THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



"^oxtxQVi ^0tjes* 



The Division and Subsequent Reunion 

 of Stocks. 



BT HERR GRAVENH0R8T. 



Every bee-keeper who is only moder- 

 ately observant knows that however pleas- 

 ant swarming may be sometimes, under 

 certain circumstances, it only takes place 

 to his disadvantage; as, lor instance, 

 with stocks that have already furnished 

 first swarms or scions, and with first 

 swarms and scions themselves. The 

 •strength of the population is reduced 

 by this splitting up into several small 

 families, and though there may be plenty 

 of stocks and bees, there is rarely so much 

 honey as might have been harvested had 

 this division not taken place. Those 

 using movable frames — and to such my 

 remarks here apply — endeavor to avoid 

 this inconvenienbe by cutting out all the 

 queen-cells but one from the mother-stock 

 after the exit of the first swarm, or the 

 formation of the scion. Putting on one 

 side the difficulty of taking out and min- 

 utely examining the combs one after the 

 other, and thus thoroughly disturbing the 

 bee, this plan succeeds fairly with stocks 

 from which scions have been made, and 

 may be undertaken with certainty on the 

 ninth or tenth day after; but in stocks 

 that have swarmed, if the cells are cut 

 out on the same day or a day or two later, 

 open brood will probably be present, 

 from which new ones are raised ; while 

 if the operation is delayed till the ninth 

 day, it is very easy to be too late. 



Thus where the swarming method is 

 practiced, it is necessary, in order to pre- 

 vent after-swarms, to cut out the cells on 

 the same day, and also nine days later, 

 thus twice going over this rough business. 

 But suppose, unfortunately, that in the 

 stock that has furnished either a natural 

 or an artificial swarm, some trifling hid- 

 den queen-cell has been overlooked, or 

 that the single majesty of the hive takes it 

 into her head to swarm, an occurrence 

 not unusual with us, swarming takes 

 place, the cutting out of the cells has 

 bf'en in vain, and should the swarm be 

 happily hived, a new perplexity frequent- 

 ly arises in not knowing from which 

 stock it has issued, as the bee-keeper 

 would be glad to return it in order that 

 the stock may not be too much weakened 

 and still capable of doing something. 

 "With my hives, a glance at the inside, if 

 any one chooses to take the trouble of 

 turning them up one after the other, is 

 generally, though not always, sufficient 

 to determine this. But how with the box- 

 frame hives? is every stock to be opened 

 and taken to pieces? No, rather is the 



swarm placed by itself to drag out a 

 wretched existence, unless, perchance, 

 another swarm can be joined with it in 

 the course of a few days. And the moth- 

 er-stock, even when it gets quickly furn- 

 ished with a queen and does not become 

 a prey to the moth, what does it yield? 

 During the time that had it not swarmed, 

 it would have gatliered and stored up 

 honey, it will exert itself to regain its 

 lost strength, and should it succeed in this 

 during a good gathering, it has done all 

 that is possible, but there is no honey for 

 the bee-keeper, and the industry of the 

 bees counts for nothing. But enough of 

 this. Whoever has so thoroughly gone 

 through it all as I have, will gladly listen 

 when I tell him that these all wearisome 

 operations, all these vexations, may be 

 easily avoided by the plan of division 

 employed by me in my hive. In stocks 

 that have swarmed naturally or artificial- 

 ly, the cutting out of the queen-cells is no 

 longer necessary, that operation being 

 left to the bees, who understand the busi- 

 ness better than many a bee-keeper, and 

 the undesired swarming is radically hin- 

 dered. This is an assertion, says the read- 

 er, which must be proved ; and the proof 

 is easy. 



Experience has long shown that small 

 populations, such for instance as are used 

 in queen-raising, never think of swarm- 

 ing, unless troubled by the moth or by 

 hunger. In their queenless condition, 

 indeed they take the precaution of raising 

 several queen-cells, but under all circum- 

 stances they permit the queen that is first 

 hatched to gnaw into the other cells and 

 destroy the rivals she finds there. 



To what breeder of Italian queens has 

 it not happened, to his great annoyance 

 when about to cut out the extra cells for 

 another use, to find these already de- 

 stroyed? Let us use the hint so plainly 

 ofi"ered and divide a population we do not 

 wish to swarm, but that certainly would 

 do so if undivided, into as many smaller 

 populations as the circumstances demand. 

 Sometimes only a twofold, sometimes a 

 threefold division, is necessary. And as 

 through such a division the first hatched 

 queen most certainly destroys the other 

 queen-cells, only one queen remains in 

 each small population, and the latter, 

 feeling its weakness, never thinks of 

 swarming. Each compartment naturally 

 makes preparations for the raising of 

 queens, and in favorable cases a fruitful 

 queen may be found in each ; but at the 

 worse, if only one of the two or three 

 queens remains and becomes fruitful, the 

 early requeening of the united population 

 is assured. This will follow earlier if a 

 queen-cell nearly ready to halch has been 

 inserted into each chamber two days after 

 the division. About nine days afterwards 

 a fruitful queen may be found in one or 

 other of the divisions, under which, after 

 the removal of the other queens, if such 



