864 



GLEANlNGfcJ IISI BEE CUETUKE. 



Oct. 15 



with a swarm for parts unknown, leaving 

 the old lady to take care of the house. Will 

 Doolittle kindly tell us if this was a prime 

 swarm, first swarm, or what it was? 

 Osakis, Minn., Sept. 1. 



advantagks of the " shook " swarm 



method; how it saves hiring help, 



and how it causes the comb 



honey to be whiter. 



I find that brushed or "shook" swarm- 

 ing has several advantages over natural 

 swarming. In the first place, you don't 

 have to watch for swarms a greater part of 

 the time; and where out-apiaries are run, a 

 great saving is the result; and more honey 

 is obtained, because the swarming is done 

 at the commencement of the flow, the bees 

 being brushed on wired frames with half- 

 inch starters with excluder on. Supers fill- 

 ed with drawn combs, the bees simply have 

 to store in the super — nowhere else to put 

 the honey. 



The honey is capped whiter. As you 

 well know, you get whiter-capped sections 

 over newly built combs, and the honey will 

 bring a far better price. I brush on eight 

 frames, leaving the swarm on the old stand, 

 leveling the hive so as to have true combs; 

 and after the queen begins to lay I remove 

 three frames, filling the space with dum- 

 mies. I also remove the excluder at the 

 same time, as the bees seem to work some 

 better; and I rarely find brood in sections 

 after the queen begins to lay in the brood- 

 nest. I had only one do so this year in ISO 

 colonies. After they get the five frames fill- 

 ed with comb, remove dummies and fill the 

 space with combs, or frames filled with full 

 sheets of foundation. If you have young 

 vigorous queens you won't have much drone 

 comb. 



I give my queens all the combs they can 

 occupy, from earl}' in spring until the hon- 

 ey-flow, which comes here about the last 

 week in June. We have a slow flow from 

 the first of April, enough to cause the bees 

 to build up fast, and swarm if they didn't 

 have plenty of room. Of course, I have 

 rousing swarms. If they are crowded at 

 first I put an empty body under the hive 

 until they begin work, then I remove it-and 

 contract to five frames, and put on two or 

 more supers filled with drawn combs; and 

 if there is any honey in the flowers the bees 

 will get it. 



Don't expect honey from a weak stand. 

 Don't expect to get a rousing big colony in 

 one eight-frame brood-nest. Don't hive or 

 brush swarms on drawn combs. Don't give 

 a frame of brood and the rest of the frames 

 with starters. 



Brush on wired frames with /^-inch start- 

 ers to get best results. If all bees are 

 brushed from the old hive, fill the entrance 

 with green leaves to keep out robbers. If 

 you get more combs than needed, cull out 

 all undesirable ones and render into wax. 



By the "shook-swarm " method I ran 150 

 colon'es this season, and have taken off 7000 



lbs. of honey. I also ran a truck-farm and 

 garden and small dairy with the help of 

 my two small sons. 



Before I adopted the brushed-swarm meth- 

 od I had to have a hired hand; but now I 

 save his board and wages, and get more, 

 honey in better shape. I am of the opinion 

 there are more practicing the "shook- 

 swarm" method than you are aware of. 

 J. T. Hairston. 



Salina, I. T., Sept. 6. 



THE SHOOK-SWARM METHOD AS A REMEDY 

 FOR BLACK BROOD. 



We had had but little experience in this 

 line until last spring, when our bees were 

 nearly all dead with a disease we think 

 was black brood. We burned some, hive 

 and all, and brushed some that left us in 

 a day or two. 



We saved only two — one a very small one, 

 and the other was building up well, so we 

 did not treat that. By a little stimulative 

 feeding the strong colony swarmed May 13, 

 and was hived on the old stand with full 

 sheets of foundation. The old hive, which 

 we will call No. 2, was removed to a new 

 stand. This hive was left as it was till the 

 young queen began to lay, when all was 

 brushed from these empty combs on to new 

 foundation and a clean hive. • 



Now, colony No. 1, or the one with the old 

 queen, swarmed out July 4, but returned to 

 the hive; and on examination we found they 

 had sealed queen-cells. We now took all 

 the brood and a few bees from this hive and 

 formed two nuclei, and left the queen and 

 most of the bees on the old stand with new 

 frames full of foundation. 



Hive No. 2 cast a good swarm Aug. 2, 

 having a young queen hatched in the hive 

 this year. (All rules fail sometimes, you 

 see.) No. 2 swarmed again August 11, 

 which, when the young queen had begun 

 laying, was returned to the parent hive. 

 Now, what I wish to bring to prominence 

 is this: Notwithstanding each of these col- 

 onies was robbed of all its combs once dur- 

 ing the season, yet hive No. 1 has stored 50 

 lbs. of section honey, and No. 2 stored 30 

 lbs., and each will have enough for winter. 



We have made three nucleus swarms from 

 these, so we have six good colonies and 80 

 lbs. of honey from the one good colony in 

 the spring. 



The weak colony that was treated for 

 black brood in the spring was given a vir- 

 gin queen in place of the old one, and they 

 have built up nicely, but have lately devel- 

 oped a little disease. We have moved them 

 a mile from home, where there are no bees; 

 and when they are about through raising 

 brood for the season we intend to brush 

 them off and fumigate their combs with for- 

 malin, according to Prof. Harrison's plan, 

 then return the combs to the colony for win- 

 ter feed, and see if the disease will show 

 itself again in the spring. 



Black brood, or whatever the disease is, 

 that is in this vicinity, has made nearly a 



