182 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



THE DEMAREE METHOD OF 

 SWARM PREVENTION 



Much has been written' concerning 

 the Demaree method of swarm pre- 

 vention and numerous modifications 

 have appeai-ed. Since many of the 

 younger generation of beekeepers 

 seem somewhat confused as to just 

 what the method is, we reproduce 

 herewith Mr. Demaree's original de- 

 scription, which was published in the 

 American Bee Journal on April 21, 

 1892. Some modification of this plan 

 is in very general use among bee- 

 keepers who use the Langstroth hive: 



How to Prevent Swarming 

 By G. W. Demaree 

 When discussing this subject the 

 temptation to argue the question, 

 rather than to rely upon a simple de- 

 scription of the manipulation resort- 

 ed to, to accomplish the object in 

 view, is very great. So many api- 

 arists have imbibed the idea that 

 some sort of contraction of the 

 brood-nest is essential to the produc- 

 tion of comb honey, if not the ex- 

 tracted article, that any new discov- 

 ery that runs counter to this idea of 



contraction meets a deaf ear, if not 

 open opposition. 



Let me say, once for all, that when 

 a new discovery is applied to an old 

 system, it often becomes necessary to 

 revise the old system to accommodate 

 it to the newly-applied discovery. 

 These remarks apply not exclusively 

 to the old system of bee-culture, but 

 to all systems pertaining to all indus- 

 tries. Those persons who are deter- 

 mind to stick to the old paths of the 

 past, are not in position to profit by 

 any new discovery; and this essay is 

 not written for that class of readers. 



When your apiary is as large as 

 you want it, what would you give to 

 be able by a simple, practical manip- 

 ulation at the beginning of the 

 swarming season, to hold all your 

 colonies in full strength of working 

 and breeding force steadily through 

 the entire honey harvest? You can 

 do it beyond a doubt, by practicing 

 my new system of preventing swarm- 

 ing; and if you have the ingenuity to 

 apply proper management to suit the 

 new condition, your surplus yield vdll 

 be larger than by any other method 

 heretofore made known to the pub- 

 lic 



J'ciiiiyroyal. Mc}ilha PuU'ffiuvi. 



I have practiced the new system 

 largely for the past two seasons, and 

 my surplus yield was never so large, 

 though it is well known that the past 

 two seasons were not above the av- 

 erage as honey-yielding seasons. 



As I have already intimated, my 

 plan of preventing swarming, and en- 

 tirely preventing increase, is accom- 

 plished by one single manipulation 

 right at the commencement of 

 swarming. Only one hive and its 

 outfit is used for each colony. Any 

 system that requires a divided condi- 

 tion of the colony, using two or more 

 hives, is not worthy of a thought. 



In my practice, I begin with the 

 strongest colonies and transfer the 

 combs containing brood from the 

 brood-chamber to an upper story 

 above the queen excluder. One comb 

 containing some unsealed brood and 

 eggs is left in the brood-chamber as 

 a start for the queen. I fill out the 

 brood-chamber with empty combs, 

 and I have a full outfit for my apiary. 

 But full frames of foundation may 

 be used in the absence of drawn 

 combs. 



When the manipulation is com- 

 plete, the colony has all of its brood 

 with the queen, only its condition is 

 altered. The queen has a new 

 brood-nest below the excluder, while 

 the combs of brood are in the center 

 of the super, with the sides filled out 

 with empty combs above the queen 

 excluder. 



In 21 days all the brood will be 

 hatched out above the excluder, and 

 the bees will begin to hatch in the 

 hatcher out above the excluder, and 

 so a continuous succession of young 

 bees is well sustained. 



If my object is to take the honey 

 with the extractor, I tier up with a 

 surplus of extracting combs as fast 

 as the large colony needs the room 

 to store surplus. Usually, the combs 

 above the excluder will be filled with 

 honey by the time all the bees are 

 hatched out, and no system is as sure 

 to give one set of combs full of 

 honey for the extractor in the very 

 poorest seasons; and if the season is 

 propitious, the yield will be enormous 

 under proper management. 



The great economy of this system 

 is, all the colonies will produce as 

 nearly alike as can well be — a condi- 

 tion of things that never occurs in 

 any apiary swayed by the swarming 

 impulse. If my object is fancy comb 

 honey, I tier the section cases on the 

 super that contains the brood, and 

 push the bees to start all the combs 

 they can; at the close of the season 

 I extract the honey from the combs 

 in the super, and feed it back to 

 properly prepared colonies to have 

 the partly-filled sections completed. 

 The nicest honey in sections that I 

 ever produced was obtained in this 

 way. 



To feed back successfully requires 

 as much experience as any other 

 work connected with the art of pro- 

 ducing honey, but the theme is too 

 broad for a place in this connection. 



The system above described works 

 perfectly if applied immediately af- 



