June. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



451 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



used (lie plan with queens that have been in 

 the mail from two to five days. 



Moorestown, N. J. J. M. Donaldson. 



No Swarming, tho the Bees in the Lo- 

 cality were Swarm-mad 



Early in the spring I go thru my yards 

 and see that all colonies have plenty of 

 stores, enough to last four weeks. As soon 

 as brood-rearing starts in earnest I sjDread 

 the brood in the strongest colonies that I 

 think can take care of it after it has been 

 spread. Then I select the strongest colo- 

 nies for comb-honey production and keep 

 building up the rest for extracted honey. 



As soon as the strongest colonies begin 

 to be crowded, I take a ten-frame super, full 

 depth, tilled with full sheets of foundation ; 

 remove half of the brood and combs from a 

 strong colony, shove all the brood to the 

 center of the hive, leaving the queen below^ 

 and fill in the rest of the space with full 

 sheets of foundation. I place the rest of 

 the brood and combs in the center of the 

 super and set this on top of the colony with 

 a queen-excluder between. This I usually 

 do about the first of May. 



In about four weeks all the brood will 

 have hatched in the super. Then I remove 

 it and put two shallow comb-honey supers 

 on the hive. I shake all the bees from the 

 combs of the super removed, in front of the 

 hive, then cany this super of combs to one 

 of the hives intended for extracted honey. 

 I put two or three combs of brood from 

 this extracted-honey colony into the super 

 above, replacing with empty combs below. 

 If there is any tendency to swarm, this 

 treatment certainly stops it. Furthermore, 

 by this means I keep the strongest colonies 

 busy drawing combs for the weaker colonies, 

 while they are building up a working force. 



By this time the white clover is beginning 

 to yield nectar, and I have all colonies in 

 good shape for the harvest. I have no 

 further trouble with the swarming fever 

 from those that are run for extracted honey ; 

 but I have to watch those run for comb 

 honey and keep the bees provided with 

 plenty of super room. I use full sheets of 

 foundation in the sections and two bait sec- 

 tions for each super. 



As the weather becomes sultiy I raise the 

 hives from the bottom-boards with cleats 

 about half an inch thick, giving plenty of 

 ventilation from below. That is a wonder- 

 ful help in keeping down the swarming 



fever. Of course care must be used not to 

 overdo the ventilation. 



I have used this plan for two years and 

 have never had any swarms, in spite of the 

 fact that last year the bees in this locality 

 seemed to be swarm-mad, some colonies 

 swarming as often as four and even five 

 times, and giving no surplus, while I se- 

 cured an average of 100 pounds per colony. 

 I aim to keep ahead of the bees at all times 

 ■ — in other words, to do something before 

 the swarming fever gets started. I never 

 cut cells, but at times I give bottom ventila- 

 tion. If any cells appear I remove two or 

 three frames of brood and replace with full 

 sheets of foundation, using the brood to 

 make increase or build up weak colonies if 

 I happen to have any at that time. 



Marion, 111. D. Pride. 



[At the conclusion of an experiment a 

 beekeeper should consider whether the re- 

 sults are because of, in spite of, or inciden- 

 tal to the manipulation. He should also 

 distinguish between cause and effect — of 

 surrounding circumstances. Success in 

 swarm prevention when all the bees in the 

 locality are " swarm-mad " is a feather in 

 any man's cap. — Ed.] 



'I'M.' t;i(i iiiat (i A. I ; i \n l^ha w's apiary is locafpd 

 only about -10 I'l rt fruiu the sidewalk of a busy 

 street of Sharon, Pa., doesn't prevent him from mak- 

 ing a success of it — nor the bees from swarming. 



