1907. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



"3 



PREVENT SWARMING. 



W. R. GILBERT. 



AVERY LARGE number of 

 bee-keepers appear to take 

 it for granted that first 

 swarms are desirable; but still there 

 are those who are beginning to realize 

 that to stop swarming is not only a 

 matter of convenience, in that such 

 a method would avoid the necessity 

 of watching the bees, but they see 

 that in connection with this swarming 

 system there are other disadvantages, 

 such as a lessened honey crop, queen- 

 less colonies, the result of cells not 

 hatching, the young queen being lost 

 in flying out to mate, or imperfect 

 queens. 



Many find it a great disadvantage 

 when they have only a few colonies 

 to have to watch the bees. This is 

 often done by a child or by some 

 person not able to hive them when 

 they do, and after the bees swarm, the 

 man of the house has to be sent for, 

 when he is working, to come and 

 hive the bees. 



He may have on clothing unsuitable 

 for the apiary, such as a flannel shirt, 

 the bees disliking and being liable to 

 attack fuzzy woollen clothing. Or 

 from work he may be sweating freely. 

 This the bees resent, especially if the 

 person is not in the habit of taking 

 frequent cleansing baths. 



The entire operation under these 

 circumstances is an inconvenience. 

 Again, many and many a swarm gets 

 away unknown, and even afterwards 

 unsuspected by the bee-keeper. Bees 

 often do not do well, according to 

 the statement of the bee-keeper when 

 the bulk of the worker force has left. 

 When the first swarm leaves, as a 

 rule, unless there is a late flow of 

 honey, crop for the season has large- 

 ly left with it. Again the man 

 having an apiary of 70 to 100 colo- 

 nies, spends during the swarming sea- 

 son, the best part of the day in the 



hot and unpleasant work; of watch- 

 ing, chasing, climbing after, hiving 

 swarms and seeing that they stay 

 hived. 



If there is no money in this work,, 

 there surely is no pleasure. 



To the bee-keeper who runs out 

 apiaries the swarming question is a 

 serious problem. To put someone 

 in an out apiary to watch the swarms, 

 means to go to an expense, which 

 will seriously reduce his profits. 



Bee-keeping properly conducted, is 

 a business which ofifers a good living 

 and perhaps a little more, but at 

 which large fortunes are not made. 

 In this respect it is like other branch- 

 es of the farm, and yet like other 

 branches of agriculture, it offers the 

 conditions under which true happi- 

 ness and welfare for the home can 

 best be secured. The highest ideals 

 are not the temporary, distracting and 

 enervating pleasures which city life 

 alone can offer. Bee-keeping must 

 then be conducted with economy, and 

 such is not the swarming system. If 

 a larger hive can be used, and these 

 can be made at a cost of about 25 

 per cent, higher than a smaller one, 

 by this means and special manage- 

 ment, the need of • watching for 

 swarms, and the trouble of hiving 

 them can be overcome. 



Ordinarily if a man has ten colo- 

 nies of bees, he figures he will have 

 to have at least ten more empty 

 hives, while with the larger hives he 

 could be content with two or three; 

 then the outfit would cost less; he 

 could get more honey, for he would 

 keep his worker force together, and 

 can get much larger yields of honey 

 and with less trouble. So second 

 swarms and first swarms do not pay. 

 If increase is desired and cannot be 

 bought at a reasonable figure then 

 increase by what is called the nu- 

 cleus system — but that belongs to 

 another tale. — Medicine Hat, Alber- 

 ta, Canada. 



