June 21, 1906 



American Ttec Journal 



started queen-cells, for a few days only, and to have that 

 part of the colony which receives the brood-combs with the 

 queen- cells weakened so much in bees, that these surplus 

 queen-cells are destroyed by the bees themselves. As soon 

 as this is done both colonies are united again. This can be 

 done in different ways. 



1. The old colony is removed from its stand and a 

 new hive containing some empty combs and some frames 

 with starters is set on its place. From the old colony is 

 taken I brood-comb with I or more queen cells and placed 

 between 2 empty combs in the new hive on the old stand. 

 By shaking or brushing, more bees from the old colony are 

 added to this swarm, being careful not to get the queen 

 in with the bees. The supers are given to this swarm on 

 the old stand, and the parent colony, having the old queen, 

 is set to one side or on top of this swarm. By this manipu- 

 lation the parent colony is weakened so much that it gives 

 .up all swarming and will destroy the queen-cells. This 



generally takes place in less than 6 days, and now both 

 colonies are re-united. The queen-cells on this 1 frame of 

 brood are cut out, the brood-comb set back into the old 

 colony, the new hive is removed and the parent colony set 

 back on the old stand. This plan was lately recommended 

 in the United States and called "the Sibbaldplan." 



2. Another way of this kind is known as the "shook- 

 swarm system." From a strong colony nearly all of the 

 bees with the old queen are shaken or brushed into a new 

 hive with starters or foundation, and this is set on the old 

 stand. The old hive with the brood-combs and a sufficient 

 number of bees to cover and nurse the brood is set to one side 

 of the swarm. For reuniting we wait till the brood has 



I>. STACBELIIAUSEN. 



hatched from the old brood-combs and unite the young bees 

 with the swarm by setting the old colony to the other side 

 of the swarm 10 days later. In 10 or 11 days afterwards 

 all the brood of the old colony will have hatched and now 

 we shake all the bees from this colony in front of the 

 swarm. 



When we make the shaken swarm we can give one or 

 two brood-combs or none at all; we can give to the swarm 

 empty combs, full sheets of foundation or starters only; all 

 this depends on circumstances. I used this shook-swarm 

 system for producing section-honey and I will tell you how 

 I planned it out. My experience was, that I could not get a 

 satisfactory crop of section-honey, if I had given the sec- 

 tion-supers to an old colony in a 10-frame Langstroth, or a 

 still larger hive. 



About 18 years ago W. Z. Hutchinson recommended in 

 a little book, "The Production of Comb Honey," for this 

 purpose the use of swarms which were hived in a con- 

 tracted brood-chamber containing starters only. Since then 

 I have used swarms only for the production of section-honey, 

 and worked all the other colonies for extracted honey. Using 

 large brood-nests I got less swarms every year and made 

 them artificially by shaking the bees off from the combs, 



manipulating these swarms exactly as recommended in this 

 little book. Such shaken swarms always worked just as well 

 as natural swarms — even better, as they were generally 

 stronger. 



The only disadvantage of these natural or shaken 

 swarms is, that they are getting weaker every day during 

 the first 3 weeks, and more bees are necessary by and by for 

 nursing the increasing brood. To avoid this I used Hed- 

 don's plan for preventing after-swarms, by changing the 

 place of the parent colony and so drawing some bees from 

 it to the swarm every 8 or 10 days. It does not change 

 the principle, if this drawing of bees from one colony to the 

 other is performed in some other way. 



Some bee-keepers claim that shaken swarms should not 

 be made, except a colony has started queen-cells. This is not 

 so, if a large brood-chamber is used, but it is necessary that 

 the colony be as as strong as possible and have many young 

 bees. The starting of queen-cells is a sign that a surplus 

 of young bees compared with the open brood is present in a 

 colony; in a large hive so much brood may be present, that 

 no such surplus of young bees may appear, nevertheless more 

 of them will be in the hive than in another, smaller hive, 

 which has queen-cells. When the shaken swarm is made, this 

 open brood is removed, and we have exactly the same condi- 

 tion as with a natural swarm. 



Further, in criticising this plan it is said, that the swarm 

 has to build a new brood-nest, which causes a larger con- 

 sumption of honey, which honey would better be stored in the 

 sections. But such swarms work with more vigor than a 

 colony which is nearly in a condition to make preparations 

 to swarm; as no combs are in the contracted brood-chamber 

 all the honey gathered is forced into the sections, which con- 

 tain full sheets of foundation, and some of them partly drawn 

 out. These circumstances overbalance the necessary bpilding 

 of new combs. 



In my opinion, the most satisfactory way of producing 

 section honey is to use large brood-chambers in the spring, 

 and when the main honey-flow commences the colonies are 

 managed after this shook-swarm system. This is especially 

 true, if all natural swarms must be avoided. 



3. This building of new combs can be avoided in the fol- 

 lowing way: A shaken swarm is made on the old stand, with 

 the old queen, and the parent colony is set to one side or on 

 top of this swarm. As soon as one of the young queens 

 has hatched and has destroyed the other queen-cells in the 

 parent colony, both colonies are reunited. If the old queen 

 shall be kept, it is not necessary to hunt up the young queen 

 in the parent colony. At evening, before the bees cease to 

 fly, we exchange the places of the two colonies for about 

 an hour, and any field-bees from the swarm will enter the 

 parent colony; now the hives change places again, when the 

 bees are not flying any more. These field-bees are used to 

 an old queen, and will, during the night, kill the young virgin 

 queen. The next morning both colonies are united again. 

 If the young queen shall be kept and the old one removed, 

 the best way would be to wait till the young queen is fer- 

 tilized, then the old queen is found, removed, and both colo- 

 nies united. 



In this way no new brood-nest is to be built, and the 

 colony is divided during a few days only, the swarming im- 

 pulse is removed, and the bees themselves have destroyed the 

 queen-cells; but the plan will hardly work for section honey, 

 and the same I think can be said about the Sibbald plan. 

 In both cases the brood-nest, after reuniting, will contain 

 too many empty cells, which will at once be filled with honey. 



Now we have to consider the third way of preventing 

 swarms by preparing the colony in such a way, that it will 

 not or can't swarm. 



Here may be mentioned the different plans, by which 

 the queen is prevented from swarming out, in a mechanical 

 way, as by the use of a queen-excluding honey-board or a 

 queen-trap, or by caging the queen for some time. These 

 plans are quite against the nature of the bees, and have 

 generally proven unsatisfactory. We can remove the old 

 queen entirely and allow the colony to rear a young one. This 

 plan will prevent swarming, if at the right time the surplus 

 queen-cells are destroyed, but the colony is weakened con- 

 siderably, probably more so than if a prime swarm and no 

 after-swarm were allowed. The plan takes too much work 

 and attention to be practical in a large apiary. 



Another way of this kind has been known for some 

 time, but is not mentioned very often. When queen-cells 



