MAY 15, 1913 



333 



General Correspondence 



SWARMING CONTROLLED BY REVERSING THE 



ORDER OF THE BROOD-FRAMES AND 



REMOVING THE QUEEN 



BY H. D. MURRY 



When I began running out-apiaries in 

 1906 I had a plan for controlling swarming 

 that had only one fault — it failed to control. 

 It had been a good plan in another locality, 

 but it failed to work here. I saw that I had 

 to do one of two things — find a plan that 

 would succeed here or quit running out- 

 yards. 



Just at this time Mr. G. M. Doolittle was 

 telling through Gleanings how he built up 

 an outyard and divided it just at the begin- 

 ning of the surplus crop, and got a crop of 

 honey from both divisions, prevented 

 swarming, and made 100 per cent increase. I 

 was favorably impressed with the plan, but 

 it bore some resemblance to the plan that 1 

 had been following, and I knew that it 

 woiild not work here, if followed just as Mr. 

 Doolittle practiced it. 



The same year, Mr. J. L. Staehelhausen, 

 of Cibolo, Texas, told, in the American Bee 

 Journal, what causes swarming. According 

 (o Mr. Staehelhausen it is a congestion of 

 the brood-nest and a surplus of nurse-bees. 

 He explained that, by splitting the brood- 

 nest in the middle, and turning it wrong 

 side out, the congestion could be broken. 

 Every apiarist knows that the bees build 

 their brood-nest in a spherical form. The 

 combs in the middle of the nest contain the 

 most brood, Avhile those in the outer part 

 contain the least. To perform the operation 

 we reverse the order, })lacing those with the 

 least brood in the center, and those with the 

 most brood on the outside of the brood-nest, 

 just as if we Avere to split an apple open 

 and turn the convex sides together. In do- 

 ing this we do not place any combs without 

 brood in them between combs containing 

 brood. The bees go to work at once to re- 

 establish the spherical form of the brood- 

 nest, and in doing so they fill out the center 

 comb and extend the brood into the adja- 

 cent combs outside the brood-nest. By this 

 plan, reversing brood every ten days or so. 

 we can delay swarming till we get the 

 brood-chamber full of brood. Then, unless 

 we do something to prevent, there will begin 

 to be a surplus of nurse-bees — that is, there 

 will be more chyle accumulating in the 

 stomachs of the nurse-bees than the brood 

 can consume. Mr. Staehelhausen maintain- 

 ed that these nurse-bees with their overload- 

 ed stomachs grow restless and bring on 

 what is known as the swarming fever. To 



prevent this, as soon as the brood-chamber 

 is full of brood, excepting the two outside 

 frames, lie advised that we remove two 

 frames of sealed brood, putting in their 

 place empty combs or full sheets of foun- 

 dation. 



Well, all that seemed plausible to me, but 

 it was not complete, according to my ideas. 

 So I turned to Dr. Miller's " Forty Years 

 Among the Bees." I found that, in order 

 to prevent swarming, he caged the queen 

 for seven days. The idea occurred to me, 

 " Why not remove the queen and start a 

 nucleus with her and let her be laying dur- 

 ing that seven days? " So from these three 

 plans I evolved the one following, which 

 has been a complete success so far as I am 

 concerned : 



As soon in the spring as the bees begin 

 to build up I go over them; and where they 

 have brood in four frames or -more, I re- 

 verse the order of the brood-frames, as ex- 

 plained above. I do this every ten days 

 until the brood-chamber is full of brood, ex- 

 cepting the two outside frames, which should 

 be full of honey and pollen. Then I remove 

 the queen with two frames of sealed brood, 

 and start a nucleus with her. Twenty-four 

 hours later I give the parent hive a ripe 

 queen-cell. In ten days or so there is a 

 vigorous young queen laying in the hive, 

 and all inclination to swarm is over for that 

 honey-flow. 



When I remove the queen I replace the 

 two frames, taken with lier, with empty 

 combs or full sheets of foundation, jjlacing 

 them near the center of the hive with two 

 frames of brood between them. The nu- 

 cleus may be built up later by adding brood 

 taken from other hives that have become 

 full of brood ; but a queen removed early in 

 the season will usually build up strong 

 enough to winter without any assistance ex- 

 cept the addition of empty combs or full 

 sheets of foundation. This plan of remov- 

 ing brood will just as eftectually retard 

 swarming as the famous (?) Jones plan of 

 shaving the heads off the brood. The prin- 

 ciple in both i:)lans is the prevention of a 

 surplus of nurse-bees. Any thing that breaks 

 the continuity of egg-laying in the hive for 

 several days will retard swarming. 



At each operation, reversing brood or 

 removing the queen, I destroy all queen- 

 cells in the hive. I hardly ever remove the 

 queen and start a nucleus unless the colony 

 gives indication of wanting to swarm by 

 starting queen-cells. 



Some will want to know where I get the 

 queen-cells to requeen. If I am visiting the 



