1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



ment, steady cold weather. I think my bees are com- 

 ing through stronger this spring than ever before: 

 at least I hope so, as I want to do more in the bee 

 business the coming season than ever before. 



J. W. Keeran. 

 Bloomlngton, Ills., Feb. 7, 1884. 



W^HAT SHAIL. WE I»0 TO PKEVENT 

 SWAKMING? 



Or "Wliat sliall \We Do after Tliey Have 

 Swarmed? 



DR. C C. MILLER'S PLAN OF MANAGING. 



^NB of my greatest difficulties is — swarming. I 

 don't know how much harm it does in the 

 way of lessening the yield of honey, but at 

 least it is a great deal of trouble. One of the most 

 successful producers of comb honey I know, says he 

 would like to have every colony he has send out a 

 prime swarm, even if he wants no increase; and 

 with his management it may be all right, but I 

 should like to be able to raise comb honey and have 

 no swarms. Failing to prevent swarming, the next 

 important item is to know what to do when swarms 

 do issue, and we do not desire increase, lam still 

 studying on this problem, by no means satisfied that 

 my plans are best, but for the benefit of the inex- 

 perienced I will give somewhat in detail what 1 do 

 with swarms. 



When a swarm issues, the queen is immediately 

 caught (all my queens are clipped), caged, and placed 

 somewhere about the hive or super (usually in the 

 upper part of the super) where her bees can take 

 care of her. No attention is paid to the flying bees 

 of the swarm; they can return to the hive at their 

 own pleasure when they find no queen is with them. 

 In case the queen is not found, thpy will likfly issue 

 again in a day or two, as the queen usually finds her 

 way back to the hive if not caught. Occasionally, 

 however, the queen may stray off and be lost entire- 

 ly, but such cases are very rare. If for any reason I 

 do not wish to keep longer the queen of any swarm- 

 ing colony, she is at once destroyed. The next day 

 after the swarm issues, or if it does not suit my con- 

 venience sooner, sometimes as late as the fifth day, 

 I go to the colony, with an empty hive placed con- 

 veniently in front, take off the super or supers and 

 place to one side, then take out the brood-frames, 

 giving each frame one good shake, so as to shake a 

 good part of the bees back into the old hive, placing 

 each frame with the remaining: bees in the empty 

 hive. This leaves the old hive on the old stand with 

 no frames, only some bees in it. Into this hive I 

 put two or three frames of comb obtained elsewhere, 

 having no unsealed brood in them, only eggs or eggs 

 and sealed brood. These two or three frames I put 

 in the south side of the hive (my hives face east), put 

 a division-board next the frames, then a dummy or 

 another division-board, leaving the rest of the hive 

 vacant. Then the supers are replaced as they were 

 before, and thejhive which now contains the brood- 

 frames is .;placed on top of all. with the entrance 

 facing the same way as the old hive, there being no 

 communication whatever between the upper and 

 lower hive. I now let the queen run down between 

 the frames among the bees in this upper hive. If 

 their own queen has been destroyed or lost I give 

 them another in the same way, taking no precau- 

 tion about introducing. The tin tag which numbers 

 the colony is changed from the lower to the upper 



hive. In three or four days more I look to see if 

 the queen is laying all right, although I do not know 

 thai this is essential. In eight or ten days from the 

 time of puttins up the colony, sometimes even 

 twelve days, I lift off every thing from the stand, 

 put the hive with the queen down on the stand, put 

 on the supers, empty out the bees from the old hive 

 in front of the one now on the stand, and the job is 

 done. In a few words, I put ihe combs with the 

 queen and enough bees to take care of them in a 

 new hive on top of the old one, where she can lay as 

 much as if all the bees were with her, and after she 

 gets well over the swarming fever put this hive 

 down on the stand. Someone may ask whether I 

 don't cut out the queen-cells. I pay not the slight- 

 est attention to them; the bees do it perfectly, with- 

 out ever missing one hidden away in some corner, 

 as I might do. This I consider a great advantage. 

 The reason for put'ing the hive on top instead of in ^ 

 some other place is that the bees may all remain at 

 the old stand when the change is made. When the 

 hive is put down, the bees which have marked the 

 upper entrance, after returning from the fields, try 

 to find an entrance on top, a little cluster is formed, 

 and soon a line of march is formed over the supers 

 down to the entrance below. I am not at all certain 

 but I may learn, within six months, some better 

 plan, and discard this entirely, but at present I 

 know of no better way. I do not know of any one 

 else who uses the same plan, except Mr. H. W.Funk, 

 of Blnomington, 111., and I am sure he did not learn 

 it from me. I should be glad to know from him if 

 there may not be some points in which he can sug- 

 gest improvements. C. C. Miller, 173-249. 

 Marengo. 111., March 5, 1881. 



Friend Miller, your plan is, I should think, 

 a good one ; but you did not tell us what you 

 do with those '' two or three frames of comb 

 obtained elsewhere," I presume likely you 

 curried them away for a nucleus, for they 

 would have queen-cells ; and after you have 

 waited more than ten days, a queen possi- 

 bly. The idea is not particularly new, ex- 

 cept that plan of putting combs and brood 

 and queen on top of the regular hive. How 

 about that empty space in one side of the 

 lower hive, and why don't they build combs 

 in there V or are they to be fastened out 

 of this empty space? Will they woik in a 

 super without their queen, and so many of 

 the brood -combs gone? 



Perhaps some of our readers may ask what 

 those figures are after your name, and I 

 shall have to tell them it is a hobby of yours, 

 and one which you ride pretty vehemently, 

 for making every one tell in a few words 

 how many bees he had the first of last May, 

 and how many he has got now. I think it 

 is a very good idea indeed ; but unless I 

 keep a standing notice, it is hard to bring 

 the brethren into a way of doing it. If 1 

 put in a standing notice, where shall T put 

 it? Perhaps right under the title to Heads 

 of Grain will do ; and suppose we make it 

 read like this: 



Our contributors are requested, when writing or 

 making reports, to indicate how extensively they 

 are engaged in bee culture, by telling us how m*iny 

 colonies of bees thev had the first of the preceding 

 Mav, and also howmanv they have at the date of 

 writing. For instance, "John Smith, 25 — •1,5," means 

 that friend S. commpiiopd the honey season on the 

 first of last May with 25 colonies, and that he has 

 now 45. 



