Jl-NE. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



459 



keeping put together. The beginner must 

 always remember that there have been a 

 good many hundred thousand beekeepers 

 who have traversed the same ground before 

 him, and it is more than likely that his idea 

 is not new. One thousand one hundred 

 and ninety-four patents have been issued to 

 beekeepers for vanous hives and appliances. 

 Any man with a finger sawed off can count 

 on the fingers remaining on that one hand, 

 without the thumb, those patents which have 

 amounted to anything commercially. All 

 this does not mean that a beginner's idea 

 is useless, but it does mean that there are 

 about one thousand chances to one that his 

 plan is not as good as others described in 

 standard text-books. 



Some beginners ask, " What can I do to 

 make my bees swarm V Those having more 

 experience ask, " What can I do to keep my 

 bees from swarming?" It is natural for 

 colonies in good condition to swarm, as the 

 many articles in this number of Gleanings 

 clearly show. There are ways for making 

 increase by artificial methods; but the aver- 

 age beginner, while he should read up on 

 the subject in text-books, should not try 

 these plans until he has had a little experi- 

 ence. Increase by natural swarming is the 

 safest at first. Usually some one can be 

 found near by who will attend to the hiving. 

 If the queen is not clipped the bees are al- 

 most sure to cluster, near by, first. If she 

 is clipped slie will be found in the grass in 

 front of the hive, usually with a little knot 

 of bees with her — and the bees of the swarm 

 will return. As 

 soon as a 

 swa r m issues 

 from a hive 

 having a clip- 

 ped queen, the 

 queen should 

 be found and 

 caged, a new 

 hive put on the 

 old location 

 with its en- 

 trance facing 

 the same way, 

 equipped with 

 frames having 

 full sheets of 

 comb founda- 

 t i o n. One 

 drawn comb, 

 how ever, i s 

 quite an ad- 

 vantage. The 

 parent hive 

 should be set 

 on a new lo- 



Swarms are not always liived as easily as this. 



cation with its entrance turned the nthei' 

 way. When the bees return they will run 

 into the new hive and the queen liberated 

 among them. Queen-cells will have been 

 started on the combs in the old hive so that 

 in a few days the old colony will have a 

 new young queen. Any supers that were 

 on the old hive at the time the swarm issued 

 should be put on the new hive, on the old 

 location, containing the swarm. Under or- 

 dinary circumstances the bees will start 

 work in them with a rush. No bees work 

 with quite the vigor and enthusiasm as do 

 those of a newly hived, natural swarm. 



In comb-honey production the supers with 

 the little boxes for the storing of honey 

 are not as attractive to the bees as larger 

 combs; and their tendency, therefore, un- 

 less " baited " by a good many partly filled 

 sections held over from the year before, is 

 to crowd the honey into the brood-combs, 

 curtailing the space for the queen to lay, 

 and bringing on the crowded condition so 

 conducive to swarming. An expert can do 

 much toward overcoming this state of 

 affairs, but it is an exceedingly vexing prob- 

 lem for a beginner. 



In extraeted-honey production it is much 

 easier to control swarming, since a super can 

 be put on and the queen encouraged to lay 

 in it before the swarming time arrives. 

 Later on she can be confined to the first 

 story with a queen-excluder (Lesson 3) ; 

 and when the brood hatches in the super the 

 bees will proceed to store honey there. An 

 experienced beekeeper may be able to man- 

 age without a 

 queen - exclud- 

 eir; but it is 

 q u e s fionable 

 p r a c tiee a t 

 best, and a be- 

 ginner should 

 not attempt to 

 get along with- 

 out it. Plenty 

 of sujDer room, 

 with never a 

 chance for the 

 bees to get 

 crowded, a 1- 

 most insures 

 sueieess, other 

 conditions be- 

 ing favorable. 

 Even in ex- 

 tracted - honey 

 p r d u ction. 

 t h e entrance 

 should be as 

 lai'ge as ])ossi- 

 ble. 



