2E2 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Some Methods of Controlling Increase When 

 Producing Comb Honey. 



OLIVER FOSTER. 



iTUS a rule, the 

 -ti bees that be- 

 come so engross- 

 ed in trying to 

 get their up stairs 

 in proper shape 

 that they never 

 think of swarm- 

 ing until it is too 

 late, are the bees 

 that, incidentally, 

 turn in the most 

 profit to their owner. For this reason, it 

 is not usually wise to intrude any swarm- 

 control mianeuvers until there appears an 

 occasion for it. 



A mild form of swarming impulse may 

 be thwarted to advantage by simply re- 

 moving the queen cells and one or more 

 heavy combs, and inserting empty comb 

 or foundation in the center of the brood 

 nest. 



If at the next round such mild means 

 have not proven effective, more drastic 

 measures must be resorted to. 



SWARM-GONTROL METHODS CLASSIFIED. 



The conditions that induce swarming 

 are, many bees of all ages, much brood 

 in all stages, and crowded quarters. 



There are three general principles em- 

 ployed in preventing threatened swarm- 

 ing: 



The first separates the working forces 

 of old bees, which are the swarm "agitat- 

 ors," from their queen and their queen 

 cells, but not from most of their brood. 



The second separates them from their 

 queen cells and most of their brood but 

 not from their queen. 



The third simply introduces empty 

 space within the brood nest. There are 



a multitude of ways of applying these 

 principles and their combinations. 



DEQUEENING THE WORKING FORCES. 



This, of course, positively prevents 

 swarming until the bees can rear new 

 queens. By destroying the new cells 

 again, all except one, after 1 days, or 

 by removing all of them and giving a 

 queen, we may prevent the issuing of a 

 swarm, because that would leave the 

 parent colony hopelessly queenless; but 

 what are the other results of dequeening 

 the working forces? It stops, or cur- 

 tails, the rearing of future workers. 

 Work in the sections is at once checked; 

 partly because the cells from which 

 brood is rapidly hatching are all left 

 vacant, and practically no new comb 

 will be built above while there are empty 

 cells below. The ultimate loss from 

 this may not be great, since when a 

 vigorous queen is again restored to these 

 combs much of this new honey they 

 contain will usually be removed to the 

 sections to make room for eggs, es- 

 pecially if the flow is still on, in which 

 case, however, this sudden demand for 

 more comb may overtax the comb builders. 

 But this temporary diversion of the 

 honey from the sections to the brood 

 nest is, perhaps, the least objection to 

 dequeening the field workers. 



TESTING THE EFFECT OF DEQUEENING, BY 

 THE SCALES. 



According to the testimony of my 

 good friend, Herman Rauchfuss, a normal 

 colony on the scales, if deprived of its 

 queen, will suddenly show a marked 

 drop in its daily intake of stores, while 

 queenright colonies in the same yard 

 maintain a regular daily gain. Here is a 

 field for interesting and needed investiga- 



