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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 27, 1903. 



Danzenbaker rapidity of manipulation — as that term is com- 

 monly understood in Texas — is impossible. 



In some localities propolis is so abundant as to make 

 even the Hoffman frame an undesirable one. This is 

 notably the case in the Brazos bottom, but a few miles from 

 the College. It has been the custom of many bee-keepers 

 to overcome this difficulty by the use of the " all- wood " 

 frame, which must be spaced " by guess. " For many rea- 

 sons a self-spacing frame is to be desired, and in localities 

 where propolis is abundant we heartily endorse the metal- 

 spaced frame. These frames may be seen in the Experi- 

 mental Apiary. 



(Continued next week. ) 





Contributed Articles 



] 



Shaken or Forced Swarms 

 Answered. 



Objections 



BY B. F. ATWATKR. 



ADRIAN GETAZ, on page 407, relates an experience 

 very different from my own. 



"I shook a few swarms several years ago," says 

 Mr. Getaz. Well, so did I, and with the passing years I 

 have shaken more, until I can now safely say that I have 

 made scores, if not hundreds, of such swarms in the last two 

 years. Mr. Getaz says, " As to preventing swarming, it 

 was a great success." My experience is the same, if shaken 

 on comb foundation starters only. With full sheets it is not 

 an invariable preventive ; on full combs it is even less cer- 

 tain with queens of various ages. 



Swarms shaken on combs of seated brood oiten prepared 

 for swarming again, unless given a ripe queen-cell, instead 

 of their queen (Aikin), and this latter is a very practical 

 plan, a complete success. 



Now, for the objections raised by Mr. Getaz : 



1. " To carry it out on a large scale, it would be neces- 

 sary to have a number of extra hives, which would involve 

 a considerable cost." That's very true, but if the profits 

 more than compensate one for this extra cost, what matter ? 



2. His second objection, crooked comb and drone-comb 

 built in the brood-nest, where, apparently, no frames were 

 placed. Why, Mr. Getaz, how about the age ot the queens ? 

 Also, if the bees were not at work in the sections before be- 

 ing shaken, you may be sure that they will often build comb 

 in an empty brood-nest first, where there are no little sec- 

 tion-boxes or separators to divide the cluster. If the supers 

 had contained drawn comb, or had been taken from other 

 colonies well at work in the sections, the results might have 

 been very different, for to insure stow work in the brood- 

 nest, and the building of mostly worker-comb from mere 

 starters, the bees must be working vigorously in the sec- 

 tions, almost as soon as hived. 



3. " The queens will go into the sections unless pre- 

 vented by a honey-board." If they do, wait a. few days be- 

 fore adding the supers, or give a comb below. Here, the 

 honey-board is "an expense" — a blessing, not "a nui- 

 sance " — and so an expense gladly met. 



4. "Some pollen.... in sections." Give them a comb 

 of brood or an empty comb below, which will usually les- 

 sen or do away with that trouble. 



" Moderate increase, taking one comb of brood out of 

 each colony every few days and replacing it with a frame 

 of foundation." Nice plan, that, for my ten out-yards, isn't 

 it? And more, in a fine flow my bees (mostly Italians) will 

 pull out that sheet of foundation and fill it with honey, so 

 that it acts very much as a division-board, practically con- 

 fining the queen to one side of the hive, and so inducing 

 swarming. 



Now, to go back to objection No. 2. If the shaken 

 swarms "did nothing, or very little, in the sections," it 

 would seem to me that the queen would have been lonesome 

 there. 



The colonies here do fine section-work when shaken on 

 drawn combs, but are somewhat apt to swarm within two 

 weeks. Starters z£/;7/ do, if you will keep in mind my direc- 

 tions for securing worker-comb, and use a brood-nest of not 

 more than seven Langstroth frame capacity. However, I 

 have no quarrel with those who prefer full sheets of founda- 



tion, as excellent results are secured in either way, and I hive 

 these forced swarms on full sheets, when, for any reason, I 

 desire to form such swarms late in the season. 



