1882 



(JLEAi^IKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



487 



seemed to bring- little relief, as 31 of the swarms 

 came in August, and one in September. 



I had hoped that many of my stands would refrain 

 from swarming, and that most of the remainder 

 would be content with swarming once. My purpose 

 has been to keep about a hundred colonies, so no at- 

 tempt was made beforehand to provide for much 

 more than that. It is putting it very mild, to say 

 that I was a little "rattled" by the way they made 

 me skip around. The sample hive you asked me to 

 make never got made. The children's colony, on 

 half-size section frames, got neglected, and I shall 

 have but a slim report to make of it. I had com- 

 menced again the attempt to make forty colonies 

 out of one, and had to drop that business after 

 reaching number five. Other experiments never 

 got begun at all. But the finality is, that I've got 

 some honey and some experience, and — lots of bees. 



The 107 swarms were divided as follows: Ordinary 

 primes, 49; after-swarms, 88; primes, with virgin 

 queens, 8; repeaters, 21; double repeaters, 1. As 

 some of these terms are not in universal use, I will 

 explain. A prime with virgin queen, results when a 

 colony is depi-ived of a queen in swarming-time. Of 

 course, thej' rear several, and may swarm, when the 

 second one emerges. A " repeater " is a swarm with 

 a fertile queen emerging from a new colony, or 

 from an old one that has already cast one series of 

 swarms the current year. Only 4 of the 167 got 

 away, I believe. One of these was lost by being left 

 in the tree too long. I was tired, and had some tink- 

 ering to do, and why should I hurry? Two were 

 first seen or heard when breaking up cluster to de- 

 part. One got away by persistent contrariness. In 

 making my swarms stay where they were put, I 

 have had remarkable success. Only about 10 or 13 

 of the whole lot came out after being run in once. 

 Of this small number, two, and probably more, were 

 queenless. Nearly all the rest came out from one 

 and the same cause, being mixed with strange bees. 

 Somehow my bees decidedly resent being mixed up. 

 I am quite near laying it down as a rule, never to 

 mix bees under any circumstances. I am even get- 

 ting suspicious of bees that have been mixed in the 

 cradle by means of fi-ames of sealed brood. When a 

 swarm is good-natui'ed, and has a queen, and I can 

 get them without any tangling, I feel so sure of 

 them that I scarcely Ijother to look at them after 

 hiving. They stay well if given a frame of larvte, 

 and just as well if not. Of course, I do not deny 

 that two or more small swarms hived together often 

 Stay all right; but a lai-ge percentage of such make 

 more or less trouble. 



REASONS WHY SWARMS DESERT. 



1. Bad smells. Let the hive be clean, and make 

 sure that no dust is lodged in it. No sour or ill'sa- 

 vored old combs must be used to hive swarms on. I 

 often work off such upon new swarms, but not in 

 hiving. I wait a couple of days, and then take out 

 a few of the frames they have worked least in, and 

 replace them with old combs. The frames removed 

 are tiptop for the next swarm that comes. If pry- 

 ing robbers come around while you are arranging 

 the combs to hive a swarm on, don't be so thought- 

 less as to play on them with the smoker. The smell 

 of a little smoke on the combs is enough to make 

 you much trouble in getting the bees to run in. 



3. Standing in the siui. Bees are very much like 

 folks. The old homestead may bo hot and uncom- 

 fortable, and one bears the discomfort rather than 

 aband(mit; but in renting new premises, he takes 



good care to see that they are cool and comfortable, 

 else he looks further. 



3. Dumping the bees into the hiv'e. When the 

 cluster is stirred up, the bees, of course, run. If 

 put down outside, they readily run in; but if tum- 

 bled into it there is nowhere to run, except to run 

 out. This running out, I imagine, spreads a bad 

 impression, that the premises are not to be accepted. 



4. Too little ventilation. Don't expect them to 

 be content with the same amount of air that the old 

 hive had, even if they are shaded. Though happy, 

 they are excited and warm, and must have lots of 

 doorway. 



5. Crowded chamber. A full brood-chamber is 

 one main cause why prime swarms come out of the 

 old hive; and if you give the same thing in the new 

 hive, or any thing like it, ihe risks are increased 

 thei'eby. If you wish to help them to a full set of 

 combs or foundation sheets, let half the frames have 

 only starters at first, and then exchange them two 

 days later. 



6. All unnecessary interference with the natural 

 course of affairs, especially preventing the queen 

 from flying with them, and making them come back 

 to the old stand. A hog on ice is no match for a bee 

 in self-will. It is quite needful to make a swarm 

 think that they have had their own way; and this 

 delusion can not be kept up if they are obliged 

 to come back to the old stand for the queen. I 

 think it is this point that is mainly responsible for 

 Mr. Doolittle's wretched swarm report. If my mem- 

 ory serves me aright, he reports that six swarms 

 out of ten come out when he gives them a frame of 

 brood, and four out of ten when he does not ! An- 

 other reason for this astonishing per cent of deser- 

 tions is given, I think, in the next item. 



7. The habit of shifting frames of brood fi-om one 

 hive to another. Let your swarm be all children of 

 one mother, if possible. 



8. Swarms, or parts of swarms, mixing at swarm- 

 ing-time. Largely unpreventable this evil is, I fear. 

 Fountain pump is of no avail after two swarms get 

 into the air once. Far better sit down and make 

 faces at 'em — you'll feel cooler when the time comes 

 that something can be done. 



9. Queenlessness. It is pretty plain, that queen- 

 less swarms will, in exceptional cases, cluster and 

 submit to be hived. Of course, the only remedy 

 here is a frame of brood. 



There is an idea prevalent about swarming, that 

 needs to be "busted," or, at least, cracked a little; 

 namely, the notion that bees swarm only when hon- 

 ey is coming in. Doubtless this is nearly correct 

 with bees only moderately inclined to swarm; but 

 with such madcaps as mine, it is a long way astray. 

 On the last day of July we had the beginning of a 

 remarkable spell of rainj- weather, lasting eleven 

 days. The scales indicated no honey in that time, 

 except 3 oz. Aug. 1st, and 3 oz. Aug. (!th, yet I had 

 five swarms during this period, on five several days. 

 The first day after the weather changed, and before 

 an5- considerable flow of honey had set in, I had six 

 swarms, five of them with fertile queens. 



THE CAUSES OF EXCESSIVE SWARMING. 



I prefer to regard swarming as a direct result of 

 simple and reasonable causes, rather than as a con- 

 tagious fever or mania. 



Cause 1. Plenty of pollen, and long-continued but 

 very moderate flow of honey. Like the human spe. 

 cies (for the thousandth time), bees seem inclined to 

 make a hobl'y of some one thing. If honey comes 



