THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



105 



if they have not swarmed at the right 

 time. This has some advantages. 

 Forced, shaken or brushed swarms 

 (I do not care which name is given 

 tliemi proper!}' made, on the old stand, 

 witli a contracted brood-nest, and 

 starters, are in the best possible con- 

 dition for storing honey in sections; 

 tlie sjime as a natural swarm; and we 

 can malve them at just the right time 

 -the beginning of the main honey- 

 tiov,'. 



Before making these artificial 

 swarms, we can use large hives, which 

 will prevent swarming before the hon- 

 ey-How. In this way we can manage 

 .•111 out-apiary without much danger of 

 logins- any swarms. The forced 

 s^vnrms are worked for comb honey, 

 .•iiHl the parent colonies, from which 

 \\e prevent after-swarms in one of the 

 well-known ways, are worked for ex- 

 tracted honey; because the large 

 l)rood-chaml)ers are not fit for comb- 

 honey production. This plan I knew 

 iind used during some years, and got 

 fair crops of comb-honey, about 1SS9 

 till 1893. At that time I secured more 

 comb-honey from a large, strong 

 Pw.irm than from any colony which 

 did not cast a swarm. 



The swarms are losing field bees 

 every day during the first three weeks, 

 at a time, too. when the main flow is 

 the ))est. The brood is increasing, 

 while no young bees are hatching, and 

 tills brood has to be nursed bv bees 

 which are able to do some field-work. 



say that the swarming fever is finally 

 started when there are more bees 

 in the hive than can be employed in 

 nursing brood and comb-building, a 

 su.e way to prevent swarming is to 

 remove this surplus of young bees, 

 and keep them out of the hive till they 

 are able to do field-work. But how 

 we can do this? 



WH.^T STARTS THE SWARMING FEVER. 



I Studied again to find out a way to 

 prevent swarming. The first question 

 is. what causes the bees to swarm V 

 If we know the cause of a disease we 

 will probably find a remedy. Well 

 I know (yes, know^ the cause of 

 swarming now. But, as bee-keepers 

 •and editors, too.) do not like theory. 

 I will not explain it. It is enough to 



HOW TO SO MANAGE THE YOUNG BEES AS 

 TO PREVENT SWARMING. 



In making a forced swarm on the 

 old stand, we remove, in fact, a part 

 of the young bees and all the brood. 

 If the capped brood should remain in 

 the colony, it would be changed to 

 young bees in a few days and would 

 start the swarming fever again. If 

 we remove all of the brood and some 

 of the young bees, and form a colony 

 out of tliem, we employ the young 

 bees in nursing the brood; and this 

 colony can't SAvarm before it has rais- 

 ed a young queen. On the other side, 

 the swarm has no brood, only a few 

 young bees, which are engaged in 

 building combs and will have no de- 

 sire to swarm, and is in the best con- 

 dition for storing honey in the sec- 

 tions. For the first part of our prob- 

 lem, the shaking process is satisfac- 

 tory. It remains to give the bees, 

 hatched from the brood, back to the 

 swarm as soon as they are old enough 

 to do field work. I solved this prob- 

 lem in the following way: 



When we shake the bees from the 

 comlis to make the forced swarm, we 

 cut out all queen-cells, if any such 

 should be present. The brood-combs 

 and enough adhering bees to protect 

 and nurse the brood are set into a 

 hive, and this hive is placed near the 

 swarm, on top, or on the side, prob- 

 ably best with the front at a right 

 angle to the front of the other hive. 

 In 9 or 10 days this hive is removed 

 a few steps, all the combs taken out 



