MAY 1, 1913 



311 



and adding to the labor of swarm control. 

 Only rarely does a colony treated by the 

 Doolittle method prove superior to the 

 average; and never, so far as the Avriter 

 can remember, has such a colony pi'oved 

 the best in any yard. We even procured 

 a breeding queen from Mr. Doolittle and 

 requeened a number of colonies with her 

 daughters, especially to test liis method of 

 swarm control; but even then the Doolittle 

 system, with bees from Doolittle queens, 

 has not been successful. The only favor- 

 able report that the writer has heard is 

 from Mr. H. M. Weidner, of Payette, Idaho. 

 We regret that the method has not fulfilled 

 its promise, for we had hoped much from 

 it. 



We find that any system (natural or 

 forced) of hiving swarms on combs does 

 not give best results for the production of 

 comb lioney — owing, apparently, to the fact 

 that the swarm is not satisfied. When we 

 hive on foundation more energy is display- 

 ed, and a far smaller number of colonies 

 will again attempt to swarm. We have 

 tested some modifications of the Doolittle 

 method — for instance, tubing the bees from 

 the old brood-combs, as they hatch, into the 

 new colony, desirable for a week at least to 

 reinforce the colony with more bees. 



Another difficulty is that in most parts 

 of the arid West there is a marked reluc- 

 tance on the part of the bees to carry up, 

 into the combs above the excluder, any ex- 

 cess of honey in the brood-nest, until too 

 late to give the queen sufficient room to lay. 

 Even the Carniolans, least of all inclined 

 to crowd the brood-nest, show this tendency 

 to a marked degree if the excluder is used ; 

 while without the excluder there is no dis- 

 position to crowd out the queen in May or 

 early June, before time for shaking. The 

 Doolittle method does not give brood-room 

 sufficient to prevent all colonies from get- 

 ting the desire to swarm before the honey- 

 flow unless an extra stoiy of combs be giv- 

 en to the best colonies in May, so that the 

 queen has access to the combs in more than 

 one hive-body. 



We have tried giving the queen the lib- 

 erty of two hives of comb instead of con- 

 fining her to one. Then when the proper 

 time arrives we sort out the combs with 

 little or no brood, and shake on them, which 

 is more work, but which gives stronger 

 swarms on the average, and with less dan- 

 ger of swarming before the flow. As be- 

 fore, hoAvever, too many seem not to realize 

 that they have been swarmed, and must try 

 it again. There is no question that, in nine 

 cases out of ten, where we have used the 

 Doolittle method, we could have secured 



more profitable results if the bees had been 

 shaken on foundation, and the combs above 

 the excluder had been extracted. We there- 

 fore have no furtlier use for the Doolittle 

 method unless with a few colonies as an 

 illustration to our students, and we await 

 with interest the publication of a method 

 which does not involve much uncertainty 

 and the expenditure of a very large amount 

 of labor. 



Many of the former advocates of shaken 

 swarming are now doing little or no shak- 

 ing except of diseased colonies. They mere- 

 ly destroy cells, etc. ; then if a colony per- 

 sists in swarming they kill the queen, cut 

 out cells, and, about nine days later, give 

 them or leave them one cell. To tell the 

 truth, there is as yet no method publicly 

 known for controlling swarming in out- 

 yards run for comb honey that is really 

 satisfactory and adapted to a large busi- 

 ness. 



We have a plan which we use very large- 

 ly, whicli gives good results; but it is quite 

 laborious when several yards must be han- 

 dled. Upon the opening of the flow, wliich 

 is the signal for most of the swarming here, 

 we shake into a new hive, with full sheets 

 of wired foundation in the frames, three- 

 fourths of the bees from two colonies. This 

 plan gives powerful colonies, good for some 

 fine work, and secures comb honey if there 

 is a flow. But for the past few seasons, 

 with large yards of 200 upward, too many 

 such swarms will come out again once or 

 twice, before settling down to work; and 

 if a comb of brood is given when shaking, 

 the bees will start unnumbered queen-cells 

 upon it, and refuse to stay until the brood 

 is removed, as described by L. Stachelhaus- 

 en several years ago. It is possible that 

 this disinclination to stay hived may be due 

 to the use of full sheets of foundation, as 

 this has been spoken of by several writers; 

 but the condition was not so apparent when 

 our yards were smaller. If the dividing of 

 the cluster by the full sheets of foundation 

 be the reason for the discontent, we can 

 obviate it by giving an empty body below 

 the swarm for two or three days. We will 

 test the matter thoroughly this coming sea- 

 son. 



If increase is desired we may give a 

 queen or a cell to the shaken colony (one of 

 the old brood-nest), or pile several such 

 bodies of comb above the excluder on some 

 weak colony, and use for increase when the 

 brood is sealed, or leave them to be filled 

 with honey for extracting. The writer has 

 several times had hundreds of such hives of 

 sealed brood piled above excluders, await- 

 ing the arrival of queens from the South, 



