JLXE 1, 1913 367 



Conversations w^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



IS NATURAL SWARMING PROFITABLE OR NOT? 



There is not a shadow of doubt in the 

 mind of the apiarist who makes a specialty 

 of beekeeping but that he would be much 

 better off if bees never desired to swarm; 

 but with the beginner or the farmer bee- 

 keeper there is an element in natural swarm- 

 ing that appeals to him, and to all there is 

 a certain awe and fascination on seeing a 

 natural swarm of bees on the wing. I have 

 heard expressions of wonder and admira- 

 tion come from the lips of all sorts of men 

 and women when seeing a s\Yarm of bees 

 in the air. One of the great things about a 

 natural swarm of bees, and one which can 

 hardly yet be denied, is this : The bees of a 

 natural swarm receive an impetus to work 

 by finding themselves in their newly pitched 

 tent destitute of brood and provisions, not 

 brought about in any other way. Then if 

 the sections are put over such a swarm as 

 soon as the bees are nicel}' established in 

 the hive (to an extent where the queen has 

 begun to deposit egg's in the newly built 

 comb or drawn foundation), section honey 

 can be obtained which is rarely if ever 

 equaled by any of the processes of artificial 

 increase yet invented by any apiarist or by 

 any plan of non-swarming. 



That there are some weighty obj actions to 

 natural swarming if it could be successfully 

 repressed is not to be denied ; but these may 

 be spoken of under two heads — namely, the 

 time and labor rec^uired for watching and 

 hi\'ing swarms, and the danger of loss from 

 swarms absconding.. It may be held by 

 some that an undesirable increase would be 

 the greater objection ; but with the practi- 

 cal man this should be easily obviated, even 

 to a point of value. If all swarms are to 

 be hived in empty hives, as was the case 

 with those keeping bees fifty or one hun- 

 dred years ago, then I will concede tlie 

 point ; but with the one who has twentieth- 

 century light it is only a question of the 

 disposal of the brood in the hive from which 

 the swarms issue, and that is generally very 

 valuable, especially in early swarming. Some 

 seem to think that this brood, when emerged 

 into perfected bees or before, should be re- 

 turned to the identical colony that produced 

 it; but with the practical apiarist it may 

 usually be used with decidedh' greater ad- 

 vantage in other ways. 



There are few if any apiaries at the open- 

 ing of the nectar flow but that have some 

 colonies that are not up to the strength re- 

 quired for the best work in the supei-s. If 

 these hives of rapidly emerging brood be 



distributed anong such deficient colonies as 

 fast as they can be obtained from the lea^ - 

 ing of prime swarms, shaking out of each 

 all of the bees left behind so that they may 

 go into the new hive with the prime swarm, 

 both the swarm and the deficient colonies 

 will be greatly benefited. Thus in a week 

 or two, if swarming continues, all may be 

 gotten in excellent condition, and results 

 obtained beyond the fondest expectations. 



Then, too, there are frequently colonies 

 out of condition on account of being pos- 

 sessed with wornout or old queens. Destroy 

 these queens as fast as hives of brood can 

 be obtained, and place one such hive on each 

 colony now queenless. In a few days it will 

 rejuvenate in streng-th, and will have an 

 extra-good queen coming from the queen- 

 cells left after the issue of the prime swarm. 



The danger of loss from prime swarms 

 absconding can almost certainly be prevent- 

 ed by having the wings of the queen pre- 

 viously clipped, which is most conveniently 

 done in May when the fruit-trees are in 

 bloom. Then, as soon as the swarming bees 

 miss their queen, they may be made to hive 

 themselves by 'iaving the new hive on the 

 old stand at the time they begin to return. 

 Some claim that, should a swarm come out 

 having a virgin queen at the time such prime 

 swarm is clustered or in the air, said virgin 

 queen would make absconding possible, she 

 having her wings to fly awaj' with the whole 

 mass. But after forty years' experience in 

 this matter, with scores if not hundreds of 

 such eases, I wish to go on record as saying 

 that, so far as I know, the bees of a prince 

 swarm will never be satisfied with a virgin 

 queen to lead them away from their old 

 mother or the hive of brood which is left be- 

 hind. Such uniting results in the balling of 

 the virgin, when the whole mass, except the 

 few in the ball, are practically queenless. 



The objection made against swarming on 

 account of the time required for attending 

 to it is not gri'eat where the apiary can be 

 located within easy vision of that part of 

 the house where the kitchen work is done, as 

 most prime swarms issue between the hours 

 of nine o'clock and one, when the house- 

 keeper can notify the apiarist if he himself 

 is not at work in the apiary. For the high- 

 est success in the production of section 

 honey, strong swarms are desirable ; and 

 hiving swarms on the old stand and gi\'ing 

 them all the bees which the parent colony 

 contained not only conduces to their 

 strength, but prevents that greatest nui- 

 sance, the call of " bees swarming." 



