June, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



341 



153, where it will be found that Langstroth 

 suggested the raising of brood for the pre- 

 vention of swarming 27 years before De- 

 maree. He says, under "Artificial In- 

 crease": 



" If, however, the new hive is directly below that 

 in which the swarm was lirst lodged, and the con 

 nectianji are suitable^ she will be ahuost ceitain to 

 desvend and lay her eggs in the new combs, its soon 

 as they are begun by the bees. The upper hiv« be- 

 ing now almost entirely abandoned by her, the bees 

 fill the cells with honey as fast as the brood is hatch- 

 ed, their instinct impelling them to keep their stores 

 of honey, if possible, above the breediugcciUs. As 

 long as bees have an abundance of room below their 

 main hive thoy very stldoni swarm." 



Also in the British Bee Journal, page 13, 

 188-1, Samuel Simmius gives this plan: 



"My m.ethod of 'swarming without increase' is u« 

 follows: When a colony working in sections is on 

 the point of swarming I remove the whole of the 

 brood-frames and shake off every bee into the hive 

 again, and give them nine frames of foinMation 

 only, replace the sections, which are at once pro- 

 ceeded with, and the colony is as contented as a 

 new swarm. The removed brood-comlxs are given 



Extracting super in 

 which frames of brood 

 may be substituted for 

 frames of honey, that 

 are removed for ex- 

 tracting. 



Extracting super in 

 which some of the 

 frames of brood may be 

 substituted for frames 

 of honey. 



Bees and queen shaken 

 onto these 9 frames of 

 foundation only. 



Plan of Samuel Simniins of 

 1884, for prevention of in- 

 crease. May place brood 

 above or give to other colo- 

 nies. 



to other colonies that may need them, or are in- 

 serted where frames are removed for extracting." 



[In this quotation^ "sections" evidently means 

 supers.' Some old-time writers used "section" in 

 the sense of super.] 



Does it not look as if Demaree's plan was 

 as much a modification of preceding plans 

 as all the recent brood-rearing plans are 

 modifications of Demaree's? 



Recent Swarm Prevention or Control by 

 Raising Brood. 



Since the time of Demaree there have 

 been a great many beekeepers who, either for 

 the prevention or control of swarming, put 

 brood above. We have now before us a long 

 list of those who, during recent years, have 

 tried this plan with slight variations; but 



lack of space forbids our pointing out all 

 tlie differences and similarities. 



Alexander's Plan. 

 E. W. Alexander had a practical plan for 

 one having a large number of colonies all 

 in one yard; but for those with several out- 



Old hive of brood, no 

 queen-eelljs • present. 



Queen-excluder. 



Empty combs or foun- 

 dation ; 1 comb of brood 

 and queen. 



Alexander's Plan of 1906, 

 requires three or four manip- 

 ulations. Applied when about 

 populous enough to swarm. 

 After five days, if queen-cells 

 are present, destroy and sep- 

 arate at once. If no queen- 

 cells, leave 10 or 11 days 

 and then put old hive on new 

 stand. Tn 24 hours give ripe 

 cell, virgin or laying queou. 



yards his plan demands too close attention, 

 it should be noted that the plan is applied 

 preferably before queen-cells are started, 

 that the brood is placed immediately above 

 the lower story, and the whole plan requires 

 three or four manipulations. 



Alexander 's plan appeared in April, 1906, 

 and stated briefly was as follows: When 

 the colony is about populous enough to 

 swarm, over a hive of empty combs or foun- 

 dation containing the queen and a frame 

 of brood place the queen-excluder and the 

 queenless colony. (So far the plan is the 

 same as Demaree 's.) Leave five days and 

 then, if there are queen-cells, destroy them, 

 unless you wish to breed from them, and 

 separate at once. If no queen-cells are 

 started, leave 10 or 11 days and then i)ut 

 the old hive on the new stand. In 24 hours 

 give a ripe queen-cell, virgin or laying 

 queen. 



Byers Plan of 1914. 



The first who came near giving the plan 

 described at the beginning of this ar- 

 ticle was J. L. Byer who stated (page 337, 

 Gleanings for 1914) the following method: 



"Take away the major part of the brood before 

 the swarming fever shows, sul>stituting full sheets 

 of foundation in place of combs removed. If the 

 colony is strong I recommend taking all but one 

 comb of brood away; and if there are no signs of 

 swarming at the time of operation, these brood- 

 combs can be placed aliove the excluder in the 

 super. If the flow is on, as it should be when do- 

 ing work of this kinid, I place a super of comb 

 next to the euxcluder, and then another story with 

 the brood in on top of that. With this brood .so 

 far away from the old brood-nest, queen-cells will 



