GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



C 



GLEANED BY ASKING 



Geo. S. Demuth 



322 



QUESTION. 

 — When should 

 I give a sec- 

 ond brood- 

 chamber to build 

 up my colonies in 

 the spring, and 

 when should I un- 

 pack ? 



T B. Stauffer. 

 Ohio. 



Answer. — This depends upon how strong 

 tlie bees are in the spring and how rapidly 

 they build up. The second story should be 

 given as soon as or just before the bees 

 need extra room. If the colonies have win- 

 tered well and are well supplied with stores, 

 tliis should be early in May in your locality. 

 It is well to leave the bees packed until the 

 latter part of May, but it will be necessary 

 to enlarge the entrances before that time 

 to suit the needs of the colonies. 



Swarming Out of Newly Hived Swarms. 

 Question.- — Why should I have so much trouble 

 to get my swarms to stay in the hive? I clipped 

 the queen's wings so she had to stay, but she 

 crawled out repeatedly until the swarm became 

 utterly bewildered. Frank Switz. 



New York. 



Answer. — Newly hived swarms sometimes 

 swarm out because the hive is too hot or 

 too small, and sometimes when no cause for 

 their dissatisfaction can be found. If the 

 hive is left near where the swarm clustered, 

 apparently the returning scouts induce the 

 swarm to" leave and go to the new home 

 which they have selected. For this reason 

 the usual recommendation is that the hive 

 be moved to its place in the apiary as soon 

 as the swarm has entered or that the swarm 

 be carried to the hive already located in the 

 apiary. Swarming out because of discom- 

 fort can be prevented by placing an empty 

 hive-body below the new brood-chamber for 

 two or three days, shading the hive and pro- 

 viding complete ventilation. The empty 

 hive ready to receive the swarms should be 

 kept in the shade. 



Prevention of After-swarms. 

 Question. — We placed the first swarm on the 

 old stand to get all the field bees and moved the 

 old hive away, but without success. Two more 

 swarms came out. What caused the failure? 

 Illinois. Geo. H. Proelich. 



Answer. — If you moved the parent colony 

 to its new location at the time you hived 

 the "first swarm, it is not at all surprising 

 that they swarmed again. The parent col- 

 ony should be left close by the swarm for 

 six or seven days, then moved away with 

 the least possible disturbance while the bees 

 are working freely in the fields and prefer- 

 ably early in the afternoon while the young 

 bees are out for a playflight. This robs the 

 parent colony of most of its bees just before 

 the young queens begin to emerge, making 

 the colony too weak to swarm. If the parent 

 hive is moved away at the time of hiving 

 the prime swarm or even a few days later, 

 it has time to regain sufficient strength to 

 swarm. If the prime swarm was delayed 



1 



May, 1922 



by bad weather, 

 of course the 

 parent colony 

 must be moved 

 away sooner; 

 and if the prime 

 swarm issued be- 

 fore any of the 

 queen-cells were 

 sealed, as some- 

 times happens especially with Italians, the 

 parent hive should be moved away later. If 

 the hive is moved away when the bees are 

 not flying or if the colony is greatly dis- 

 turbed in moving, it will not be sufficiently 

 depleted to prevent after-swarming. This 

 method of preventing after-swarms is diffi- 

 cult when the hives are close together in 

 rows, but practically never fails when prop- 

 erly carried out. 



The Use of Queen Traps in Swarming. 

 Question. — Is putting a queen trap on every 

 hive during the swarming season a sure way to 

 stop swarming or is a lot of super room sufficient to 

 do this ? Charles Dalrymple. 



New York. 



Answer. — The queen trap does not pre- 

 vent swarming. It catches the queen when 

 the swarm issues, and thus prevents the 

 swarm from leaving and makes it easy to 

 hive the swarm. Plenty of super room at 

 the right time and in the right place greatly 

 helps in reducing swarming but does not al- 

 ways prevent it, especially if comb honey is 

 being produced. 



Clipping Queen of After-swarm. 



Question. — We have a colony of bees that 

 swarmed twice this season; so we clipped the 

 queen's wings, that they might not swarm again. 

 They do not seem to work so well as they did. 

 What can -be wrong with them ? 



New York. M. E. Copeland. 



Answer. — If you clipped the queen's wings 

 soon after the second swarm issued, you 

 probably did this before this young queen 

 had taken her mating flight. This would 

 result in listlessness and finally in the dwin- 

 dling and death of the colony, unless you 

 supply them with a queen later. The colony 

 could not raise another queen at that time, 

 for they have no larvae from which to raise 

 one. Of course, the bees may have quit 

 working so well because the honey flow is 

 over. 



Increase Without Reducing Honey Crop. 



Question. — How can I double the number of my 

 colonies this season and not impair my honey 

 crop ?. John Smaill. 



Quebec. 



Answer. — Although your question sounds 

 like a paradox, there are conditions under 

 wliicli increase can be made without decreas- 

 ing the honey crop, sometimes even increas- 

 ing it; but, as a rule, increase is made at the 

 expense of the surplus honey. In localities 

 having a relatively late honey flow, such as 

 the buckwheat region, some parts of the 

 alfalfa region, and in some of the southern 

 states, the colonies can sometimes be di- 

 vided six weeks before the main honey flow, 

 resulting in practically doubling the crop 



