412 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



sary at the immediate time of swarming'; and what- 

 ever originates the swarming fever, T feel pretty 

 sure the workers can have it. C. C. Milller. 



The swarming impulse is the general restlessness 

 of prosperity and enterprise, and the consciousness 

 of powers within which are not being fully occu- 

 pied. It affects both queen and workers— some- 

 times the queen the most, sometimes the workers 

 the most. In proof of this we have the following 

 facts: In a weak nucleus, during hot weather the 

 queen often swarms out when no bees will follow 

 her. She flies around for awhile, and then goes 

 back— or very often intentionally enters some other 

 hive. On the other hand, a prime swarm, when it 

 first comes out, often goes back without clustering, 

 but comes out and clusters all right next day. 

 There is probably more than one cause for this; 

 but I think it sometimes is because the queen, in 

 the first instance, would not come out. That is to 

 say, she had plenty of room to lay, and had no 

 gravel in her shoe at all, and saw no reason for 

 swarming. After-swarming is evidently caused 

 mainly by the endless row the young queen kicks 

 up because she is not allowed to destroy her rivals. 



E. E. Hasty. 



I presume that many of the friends will 

 remember that I have, in the A B C book, 

 mentioned an instance where a queen de- 

 serted an artificial colony and went to her 

 old home, taking all the bees with her. In 

 that case the queen certainly started the 

 work, and took the bees along with her. 

 Other facts, however, seem to indicate just 

 as strongly that the matter was all in the 

 hands of the worker-bees ; so I am inclined 

 to think that it is sometimes by mutual 

 agreement ; at other times, by the queen 

 alone, and still other times by the bees 

 alone. 



Question 126.— What are thr necessary conditions 

 tn induce swarming? 



Warm weather, and honey, or honey prospects. 

 Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 Abundance of bees, scarcity of room, a generous 

 How of honey, and fair weather. R. Wii.kin. 



A slight flow of honey, if the colony is strong, has 

 some drones and plenty of brood. 



Paul L. Viallon. 



Discontent, extreme discontent. There, I believe 

 that covers the ground, if I understand the ques- 

 tion. H. R. Boardman. 



With a well-filled brood-nest at the swarming sea- 

 son, a prime swarm usually issues the first pleasant 

 day after a queen-cell is sealed over. 



P. H. Elwood. 



A colony of sufficient strength, and an assurance 

 that the flowers will give the swarm something to 

 subsist on till combs can be built, and stored with 

 honey. G. M. Doolittle. 



Usually a strong colony of bees, combs filled with 

 brood, no room for the queen to lay. So far as my 

 experience goes, bees seldom swarm unless there is 

 a good flow of honey. E. France. 



A prolific queen in a hive too small to allow her 

 to use her whole laying capacity, and a crop of hon- 

 ey which crowds her even more. The smaller the 

 hive the more numerous the swarms. 



Dadant & Son. 



I don't know. A full strong colony and a honey- 

 harvest certainly tend to do it. There may be oth- 

 er causes. A. J. Cook. 



A populous colony, scanty ventilation, and lack 

 of room for the bees to store honey, and for the 

 queen to deposit eggs. L. C. Root. 



Ordinarily strength of colony and a moderate 

 flow of honey. But sometimes no conditions are 

 necessary— they'll swarm any way. Geo. Grimm. 



A hive full of bees, warm weather, a good honey- 

 flow, and lack of room to store honey or raise 

 brood, are conditions which induce swarming; but 

 bees will sometimes swarm in the absence of any 

 one or two of these, and perhaps lacking them all. 



James A. Green. 



The necessary conditions are different with dif- 

 ferent colonies. Sometimes swarming occurs when 

 there is plenty of room for the bees, brood, and 

 honey. Sometimes it will not occur, even when the 

 hive is crowded with bees, brood, and honey. Usu- 

 ally a crowded condition of the colony, fair weath- 

 er, and a flow of honey, will induce swarming. 



A. B. Mason. 



I'd give a good deal to know. I think some of the 

 necessary conditions are, abundance of bees— at 

 least for a prime swarm. When I commenced I 

 supposed I could reel off several, but I confess I'm 

 not sure of another one, and I feel just a little 

 shaky about that one. Heat, lack of room, etc., 

 may induce swarming; but they are not necessary. 

 T know even less about it than I supposed I did. 



C. C. Mieeer. 



The flowers yielding nectar, and a crowded con- 

 dition in the hive; crowded for the want of room to 

 store or to breed, or both; the instinct of propaga- 

 tion. The above are the ordinary inducements to 

 swarming. But there are extraordinary induce- 

 ments, such as the hatching of several young 

 queens when the old one is superseded. In such 

 case a swarm may issue at any time. 



Chas. F. Muth. 



The conditions which induce swarming may be 

 divided into two classes, which may, though per- 

 haps incorrectly, be dubbed as natural and artifi- 

 cial. The natural causes of swarming are, season, 

 suitable temperature, proper honey-flow, strength 

 of the bees, and the general animal impulse to mul- 

 tiply the species. The artificial causes, if we may 

 call them so, are lack of room, excessive heat, and 

 a quarrel among a new batch of queens. 



James Heddon. 



The absolutely necessary conditions are few — 

 probably only one— a turgid condition of the vessels 

 in the bee anatomy in which are stored the supplies 

 for future brood-rearing. Abundance of food is usu- 

 ally a condition; but sometimes bees will certain- 

 ly swarm when, as Mrs. Chaddock expresses it, they 

 have scarcely three days' rations ahead. Crowding 

 is usually a condition; but my colony that inhabit- 

 ed a hole in the ground, twice as big as they could 

 occupy, swarmed like other bees, to my great dis- 

 gust. If what is wanted is practical directions for 

 making a reluctant colony swarm, I should say, 

 crowd them, boom them by giving them sealed 

 brood from other colomes, stir them up by looking 

 them over every day or two, annoy them by de- 

 stroying their drone brood. A proper combination 

 of these stimulants will make almost any colony 

 swarm, I think. It is worth remembering, that 



