GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



informed me that a certain beeman had 

 discovered how to make some sliglit change 

 iu the brood-chamber by which swarming 

 was .entirely prevented. Tliis man, I was 

 told, refnsed to divulge his secret because 

 the crops of honey would be so enormously 

 increased that ruin would overtake the bee- 

 keeper. That man died, and his great se- 

 cret is buried with him. Let us be thankful 

 that he saved tlie beekeepers from ruin or 

 himself from exposure. 



In one of his articles Dr. Miller, after 

 half a century among the bees, says in 

 substance: If any one expects (o be told of 

 some easy way to prevent swarming, let him 

 stop right there. 



In the issue for Aug. 1, 1911, appeared 

 an article by the writer of the present pa- 

 per, in which the law of swarming was for- 

 mulated as follows: Swarming among bees 

 Ls a migratory habit which operates under 

 conditions which render difficult or impossi- 

 ble the performance of their respective 

 functions by the inmates of the hive. With 

 the light of this definition as our guide, let 

 us see what can be ilone to prevent swarm- 

 ing. 



There are five conditions in the presence 

 of which bees swarm: 1. Uncomfortable 

 hive; 2. Starvation; 3. Insufficient num- 

 bers; 4. Poor or failing queen; 5. Crowd- 



Let us consider these conditions in the 

 order given. 1. Uncomfortable hive. A 

 swarm placed in a dark-colored hive, in the 

 boiling hot sun, without a shade-board, is 

 almost sure to desert. Often it Avill also 

 desert if placed in a hive with a small en- 

 trance. A swarm hived on starters is pretty 

 sure to abscond; hived on full sheets it is 

 less likely to abscond ; and hived on a set 

 of sweet-smelling full combs they never 

 abscond. To prevent that kind of swarming 

 which we call absconding, place the hive in 

 the shade because bees cannot work so well 

 if oppressed by heat. Make the entrance 

 large enough, because bees cannot work if 

 they cannot breathe freely. Do not give 

 starters, because it compels the bees to do 

 some hard preliminary work before begin- 

 ning with the more important work of house- 

 keeping. Do not give full sheets if it can 

 be avoided, because, although the prelimina- 

 ry work is less than with starters, it is still 

 considerable, and stands in the way of tak- 

 ing up at once the real work of life. J f 

 you can do so, give the swarm a full set of 

 combs because it removes every obstruction 

 to immediate beginning of the important 

 work of life. To summarize, make it easy 

 for the bees to begin rearing brood and 

 storing honey. These are the two kinds of 



labor for which comb-building is merely a 

 painful preliminary. Relieve the liees of 

 that, and tliey will be contented. 



2. Starvation. Bees cannot live without 

 food, nor can they rear offspring if tliey 

 cannot live. Realizing this they seek a more 

 favorable location. To prevent this, see that 

 tlie bees have plenty of food at all times of 

 tlie year. 



3. Insufficient numbers. A handful of 

 poorly wintered bees will usually begin 

 brood-rearing, just as will a colony weak- 

 ened through drifting when set out. It is 

 an inexorable law tliat the temperature of 

 the center of the cluster must be high in 

 order to mature brood. A handful of bees 

 cannot maintain that temperature, therefore 

 the work of life cannot be carried on. Keep 

 all colonies strong in summer, fall, winter, 

 and spring, and you will not be troubled 

 with this kind of swarming. 



4. Poor or failing queen. In the evolution 

 of the bee, those colonies headed by the most 

 prolific queens had the best chance of sur- 

 vival. Prolificness is common to the queens 

 of honey-bees, and the presence of a vast 

 multitude of bees, as a normal condition, has 

 been registered in the brain of the bee. So 

 when a queen fails to lay many eggs, the 

 bees instinctively feel that something is 

 wrong with their queen, that the future of 

 the colony is threatened, and so they begin 

 preparations for rearing a new mother. But 

 for thousands of years the building of 

 queen-cells has been inseparablj' connected 

 with swarming. Hence a swarm emerges as 

 soon as the first cell is sealed, or even with 

 the emergence of the first queen. To prevent 

 this, keep track of the age of the queens and 

 of their egg-laying. Do not allow queens to 

 get older than two years, and remove all 

 inferior queens. Young' prolific queens make 

 it possible for bees to carry on the function 

 of life, raise an abundance of brood, and 

 secure an abundance of food. To pii-ove tliat 

 a good deal of s\varming results from super- 

 sedure, remove several queens this year after 

 tlie honey-flow is over, and you will find 

 that, in from eleven to fourteen days, swarms 

 will issue from some of those colonies while 

 the remainder of the j'ard will be quiet. 



f). Crowding. We come now to what I 

 cidl normal swarming. I wish to state, in 

 passing, that part of the swarming com- 

 monly attributed to crowding is due to 

 supersedure, for queens are replaced by the 

 bees in spring, summer, and fall. If swarm- 

 i)ig is due to crowding, then of course more 

 room must be given. By so doing we are 

 sim])ly making it ea.sy for the bees to carry 

 on their lifework. and this is all they desire. 



Giving room to colonies run for extracted 



