978 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



I have observed little or no difference in 

 the industry of such swarms and natural 

 sw^arms of the same size. During the past 

 season, during' a good flovp of honey, I could 

 not see but such swarms filled their brood- 

 chambers, and made just as much surplus 

 honey, as other hives in the same 3'ard, 

 that did not swarm at all, or made no prep- 

 aration to do so. In a season when honey 

 was not very plentiful it might make some 

 difference. 



HOW TO CHECK THE SWARMING OF WEAK 

 COLONIES; SCOOPED SWARMS. 



I check the swarming of colonies that 

 prepare to swarm before they are very strong 

 by removing their queen with a little brood 

 and a few bees, and then giving to this nu- 

 cleus some brood from my forced swarms, 

 and soon build such up into good strong 

 colonies. Again, I frequently have in my 

 outyards what, for want of a better name, 

 I call "bunched" swarms. During my 

 absence of a week or more, several colonies 

 maj' swarm on the same day, and go to- 

 gether ; and their queens being clipped 

 they can not go with them, and they will 

 return and go into one or two hives, filling 

 the inside and covering the outside, and 

 spreading out on the ground in all direc- 

 tions — two or three bushels of them. The 

 past season we had an unusual number of 

 such to handle. Early in July we found in 

 our rounds two different yards wherein 

 many hives that had only begun to prepare 

 to swarm the previous week, with others 

 that had not even started queen-cells, had 

 swarmed and gone together, forming these 

 "bunched " swarms. There are quite too 

 many bees in such hives or on them to do 

 well; in fact, such will usually do nothing 

 but loaf, and wait for a young queen to 

 hatch. I have found it works well to take 

 a peck or half a bushel of these bees and 

 give them to a set of combs from which the 

 bees have been shaken. With a dust-pan 

 made with high sides and back I scoop up 

 from such "bunched " swarms what bees 

 I need to give to these beeless combs, and 

 thus form new colonies which seem to do as 

 well as an}^ Of course, I do not always 

 have these large swarms to go to for bees; 

 but when I do find my bees badly mixed in 

 this way I can straighten them out in this 

 manner, and make them all work profitably. 



Middlebury, Vt. « 



[Most of our writers on this subject have 

 rather seemed to be inclined to the opinion 

 that shaking on foundation or on starters 

 was better than shaking on combs fully 

 'drawn out; from the arguments you present 

 it would seem as if the combs, at least in 

 your locality, and under the circumstances 

 you mention, had a decided advantage. 

 "While we have had a good many articles on 

 forced swarms, I should like to hear from 

 those who have tested the plan on this one 

 question of foundation or no foundation. 

 Let us get together our combined experience 

 and learn the truth in the matter. The evi- 

 dence so far is overwhelmingly to the effect 



that forced, shaken, brushed, or scooped 

 swarms pay; that in the majority of in- 

 stances they are as good as natural 

 swarms; that they put swarming at a time 

 when the apiarist can best take care of it. 

 All these points are fully proven — that is, 

 if evidence counts for any thing. But the 

 question of foundation or empty combs is 

 one that has not been thoroughly touched 

 on. Let us hear from those who are in- 

 formed in the matter. — Ed.] 



BRUSHED SWARMS. 



Conditions under which Brushing Does Not Stop 



Swarming; When and When Not to Brush; 



Half'Sheets Better than Starters. 



BY J. E. CHAMBERS. 



On page 854 j'ou say in your review of 

 the brushed-swarm symposium, first, that 

 swarming can be controlled at outyards 

 with small bi-ood-chambers, when run for 

 comb honey; second, that a brushed swarm 

 might be stronger than a natural one, and 

 even produce more comb honey; third, that 

 starters are as good as full sheets of foun- 

 dation; that worker comb will be built as 

 fast as the queen can use it, if the supers 

 are put on soon enough; and if drone comb 

 is built it can be cut out and melted up; 

 and that some believe that wax can be pro- 

 duced simultaneously with comb honey, 

 and at a profit. 



In i-egard to the first, in this climate 

 swarming can be controlled with certainty, 

 and I believe it can be more certainly made 

 a success in more northern climjites, where 

 the flow is shorter. I have never had a 

 swarm issue from one of these brushed col- 

 onies. However, there are conditions under 

 which swarming will be apt to result. If 

 a strong colony is brushed at a time when 

 there is a very light flow, and a second 

 drive is made in seven or eight days, the 

 great number of young bees already under 

 the cell-building impulse may induce the 

 colony to swarm; but if there is a good flow, 

 no swarming will result. The bees enter 

 the supers and begin comb-building at once, 

 which always has a strong tendency to pre- 

 vent swarming. In some localities it 

 might be an advantag to put one drawn comb 

 in the hive to catch the pollen. With me it 

 is never needed, for the bees draw the foun- 

 dation sufficiently to hold both honey and 

 pollen within from four to six hours. Great 

 judgment and skill are required in order 

 to get the best results with the brushed 

 method. I never try to produce comb honey 

 when there is a light flow; for, as I said 

 above, the secret of the whole process is to 

 get them to work at once, and with a vim 

 and hustle, which goes far toward counter- 

 balancing the swarming impulse. If it is 

 desirable to control swarming during a slow 

 flow it can generally be done in this way: 

 Brush the colony the same as in the first 

 process, but take only half of the bees. As 

 soon as the queenless part have cells seal- 



