46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



with us at other times. Intensify and 

 add to the factors in a problem, and 

 you increase the need of g-reater effort 

 to control and guide properly. 



That fair or normal colony, spoken 

 of at the beginning-, is iust about right 

 to swarm with hot weather and enough 

 nectar and pollen coming in to load 

 well the brood nest. If they just fill 

 up the brood combs, and do nothing in 

 the super, they are almost sttre to 

 swarm soon. While such conditions 

 prevail, give a large brood nest, large 

 enough to hold all the stores coming, 

 and also give abundant laying room to 

 the queen, together with a cool comfort- 

 able condition. 



That laying room should be beneath 

 the present brood and stores, or toward 

 the entrance— do not forget this. A 

 large brood chamber UP and down, 

 not wide, used as above, is almost a 

 positive preventative of swarming until 

 the main flow, or the time when they 

 will do super work. 



THE EFFECT OF ROOM BENEATH THE 

 BROOD NEST. 



Use hives large up and down, 

 8-frame width, and two stories high. 

 I am decidedly partial to about 12 to 16 

 L. frame capacity. Use this large 

 brood chamber up to the time the flow 

 starts that gives your surplus, then 

 divide, massing the brood in one 

 chamber on the old stand, and put 

 your super on this. Take the other 

 combs with the queen and enough bees 

 to care "for her and all the brood pres- 

 ent and prospective", to a new location. 

 Nine or ten days later cut out all cells 

 but one in the queenless colony on the 

 old stand. This for a strong flow and 

 favorable conditions generally for good 

 work. The old stand retains the field- 

 bees and most of the nurses too. 

 These nurse-bees will soon have all the 

 brood cared for, and can then give 

 their time to wax, and to ripening and 

 storing nectar. 



FIRST, GET THE BEES, THEN MASS THEM 

 WHERE NEEDED. 



But such procedure will not always 

 give enough bees to the supered hive on 

 the old stand; in that case, unite two, 

 or three if necessary, massing the 

 combs containing the most brood, to- 

 gether with the bees, as in the case of 

 the one colony. You have spent the 

 preceding weeks and months getting 

 bees to do business, now, when the 

 nectar is on hand, mass those bees just 

 where you want them — be sure that 

 you do 7/iass them, and you won't re- 

 gret it. 'Tis better to take 100 supers 

 ofl" 50 of these massed colonies, than to 

 take them from lOO weaker colonies 

 where they will not be so well done. 



This makes you some increase, but 

 you have controlled swarming. If you 

 do not want the increase, just double 

 colonies until you have just what you 

 do want. If increase is wanted, you 

 can have it. If more increase than this 

 gives, is desired, just make nuclei by 

 dividing some of those old colonies that 

 are put upon new stands, having antic- 

 ipated your needs by having cells or 

 queens ready for them as soon as they 

 are ready to receive them. 



MAKING A WISE DIVISION. 



Supposing you have a second or late 

 flow; if so, this management is par 

 excellence. Those old queens, put off 

 to new stands, and robbed of field- 

 workers, are not crowded out of laying 

 room; and, finding themselves with 

 limited brood, much room and abun- 

 dance of feed, will just spread them- 

 selves in the laying of eggs, and when 

 the next flow comes you have rousing 

 good colonies that will work supers 

 just as the}' are and not swarm. In 

 most fields, when the late summer or 

 fall flow comes, there is little tendency 

 to swarm no matter how strong the 

 the colonies. I estimate that the ulti- 

 mate laying room allowed these queens 

 by such treatment, gives so tnany more 

 bees, that if there is a fair flow, late, 



