11(5 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June 



Second. Relative proportion of sealed 

 and unsealed brood. If the combs con- 

 tain relatively little unsealed brood, all, 

 or nearly all, the bees may be put in the 

 swarm and the combs given to some 

 nucleus to care for; but if the unsealed 

 predominates, many bees mu3t be left 

 to eare for it ; and as these are necessa- 

 rily young bees, their loss to the swarm 

 is of considerable importance, particu- 

 larly if you are producing comb-honey. 



Third. Honey-flow. Is it present or to 

 come ? Is it of long or short duration ? 

 If it is present or close at hand, unhatch- 

 ed brood is of no immediate value and 

 all dependence must be placed on the 

 size of the swarm and its composition. 

 If the hr)ney-flow is short and sha»'p, this 

 is of special importance. If the honey- 

 flow is of long duration, say four or six 

 weeks, any method of artilicial swarm- 

 ing to be profitable, must be so arranged 

 as to give to the swarm all of the young 

 bees as soon as possible after they hatch. 



Such Is a brief outline of the general 

 conditions. The procedure of arti- 

 ficial swarming the bees is about as 

 follows: When it is decided to '-swarm" 

 a colony, remove it from its stand and 

 put in its stead a hive containing frames 

 with starters of foundation; and if the 

 honey-flow is ''on," place over this a 

 (lueen-exchiding honey-board and the 

 sections or extracting super. Let me 

 remark right here that if you are pro- 

 ducing comb-honey, and if pollen is 

 abundant, it will be well to put a comb 

 in the body of the hive to catch the in- 

 coming pollen. Next, take the combs 

 from the old hive — an outside comb first 

 as it is the least likely to have the queen 

 — and shake the bees from them down 

 in front of the new hiv(\ Don't bother 

 to look for the queen, just shake the 

 combs free from the bees and stand 

 them out of the way. Complete the 

 operation by shaking the bees from the 

 body and bottom-board of the old hive. 

 There is little danger of injuring the 

 queen, for after the first frame has 

 been shaken therc^ is an ample cushion 



of bees for her to di'op upon. The 

 combs containing brood are scattered 

 among nuclei or given to some colony 

 selected for that purpose. 



Another plan is to proceed as before 

 up to the point of shaking the bees, then 

 find the queen and place the comb she 

 is on in at one side of the new hive, then 

 the excluder and super on top and above 

 that the old brood-chamber, there to re- 

 main for ten days, after which all bees 

 are shaken down in front of the hive 

 and the brood disposed of as before. 

 When this latter plan is used, it is best 

 that the swarming be done at least a 

 week before the honey-flow. Inexperi- 

 enced persons must be reminded, when 

 trying this latter way, especially during 

 very hot weather, to give some ventila- 

 tion to the upper brood-chamber. I 

 often place an enameled cloth mat over 

 the super before I place the old hive on 

 top. I turn one end or corner of the 

 mat back sufficiently to give the bees 

 ready passage and then insert a chip or 

 a nail under the opposite end of the 

 upper brood-chamber. This gives suf- 

 ficient ventilation, the bees cannot get 

 out there and the super is not perceptibly 

 cooled. 



Perhaps the most important element 

 ill making artificial swarms is in decid- 

 ing when to do tt. It can be done when- 

 ever honey is coming in ; but "tis only 

 profitably done at the beginning of or 

 during what we commonly term the 

 honey-flow; i. e., when a surplus is being 

 !-tored. The bees may prepare to swarni 

 naturally before we really wish to make 

 swarms, in which case we must make 

 the best of it. and anticipate their 

 action. 



()nci> in a- while these forced swarms 

 decline to stay " put," and th(Mi it !.>- 

 necessary to give them a frame of un- 

 sealed brood. Hy proper combination 

 of two or more colonies, grand swarms 

 may be made, which will yield wonder- 

 ful quantities of honey from short and 

 heavy flows. Where the flow is slow 

 and protracted, or where one has to de- 



