SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 57 



CONTROLLING SWARMING. 



It is very often the case that a bee-keeper has as many colonies as he 

 desires or has time to care for properly, and desires a plan to control the 

 increase of colonies. Then it happens very often that a bee-keeper desires 

 to control swarming that he may obtain more surplus honey ; and it is often 

 desired to control swarming in extensive bee-keeping to save the expense 

 of hiring some one to stay at each yard and hive swarms during the swarm- 

 ing season. It is not difficult to control swarming in the production of 

 extracted honey, and all that is necessary is to keep them supplied with 

 empty comb to store honey in. 



It is also easy to control swarming in the production of chunk honey by 

 using full sheets of foundation in the supers, and not permitting the super 

 next to the brood apartment to be completely filled before it is lifted up 

 and another empty super put under it ; for they will sometimes swarm if the 

 super next to the brood-apartment is full of sealed honey before they will 

 enter the next super, or before they do much work in it; and it is necessary 

 to keep the hives well ventilated at the bottom during warm spells. 



In the production of comb honey in sections with the brown German 

 bees, the non-swarming point can soon be reached by raising queens from 

 colonies less inclined to swarm, and keeping the stock pure. They are less 

 prolific, quick to enter sections and store their honey, and all that is neces- 

 sary is to keep the hives well ventilated during very warm weather, and use 

 full sheets of foundation in the sections ; and four or five bait sections (sec- 

 tions with comb partly built in them, or cull sections from last season) in the 

 middle of the super next to the brood-apartment in order to get them 

 started to building comb and storing honey in it. 



Permit me to say right here that, to control swarming successfully, we 

 must first remove the drone comb from out-apiaries and replace it with 

 worker comb. Drones are reared with the view of swarming, and certainly 

 they are connected with it in some way. The greatest number of them are 

 always present during swarming time, and more or less drone brood is in 

 the hive when they do swarm. It is also a fact that they take a great part 

 in swarming, and there can be no doubt that they have sfimething to da 

 wilh it. 



Controlling swarming in the production of comb honey in sections, with 

 the more prolific varieties of bees, is a rather knotty problem, and a satis- 

 factory method of doing this has not yet been given to the bee-keeping world 

 so far as I know. I have tried time and again almost every conceivable 

 way by which this might be done, and yet sooner or later all methods of work 

 would fail, even when all conditions seemed favorable. 



But swarming of very prolific varieties of bees can be greatly reduced by 

 treating them as you would the brown German bees to control their swarming 

 by removing the drone comb, by ventilating, and giving them the greatest 

 inducement possible to enter the sections or supers. Bees usually start queen- 

 cclls before^ they swarm ; and by going over the apiaries every four or six 

 days, tearing out the queen-cells swarming may be delayed until they can 



