonies the next year. The queen in the 

 comb-honey hive will have the one frame 

 of brood partly filled where she can begin 



la>ing. The large amount of honey in the 

 brood nest the bees will begin carrying up- 

 stairs to the supers in order to give the 

 queen more room in which to lay. Thus 

 work is started in filling tlie sections before 

 the honey-flow actually begins; and when 

 honey does come in, the bees continue to 

 store it above without any swarming. In the 

 meantime the queen occupies every avail- 

 able cell in the lower part of the hive. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle, the author of this sys- 

 tem, has tested it most thoroughly several 

 seasons; and one year in particular, when the 

 season was only fair, secured an average of 

 114i pounds of comb honey per colony, with 

 no swarms at any outyard. 



While the first sections will contain a little 

 old honey. yet if it be buckwheat orother good 

 honey it does not impair the flavor, for there 

 are many who like a little buckwheat flavor in 

 comb honey; and such sections, Mr. Doolittle 

 says, sell at the highest market price. 



THE HAND SYSTEM OF SWARM CONTROL. 



Mr. J. E. Hand, of Birmingham, O., has 

 developed a system of comb-honey produc- 

 tion and swarm control, in connection with 

 a modified Heddon liive, for certain locali- 

 ties, that is quite unique. While we have 

 not tested it ourselves, there are some fea- 

 tures about it that look as if they might 

 work. 



It should be understood that this system 

 of swarm control is adaptable only to divisi- 

 ble hives which will be found described and 

 illustrated under Hives elsewhere. Indeed, 

 the reader would do well to peruse carefully 

 what is said on the Heddon divisible hive 

 and the Hand improvement before he con- 

 siders its treatment here. 



Early in the spring Mr. Hand divides his 

 colonies into three groups, each colony being 

 in two brood-chambers of his divisible hive. 

 The very strong he puts in one group; the 

 medium in another; and the light form the 

 last group. As this system involves the use 

 of only strong colonies for honey production 

 he aims to force all except the very light ones 

 into powerful stocks in time for the honey- 

 flow. To that end the strong-colony group 

 is left to itself, and the medium are to rob 

 from the light. From the latter he takes 

 one brood-section, with most of the bees and 

 the queen, and gives it to one of the medium 

 group, placing a perforated zinc honey- 

 board between the added portion and the 

 other colony. The light colony from which 

 the brood-chamber was taken will be made, 

 by the operation, a mere nucleus, although 

 some returning bees will, of course, add to 



