Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



Vol. XII 



DECEMBER, 1902 



No. 12 



'SHAKEN" OR 



"BRUSHED" SWARMS. 



Interesting Experiences and Observations of a 



Bee-Keeping Lady. Also Something About 



Clipping Queens. Florida 



Ants. Etc. 



(Mrs. Sarah A. Smith.) 



QUITE a bit is being said these 

 days in our bee-papers about 

 brushed, shaken, or shook swarms. 

 I am surprised that it seems new to 

 any up-to-date bee-keeper. I have used 

 the method for ten years, and in soine 

 cases nothing answers better. But when 

 you hear some one say. to brush all the 

 bees off of the combs, and set them 

 aside until enough young bees hatch 

 out to take care of the brood, then you 

 should use a little of your own common 

 sense, and do nothing so foolish. At 

 least, that is what it would be, if done 

 here. 



Every natural colony of bees I have 

 ever examined, always has brood in all 

 stages of development. Now, if you 

 take all the bees away, the brood must 

 suffer before enough young bees will 

 be hatched out to go on with house- 

 keeping. And is it well to keep food 

 from the unsealed brood for so long? 



Then, even in our warm climate, I 

 do not believe it would be warm enough 

 for the brood. And last but not least, 

 with us, just as soon as the combs were 

 freed of the bees; the ants would start 

 in, and clean out all the brood, and 

 honey. We have ants for all things. 

 Some only eat sweets, others only 

 meat: between them all, they very soon 



clean up anything they can get at, so 

 you would lose all the brood left with- 

 out bees to protect it: I think too, 

 that other places may have as many 

 ants as we do here; so I say, lookout 

 for your brood, as it is too valuable to 

 throw away. 



I have always found this way of 

 "swarming" very useful when a colony 

 does not do as well as others of equal 

 strength are doing. Then I "swarm" 

 them, and tell them to "fish or cut bait." 



Then too, it is a very good way to 

 get good worker combs. Have good 

 young queens, put empty frames be- 

 tween drone combs, so they will 

 build straight and take out your drone 

 combs and keep putting in empty 

 frames and you will get better worker 

 combs than if you used foundation. 



I have four out-apiaries with no one 

 to hive swarms if they should come out 

 when I was not there. So without this 

 artificial swarming (that is my name for 

 it) I don't know how I could take care 

 of so many as I do without loss. 



I use the brood to build up good 

 working colonies. I would rather have 

 fifty thousand bees in one hive than in 

 two, and that is the plan I work on. 



Of course, no one, I should think, 

 would do this swarming when there is 

 no honey. Don't get the idea that 

 your bees are lazy, for as a rule 

 they are as anxious to work as you 

 are to have them; but I have often 

 thought that in very poor times, bees 

 get hopeless, just like we all do. You 

 should never let them get so poor, for 

 it don't pay in pennies, and it makes 

 you feel very mean, which is worse. If 

 the honey flow came to a sudden stop 



