664 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTrRE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 



" What causes bees to swarm and how can 

 it be prevented 1 " 



Well, I am just foolish enough to believe 

 that the swarming- of bees is due to the same 

 reason that explains the sitting of certain 

 " biddies " amongst a flock of hens. And 

 allow me to say right here that, when any 

 colony of bees get the swarming fever, the 

 stopping of their swarming is about as pro- 

 voking to the apiarist as is the " breaking 

 up of a setting hen " to the man who is 

 making the production of eggs his means of 

 livelihood. Once in a while there is a hen 

 that one can frighten from her nest by 

 suddenly throwing an old blanket over her 

 and giving a terrific yell at the same time, 

 but the majority may be taken off the nest 

 and they will " set " on a board or on the 

 floor or even on their roost. And so it is 

 with the bees. Once they get the swarming 

 fever, the majority of the colonies seem very 

 determined. With one the queen-cells nearly 

 ready to seal may be cut, and the bees will 

 give up the swarming; but with the major- 

 ity it is of no use whatever. Swarm they 

 will, or else " sulk " during the time of 

 honey harvest so that they are of little good. 

 All animated nature seems to have heard the 

 mandate "Multiply and replenish the earth ;" 

 and why should bees be an exception ? 



The presence of a large amount of brood 

 seems to be the main cause leading to 

 swarming, especially where this is combined 

 with a brood space a little under the capac- 

 ity of the queen. Under such conditions, and 

 a yield of nectar a little more than sufficient 

 for the feeding of this brood, so that the 

 egg-laying capacity of the queen is becoming 

 more and more encroached upon by the 

 storing of this nectar in the brood-combs 

 through the failure in putting on the surplus 

 receptacles at just the right time by the 

 apiarist, swarming is bound to come, unless 

 a sudden dearth of nectar of long duration 

 occurs. 



There are two remedies for such a state of 

 affairs, the first of which I now consider 

 preferable. Do not allow such a state of 

 affairs to exist. Prevention of the swarming 

 fever is much more preferable than a cure, 

 inasmuch as it brings much better results. 

 Wihen we have reason to believe that the 

 brooding capacity of any queen is about to 

 be encroached upon for any reason, jiist 

 then is the time for putting a queen-exclud- 

 er on top of the hive the colony has so far 

 occupied, and over the excluder another hive 



of the same capacity filled mostly with 

 frames of empty comb. Unless there is an 

 abundance of honey below, it is better to 

 have one-fifth of the comb capacity given 

 containing honey, so that the bees will con- 

 sider this upper hive their " store room," 

 and immediately commence to give the queen 

 the needed room for her eggs by removing 

 the most if not all of the honey from the 

 brood-combs to those above. This extra room 

 not only stops any encroachment on the egg- 

 laying of the queen, but also gives the bees 

 a chance to " spread out " at night when all 

 have returned from the fields, and in this 

 way the swarming fever is held in abeyance 

 for. from two to three weeks longer than it 

 otherwise would be, or until both hives are 

 well filled almost to crowding with mature 

 bees, and the rush of nectar from the clover 

 or buckwheat fields has commenced. Now 

 is our time for action again. The upper 

 story should now be put in place of the 

 lower one, and the sections or extracting 

 combs put on as the case may be. Then the 

 queen and all the bees should be shaken 

 from the brood-eombs they are occupying, 

 thus consolidating the whole force of bees in 

 the hive they had previously been occupying 

 as a " store room," and the hive of beeless 

 brood given to some nucleus or weaker colo- 

 ny. If the surplus apartment is of sections, 

 some of those in the super immediately 

 above the " store room " should be full of 

 comb left over from the previous season. In 

 this way the bees take the hint at once, that 

 their store room is still above. The swarm- 

 ing fever is still kept in abeyance, the honey 

 removed to the sections to give place to eggs, 

 and this removal supplemented by the nectar 

 coming in from the fields causes the sections 

 to be filled as if by magic, together with 

 satisfied bees and a more than satisfied 

 apiarist. 



The other remedy is, when the swarming 

 fever has prevailed till queen-cells are well 

 under way, or the colony has swarmed and 

 the swarm returned, remove every brood- 

 comb having any brood in it and replace 

 with empty combs, or at least those having 

 no brood. While a little honey seems to do 

 no harm, a little brood left often upsets the 

 whole thing, for the colony is apt to start 

 queens-cells upon it and then swarm. The 

 brood-combs that are removed can be used 

 as was the beeless brood and thus any weak 

 colony can be brought into a profitable con- 

 dition, both colonies doing fairly good work 

 for themselves and the apiarist. 



