1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



501 



the hives full of rapidly-hatching brood be distributed among 

 such deficient colonies as fast as they can be obtained, first 

 driving out of each all the bees left behind, in the hive which 

 with its swarm is, or is to be, put on the stand. Thus, in a 

 few days, if swarming continues, all may be got into excellent 

 condition. 



Frequently, also, there are colonies out of condition on 

 account of being possessed of superannuated or otherwise 

 worthless queens. Destroy such queens as fast as hives of 

 brood can be obtained, and place one on each now queenless 

 colony, and in a few days it will be rejuvenated both in its 

 strength and its queen. In some of these operations the ad- 

 vantages of a horizontally-divisible brood-chamber are espe- 

 cially apparent, for if one wishes to help two colonies with the 

 brood of one it can be done without extra labor, or if one 

 wishes to rear a few surplus queens to meet emergencies, 

 without driving out the bees remaining after the swarm is- 

 sues, by simply dividing the brood-chamber, he may secure 

 two queens as easily and as cheaply as one. 



Other ways of disposing of the brood thus obtained 

 through swarming will occur to every one in practice, so that 

 soon instead of deploring its abundance one will be likely to 

 wish for more. 



There is one principle that is valuable in this connection 

 which I should recall before passing, and that is, that a colony 

 having a laying queen of the current year's rearing can be 

 pretty surely relied upon not to desire to swarm, no matter 

 how strong it may be made within any reasonable bounds ; 

 and the same rule holds if it has a virgin queen, if there be 

 not also occupied queen-cells in the hive. This fact may be 

 taken advantage of to safely make some of the strongest pos- 

 sible colonies, and at the same time the most profitable ones, 

 notwithstanding the notion which some cherish (but without 

 good reason, I believe) that the possession of a virgin queen 

 renders a colony unprofitable for comb honey. 



How best to minimize the disadvantages of swarming 

 which give rise to the other objections I have mentioned, is a 

 somewhat more difficult matter. The absconding of prime 

 swarms can be almost certainly prevented by having had the 

 wings of the queens previously clipped, which is most conven- 

 iently done about the first of May preceding, but, though I 

 have hitherto been strongly in favor of it, and would take as 

 a choice of evils in the absence of the queen-trap, I find it 

 liable in an apiary of any considerable extent where there is 

 little dinger of swarms clustering out of convenient reach, to 

 one valid objection, and that is, that swarms usually remain 

 a tantalizingly long time in the air, giving an unnecessarily 

 pressing invitation to other swarms, and perhaps virgin queens, 

 to join them, thus complicating the matter of successful hiv- 

 ing. In small apiaries this objection would not have the same 

 validity, but in any case there is first the danger of the loss of 

 valuable queens, and then in nine or ten days, In the absence 

 of the apiarist, the loss of powerful swarms with virgin 

 queens, so I now consider the queen-trap indispensable unless 

 one is willing to watch his bees continually during the swarm- 

 ing season, and even then it is a great convenience. 



For this purpose, the trap should be so made that the 

 queen once in it cannot return to the hive. This enables the 

 apiarist to determine, with the exercise of a very little atten- 

 tion, whether a swarm has issued during his absence from any 

 given hive or not, by the conduct of the bees and the greater 

 or less cluster remaining with the queen in the trap. If a 

 swarm has issued and returned, usually the trap is found full 

 of bees, or nearly so ; in such case I return the queen and 

 bees to the hive and readjust the trap with the expectation 

 that in a day or two I shall discover them making their next 

 attempt, or, if I had no such expectation, I would shake out 

 enough bees to make a good swarm and hive them with the 

 queen in the ordinary way. 



A trap full of bees at the entrance of a hive from which 

 the prime swarm, or at least the old queen, has been taken, 

 indicates that the young queen has attempted to issue ; if the 

 trap has but few bees, it shows that the young queen has at- 

 tempted to take her mating flight, or perhaps sometimes that 

 she has got into the trap in endeavoring to escape from a 

 rival. In either case, swarming is over, and the trap should 

 be removed and the queen returned, unless it is certain the 

 colony still has one. 



It is best then, I think, to keep traps on all colonies likely 

 to swarm, removing them as soon as the danger is over, being 

 particularly careful on this point in the case of those having 

 virgin queens. When a swarm is discovered issuing, remove 

 the trap, thus allowing the queen to go with the swarm, which 

 induces speedy and perfect clustering, when it may be secured 

 in a moment in a basket. 



A light pole to which a basket is attached near the farther 

 end, serves both to shake out and secure most swarms that 

 cluster out of reach of the hand. 



For the highest success in the production of comb honey, 

 strong swarms are desirable, and hiving swarms on the old 

 stand not only conduces to their strength, but has also a 

 strong tendency, often almost prohibitive, to prevent after- 

 swarms. However, with the methods I use there is a limit to 

 the profitable strength of swarms. If they exceed seven or 

 eight pounds in weight, there is apt to be discontent and an 

 early preparation to swarm again, even if they do not persist 

 in attempting to abscond. This determination to abscond is a 

 diiScuUy which I have had to encounter very frequently dur- 

 ing swarming seasons, owing principally, no doubt, to the 

 small size of the brood-chamber which I feel compelled to give 

 swarms. After testing different plans, I have at last been 

 almost entirely successful in meeting this difficulty by giving 

 the swarm at first a double brood-chamber and removing the 

 lower section in two days. This plan has proved a decided 

 relief in the management of swarms. 



Little need be said in addition to meet the objection made 

 against swarming on account of the time required for attend- 

 ing to it. Most prime swarms issue between 9 o'clock a.m. 

 and 12 o'clock ra., so that, with the traps, three hours a day 

 answers very well. In case of necessity, even less time may 

 be made to serve without serious loss, even to so little as three 

 hours every third day. 



It is possible that there may be a little danger of swarms 

 going away with virgin queens on their mating flight, but it is 

 not great, for such queens are distasteful to prime swarms, 

 though any laying queen is acceptable. 



If a prime swarm and an afterswarm with their queen 

 unite, the young queen will usually be found balled, and it is 

 seldom worth while to separate them because there will almost 

 certainly be sufficient of the prime swarm with the young 

 queen to destroy her or break up the colony. 



Some complaint is made that queens escape through the 

 perforated zinc of the queen-trap. The perforation in my 

 traps are 5/32 of an inch, and no queens escape.— Review. 



Lapeer, Mich., Julv 7. 



Non-Swarming in Large Hives. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



I have been very much interested in what has been said 

 about the lack of swarming in large hives as used by the Da- 

 dants, and while it may partly explain why bees should swarm 

 more with 10 Langstroth frames in two stories there are still 

 some mysteries in the case. The reason given for the swarm- 

 ing with me is that the queen is loth to go from one story to 

 the other, and with the large Quinby frame there is no such 

 difficulty in the way. That looks reasonable, and yet under 



