344 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVlJfivk. 



condition of the brood nest in vei-y populous 

 colonies, swarming was easily .TO to 75 per- 

 cent less than with a June flow. 



As an influence in swarming, I do not 

 know what difi'erence there would be as be- 

 tween old and young bees, for I have not 

 observed on tliis point. I do know that 

 heat bears no little influence. For the 

 whole of my apicultural life, it has been my 

 custom to discourage swarming. Before 

 the flow and when they are not making a 

 living, if I can keep them with just enough 

 stores to keep brooding going on nicely, I 

 have very little swarming, even though the 

 colony be strong and weather hot. The 

 same conditions with plenty of stores, will 

 increase the swarming probably 2.5 percent. 

 Add, next, nectar from the fields, in plenty, 

 and the swarming fever goes up to a high 

 pitch. 



Many bees, much brood, abundance of 

 nectar, a crowded condition, and hot weath- 

 er, will bring about swarming in a high de- 

 gree if the time be May or June, a slight 

 decrease for July, and rapidly diminishing 

 toward the close of the summer. The ab- 

 sence of any one of these factors lessens 

 swarming. Take away the surplus of bees, 

 and you take away swarming. Leave the 

 bees and take the brood, and you stop it. 

 Leave both bees and brood and take away 

 the feed, and there is no swarming. Abun- 

 dance of old stores will be a stimulus to 

 swarming in about 2.'j to .TO percent as com- 

 pared with nectar gathering. All the other 

 conditions present and temperature below 

 normal, will retard swarming 20 to 2r> per- 

 cent, as against excessive heat. A crowded 

 condition with all the other factors present, 

 will augment swarming 20 to 40 percent. 

 Giving full sets of extracting combs and 

 abundance of room, will decrease swarming 

 much more than the same room if they have 

 to build the comb. Any managment that 

 takes the bees out of the brood chamber 

 will decrease swarming. Giving full sets of 

 comb thus making it so convenient for the 

 bees to congregate in the super, is why those 

 run for extracted swarm less than those run 

 for comb. It relieves the pressure of both 

 bees and honey in the brood-nest. 



Bees, brood and nectar are the 8 prime 

 factors necessary to swarming. Crowding 

 and heat are secondary factors. The 1st, 

 3rd and .^th factors are necessary in the 

 production of extracted honey, and the 1st 

 8rd, 4th and rAh in comb production. To 



rob the colony of brood, allows us to pro- 

 duce either comb or extracted and no 

 swarming. Mr. Getazis evidently wrong in 

 his theory that a surplus of larval food 

 causes the building of queen cells, and so 

 causes swarming. Take from the most 

 prosperous colony all its brood, and you at 

 once take away its swarming too ; yet such 

 a procedure ought to leave the colony with 

 a superabundance of larval food, and no 

 whereto use it. 



A wise Creator has planted within the bee 

 the instinct to swarm, that thereby they may 

 iucrease and perpetuate the race. The 

 cause of swarming is the instinct, and the 

 conditions necessary to arouse the instinct 

 appear in the foregoing, and all experienced 

 apiarists are familiar with them. Some of 

 these factors may be absent, and yet swarm- 

 ing occur ; but the whole five factors are 

 necessary to the full measure of swarming. 

 We might say there are H factors, putting 

 season of the year as 4th. 



To control swarming we must remove 

 one of the priv/ie factors. Brood is the only 

 factor we can remove and not defeat our 

 object — honey. The removal of brood in- 

 stead of decreasing the honey yield rather 

 increases it. We may remove the brood by 

 direct confiscation, or we can do it more 

 gradually by the removal of the queen. The 

 first method would be better where the flow 

 is very short and profuse, the second better 

 where the flow lasts 40 to GO or more days. 



The removal of brood leaves the colony 

 in a natural condition. It is not unnatural 

 to be without brood, for all are broodless a 

 part of the year, and all swarms are so for 

 a time. Removing the queen does not 

 leave them in (/iitVe so natural a condition, 

 and does not so quickly take out the swarm- 

 ing fever ; but they will not swarm without 

 the queen, and the fever passes off by the 

 time the brood is all hatched. The dilficul- 

 ty in this method comes in the plurality of 

 queens in the effort to requeen. Perhaps 

 you will say that the queen should be count- 

 ed as one of the prime factors in swarming. 

 Not so : The presence of o7ie queen is not 

 an exciting cause ; but the presence of a 

 plurality of queens is. The removal of the 

 queen by the apiarist or by accident, forces 

 a plurality and may not properly be called 

 a factor. 



An apiary with queens of all ages and 

 grades, will have quite a percent of swarm- 

 ing that is not normal, and not subject to 



