350 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



The Cause of Swarming 



J. E. Hand's article in the July 15lli issue 

 for 191G has inspired me to set forth some 

 of the causes of swarming' as 1 see them. 



It should not be necessary for me to 

 say that swarming- is only obedience to a 

 law of nature, the law of reproduction. 

 Many of the writers on swarm control have 

 seemed to disregard this, yet it is a law that 

 nu;st be followed by all living- things or tlu' 

 species becomes extinct. In most higher 

 forms of animal life, sexual relations have 

 a direct bearing upon reproduction. In 

 case of bees this relation is only indirect. 



In many forms of life individuals can 

 exist alone, but not so with bees, as their 

 .existence depends upon their ability to 

 maintain a group sufficiently large to pro- 

 vide for their nerds and maintain organi- 

 zation as a perfect unit. Swarming or re- 

 l)roduction occurs only when every need of 

 the unit has been provided and wlien there 

 is a surplus of bees sufficient to establisli 

 the new unit without impairing the exist- 

 ence of the parent unit, or what we call 

 the parent colony. 



That the bees' great es' mission is the 

 fertilization of plant life thru the distribu- 

 tion of pollen seems sure, for the high tide 

 of bee life comes at the high tide of bloom- 

 ing plant life and ebbs with its failure. 

 With the first flowers of spring, activity be- 

 gins within the hive and breeding is im- 

 mediate. The more the flowers bloom the 

 faster the numbers of bees increase until 

 the hive becomes overpopulated. 



The presence of nectar or pollen in the 

 flowei-s is the inducement nature offers the 

 bees to make their visits, and more visits 

 are made when the nectar is scanty than 

 when it is bountiful, hence the less induce- 

 ment for more bees and the less tendency to 

 breed rapidly. As the nectar increases, 

 breeding is increased accordingly. 



When a colony reaches the .swarming 

 period the bees mav be said to have reached 

 the zenith of their activity, foi- at this 

 point tlie hive is well provided with brood, 

 the majority of which has been sealed. 

 Thus there has been an additional fore? put 

 to idleness, as the nurse bees have been 

 relieved of their activity in feeding the 

 multitude of larvae, which were a constant 

 care while the queen has been hurrying tlie 

 work of filling all available space with 

 eggs. She too lias been relieved of the 

 heaviest of her burdens and her labors con- 

 sist in filling the cells that liatch from day 

 to day, with eggs. There is lit lie a\ailable 



V. H. Eckbaring, proprietor of " Sunrise Apiary." 



room in which to store, more bees are hatch- 

 ing daily, and idleness beg-ins to set its 

 pace with the colony, due to no fault of the 

 bees. Their desire to get busy culminates 

 in the sudden appearance of queen-cell cups 

 which are at once supplied with eggs that 

 a new mistress of the hive may be pro- 

 vided. Of course when the swarm issues 

 the bees are accompanied by the old queen, 

 tlie mother of the whole family. 



From day to da}^ the congestion becomes 

 steadily worse, as the young queens develop 

 in their cells and idleness becomes greater 

 as the days go by until a part of the bees 

 are forded to " hang out." This hanging- 

 out is Avidely known as the sign of swarm- 

 ing, yet few have stopped to consider the 

 cause of the sign. Eventually the time ar- 

 rives when it is useless for idleness to con- 

 tinue any longei-; and as all i)reparations 

 for the safety of the parent colony have 

 been completed by the maturing queen-cells, 

 amid great excitement the bees swarm out, 

 forming the new unit. The queen among 

 the rest joins in Ihe rush and within a 



