May. 19-21 



GI. EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



I 



S 



TALKS TO 



By the 



N the spring' 

 wlieii condi- 

 tions are fa- 

 V r a b 1 e for 

 brooil - roaring, 

 the bees will in- 

 crease the 

 amount of tlioir 

 brood with sur- 

 prising rapidity 



until they may Ikivc .'h uinny ;is Id to 15 

 combs fairly well filled with brood. Such 

 extensive brood-rearing does not last loug. 

 and many colonies do not roach more ttian 

 seven or eight combs of brood, even at the 

 height of spring brood-rearing. As this brood 

 emerges the colonies soon become so strong 

 that,if extra room is not given, the bees 

 may not all be able to stay within the hive 

 during warm night's, but may chister in 

 large masses on the outside. 



This is the time that the instinct to swarm 

 is aroused in the colony, and the period of 

 most extensive brood-rearing in the spring 

 is usually followed by swarming. Beekeep- 

 ers speak of this as the swarming season. 

 While colonies may swarm later in the sea- 

 son if similar conditions are present, most 

 of the swarming of the season occurs as 

 a climax to the great expansion of brood- 

 rearing in the spring. 



How Bees Prepare for Swarming. 



The rearing of drones is probably a re- 

 mote and indefinite step in the preparation 

 for swarming; but, so far as' the beekeeper 

 is able to see, the first definite preparation 

 the colony makes is that of starting queen- 

 cells. 



In some of the southern States, queen-cells 

 built preparatory to swarming may bo found 

 in some of the strongest colonies as early 

 as March and April, but in the North they 

 usuallv are not built until Mav or Juno. 



BEGINNERS 



Editor 



yueen-cells lieing liuilt. 



Queen-cells are usually built along the lower 

 edge of the comb and are so constructed that 

 the opening of the cells is downward, thus 

 making these cells nearly vertical instead 

 of nearly horizontal, as are the worker-cells. 

 Frequently partially built queen-cells or 

 "cell cups," which are empty, may be found 

 along the lower edge of the combs. These 

 are sometimes built long before eggs are 

 placed in them in preparation for swarming, 

 and are therefore not necessarily significant 

 as indicating a desire to swarm. Finally sev- 

 eral of these cell cups are built and' eggs 

 are laid in them. This means that the col 

 ony is now definitely preparing to swarm 

 unless the queen is old and failing, in which 

 case it may mean that the bees are rearing 



207 



another quoon to 

 take her place. 

 "With normal col- 

 onies having a 

 normal queen, 

 the starting of 

 q u e e n - (• o 1 1 s 

 means that a 

 swarm may ])(> 

 expected to issue 

 eiglit or nine days from the time the eggs 

 were laid in the queen-cells. 



The beginner can follow the ontiro pro- 

 gram, as carried out by the bees, by watch 

 ing the development "of these queen -cells. 

 Usually the swarm issues at about the time 

 the more advanced of these queen-cells arc 

 capped, tho Italian bees sometimes swarm 

 earlier, and bad weather may compel the 

 bees to wait until later. 



Prime Swarms and After-Swarms. 

 When the swarm issues under these con- 

 ditions the old queen goes along, leaving be- 

 hind the immature, young queens in their 

 cells. Enough bees stay in the old hive to 

 take care of the brood,' which at this time 

 is emerging so rapidly that the parent col- 

 ony soon has quite a force of bees again. 

 If the prime swarm issued on schedule time 

 (when the first queen-cells were capped), an 

 after-swarm may be expected from the par- 

 ent colony about eight days later, the 

 after-swarm being accompanied by one of 

 the recently emerged young queens. If tho 

 beekeeper does not interfere to prevent it, 

 usually several after-swarms issue, one com- 

 ing out every day or two, until the colony 

 is so depleted that there are no longer bees 

 enough to divide up among the remaining 

 young queens. Usually but one of these 

 young queens is at large in the hive at a 

 time, the others being held prisoners within 

 their cells, tho sometimes two or more 

 young queens may go out with an after- 

 swarm. Finally, when no more swarms can 

 be sent out, all but one of the young queens 

 are killed, the surviving one being destined 

 to become the now mother of the colony. 

 Swarming Undesirable. 

 If the bees are permitted to carry out 

 their own program completely as to swarm- 

 ing, it usually means a loss of the honey 

 croj) from the colonies that swarm, since 

 the great army of workers which filled the 

 hive to overflowing at the beginning of the 

 honey flow is dissipated by swarming. The 

 bees should not be permitted to divide their 

 working force just before or during tho 

 honey flow, and the beginner must learn to 

 prevent this. 



Clipping the Queen's "Wings. 

 Preparatory to taking care of any swarms 

 that may issue, it is advisable for the be- 

 ginner to find the queen in each hive and 

 clip off the greater portion of the wings on 

 one side. This is to prevent the queen from 

 flying when a swarm issues, thus giving the 

 beekeeper control of the swarm if it should 

 choose to cluster in the top of a high tree 



