1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



361 



paring to swarm, as I formerly raised all 

 queens, then claiming, as niany do now, that 

 queens reared under the swarming impulse 

 were the very best possible to raise. Some 

 twenty years ago I noticed that queens reared 

 to supersede a failing queen were less inclined 

 to swarm than were those reared during the 

 height of swarming, and so noted the matter on 

 my diary; and during all the time intervening, 

 since I first noted this matter, 1 have had no 

 cause to change my first conclusion. Queens 

 reared as given in my book are brought to per- 

 fection in very much the same way as are 

 those reared when a case of supersedure hap- 

 pens; and I have noted that I have had less 

 swarming in my apiary during the past eight 

 years, through which time I have reared near- 

 ly all my queens over queen-excluders, than I 

 formerly had; yet I would not think it best to 

 put forth the idea that a continuation of thus 

 rearing queens for a quarter of a century or 

 longer would give a race of non-swarming bees. 

 When God told all animated nature to go forth, 

 "multiply, and replenish the earth," he im- 

 planted in the same a nature so to do; and if 

 that nature is not carried out in bee-life, 

 through the issuing of swarms, it will come 

 about through the intervention of men, by way 

 of such manipulation of hives as will throw the 

 colony out of its normal condition, rather than 

 by breeding for a race of non-swarming queens. 

 At least, such is my opinion. I have received 

 many letters similar to the above, relative to 

 less swarming occurring since the parties writ- 

 ing had practiced the plan of raising queens as 

 given in "Scientific Queen-rearing;" but it 

 must be remembered that the past few seasons, 

 taking the country as a whole, have been 

 rather poor seasons, hence would be conducive 

 to less swarming. Of course, there is no harm 

 in watching this matter; but to put forth the 

 claim that a persistent rearing of queens over a 

 queen-excluding honey-board will bring forth 

 a race of non-swarming bees would only end in 

 disgusting those who went into such a trial 

 with a full belief in the honesty of the one 

 making such claim. 



COLONIES LEAVING THEIR HIVES. 



Qwcsttou.— What is the cause of bees leaving 

 their hives with clean honey, clean hives, and 

 quite a quantity of brood, in the spring of the 

 year? Three of my colonies have deserted 

 their hives in this way on warm days; and al- 

 though I have put them back they will not 

 stay. What can I do to remedy this matter? 



Answer. — This is a case of what is termed 

 "swarming out " by some, and "spring deser- 

 tion " by others. In an experience of a quarter 

 of a century I have had about a dozen such 

 cases, and in each one it has happened after a 

 hard winter, such as the past has been, and 

 with colonies which had wintered imperfectly. 

 Some think it is caused by the bees becoming 

 discouraged, and abandoning further effort to 



keep up the temperature of the hive so as to 

 keep the brood from perishing. In nearly 

 every case which has come under my notice, 

 colonies deserting their hive have become re- 

 duced as to numbers to a greater or less extent 

 by spring dwindling; while the number of bees, 

 compared with the amount of brood, was ill 

 proportioned, considering the outside tempera- 

 ture. 1 used to think that such swarming out 

 could be accounted for on the ground of lack of 

 stores, moldy combs, etc., as has been told us 

 many times in the different bee-papers of the 

 past; but after having several swarm out when 

 all was clean and nice, the same as is spoken of 

 by our questioner, I had to give that up and con- 

 clude that those who had told us that such was 

 the cause were mistaken. Some seem to think 

 that the chief cause of this swarming-out 

 mania lies in excitement on the part of the 

 queen, the same happening at a time when few 

 young bees are in the hive to keep company 

 with the queen, when a general flight of the 

 bees takes place, which often happens during 

 the first warm days in early spring. During 

 such occasions the queen becomes excited about 

 being left with so few bees with her, goes to 

 the entrance, takes wing, and sallies out to join 

 the circling bees; and when once in the air 

 with the bees the whole alight as a swarm. 

 But I can hardly accept this as the cause, for 

 the reason that, as our correspondent states, 

 when we hive them back again in their own 

 hive, they will swarm out again and continue 

 to swarm out till they enter some other colony 

 or go off entirely. As to a remedy, I doubt 

 whether there is any better than to unite such 

 with some other colony, although I have tried 

 giving a frame of hatching brood from some 

 strong colony to them, removing all their brood 

 and giving it to the strong colony from which 

 the frame of hatching brood was taken. Next, 

 place this frame of hatching brood together 

 with one frame of honey next one side of their 

 hive, and confine the bees to these two frames 

 by means of a division-board till they become 

 strong enough to take more frames, when they 

 are built up to full colonies. This is the plan I 

 used to adopt with good results, where for from 

 any cause I desired to save just that individual 

 colony. Lately, since the queen-excluding zinc 

 has become common I have simply hived back 

 in its own hive the colony swarming out, and 

 placed a strip of perforated zinc at the en- 

 trance, thus keeping the queen from going out, 

 in which case the bees will retui'n after each 

 swarming-out; and if such colony so treated 

 does not die by dwindling it can usually be 

 saved in this way. But, as 1 said, unless for 

 some reason you wish to preserve the individu- 

 ality of any colony which once swarms out. the 

 best thing to do is to unite it with some other 

 colony, as the work required to make a good 

 colony of such a discouraged colony amounts 

 to more than any ordinary colony is worth. 



