WHY BEES SWARM 



for swarms to enter, and some have even 

 resorted to the ridiculous practice of placing 

 little red flags on top of them to flag the pass- 

 ing swarm and notify them that a welcome 

 home awaits them. While it is true that a 

 swarm has on rare occasion taken possession 

 of some of these hives, yet it was a mere coin- 

 cidence, and the flag, or the sprinkling of the 

 hives with anise oil, had nothing whatever to 

 do with it. 



Before leaving the subject of swarming, it 

 will be well to state that shade boards placed 

 over a hive, and an extra current of air given 

 them by elevating the entrance of the hive 

 will be important factors in swarm control, 

 but often, in spite of all that can be done, a 

 swarm will come forth when the fever pos- 

 sesses them, and the only thing to do is to 

 accept the situation philosophically and get 

 them into a modern hive as soon as possible. 



The proportion of swarming in comb honey 

 production as compared with that of produc- 

 ing extracted honey is about two to one where 



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