688 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Methods Used for the Prevenlioii 

 of Swarming. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



At this time of the year there is per- 

 haps no more important subject than 

 the one of swarming. Until I saw Mr. 

 Pratt's latest self-hiver, I had no faith 

 in the utility of this invention, but upon 

 studying it I felt, and feel still, that by 

 means of it we are going to reach those 

 who keep only a few colonies, and can- 

 not watch their bees for swarms. Again, 

 there are others who, for various rea- 

 sons, do not find it desirable to hive the 

 swarms; these will, I have no doubt, 

 find the self-hiver very useful. 



That the self-hivers can be improved 

 upon, I have no doubt — in fact, I think 

 I could improve on them already, but 

 even as they are to-day they are useful. 

 The prevention of swarming has en- 

 gaged my attention every since Mr. L. 

 C. Root spoke upon that question at the 

 convention of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association held iit Rochester, 

 N. Y. 



I have, for comb or extracted honey, 

 been able to largely prevent increase by 

 means of shade, ventilation, and the 

 judicious giving of room, and by so doing 

 I have been able to have an increase of 

 as low as 5 per cent., and in no case 

 greater than 20 per cent., for the last 

 six years. 



In producing comb honey it has been 

 the aim to secure honey not alone for 

 the market, but also for exhibition pur- 

 poses, and the product has compared 

 very favorably with the best shown at 

 our leading exhibitions. Many begin- 

 ners have made shipwreck because they 

 attempted to increase too fast ; if they 

 would have prevented increase all they 

 could, thus securing more honey, 'and 

 having their bees in better condition, 

 then buying n\ore bees in the spring, 

 they would have done better. This is 

 the advice I would give every beginner. 



When the bees begin to whiten out the 

 combs along the top-bars in the brood- 

 chamber, unless the honey-flow stops, 

 supers are given. I have an entrance 

 the entire width of the hive, and as the 

 weather gets warm I raise the back of 

 the lid to allow a current of air to pass 

 between the quilt and lid. As the 

 weather gets still warmer, a broad board 

 is laid on the lid for shade, this board to 

 better shade is moved once a day, thus 

 not only shading the tops of the hive, 

 but also the sides. If the nights are 

 unusually warm, the lids are left up all 

 night, if not, they are put down towards 

 evening. More than once, after a sultry 

 evening, we have had to jump up in the 

 night and let down the lids, to prevent 

 rain from getting in, but" it pays well. 

 Better yields of honey are secured, 

 and I have had three full Langstroth 

 supers to advantage on one hive. 



I am too lazy to hunt out queen-cells 

 and destroy them ; if the bees will 

 swarm, I let them, and then put the 

 new swarm on the old stand; this in 95 

 cases out of 100 it prevents any after- 

 swarms, and gives us all the worker 

 force with the new swarm. Swarms are 

 hived on starters, and put to storing 

 comb honey, as a rule. 



The method of changing the hive for 

 the worker-bees I have never tried, and 

 here let me say it appears to me it has 

 been forgotten that this system is not a 

 new one brought before bee-keepers, 

 but was brought out in a bee-paper pub- 

 lished in Canada some years ago. Mr. 

 C. W. Post, of Murray, Ont. — a very 

 successful bee-keeper, running between 

 300 and 400 colonies — gave his plan. 

 In brief, it was this : 



Upon a post rested two pieces of tim- 

 ber, the pieces crossing one another over 

 the post, the whole forming four arms 

 which could be revolved upon the post. 

 At the end of each arm, and upon the 

 arm, was a colony of bees, and from the 

 first day the bees could fly the stand was 

 given one-quarter turn. In this way the 

 flying bees, every day they flew, went 

 into a new home, and the swarming im- 

 pulse was kept down. 



Mr. Post is known as a quiet and un- 

 assuming, yet successful, bee-keeper 

 with wide experience. I mentioned Mr. 

 Post's method at the Albany convention, 

 and I think the article I refer to was 

 copied into the American Bee Journal, 

 at the time. 



I certainly think we should aim at 

 keeping down swarming as much as we 

 can — thercMn lies one of the secrets to 

 success. To do so by means of cutting 



