July 23, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



471 





Contributed Articles 



J 



Shaken Swarms, or Anticipating: Natural 

 Swarming. 



BV PR. C. C. MILLER. 



THERE are very varying views as to this matter. Some 

 are very enthusiastic about it. Others find in it little 

 to commend. It seems to me it is nothing more or less 

 than anticipating natural swarming, and when the compari- 

 son is made between the two there are for some, if not for 

 most, advantages in the shaking plan not to be ignored. 

 The advantage of being able to have the swarms made at a 

 time to suit the convenience of the bee-keeper rather than 

 the whim of the bees, is enough to settle the case with vety 

 many. 



But although I have practiced it more or less for years, I 

 have not been as enthusiastic about it as some are, because 

 I have indulged the hope that some plan might be discov- 

 ered by which all swarming might be avoided, both natural 

 and forced. One year after another I have had colonies 

 that made no offer to swarm, and my record yields have al- 

 ways been from such colonies. I have made some attempt 

 to encourage non-swarming by breeding from these colonies 

 that devoted their time to storing rather than swarming, 

 and not entirely without success. Yet I am sorry to say 

 that this vear the bees have seemed to forget all about their 

 lineage, and preparations for swarming have been nearly 

 universal. I don't know why. 



Having such an antipathy to swarming, I can sympa- 

 thize with my esteemed friend, Adrian Getaz, in some of his 

 objections to forced swarming. Yet upon reading his article 

 on page 407, I can not repress a feeling of interest for the 

 under dog in the fight, and so will make some attempt at 

 defense against some of his charges. Besides, the matter is 

 of so much general interest that there is warrant for oc- 

 cupying room to have it fully viewed from all sides. 



It is true that with forced swarming there must be a 

 number of extra hives, but no more than would be neces- 

 sary for natural swarming. Indeed, it is necessary only to 

 have an extra-body for most of the colonies, for the shaken 

 combs of four, five or six colonies can be piled in one pile, a 

 single cover and bottom-board doing the service for the pile. 

 Mr. Getaz varied from the usual practice by returning 

 the brood at the end of five or six days, and it was a success 

 in preventing swarming. That's more favorable to shaken 

 swarms, I am afraid, than results in general would war- 

 rant. I don't know that I ever tried — I think I never did 

 try — exactly that plan, but I should expect my bees, in most 

 cases, to swarm on return of the brood so soon. But I 

 should expect them to work in the brood-chamber, just as 

 his did. Ordinarily I think the brood is not returned at all, 

 and if empty combs are given in the brood-chamber the 

 work in the supers ceases and the combs in the brood-cham- 

 ber are filled. But there is no real loss in this, for as fast 

 as the queen needs the room for eggs, the honey is emptied 

 out of the brood apartmeut into the super. 



The queen will be likely to go into the sections just as 

 she would with a natural swarm, but if combs are given in 

 the brood-chamber she will not. Combs in the brood-cham- 

 ber will also prevent pollen in the sections. 



An inspection every fourth or fifth day is necessary, 

 Mr. Getaz thinks, in order to anticipate natural swarming. 

 I get along pretty well with an inspection every nine days. 

 Mr. Getaz thinks emphatically that drawn combs should 

 not be given in the brood-chamber, because the bees will 

 fill them with honey at once, and he prefers comb founda- 

 tion. If the brood is to be returned in five or six days, no 

 doubt foundation is best, but if there is to be no returning 

 of brood, drawn combs work nicely. It is true that they 

 will be filled with honey, but, as I have already said, the 

 honey will afterward be emptied out into the sections. So 

 I have no trouble in giving the full quota of drawn combs 

 at the start. 



I am with you, Mr. Getaz, in much preferring to keep 

 the force of bees together, but I get into lots of trouble try- 

 ing to do so, and I think we must admit that as between 

 natural and forced swarms there is for most a decided ad- 

 vantage in the forced. 



