1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



235 



ter, for many years back, as some of our 

 older readers know, had and are still operat- 

 ing hundreds of colonies with less than two 

 per cent of swarms. But some will say that 

 these people run for extracted honey, and 

 that they want a plan that can be used for 

 comb honey. Well, that is where the "mod- 

 ification " came in, and which we are about 

 to explain. 



In the first place, the plan involves no 

 change of hives, supers, or other fixtures. 

 It is workable with any hive or super, and 

 therein lies one of its advantages. 



The Dadants have always used large ten- 

 frame Quinby hives, the brood-frames of 

 which are 18>^X11>^, and the extracting- 

 frames the same length, but shallower. The 

 basic principle of the Dadant system of 

 swarm control, as we understand it, seems 

 to rest largely in a Jumbo-sized hive — a hive 

 having the equivalent capacity of a twelve- 

 frame Langstroth. The Dadants have con- 

 tended that the ordinary single-story eight- 

 frame Langstroth brood-nest is too small 

 for the average good queen; that bees swarm 

 because of a Jack of room; that a large brood- 

 nest and a large brood-frame give the queen 

 unlimited capacity for egg-laying. Of 

 course, bigness of brood nest is not the only 

 factor in the control of swarming. The Da- 

 dants, when the swarming season is on, see 

 that the bees have plenty of extracting- 

 combs. 



Now, it seemed to us that a two-story 

 eight-frame brood-nest operated on the Da- 

 dant plan ought to eliminate swarming be- 

 cause it is even larger than the Dadant hive, 

 and it did, as our back volumes will testify. 

 We had not a few good queens that would 

 occupy 12 and even 14 frames. All colonies 

 containing such queens were given extract- 

 ing-supers long before they were crowded 

 for room. Other queens would use ten and 

 twelve frames, though the average used no 

 more than ten frames; and what rousing 

 colonies we had! Some of them were three 

 and four stories high, and a few of them 

 were veritable "sky-scrapers." These were 

 run for extracted. 



But how about the two-story eight-frame 

 brood-nests for comb honey? These were 

 manipulated a little differently. The two 

 hive-bodies were used up till the honey flow, 

 when the upper story was removed, and the 

 best cards of brood were put into the lower 

 hive. The rest of the brood was given to 

 nuclei or to two story colonies that were not 

 up to good working strength. A half depth 

 extracting-super was put on temporarily; 

 and when the bees were nicely started in 

 this it was removed and a comb-honey su- 

 per put on instead. 



The idea of using the extracting-super 

 first was to get the bees into the habit of go- 

 ing above. To put a comb-honey super on 

 at the start, w^hen there is a large force of 

 bees, sometimes induces them to sulk and 

 loaf. This condition is the beginning of 

 swarming; and if a colony once gets into a 

 state of discontent or of swarming it is hard 

 to get it into a good working mood again. 



Sometimes we put on the strongest of the 

 two-story colonies (after being reduced to 

 one) a half-depth extracting-super and a 

 comb-honey super, both at one lime. To 

 give only one super, either comb or extract- 

 ing, is liable to crowd the brood-nest too 

 much. 



Thus we worked some colonies for extract- 

 ing, some for comb only, and some for both 

 comb and extracted. When the season be- 

 gan to taper off we would leave on only half- 

 depth extracting-supers, thus avoiding un- 

 finished sections. 



The secret of swarm control as here out- 

 lined is in having a large brood-nest up to 

 the time of the beginning of the honey-har- 

 vest. In other words, there should be so 

 much room that the colony will have no 

 thought of swarming. Subsequent condi- 

 tions should be such as to encourage work, 

 WORK, WORK, not loaf, loaf, loaf, till 

 swarming preparations are made. A colony 

 that begins to feel cramped just at the be- 

 ginning of the harvest is liable to get into 

 the swarming notion. This brood-nest may 

 be in the form of sectional or half-depth 

 brood-chambers, eight or ten frame brood- 

 chambers, providing more than one are used 

 for good queens. After the supers are given, 

 care must be used to see that the bees are 

 not cramped. 



If at any stage of the proceedings cells 

 are started, giving room or an upper story 

 may or may not do any good. When swarm- 

 ing preparations have actually been begun 

 we have scattered the brood in two or more 

 brood-chambers, and placed frames filled 

 with full sheets of foundation between each 

 of the frames of brood. A colony thus treat- 

 ed may have so much foundation to draw 

 out that it will not produce much honey. 

 It is a question whether it would not be bet- 

 ter to shake it in the first place on to empty 

 combs and run it in the regulation way for 

 comb honey. 



The plan of producing both comb and ex- 

 tracted honey on the same colony, or both 

 in the same super, is described under the 

 head of " Comb Honey " in the ABC and 

 X Y Z of Bee Culture. See the Barber and 

 the Townsend plans. 



It may be asked why we haven't said 

 much about this of late. The reader will 

 find that they have been described in the 

 A B C for years, and the description of them 

 is still there. 



Then why should we consider any other 

 plans? Because the one we have described 

 requires a good season and good queens. 

 For medium colonies run for the production 

 of comb honey some of the shook- swarm 

 plans may be better. Or, possibly, some 

 one of the schemes for shifting the flight of 

 the working force may be more practicable, 

 especially if the season is a short one. 



The season, the locality, and the man 

 should determine what plan to use. We 

 would refer the reader to our work, the A B 

 C and X Y Z of Bee Culture, under the heads 

 of ' ' Comb Honey, " " Hives, ' ' and ' ' Swarm- 

 ing," for a discussion of these plans. 



