288 



September, igio. 



American Hee Jonmal | 



stitution of more room for breeding 

 and storing, meet the situation. The 

 idea of trekking is nipped in the bud, 

 the bees adapt themselves to the al- 

 tered circumstances, and, finding every- 

 thing their hearts can desire, presciently 

 bow to fate. The time when we can 

 thus play Providence to our bees may 

 consist of two or three days at the 

 most — of one or two hours at the least. 

 To diagnose when it may arrive, the 

 bee-keeper must know exactly the con- 

 dition of each hive internally, and, 

 paradoxically as it may sound, this he 

 can discover by without scarcely look- 

 ing inside. Outside observation is the 

 key of the position. 



Now I want to go back to the genesis 

 of affairs. I do not wait until certain 

 events develop. I anticipate them. Ear- 

 ly in June I enlarge the entrance to its 

 full capacity if deemed necessary; bot- 

 tom ventilation may be supplied, but 

 not often, as there is a deep space be- 

 low the frames; and .if the weather is 

 extra warm, blocks raise the front of 

 the hive, and in extreme cases the 

 whole hive. Each colony is treated ac- 

 cording to requirements, independent 

 of what is done to its neighbors. A 

 case of sections is supplied early, and 

 a second placed above as a "cooler," 

 before it is required as a store-room. 

 But I am anticipating. 



Hives in the front rank are treated 

 by mid-June to a mild deprivation of 

 brood, or, as an alternative, are given 

 a second body of from 8 to lo frames. 

 It would be too heavy a task on the 

 bees to give lo standard frames at one 

 time, so, as a rule, only 8 are given 

 above, and the lower body reduced to 

 a lake number, by having two of its 

 frames, chosen because they are solid 

 slabs of brood, raised as part of the 

 complement in the top story. The re- 

 maining two, up and down, may, or 

 may not, be given later, according to 

 circumstances. 



Sometimes operations are varied by 

 placing the empty body below, but this 

 necessitates the use of excluder-zinc, 

 which I do not like, to confine the queen 

 above during the critical period. Only 

 a small percentage of the colonies re- 

 ceive this special treatment, the re- 

 mainder being left right through the 

 season with only lo frames. A glance 

 in at the side, occasionally, without 

 using any smoke, reveals if the queen 

 visits the outside frame, and if she 

 does, one or more frames of brood are 

 withdrawn and used to work up sec- 

 ond-class colonies to the firsT-class, 

 empties being substituted in the brood 

 area. 



The entire management up to this 

 period consists in seeing that the air 

 in the hive interior is pure; that the 

 temperature does not run too high ; that 

 the queen has ample room for ovi- 

 positing; and the bees full scope for 

 storing and rearing their brood. Gen- 

 erally, they are allowed some comb- 

 building — an important desideratum, 

 wliich, given, hinders a spirit of unrest 

 from being generated. That is why 

 we in this country seek to renew our 

 internal works gradually. 



At the period of spring cleaning two 

 or three of tlie oldest combs, or those 

 showing any defect, arc withdrawn from 



the hive, and later their place is taken 

 up with frames fitted with full sheets 

 of foundation. Supplying these fre- 

 quently tides us over the critical period. 

 Early spreading of the brood should 

 be condemned, but when the swarming 

 season approaches, we "jump the 

 frames," confident the process will 

 work for good, and not evil. In thus 

 doing we give some emploj-ment to the 

 bees, and add to the queen's comfort 

 by placing cells immediately at her dis- 

 posal where she likes to have them. 

 This secures a progressive, forward 

 movement, and checks any thoughts of 

 queen-cell formation. This renewing 

 of the combs, and eliminating all with 

 many drone-cells, is one of the very 

 best means for checking swarming. 

 There is an undoubted correlation be- 

 tween the laying of drone-eggs and 

 their development into mature males, 

 and the construction of queen-cells. 

 Witliout the appearance of drones in 

 a hive, or at least their progress towards 

 puberty being manifest, worker-bees 

 never dream of preparing for swarm- 

 ing. Suppress drones in every hive 

 most rigidly, if you have any hope or 

 expectation of checking the generating 

 influence. This is one of the main rea- 

 sons for the excessive swarming of 

 old, and the undue proportion in many 

 apiaries at the present time, when other 

 bee-keepers have little of it. For the 

 drone in his proper place I have a high 

 respect, but I would without a pang of 

 remorse, treat him a la Jones, when I 

 find him in the larval stage, where I 

 don't want him. Here, indeed, is one 

 of the chief factors tending towards 

 the swarming craze. Suppress the cause, 

 and you go a long way to working out 

 a case. The sooner this is recognized 

 as a fact the better for the industry. 



