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A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



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Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$1.00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HDTCHINSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL XII 



FLINT. MICHIGAN, MAY 10. 1900. 



NO. 5. 



ANAGING OF SWARMS, 

 ANr3 THI<: USE OF 

 QUEEX-TRAPS. BY W. E. 

 FLOWER. 



r^ast October I told the readers of the 

 Review some of the advantages that I de- 

 rived from the use of queen-traps, and 

 • mentioned, in- 

 ci dentally, 

 that, at the 

 end of seven 

 days from the 

 issuing of a 

 swarm, I put 

 in practice cer- 

 tain methods, 

 which I have 

 since been ask- 

 ed lo describe, 

 and. with the 

 editor's permission, r will now explain 

 these methods. 



.\t the end of seven days from the is- 

 suing of a swarm, and before the young 

 queens have hatched out, I remove the 

 old hive from where r placed it, (on top 

 of the hive containing the new swarm) 

 Hft out all of the frames of brood, except 

 one, and shake off the bees in front of the 

 hive on the old stand. .\s there will be 

 but little unsealed brood, there will be 



enough bees left to keep up the warmth 

 of the hive. This will prevent after- 

 swarming; at least. I never have had one 

 in the ten years that I have practiced 

 this plan. However, to make a sure thing 

 of it, destroy all but one of the queen-cells. 

 By this plan, all the working force is kept 

 at the old stand where the supers are. 

 By liiving the swarm upon frames with 

 starters only, there is no place to store 

 honey in the brood-nest, and the bees are 

 compelled to put the honey in the supers ; 

 and, as fast as they build comb in 

 the broDd-nest, the queen fills it with 

 eggs. By this management, if ample 

 room is given above, nearly all the honey 

 will be carried up and stored in the sec- 

 tions. If the brood-nest is contracted to 

 five h. frames, as it should be, very little 

 if any drone comb will be built; while, at 

 the same time, we gratify the bees' nat- 

 ural instinct to build- comb, and after- 

 swarming is prevented. 



Very few, if any, of the old colonies 

 will swarm again that season. Mine 

 never do; but, in some localities, where 

 the .season lasts longer, they might possi- 

 bly do so. Here the season commences 

 with fruit-bloom in .\pril, and ends with 

 white clover in July. 



After the first colony has swarmed, and 

 the brood has been kept on top of the hive 



