144 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



bees to swarm naturally, than I can 

 b3^ trying to prevent it. 



MANAGEMENT OF SWARMS. 



My management of swarms be- 

 ing somewhat dilierent from Ihat 

 of most beekeepers, I will here 

 give my method in detail. 



Not wishing a large increase, I 

 aim for best results in comb honey. 

 Therefore I allow but one swarm 

 to issue from each hive, and it is 

 well known by all beekeepers that 

 if a full swarm is taken from a 

 hive, the old colony is so reduced 

 that but little is done in the sec- 

 tions for some time after. 



For some years I was puzzled to 

 know how this loss of time in the 

 old stock might be avoided. But 

 1 am happy to say that a few years 

 ago 1 hit upon a plan that pleased 

 me so well that I have practised it 

 ever since. It is this: I always 

 have on hand a few hives ready to 

 receive new swarms. Now, when 

 a swarm issues, I at once go to the 

 hive and look for the queen (I 

 have allof my queens' wings clipped 

 so that I am always on tlie watch 

 for swarms) and as soon as she 

 makes her appearance I put her 

 into a small wire cage made for the 

 purpose, of which 1 always have a 

 few in my pockets during the 

 swarming season. This cage has a 

 piece of wire so fastened to it that 

 it forms a hook. Now, this cage with 

 the queen is hooked to one of my 

 swarm-catchers, wliich I set up in 

 some convenient place so tlie bees 

 may readily locate tlieir queen and 

 tliere cluster. As soon as all have 

 clustered nicely, I take the catclier 

 with the swarm and carry them 

 back to the old hive and brush oft" 

 al)out one-third of the bees and al- 

 low them to return to their old 

 home. These returned bees and 

 those in the field in search of honey 

 will keep the old hive well stocked 

 with bees, so that work in the sec- 

 tions is but little retarded. Now 



I take the balance of the swarm 

 and the queen, and hive them in a 

 new hive that is awaiting them, as 

 stated above, and the next swarm 

 that issues is served in the same 

 way — if it issues within forty-eight 

 hours — except that I return this 

 queen with the one-third of the bees, 

 and the other two-thirds are hived 

 or united, with the two-thirds of 

 the first swarm that are in the new 

 hive. If both are hived the same 

 day, I dump them all together with- 

 out ceremony ; but, if the next day, 

 the queen is caged before uniting 

 and is kept caged for at least six 

 hours. Now 1 go to the hive where 

 the second swarm issued, to which 

 the queen was returned, and take 

 out two or three combs of brood, 

 usually eggs and larva, and put in 

 empty combs or foundation, after 

 having removed all queen cells. 

 The sections are now returned and 

 work in them goes on as though 

 nothing had happened. The brood 

 that I have taken out is given to 

 the new swarm or used for other 

 purposes. Jt is not always neces- 

 sary' to cut out the queen cells, as 

 stated above, but it is safer to do 

 so. The hive that cast the first 

 swarm I allow to remain undis- 

 turbed for four days, at the end of 

 which time I examine the combs 

 and cut out all queen cells but one, 

 or all of them if I wish to give 

 them to some other stocks ;or, which 

 is better, to give tliein a laying 

 queen, or even a virgin queen, is 

 better than a cell. By this method 

 these two colonies will not be 

 likelv to swarm again, especially 

 the one with the young queen, and 

 it is seldom that the other will if 

 they are furnished plenty of room 

 in the sections. 



I practise the above plan in all 

 my apiaries, when swarming is 

 done up early in the season, but if 

 it lingers along later so that a por- 

 tion of my bees do not swarm until 

 the honc}' season is half through I 



