1903 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



SHAKEN SWARMS. 



Something of the Origin, History and Practice of 

 the New Fad. 



(By Arthur C. Miller.) 



FOREMOST in apicultural discus- 

 sions of to-day is the subject of 

 forced swarms. From the atten- 

 tion it receives one might alm'ost be- 

 lieve it was something new. Graven- 

 horst, the great German bee master 

 was, I believe, the originator of the 

 plan "which he made public some time 

 in the 'TO's. Mr. Stachelhausen, of 

 Texas, brought it to the attention of 

 Americans in the early '80's by a se- 

 ries of articles in the American Agri- 

 culturist, but it met with a cold re- 

 ception by the then veterans; men who 

 are now either grudgingly giving it it's 

 due, or trying to make good their 

 former mistakes by fulsome praise. 

 However, a goodly number of enthusi- 

 asts gave the method a thorough trial 

 and most of them have used it ever 

 since. 



Like many another thing related to 

 bees, the ever ubiquitous "locality" was 

 found to make necessary varying mod- 

 ifications and those bee-keepers who 

 have used the method from the start 

 have gradually changed little details to 

 make it more conformable to their 

 conditions. Here in southern New 

 England, I have found that the follow- 

 ing conditions give the best results: 

 First, a strong colony with an abund- 

 ance of young bees; second, a shallow 

 hive with two or more of the frames 

 containing comb, the rest starters; 

 third, that the shaking off be done at 

 the opening of the honey flow. 



In elucidation of these conditions, I 

 would emphasize that a "strong col- 

 ony" to me means one that when shak- 

 en into the new hive, the bees will com- 

 pletely fill the "half depth" brood nest, 

 and quarter to half fill the super. Then 

 if the honey flow comes on well, anoth- 

 er super will be needed in a very few 

 days. But it should be understood 

 that there seldom occurs a "honey 

 shower" here; the flows open slowly, 

 rise steadily to a maximum, and as 

 slowly decline. That of course being 

 the normal way, but drouths, storms, 

 etc.. aflfect it as elsewhere. Owing to 

 the uncertainty of the weather along 

 the New England seacoast I find it is 



much the safest plan to give tlie 

 "swarm" a combful of honey, otherwise 

 a cold storm may reduce a powerful 

 and would-be profitable swarm to a 

 mere handful of enfeebled bees. 



Mr. Crane, of Middleboro, Vt., re- 

 cently stated that he practices the same 

 plan of giving honey to the swarm and 

 finds it profitable so to do. Any old 

 honey will answer the purpose, unless 

 too many combs of it are given, for 

 the bees will consume it all. I even 

 prefer a comb- that has much pollen as 

 well as honey. 



The combining of the bees from two 

 or more colonies to make a strong 

 "forced swarm" I have already discuss- 

 ed in the columns of this paper. It is 

 a subject which will well repay the bee- 

 keeper to study carefully; I mean, to 

 experiment with, and to observe the 

 difference in results between "swarm's'' 

 where the percentage of young bees ex- 

 ceeds the old, and vice versa. A com- 

 bination which works well under some 

 conditions may be a total failure un- 

 der others, and J doubt if any absolute 

 rules regarding it can be formulated, 

 the nearest I know being, that for a 

 short heavy flow, particularly if for ex- 

 tracting, use all the "old" or field bees 

 possible, and for a slower flow and for 

 comb honey have a large percentage of 

 5'oung bees. 



The starters I use consist of two to 

 four rows of cells left when cutting 

 combs from frames. I like such start- 

 ers far better than those of foundation, 

 and as by the shake off plan combs are 

 always increasing, cutting out surplus 

 combs and turning them into wax kills 

 several birds with one stone; it yields 

 cash, saves cost of foundation and 

 leaves starters in frames ready fasten- 

 ed, and which no weight of bees can 

 pull down. 



The size of the brood chamber to use 

 is a subject in itself, and together with 

 style of hive and surplus case, must be 

 left for another article. 

 Providence, R. I., Dec. 9, 1902. 



It would be hard to find a bee-keeper 

 these days who is not "surprised" to 

 note that the "shaken swarm" idea 

 has been regarded as a new thing. It 

 seems that all bee-keepers have been 

 practicing the plan right along, but 

 have simply failed to mention the fact. 

 This time, they have all "got 'em fust." 



