220 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



October, 



CONTROLLING SWARMS, HIVING, ETC. 



( F. G. Heniian.) 



WHY DO BEES swarm anyway? 

 Wliy don't they settle down 

 and stick to their knitting, in- 

 stead of breaking up housekeeping 

 just at a time Avhen everything begins 

 to loolv prosperous? 



Well, the fact is, prosperity breeds 

 discontent, and the old home is becom- 



A NICE SWAKM. 



ing too crowded, besides it is Nature's 

 way of providing increase ;in.l prolong- 

 ing tlie race. Providence has given the 

 honey-bee this instinct. '1 here are sev- 

 eral (conditions upon which the issuing 

 of swarms hinge. The lirst and most 

 important factor is a present honey- 

 flow; another is a multitude of bees. 

 E.xcessive heat and a crowded hive 

 are also incentives to induce swarming 

 and will hasten the exodus. Now in 

 order to retard or discourage swarm- 

 ing, we must meet these conditions. 



It must be remembered that the larger 

 the colony the better the prospect for 

 a crop of honey. If it were possible 

 to breed out the swarming trait en- 

 tirely we would have no further diffi- 

 culty, but this seems impossible. 



The method that I have been prac- 

 ticing of late is to furnish each colony 

 of bees an extra hive of empty combs, 

 that is, at the approach oi swarming 

 time, or a week or two after the sec- 

 tion boxes have been given, I slip an 

 extra hive body of empty combs un- 

 der each hive and close the upper 

 entrance, compelling the bees to take 

 possession of the extra set. This gives 

 a double brood-nest for the queen to 

 supply with eggs. This has proven 

 with me to be only a partial success. 

 About one-half of the colonies 

 swarmed notwithstanding. But nev- 

 ertheless, the plan is a good one; my 

 average yield exceeding any other pre- 

 \-iously tried method. I might say, 

 the colonies which had no thought of 

 swarming stored the most surplus 

 honey, one colony reaching 180 pounds. 

 But with regard to those which did 

 swarm, the swarms were necessarily 

 extra large on account of the double 

 l)rood-nests, and, of course, issued a 

 few weeks later, but gave excellent 

 results. 



I practice several ways of hiving 

 swarms, but will only describe the one 

 here which the picture illustrates. If 

 the swarm has clustered on the outer 

 edge of some tree, where it only ne- 

 cessitates the cutting of a thin branch, 

 1 prefer this plan, providing, of course, 

 they are within reach of my ladder. 

 I have found it to be an excellent plan 

 and consequently have practiced it for 

 many years, to spray a swarm lightly 

 with cold water before hiving. Water 

 seems to be very refreshing and sooth- 

 ing to the bees during the heat of the 

 day besides the added heat by excite- 

 ment of swarming, and will often 

 cause the bees to remain hanging un- 

 til evening when it is more convenient 

 to hive them. By taking a pair of 

 pruning shears and clipping off the 

 branch gently, they may be canned to 

 the hive without a single bee leaving 

 the cluster. I might say, that in the 

 picture I am only pretending to hive 

 the swarm. The manipulator of the 

 camera was too timid to accompany 

 me into the apiary, and upon 