You say there is a double loss with shaken swarms : 



"The parent colony loses the bees that are on the new 

 stand ; besides *hat, it has to rebuild its brood-nest." But 

 the practice of many is to shake the bees back, or to make a 

 double shake, once in ten days and again at the end of 21 

 days from the time the swarm was made. In that way 

 nearly all the full force is kept in the hive. 



Your plan of returning swarms, and killing the old 

 queens and letting the bees rear young queens wouldn't suit 

 some, especially those with out-apiaries not visited every 

 day. Even if I had only the home apiary, I would rather 

 not have young queens reared in the hive at harvest time. 

 Too often the bees swarm out with the young queen. 



I have fought hard against all swarming, natural or 

 forced, but it is quite possible that I may never succeed to 

 entire satisfaction in preventing swarming. 



McHenry Co., 111. 



Drones— Do Tliey Keep the Hive Warm? 



BY C. v. DADANT. 



I NOTICE that Mr. Hasty criticizes my position on the 

 drone question (page 345). He says : "It is not quite al- 

 ways that we can have the warming presence of the 

 drones answered by the workers just as well. The first 

 night after swarming finds workers reared in the drones' 

 place mostly all gone, while most of the drones are where 

 they are needed." Then he added: "Will 50,000 bees in 

 the flush of the season feel quite satisfied in their own 

 minds if no drones are among them ? " 



There are no rules without exception, and I will grant 

 that i/ a swarm happens to issue on a certain day, and the 

 weather changes suddenly that same day from hot to cool, 

 the drones, if they have not gone in part with the swarms, 

 may prove a little help for a night. After the first night 

 there are enough young bees hatched out to keep up all 

 necessary heat. 



But swarms rarely issue when the weather is cool, or 

 when there are sudden atmospheric changes. Swarms are 

 usually cast when the weather is hot and likely to remain 

 hot. Drones pay no attention to the brood. They prefer to 

 stay on the honey, so as to be able to help themselves with- 

 out moving. 



A colony which has cast a swarm has usually a suffi- 

 cient number of worker-bees in the field at the time the 

 swarm issues to keep the combs warm — the brood-combs at 

 least — in a cool night, for those bees are all back to the hive 

 for the night, though they were away when the swarm went 

 off. Those drones not only do not care to keep the brood 

 warm, but they do not care where they are, so they are 

 warm themselves, and they are usually nested away in the 

 upper part of the combs if the weather is cool. Then please 

 bear in mind, it will bear repeating, that those drones have 

 all been reared at a time when the hive needed warmth to 

 keep its brood warm, when it took valuable worker-bees to 

 nurse and hatch all the brood. 



Mr. Hasty thinks the bees will be satisfied in their own 

 minds if there are no drones among them in the flush of the 

 season. Well, I believe he is right, but I never have been 

 able to keep a colony from rearing any drones at all. Only 

 if we can keep the breeding of these drones down to a few 

 hundred instead of a few thousand, I think we will have 

 achieved a great saving, and will also have helped prevent 

 the most promiscuous swarming, for I have repeatedly ob- 

 served that the colonies which were allowed to rear the 

 greatest number of drones were the ones which swarmed 

 the most. 



To me, natural swarming is a hindrance to success. I 

 want to control it, and do in a great measure. If we want 

 increase we can always make it artificially from choice 

 queens and from colonies which would produce so little sur- 

 plus that it is all gain to make the increase from them. In 

 order to do this we must ascertain the best methods to avoid 

 natural swarming, and the prevention of dione-rearing is 

 one of the requisites. 



But there will always be in any hive a few drone-cells — 

 a corner, here and there, where the bees will find place for a 

 few large cells, and there will be drones enough reared to 

 let the bees know that they are there, for they are so noisy 

 and clumsy that I imagine they are only toleratedy most of 

 the time, just like a lot of noisy children in a busy place. 



What I hold and want to impress on the beginner who 

 reads the American Bee Journal is the advisability, in a 

 state of domestication, to regulate the production of drones 

 by removing the drone-comb and replacing it with worker- 

 comb, just as much as possible, in every hive from which 