From the time the first case of sec- 

 tions is given to a colony the front en- 

 trance is watched ; a momentary glance 

 occasionally will do, and as soon as 

 outside observation leads me to think 

 there is a certain progress made, I slip 

 on a second case above the first. It is 

 not anticipated that the bees will oc- 

 cupy it. It is not inserted as a recep- 

 tacle for honey-storing, but is simply 

 a "cooler" case, placed there as a check 

 on congestion in any shape, but it 

 acts as a swarm-preventer, far better, 

 indeed, than any non-swarming cham- 

 ber placed below the body. An addi- 

 tional one is added any time it is found 

 that No. 2 is feeing worked in, and so 

 on. Ventilation is given in upper 

 chambers, but only in extreme cases, 

 when weather is excessively hot. Rather 

 conserve heat here than dissipate it, as 

 a rule. 



Recognizing that old or worn-out 

 queens arc a fertile source of creating 

 the swarming fever, these are deposed 

 before they begin to fail. The rearing 

 of a virgin in the supers, and allowing 

 her to depose the old queen, works 

 favorably, but it is best to do the in- 

 troduction and execution at first hand. 

 The only check I would seek to im- 

 pose on a queen's movements would 

 be to place her temporarily in the up- 

 per or lower tier of frames, in order 

 that I would secure most brood where 

 I desire it. And, then, I think here is 

 a valuable pointer, if she is in the up- 



per set of frames for lo days or a 

 fortnight, this can then be placed be- 

 low, and the other raised above; but 

 with one frame from this lower body 

 placed in the now upper set of frames, 

 and on that one frame the queen. For 

 another lo days there is little likeli- 

 hood of swarming, and that brief 

 space may tide us over the critical 

 period. 



I have tried caging the queen, tem- 

 porarily, drawing her, or even de- 

 posing her, arid allowing the bees to 

 rear another mother, but I don't like 

 anyone of these practises. They fail 

 to kill out the swarming instinct, and 

 they cost the colony a lot of valuable 

 brood. I have no love for cutting 

 out queen-cells to suppress incipient 

 thoughts of swarming. It is a messy 

 job, and fails frequently. 



I have experimented with swarm 

 catchers, non-swarming chambers be- 

 low frames. I have "shook" swarmed, 

 and tried numberless plans and systems 

 advocated in the past, but have dis- 

 carded all of them in favor of some of 

 the old and simpler modes of proced- 

 ure. Where many have erred in the 

 past is that they recognized too few 

 piime factors in this trying problem. 

 Their devices were originated to check 

 or diminish one single cause, whereas 

 several go to form the sum total of 

 the whole. It boots not that one or 

 two should be reckoned with, if all 

 the others are forgotten, or treated as 

 if they were non-existent. 



All the chief factors have to be taken 

 into full consideration if success is to 

 crown our efforts. Even then we will 

 fail at times, and must reckon that 

 from 5 to lo percent of our colonies 

 will swarm in spite of all known pre- 

 ventives. This is near enough perfec- 

 tion for me. For about lo years now 

 I have kept my ratio of swarms to 

 colonies well within the larger figure. 

 To accomplish this, I simply attend to 

 ventilation above and below ; keep 

 young queens ; endeavor always to 

 make room for the queen's ovipositing; 

 never allow the brood-nest to become 

 congested, either by honey or brood ; 

 supply ample storing chambers ahead 

 of actual requirements ; rigidly restrict 

 drone-production; place no checks on 

 the workers' movements : diagnose each 

 colony on its own merits ; know what 

 is going on inside each hive ; and never 

 stimulate in spring to force the pace. 

 Then, by gradual expansion and coii- 

 traction, I, so to speak, keep the rein 

 on my bees. 



Banff, Scotland. ■ 



Influence of Heat on Swarming 



BY O. 11. jMETIALFE. 



I wish that Mr. D. M. Macdonald, 

 whose articles on swarming begin on 

 page 221, could be induced to tell us 

 how he knows tliat heat is beyond a 

 doubt a prime factor in causing bees 

 to swarm. I hope he will give his 

 evidence. 



I do not believe that a colony of bees 

 ever swarmed because it was too hot, 

 either here or in Scotland. .Vol one.' 

 1 know that that is a pretty strong 