"I would suggest to contract the brood-chamber to 

 three combs, so that the majority of the bees would be com- 

 pelled to work in the supers." Don't you do it, for pollen 

 will be placed in the sections. I have found it unsafe to 

 contract the brood-nest until a swarm has been hived sev- 

 eral days, or they may desert. With a brood-chamber, either 

 shallow or deep, of five Langstroth frame capacity, a little 

 pollen may go into the sections, but with a brood-chamber 

 of six or seven Langstroth frame capacity, I have very 

 rarely had this trouble. 



"Then, as soon as these three combs are occupied, add 

 one or two more." Here, and in the quotation above, Mr. 

 Getaz says "combs," but, as he said, " It will not do to put 

 in already built comb," I suppose that he menasfratnes of 

 foundation. Well, just let me suggest that " this is entirely 

 too much work." 



" Shall we leave a comb of brood ? No, unless it is 

 sealed brood." I have left combs of brood of all ages, and 

 no swarming out resulted therefrom, although my experi- 

 ence in this respect is very different from that of J. E. 

 Crane and some few others. 



" Shall we ' shook ' or not ? In my opinion, no, decidedly 

 no. It is far better to keep the forces together than to 

 divide." Why, to be sure, but shaking does not divide 

 when properly done, unless increase is desired. After 

 shaking, I put a piece of burlap over the topmost 

 super on the forced swarm ; on this place the brood-nest 

 and combs of brood, and the cover on top of all. Bore a ,'i • 

 inch hole in the front end of this brood-body containing the 

 frames of brood, and over this nail a chute or runway, so 

 that as the brood hatches the bees are automatically fed into 

 the "shook " or forced swarm, until all the brood is hatched. 

 Or the same result may be attained by using the Heddon 

 method of preventing after-swarms. 



The burlap under the brood-comb gives ventilation and 

 prevents chilling of the combs of brood. By this plan the 

 forces are kept together, avoiding, in my practice, any 

 " double loss," giving a double gain, control of swarming, 

 with comparatively little labor and a large yield of comb 

 honey of fine quality ; and the queens are laying almost 

 all the time, which can not be said of Mr. Getaz's plan of 

 unqueening, although unqueening is an excellent plan for 

 localities having one short honey-flow. 



This season I have tested several systems of manage- 

 ment to be used in the production of comb honey, and, as a 

 result of that experience, I shall in the future use the Aikin 

 method of allowing unlimited breeding-room up to the open- 

 ing of the flow, then shake on starters or combs of sealed 

 brood, in the latter case, giving only a ripe queen-cell. By 

 giving sufficient stores and breeding-room up to the opening 

 of the flow, it will not be necessary to inspect the bees more 

 than once or twice up to June 1, when, at the opening of 

 the June flow, by shaking all we need not inspect brood- 

 nests for several weeks, visiting the bees once in ten days to 

 give more super-room, and to remove finished supers. 



Make the swarms very strong at any cost, for the strong 

 colonies are the ones that stack up the supers of No. 1 

 honey. Ada Co., Idaho, June 30. 



Wetting Qeeens for Easy Handling. 



BY ADRIAN GBTAZ. 



I AM the one to whom Dr, Miller refers in ■ his letter 

 (page 483) as to wetting the queens when introducing 

 them. What I had in view was not the introduction, but 

 rather the handling of queens. The queens that I buy are 

 introduced as per directions printed on the cage-cards. I do 

 not think that any better method can be found, notwith- 

 standing all that has been written on the subject. 



I wet the queens whenever I handle them, just for safety 

 and easy handling. For instance, you want to catch a 

 queen for some purpose or other. You find her on a comb 

 with more or less bees around her. Well, you try to catch 

 her. Perhaps in your hurry you mash her or injure her 

 seriously. Or some bee intervenes and stings you. Or, for 

 fear of hurting her, you fail to catch her firmly, and she be- 

 gins to race around quite lively. In your attempt to catch 

 her, you scare her worse and worse, and she finally takes 

 wing, and then you feel very much like breaking the third 

 commandment of the Decalogue 



Now. suppose that as soon as you see the queen you give 

 her and the bees around her a good wetting. Then neither 



