THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



339 



queen off the combs of the colony, let- 

 ting- them run into a new hive with 

 either starters or full sheets of founda- 

 tion in the frames. Move another 

 stronj,^ colony to anew stand, and place 

 the hive of beeless brood upon the 

 stand of the removed colony. The col- 

 ony thus formed, is of course, furnislied 

 with a queen or queen cell. 



As a rule, there is less swarming- 

 from large hives. If to this we add 

 the production of extracted honey, 

 which allows the g-iving- of abundance 

 of drawn combs, there will not, as a 

 rule, be very much swarming-. Mr. E. 

 D. Tovvnsend, by the use of ten-frame 

 Langstroth hives, putting- on two upper 

 stories of combs at the beginning of 

 the main flow, and not using an3' queen 

 excluder, was able to manag-e an 

 apiary with only four visits a year— 

 once to unpack the bees in the spring, 

 once to put on the upper stories of 

 combs, once to extract, and again to 

 pacli up the bees for winter. There 

 was an occasional swarm, but not 

 enough of them to warrant the expense 

 of constant attendance. 



Of course, it is possible to prevent 

 swarming, both by dividing the colon- 

 ies, either permanently or temporarily, 

 or by removing the queens. If the bee- 

 keeper wishes, he can examine each 

 colony as often as once a week. When 

 he finds a colonj^ starting queen cells, 

 there are two courses open; that of 

 dividing- the colony, or destroying the 

 queen cells that have been started, 

 and removing, or caging, the queen. 

 If the queen is removed, a comb of 

 brood and bees is taken with her, and 

 all kept in another hive until it is time 

 to return the queen. Eight or nine 

 days later, the queen cells should be 

 again broken out in the old colony, 

 leaving the colony hopelessly queen- 

 less. A week later, the old queen can 

 be returned. Another plan is that of 

 removing the old queen, killing her if 

 there is no other use for her, allowing 

 a batch of queen cells to nearly mature, 



then removing all of them except one, 

 which is allowed to hatch, and the 

 queen to become the head of the colony. 

 While this plan of removing the queens 

 during the swarming season is very 

 effectual, it has not, for some reason, 

 ever become popular— perhaps it is be- 

 cause of the work that it entails. The 

 other plan, that of dividing a colony 

 showing signs of swarming, has 

 sprung very rapidly into quite general 



use; "shook-swarming" being the usual 

 method of division. In making a 

 "shook-swarm," the bees are dis- 

 turbed, the hive drummed upon, or 

 something of this sort, and thus they 

 are induced to fill themselves with 

 honey. This filling of their sacs seems 

 to be a very important part of the pro- 

 gram. The queen and most of the bees 

 are then shaken or brushed into a new 

 hive set upon the old stand, the frames 

 being furnished with either starters or 

 full sheets of foundation, and the 

 supers, if any there are, being trans- 

 ferred to the new hive; and the old hive 

 placed upon a new stand. Sometimes 

 the bees from two colonies are shaken 

 together into one hive, thus making a 

 very strong swarm. The old colony is 

 placed by the side of the new one, or 

 upon top of it, and the bees, as they 

 hatch and fly, are gradually enticed 

 into the new hive, as was explained 

 when describing natural swarming 

 methods. This method not only pre- 

 vents swarming, but increase, as well. 

 It results in the building of an extra 

 set of brood combs, but I think they 

 are built at a profit. 



Then there is the plan of making a 

 temporary division of a colony, leaving 

 a comb of brood and some frames with 

 starters on the old stand, with the 

 supers over them, and setting the old 

 hive aside for a few days, (from four to 

 six) until the bees have destroyed the 

 queen cells that have been started, 

 when the two portions are again united 

 upon the old stand. This plan has 

 been called the Sibbald plan. It has 



