The (§ee-)\eepeps' |\evieOL' 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 

 Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$1,00 A YEAR, 

 W. z. HDTCeiNSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL, VII 



LIN' 



FEB. 10, 1895. 



NO, 2. 



AVork at jVCidiigan's 



Experimental 



-A-piarv. 



K. L. TAYLOB, APIAEIST. 



THE PHEVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF 



SWARMING. 



¥ITH m a n y 

 t li e chief 

 source of mixiety 

 and HiiuoyKiice in 

 the bu^iti s of 

 lice - keepiim i s 

 the factof swaim- 

 i n g. Prorniiieut 

 among the Pever- 

 a 1 r a son s of 

 swarming being 

 the cause of dis- 

 foinfort are the 

 followii)g : First it is generally attended 

 aniong the mass of bee-keepers with the 

 feeling iliat the swarm i.-^ liable to escape 

 and indeed if it wills so to do nothing can 

 be done on the part of the bee-keeper to 

 prevent it ; second, swarming comes at a 

 tinif when as a rule the bee-keeper is very 

 l)usy with work which generally takes him 

 away from the vicinity of the apiary ; third, 

 the securing of the swarm when everything 

 is left to go in nature's way is exceedingly 

 burdensome and laborious on account of the 

 oppressive character of the weather which is 



almost certain to attend swarming as well as 

 on account of anxiety and tiie unwanted ex 

 ercise of climbing trees and pursuing escap- 

 ing swarms ; and, fourth, the unsatisfactory 

 character of the experience which one is 

 very liable to get of watching for days for 

 the issuing of swarms with barren results. 



Many have been the devices and methods 

 invented and used not only for the making 

 of the hiving of swarms easy and even for 

 hiving them automatically, hut also for the 

 prevention of swarming altogether. And 

 first concerning the methods by which 

 swarming may be managed comparatively 

 safely and easily. It would scarcely be nec- 

 essary to mention these for the good of those 

 who make bee-keeping their chief occupa- 

 tion, but they will no doul)t be largely new 

 and useful to the mnjorily of those to whom - 

 the bulletins of the experiment station go. 

 So far as I have experimented largely, so 

 that I can tlierefore speak witii the fullest 

 assurance, these methods are two, the clip- 

 ping of the queens' wings and the u.se of 

 traps for catching the queens when they at- 

 tempt to go out with a swarm. 



The fundamental reason which accounts 

 for the effectiveness of these methods is that 

 swarms will never go away to stay unless ac- 

 companied by a queen, but it should be 

 borne in mind that the queen need not 

 necessarily be the one to which the swarm 

 has been accustomed, as a swarm, in the ab- 

 sence of its own (lueen, will readily accept 

 any other laying queen, and, less readily, a 

 virgin queen, or one that has not yet begun 



