^3^ Journal of Agriciiltiiri. [ir Oct.. 1909. 



lan-se given to hold the swarm is removed ; but. unless the queen is failing, 

 the cells are torn down again. 



A swarm should be examined in a week or ten davs, and if there are 

 queen-cells they should be broken out. If, on further examining the 

 combs a week or so later, queen-cells have again been started, the bee- 

 keep)er should take it as a hint that the queen will soon gi\e out. and he 

 should replace her with a young one at the earliest opportunity. If the 

 ages of queens are known to the bee-keeper, anv three-year-olds which 

 came off with swarms should lie superseded with voung ones as soon as 

 such are available. 



^\'hen a watch cannot be kept on the apiary, as in the case of people 

 with whom bee-keeping is a side issue, or at out apiaries A\hich are visited 

 only at inter\als. artificial swarming will t>e found more convenient. 

 A\'hen queen-cells are first found in colonies. the\ should be broken out 

 once, unless the colony is verv strong, when it mav be operated on imme- 

 diately. Look over all the brood combs and remove half of them, select- 

 ing those containing the most sealed brood. If artificial swarming without 

 increase is the object, the bees mav be shaken off these combs back into the 

 hive and one of the combs given to each of the backward stocks, the 

 places of the combs removed being filled with emptv drawn combs or full 

 sheets of foundation. In about a Aveek or ten davs these combs will con- 

 tain young lar\ae and eggs, while the brood in the original combs will now 

 be mostly sealed and may be removed. It can be used up in the same 

 way as the first combs taken out and replaced with empty combs or partly 

 filled combs (without brood) from stocks to which brood was given. The 

 whole of the brood will now have been removed. There will be no risk 

 of the swarm turning out or running down too much, as would be the 

 case if all the brood had been taken awav in one operation, because the 

 bees were never witl^.out brc:!<:>d ; and for only half the time were they with- 

 out hatching brood. 



If increase with artificial swarming is desired, the b)ees are not shaken 

 oft" the combs of briwd removed but put into a single-storv hive on a new 

 stand, taking care to lea\e the queen behind. The brood of the new 

 stock thus made should be flanked on each side with a comb of honev and 

 pollen. After most of the old bees have returned to the former stand, 

 one or two combs of brood should be removed if not sufficient bees are lett 

 to properly attend to and cover the brood during a cold change. Xo bees 

 should be taken away with the brood and the brood left to the new stock 

 should contain as much as possible the brood nearest hatching. If a .spare 

 queen is not available to give this stock, a queen-cell from a good stock 

 should be inserted. 



When only a temporary increase is wanted for the purpo.se of getting 

 young queens to supersede old or failing ones, these new stocks mav be 

 placed on the top of single-storey weak colonies or two new ones, one on 

 top of the other. In each case there should be a solid division between 

 the lower and upper boxes and a separate entrance for the top one. at 

 right angles to the lower entrance, to avoid returning young queens enter- 

 nig the wrong lx)x. When the necessary numl^er of queens has been ob- 

 tained, two such lots may lie united at dusk after first removing the queen 

 from one of them. During the day uniting is done by lifting off the top 

 stock, removing the division teard. and placing the best of the brood into 

 the lower box. alternating the combs from the two. Smoke the bees 

 during the operation and place the upper box with the remaining combs on 

 the top. Should both queens lie laying there is no risk whatever 

 of any bees being killed through fighting, which happens when the bees 

 of a laying queen and of a virgin are united. 



