G I. K A N I N G i3 I N BEE C U T. T U R E 



June, 1920 



be carefully handled and held in the same 

 position in which they were hanging in the 

 hive. If no increase is wanted, tear down 

 all queen-cells about eight days after plac- 

 ing above, and leave the brood to hatch 

 right where it is, thus increasing the origi- 

 nal colony. When giving this plan earlier 

 in our talks, we suggested putting the hive 

 of brood immediately above the excluder; 

 but now during the honey flow when it is 

 more difficult to prevent swarming, there 

 should be at least two supers of partly 

 empty combs between the hive of brood 

 and the new hive in order to make the bees 

 of the upper brood nest feel more queenless, 

 and therefore raise a nicer lot of queen-cells, 

 and also to prevent the nurse bees supplied 

 with royal jelly from going below and start- 

 ing queen-cells in the lower brood-chamber. 

 Management for Comb-honey Production. 

 At the opening of the honey flow the bees, 

 the queen, and the brood are crowded into 

 one story and the other removed; then two 

 comb-honey supers are given to the colony. 

 The extra brood may be given to a weak 



When Ijait sections are used in the supers in comb- 

 honey production, the queen sometimes goes above 

 and raises brood thus spoiling some of the sections. 

 Some beekeepers use a queen-excluder between the 

 supers and brood-chamber to prevent the queen from 

 entering the supers. 



colony or may be used to form a nucleus, a 

 queen-cell or queen being introduced. As 

 already explained, it is more difficult in 

 comb-honey production to get the bees to 

 work in the sujicrs than is the case when 

 producing extracted honey. In order to get 

 the bees started to work in the sections, the 

 best plan for the beginner, provided he is 

 able to obtain a few sections of drawn comb 

 from a neighboring beekeeper, is to place 

 such sections of comb in the center or at the 

 sides of the supers. As soon as the founda- 

 tion is drawn into comb and the bees have 

 lilled the supers about one-third full of 

 honey a new super is given, it being placed 

 under the other two. Other supers should 

 be given as fast as needed, the super which 



is nearest filled with honey being placed 

 second above the brood-chamber. The empty 

 one should always be placetl next to the 

 brood-chamber until near the end of the 

 flow when the bees should be kept more 

 crowded for super room in order that they 

 may finish those already begun. If neces- 

 sary to give another super late in the flow, 

 it should be placed at the top so that the 

 bees will finish the other supers first. Each 

 super should be removed from the hive as 

 soon as completely sealed. When a super 

 is ready to be taken off, it should be placed 

 above the other supers with a bee-escape 

 beard just under it. 



By tearing down queen-cells even after 

 they have appeared two or three times, one 

 may sometimes prevent the colonies from 

 swarming and keep them at work. If not, 

 he may find it a help to remove a few 

 frames of brood. (These may be used for 

 building up a weak colony, or for making a 

 nucleus.) If the bees, however, persist in 

 building queen-cells, it would perhaps be 

 just as well for the beginner to allow them 

 to swarm and hive them in the usual way. 



When swarming takes place during the 

 honey flow, it is to the beekeeper's advan- 

 tage to keep as much of the working force 

 of bees together as possible. To bring this 

 about, all but the best queen-cell are torn 

 down, and the old brood-chamber with bot- 

 tom and cover is not moved to a different 

 part of the apiary, but is placed boside the 

 new hive, with its entrance in the opposite 

 direction so that the returning swarm will 

 be prevented from finding its entrance and 

 will, accordingly, enter the new hive on the 

 old stand. During the following week the 

 old hive is gradually turned about, moving 

 it a little each time until at the end of the 

 week it is close beside the new hive and fac- 

 ing in the same direction. Then during the 

 warm part of the day while the bees are at 

 work in the fields, the old hive may be mov- 

 ed to a new location, a rod or more away, 

 the hive being moved very gently so that 

 the bees will not realize the changed posi- 

 tion of their hive. The bees from this hive 

 when returning from the fields will then go 

 back to the old location and help increase 

 the colony in the new hive. And this colo- 

 ny in the new hive is, of course, the one 

 that has the supers and the one that will 

 store the honey. 



Swarming. 



A person who really wants increase may 

 very well allow natural swarming in either 

 comb or extracted honey production, provid- 

 ed that during the swarming season there is 

 someone at home to hive such swarms. For 

 his benefit we shall explain how one may 

 know when a colony is likely to swarm, how 

 they swarm from the hive, and how the bee- 

 keeper should liive them. 



Colonies That Swarm. 



Strong colonies that cluster on the front 

 of their hives when other colonies are at 

 work or those that start queen-cells are like- 

 ly to swarm soon, unless some attention is 



