174 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



ing with bees when the harvest is on. I 

 use every means possible to have eg-gs 

 laid that will produce workers for the 

 harvest. Eggs laid June 1st will pro- 

 duce workers that are ready for labor 

 July 1st; but it is very apparent that 

 eggs laid after June 1st will not produce 

 workers in time for the early, white, 

 honey harvest. 



MANIPULATIONS THAT PREVENT OR 

 DELAY SWARMING. 



We will suppose that it is June 1st, 

 and the bees are beginning to work on 

 raspberries or clover. Each colony has 

 from six to twelve combs of brood, and 

 the young bees are hatching rapidly. 

 Within a week or ten days, the swarming 

 impulse will begin to make itself mani- 

 fest, unless something is done to thwart 

 it. We all know that natural swarm'ng 

 means continual vigilance, with the loss 

 of an occasional swarm; besides, swarm- 

 ing usually takes place just as a nice 

 start has been made in the sections. 

 Swarming may now be discouraged by 

 equalizing the brood. That is, by taking 

 from a strong colony three combs of its 

 youngest sealed brood, giving it to weaker 

 colonies, and filling its place with empty 

 combs. The removal of this brood, and 

 the giving of empty combs in which the 

 queen can lay, often turns the scales in 

 favor of not swarming. Another plan is 

 that of putting on an upper story of 

 combs, and raising up into this upper 

 story a few combs of brood, filling their 

 places with empty combs. This gives 

 an abundance of room, both for brood 

 and honey, and usually checks all at- 

 tempts at early swarming. 



Right here may be a proper place to 

 say that 1 use throughout the season, a 

 code of signs and abbreviatons for 

 marking on each hive the condition of 

 the colony. I can walk through the yard 

 and tell, at a glance, by these signs, the 

 condition of each colony at the last 

 examination. For writing on the hives I 

 like the red and blue lumber pencils. 

 They are soft, and write easily, and the 



marks will show all of one season, but 

 will be faded and gone, out of the way, 

 before the beginning of the next season's 

 work. 



THE FIRST VISIT TO PUT ON SUPERS. 



I can tell by the flying of the bees at 

 the home yard that the harvest is on, 

 and that it is time to put on supers. 

 Reference to my records show that the 

 Cavendar is the strongest in bees and 

 brood, and will be the first to need 

 supers. If there are 75 colonies, it is 

 likely that 60 of them will need supers. 

 We will load up the supers, and take 

 care not to forget our dinner, jumbo 

 smoker, and leather satchel that always 

 contains the pencils, veils and hive tools. 

 Upon arriving at the yard, I will put 

 supers on the medium, single-story 

 colonies first. If I find plenty of bees 

 and brood in a colony, I call it ready for 

 a super. If I have doubts, I remove one 

 comb and set it away in a box where it 

 can be covered up. If the bees eventually 

 cluster thickly in the open space left by 

 the removal of the comb, I give them a 

 super. After dinner I begin the work of 

 putting supers on colonies that have 

 previously been given upper stories of 

 comb. I remove an upper story, set it 

 by the side of the hive, put on the super 

 and cover it up; then go to the next, and 

 so on, until all are done. When the 

 supers are all on, I return to the upper 

 upper story that was first set off, and 

 begin the work of caring for the bees, 

 combs and brood in the upper stories 

 that have been set off. Sometimes 

 nearly all of the working bees will have 

 returned to the parent hive. According 

 to circumstances, I either shake off the 

 bees in front of their old hive, or else 

 leave them on their combs, but. in either 

 case, these combs of brood are used to 

 build up the weakest colonies. A normal 

 colony usually begins preparations at 

 least 10 days in advance of swarming, 

 and, if find no cell cups started, I know 

 that there will be no swarming before 

 the next visit. 



