lo Sept.. 1910.] Checking and ControlUng Swarming. 



567 



the hive without taking wing. Swarms which turn out after being hived 

 are particularly inclined to scatter, and the bees which joined other stocks 

 set up the desire to swarm in the hives they entered. To prevent this 

 troublesome turning out of hived swarms, or rather to compel them to 

 return, many bee-keepers fasten queen-excluding zinc over the entrance, 

 but while this prevents the queen from leaving the hive the obstruction 

 of the entrance interferes with and annoys the bees, particularly when 

 there are many drones with the swarm. 



To prevent the absconding of natural swarms, or of bees which have 

 been shaken off their coml)s in the treatment for foul brood, I keep the 

 queen for several days in a special cage suspended from the top bars of 

 the frames. Fig. i is a side view and Fig. 2 an end view of the cage, 

 while Fig. 3 shows it with the thin board of one side removed. The 



QUEEN CAGE WITH FREE- WAV FOR WORKER BEES. 



cage is 5 inches high by i^ inches wide and |-in. thick. The narrower 

 ends are covered by a movable slide {a) made of queen-excluding metal, 

 such as is used for honey boards. At the bottom end of the cage is a 

 square hole \ in. x -^ in. and |-in. long ; this is closed by a tin slide {cL) 

 and like the slides (a) runs in a fine groove made with a tenon saw into 

 the thin pieces covering the sides of the cage. The neck of the cage {e) 

 is only \-\x\.. thick and wdll therefore go evenly between the wide top bars 

 of Hoffman frames without departing from the normal spacing. 



When the queen of a swarm is thus caged between the frames the 

 worker bees have free access to her and will start drawing foundation 

 near the cage, or commence getting cells ready when empty combs are 

 given. As the queen has been attended to just as if she were at liberty, 

 she will commence laying as soon as released, whereas a queen in an 

 ordinary cage is generally out of condition and the bees are discontented 

 during her captivity. 



