May, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



267 



lequeeuing as well as for dequeening iu 

 swarm control. This saves much time and 

 annoyance in hunting for the queens. "When 

 this method of swarm control is used in 

 localities which do not furnish a later honey 

 flow, as in most of the clover region, if in- 

 crease is not desired, the hive containing 

 the old queen may be left standing by the 

 side of the colony on the old stand for a 

 week or ten days after the division was 

 made, then these brood-chambers can be 

 piled up as supers over weaker colonies, not 

 being used to produce comb honey, paying 

 no attention to the old queens. At the close 

 of the season these brood-chambers, whicli 

 should now be filled with honey, may be 

 put back one on each hive after the comb- 

 honey supers are removed. In this way the 

 colonies are requeened, swarming is pre- 

 vented, and every colony put in a fine con- 

 dition for winter by a few simple opera- 

 tions, without the necessity of finding a 

 single queen, for the bees will take care of 

 the job of disposing of the old queens- 



WHEN AETIFICIAL swarms are made to 

 anticipate the issuing of natural swarms in 

 p r d u c ing ex- 

 Swarm Control in 

 Extracted Honey 

 Production, 



tracted honey, it 

 is not necessary 

 to set the parent 

 hive at one side, 

 as in comb-honey production; but the par- 

 ent colony and the swarm may both be left 

 in the same hive, the swarm being in the 

 new brood-chamber at the bottom of the 

 hive and the brood-chamber of parent hive 

 (having all queen-cells destroyed) being 

 placed above the supers. A queen-excluder 

 used over the lower brood-chamber prevents 

 the queen from going back to the combs of 

 brood now above the supers. This plan is 

 a variation of the Demaree plan in which 

 the chamber containing the brood is placed 

 directly above the queen-excluder, the su- 

 pers being placed on top. 



Placing the brood above the supers in 

 this way separates the old brood-chamber 

 from the new one more completely, which 

 probably reduces the chances of a swarm 

 issuing if a young queen should emerge in 

 the old brood-chamber. In fact, some bee- 

 keepers who use this method do not find it 

 necessary again to destroy the queen-cells 

 that may be built in the old brood-chamber 

 after it is put above the supers, provided 

 there are at least two full-depth extracting 

 supers between the new brood-chamber at 

 the bottom of the hive and the old brood- 

 chamber now at the top of the hive. In 

 addition to this, placing the supers directly 

 above the new brood-chamber usually re- 

 sults in the bees working in them better 

 than when they are more remote. 



When artificial swarms are made in this 

 way the new brood-chamber may be filled 

 either with empty combs or frames con- 

 taining full sheets of foundation, together 



with one empty comb. This plan for swarm- 

 eontrol is used by many successful pro- 

 ducers of extracted honey, being especially 

 adapted to conditions usually prevalent in 

 the clover region. 



A condition similar to this can be brought 

 about with but little labor in all colonies, 

 whether they are preparing to swarm or 

 not, by the following plan: If the bees are 

 wintered in single stories, add a second 

 story of empty combs, preferably dark 

 combs in which brood has been reared pre- 

 viously, adding this second story early, be- 

 fore the colonies become crowded, permit- 

 ting the queen to have a free range thru 

 both stories. At the beginning of the honey 

 flow add another extracting super as soon 

 as needed. Under these conditions the 

 queen usually abandons the lower brood- 

 chamber, working chiefly in the second 

 story. 



About a week after the beginning of the 

 honey flow or after the queen has abandoned 

 the lower brood-chamber long enough so 

 that the brood in this chamber has all been 

 sealed, put the queen into the lower brood- 

 chamber, confining her there by means of a 

 queen-excluder; add another super of empty 

 extracting combs, if needed; and, finally, 

 put the brood-chamber, which was formerly 

 the second story and which now contains 

 most of the brood, on top of the supers- _ 



The bees are now compelled to establish 

 their brood-nest anew in the lower brood- 

 chamber, which at this time usually con- 

 tains some sealed brood and much pollen. 

 They are usually rather slow in preparing 

 cells for the queen, and the new brood-nest 

 is not expanded rapidly. 



While one might think at first that con- 

 fining the queen to a single story after she 

 has had a free range of the hive would in- 

 crease the tendency to sWarm, it will be 

 seen that colonies treated in this way are 

 in a condition similar to colonies that are 

 hived on a set of empty or nearly empty 

 combs. Apparently the re-establishment of 

 the brood-nest in these combs, which have 

 been abandoned for brood-rearing, is just as 

 effective as tho these combs had been 

 brought from the shop or honey-house in- 

 stead of being a part of the hive at the 

 time of the manipulation. If the honey 

 flow is short, colonies treated in this way 

 usually go thru the season without attempt- 

 ing to swarm, but they may do so if the 

 honey flow is of long duration. 



David Eunning, Filion, Mich., gives a 

 second story early, then later puts the queen 

 below an excluder, as outlined above. About 

 ten days later he shakes the bees of the 

 lower brood-chamber, together with the 

 queen, into a new brood-chamber filled with 

 frames of foundation and one empty comb or 

 a full set of empty combs, and puts the brood 

 from which the bees have just been shaken 

 on top of the supers, thus combining the 

 two methods given above, to insure that no 

 swarms shall issue during a prolonged honey 

 flow. 



