BEES. 29 
PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 
Unless increase is particularly desired, both natural and artificial 
swarming should be done away with as far as possible, so that the 
energy of the bees shall go into the gathering of honey. Since 
crowded and overheated hives are particularly conducive to swarm- 
ing, this tendency may be largely overcome by giving plenty of ven- 
tilation and additional room in the hive. Shade is also a good pre- 
ventive of swarming. [Extra space in the hive may be furnished by 
adding more hive bodies and frames or by frequent extracting, so 
that there may be plenty of room for brood rearing and storage at 
all times. These manipulations are, of course, particularly applicable 
to extracted-honey production. 
To curb the swarming impulse frequent examinations of the colo- 
nies (about every week or ten days during the swarming season) 
for the purpose of cutting out queen cells is a help, but this requires 
considerable work, and since some cells may be overlooked, and par- 
ticularly since it frequently fails in spite of the greatest care, it is 
not usually practiced. Requeening with young queens early in the 
season, when possible, generally prevents swarming. 
Swarming is largely due to crowded brood chambers, and since 
eggs laid immediately before and during the honey flow do not pro- 
duce gatherers, several methods have been tried of reducing the 
brood. The queen may either be entirely removed or be caged in 
the hive to prevent her from laying. In either event the bees will 
usually build queen cells to replace her, and these must be kept cut 
out. These plans would answer the purpose very well were it not 
for the fact that queenless colonies often do not work vigorously. 
Under most circumstances these methods can not be recommended. 
A better method is to remove brood about swarming time and thus 
reduce the amount. There are generally colonies in the apiary to 
which frames of brood can be given to advantage. 
In addition to these methods various nonswarming devices have 
been invented, and later a nonswarming hive so constructed that 
there is no opportunity for the bees to form a dense cluster. The 
breeding of bees by selecting colonies with less tendency to swarm 
has been suggested, but nothing has been accomplished along that 
line. 
On the whole, the best methods are the giving of plenty of room, 
shade, and ventilation to colonies run for extracted honey; and ven- 
tilation, shade, and artificial swarming of colonies run for comb 
honey. Frequent requeening (about once in two years) is desirable 
for other reasons, and requeening before swarming time helps in the 
solution of that difficulty. 
397 
