THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



123 



long enough to state that thirty extract- 

 ing colonies were crowded for room, 

 which accounts in a measure for the 

 large percentage of swarm preparation. 

 Office duties, wiring of frames, and 

 putting in of foundation, consumed so 

 much time that the colonies could not all 

 be examined every seven days as had 

 been originally intended, and as a result 

 three colonies that had not received 

 treatment threw off swarms and were 

 managed as follows: The first swarm 

 that issued was hived on frames con- 

 taining starters and placed upon the old 

 stand. The old hive with super on was 

 moved to one side as I intended to give 

 the new swarm the old super as soon as 

 they had drawn out sufficient comb to 

 establish a brood nest. The weather 

 being excessively hot and the bees being 

 unable to break their cluster, became 

 dissatisfied and deserted their hive the 

 next day and settled on a low branch of 

 an apple tree. Before they could be 

 hived a swarm issued from another hive 

 and settled with them on the same 

 branch. Hived both swarms in the hive 

 with the starters, capturing one queen 

 as they were running in. and set the 

 hive back on its original stand. Opened 

 the old hive from which the first swarm 

 issued and uncapped all brood but two 

 frames, and was very careful not to dis- 

 turb any capped queen cells. After this 

 operation I placed the old hive over the 

 new double swarm, with a queen ex- 

 cluder between, putting the super on 

 top, making a three-story hive. Result, 

 queen cells destroyed and no further at- 

 tempt at swarming out. The hive from 

 which the second swarm issued had all 

 queen cells destroyed but one on the 

 seventh day and no swarm issued from 

 that time. 



The next day another swarm issued 

 from a colony that had not been treated. 

 Hived it on frames with full sheets of 

 foundation, setting the old hive to one 

 side and placing the new hive on the old 

 stand. At once gave the old colony 

 treatment and placed it on new hive with 

 excluder between and extracting super 

 on top — the same procedure as before. 

 It destroyed the queen cells and made 

 no further attempt at swarming. The 

 plan was a success in the two cases 

 mentioned, and is worthy of a trial when 

 no increase is desired. The method out- 

 lined prevented all increase in the num- 

 ber of colonies. There were fifty-four 

 colonies spring count, and fifty-four when 

 the swarming season was over. The re- 

 maining nineteen colonies which were 

 run to extracting made no attempt at 



swarming, but three of the stronger 

 colonies were given the treatment, as a 

 preventative, as they were becoming 

 populous and 1 was getting somewhat 

 tired of making such frequent examina- 

 tions. The three made no preparations 

 to swarm. The sixteen remaining 

 colonies that did not arrive at the swarm- 

 ing point were colonies that were weak 

 in the spring and were slow in building 

 up and by giving them super room the 

 swarming impulse was retarded. A 

 summary of the season's work would 

 be as follows: 



Of the seventeen colonies run for comb 

 honey: 



1 1 were given the treatment after 

 queen cells were built. 



2 were given the treatment as a pre- 

 ventative of swarming. 



1 was given the treatment after 

 swarming out had commenced. 



3 made no preparations to swarm. 



Of the thirty-seven colonies run for 

 extracted honey: 



15 were given the treatment after 

 queen cells were built. 



3 were given the treatment as a pre- 

 ventative measure. 



2 were given the treatment after 

 swarming and before uniting. 



1 had all queen cells but one pinched 

 off on the seventh day. 



] 6 made no preparations to swarm. 



One comb honey colony and one ex- 

 tracting colony made preparations to 

 swarm the second time and were given 

 the second treatment. 



In no single instance did a colony 

 swarm out that had received the treat- 

 ment. Neither did any of the few 

 colonies that were treated during 1906, 

 190Z. 1908 swarm. 



Whether the method of swarm control 

 here described is really the C. Davenport 

 secret or not will never be known unless, 

 perchance, some of his neighbors have 

 knowlege of it, for in the article of March 

 1st, 1906. referred to. he speaks of 

 operating upon his neighbors' bees, free 

 of cost, in order to test the treatment. 

 If it is not his treatment, it at least ful- 

 fills every indication claimed for his 

 method. The bee journals for July, 

 1908.- announced that C. Davenport, 

 whose real name was C. Davenport 

 Monette. met an untimely death one 

 night in June when his house burned 

 down, and that he was a resident of 

 Chatfield. Minn. For the information of 

 the reader, I will say that Chatfield is a 

 town fifteen miles north of here. 



Now, as to whether uncapping a less 

 amount of the sealed brood would pre- 



