BEES. oil: 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 
If increase is desired, it is better to practice some method of arti- 
ficial swarming and to forestall natural swarming rather than be 
compelled to await the whims of the colonies. The situation should 
be under the control of the bee keeper as much as possible. The 
bees, combs, and brood may be divided into two nearly equal parts 
and a queen provided for the queenless portion; or small colonies, 
called nuclei, may be made from the parent colony, so reducing its 
strength that swarming is not attempted. These plans are not as 
satisfactory as shaken swarms, since divided colonies lack the vigor 
of swarms. 
A good method of artificially swarming a colony is to shake most of 
the bees from the combs into another hive on the old stand with 
starters (narrow strips) of foundation. The hive containing the 
brood with some bees still adhering is then moved to a new location. 
If receptacles for surplus honey have been put on previously, as they 
generally should be, they should now be put over the artificial swarm 
separated from the brood compartment by perforated zine. 
This method of artificially swarming (usually called by bee keepers 
“shook” swarming) should not be practiced too early, since natural 
swarming may take place later. The colony should first have begun 
its preparations for swarming. The method is particularly useful in 
comb-honey production. The bees may be prevented from leaving 
the hive by the use of a drone trap (fig. 6) or by putting in one frame 
containing unsealed brood. Some bee keepers prefer using full 
sheets of foundation or even drawn combs for the artificial swarm, 
but narrow strips of foundation have some advantages. By using 
narrow strips the queen has no cells in which to lay eggs for a time, 
thus reducing brood rearing, but, since by the time artificial swarm- 
ing is practiced the profitable brood rearing is usually over, this is no 
loss but rather a gain. There are also in the brood compartment no 
cells in which the gathering workers can deposit fresh honey, and 
they consequently put it in the supers. Gradually the combs below 
are built out and brood rearing is increased. Later the colony is 
allowed to put honey in the brood combs for its winter supply. If 
no increase is desired, the bees which emerge from the removed brood 
combs may later be united with the artificial swarm and by that time 
there will usually be little danger of natural swarming. 
Artificial swarming can readily be combined with the shaking 
treatment for bee diseases, thus accomplishing two objects with one 
manipulation. If disease is present in the parent colony, only strips 
of foundation should be used and the colony should be confined to 
the hive with a queen and drone trap and not with a frame of brood. 
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