Junk. iei9 



G T. E A N I N G S IN BEE C; U 1^ T U K E 



367 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE M 



is favorable and honey is coining in with a 

 rush, I look at the story of empty combs. 

 If the bees have made a start in these combs 

 the hive is closed up as it was, except that 

 another body of empty combs is added on 

 top and thruout the season. As soon as I 

 see any start in storing in this top story 

 another empty is added. 



Never at any time do I take off the stories 

 and examine the brood-chamber for indica- 

 tions of swarming. It has never been neces- 

 sary in my experience. 



With the above plan (which has been 

 mentioned many times in Gleanings) I have 

 had a hundred colonies in the home yard 

 with never a swarm, and I do not believe 

 there was one at the other yard. In two 

 years I have not seen a swarm — only the 

 one or two runaways that usually come each 

 year. It may be there will come a year 

 when they will swarm in spite of this man- 

 agement; but I am not going to believe it 

 until I see it. Geo. Shiber. 



Eandolph, N. Y. 



ANOTHER SWARM PREVENTION 



Brood-Chamber Is Placed Over Shallow Frames 

 Having Foundation Starters 



Having used S. Simmins's method for a 

 number of years, I can absolutely affirm 

 that, unless some ridiculous manipulation 

 has been made, the bees positively cannot 

 swarm, and I have always found that from 

 hives arranged in this way the honey pro- 

 duced is always far in excess of that ob- 

 tained by the more usual methods of super- 

 ing. 



In this swarm prevention plan to which I 

 refer, the brood-chamber is raised and under 

 it is placed a super of shallow frames, fitted 

 only with ^/4-inch starters of foundation. 



Frames from which the combs have been 

 cut will also answer or even top-bars only, 

 provided a trace of the old comb is left 

 adhering to the under side. Above the 

 brood-cha:mber may be used a queen-ex- 

 cluder and then the extracted honey supers 

 of drawn comb piled up in greater or less 

 numbers as the flow of honey requires. 



The whole principle of the arrangement 

 depends upon the fact (I think generally ac- 

 knowledged) that bees will not swarm from 

 a brood-nest of uncompleted combs. At the 

 same time proper and ample ventilation, 

 without draft, is provided under the cluster. 



Now, if the beekeeper for any reason neg- 

 lects to give sufficient super room, the bees, 

 instead of swarming, merely bulge down 

 into the lower compartment and work out 

 the combs (and in my experience store hon- 

 ey therein — no brood). If, on the other 

 hand, the supers are properly attended to. 



no self-respecting colony ever draws out the 

 under combs at all, but merely uses the 

 space provided as a sort of entrance hall, 

 wherein to sit and meditate on wet days or 

 at other times when nothing is doing. 



By this method, it will be noted that the 

 brood-nest is not disorganized, nor is it 

 necessary to give the queen a fresh start 

 by separating her and her nursery by one 

 or more tiers of super combs. Manipulation, 

 in fact, is reduced to a minimum and more- 

 over the bees work straight ahead in the 

 supers, in the same direction in which they 

 began, without being required to fill in un- 

 natural "vacuous" spaces left in upper 

 stories by the hatching out of misplaced 

 brood. 



Strictly speaking, this method does not 

 ' ' prevent swarming, ' ' it rather prevents the 

 desire to swarm, which are two entirely dif- 

 ferent things; the former necessarily being 

 a more or less harsh and unnatural proceed- 

 ing, the latter more nearly conforming to 

 nature. 



Bees seldom or never swarm from the 

 huge "let-alone" hives, I believe. The 

 same thing may be said of wild bees living 

 in tree trunks and between house walls — ■ 

 provided always that the space at their 

 command is unrestricted. Why? Because 

 their combs are never quite complete or at 

 least are always capable of further exten- 

 sion to meet the needs of the swollen popu- 

 lation. Similarly, in the hive arrangement 

 just described, the bees are led to believe 

 that their combs are still capable of ex- 

 tension so that the desire for swarming 

 never enters into their calculations. 



The one obvious drawback to this method 

 is that it more or less precludes the possi- 

 bility of mid-season increase. But, as most 

 agree, the proper time for increase is before 

 or immediately after the honey flow, this 

 difficulty cannot be allowed to have much 

 weight. 



Now as to actual results. I live in a lo- 

 cality where beekeepers consider they have 

 done well if their colonies average 40 to 50 

 pounds in a season; but since adopting the 

 above arrangements I consider it a poor 

 season when my hives yield me less than 

 an average of 150 pounds of extracted honey 

 in a season. 



The above-described method is only a 

 variation and enlargement of Dr. Miller 's 

 two-inch floor-boards with a false bottom of 

 slatted boards. It is indeed difficult to find 

 anything new under the sun — even imme- 

 diately under it. C. L. N. Pearson. 



Shalbourne, England. 



[Altho we would not expect three times 

 as much honey, we believe the plan worth 

 investigating and intend trying it out on 

 a small scale ourselves this summer. — Edi- 

 tor.] 



