JUNE, 1917 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



445 



open too far. I hold the lid open until the 

 bees are in, by means of a string. 

 _ When catching a swarm I push the box 

 right under it, keeping the lid open by 

 holding the string, and give the branch on 

 which the swarm has clustered a vigorous 

 push. The SAvarm having dropped in the 

 box I lower it a little, at the same time let- 

 ting go of the string, when the lid will close 

 instantly, because of the rubber bands. I 

 then fasten the lid securely with a hook and 

 eye and put the device in the shadow near 

 the place where the swarm settled and all 

 the flying bees will quickly unite with it. 



When hiving a swarm I do not like to 

 dump the bees in front of the hive on a 

 cloth or newspaper, for, on account of the 

 holes and wrinkles, the bees do not have a 

 smooth level place to walk over. For this 

 reason I made a tray of thin boards with a 

 rim about three inches high on three sides 

 of it. Two projections on the narrower 

 open side i^ermit the tray to be pushed in 

 the entrance and held right in position. 

 The weight of the bees, when dumped on it, 

 lowers the board a little, but this makes no 

 ditference ; in fact, bees always prefer run- 

 ning upward, so the drop in the board is 

 just right. There are never any stragglers 

 left behind ; and in a couple of minutes the 

 swarm-board can be taken away. Whether 

 it is to the credit of this, way of liiving 

 swarms I do not know; but for the last ten 

 years, since I have been using this tray, I 

 have never had a swarm desert its hive. 

 Soest, Holland. J. H. J. Hamelberg. 



Screened Ventilation at the Bottom to 

 Control Swarming 



Some years bees seem to put most of their 

 energy- into brood-rearing and swarming 

 rather than in gathering honey. By experi- 

 ment I have found that it is impossible to 

 keep a hive and supers too warm, so long 

 as the bees are given enough ventilation at 

 the bottom of the hive and sufficient sujDer 

 room during the swarming season. There 

 is nothing equal to prevention as a remedy 

 for swarming; but if extra ventilation, for 

 instance, is provided too late, after the bees 

 have already made their plans to swarm, 

 it is almost impossible to prevent them from 

 swarming. In the method that I shall here 

 describe, I have been able to prevent swarm- 

 ing entirely, even tho I run for comb honey. 



When my bees need one super I give 

 them two — that is, I provide one super ; but 



when they are working well in the one I 

 put another on top for extra room rather 

 than to wait until the bees really need the 

 extra one. 



The ventilator 

 the sides. 



frame showing the openings at 



I have tried providing extra ventilation 

 at the bottom by raising the hives on blocks, 

 as recommended by some, but I will never 

 do it again. I think all the bees in town 

 were in the hive in a very short time on ac- 

 count of the entrance all around. 



There is no danger of robbing if a screen 

 is used to close the openings at the side. I 

 have frames the same dimensions as the 

 hive-floors, a solid piece at the back, 1 inch 

 high, and only corner blocks at the front 

 with ^-ineh strip tacked on top of all to 

 hold the pieces in place, and to which to 

 tack the screens. When the screens are 



The screened ventilator in position. 



tacked to this strip there is a bee-tight one- 

 inch space along each side of the hive, pro- 

 viding that much extra ventilation, but with- 

 out chance for the bees to fly from the 

 sides. The hive is raised " from the floor, 



