24 
The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure is that of 
giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be effective should be given 
early in the season, before the bees get fairly into the swarming notion, and the 
honey should be removed frequently, unless additional empty combs can be givenin 
the case of colonies managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections 
should be given additional supers before those already on are completed. With 
colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as in those run 
for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. Free ventilation and 
shading of the hives as soon as warm days come will also tend toward prevention. 
Opening the hives once or twice weekly and destroying’ all queen cells that have 
been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and isa plan 
which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But some- 
times swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all 
cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, 
besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, 
and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony 
will still swarm. The plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and 
is in general not worth 
the effort it costs and can 
not be depended on. 
Dequeening.—The re- 
= > moval of a queen at the 
opening of a swarming sea- 
son interferes, of course, 
witb the plans of the bees, 
and they will then delay 
swarming until they get a 
youngqueen. Then, ifthe 
bee keeper destroys all 
be queen cells before the 
, tenth day, swarming will 
' again be checked. But to 
prevent swarming by 
Ben nm a ee keeping colonies queen- 
Fic. 7.—The Simmins nonswarming system—single-story hive with legg longer than afew days 
supers: bc, brood chamber; sc, supers; st, starters of foundation; at most is to attain a 
e, entrance. % : 
certain desired result at a 
disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queen- 
less, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over som? 
time, or other yields come later in the season, is likely or even nearly sure to be less 
from such colonies, while the interruption to brood rearing may decimate the 
colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan istherefore not to be commended. 
Requeening.—Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of 
swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season with a young 
one of the same season’s raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible 
to rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during the first 
season, and, as they are vigorous layers, the hive will be well populated at all times 
and thus ready for any harvest. This is important, inasmuch as a flow of honey 
may come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon; and also, 
since the conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding 
plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield will also differ with 
the season the same as the quantity may vary. Young queens are also safest to 
head the colonies for the winter. The plan is conducive to the highest prosperity 
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