1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



653 



ing"^of the past, through the carelessness 

 of the operator in this matter, and then the 

 plan condemned, because, at the end of the 

 season, more honey has been found in the 

 brood-chamber than in the sections, when 

 the operator alone was to blame for the 



SHAKING THE BEES IN FRONT OF THE HIVE. 



queen being injured to such an extent that 

 she could not keep the combs filled with 

 brood, as she otherwise would. Always re- 

 member that a good queen is the chief 

 source of success in all things pertaining to 

 a large yield of section honey. As fast as 

 the combs are freed from bees they are set 

 in the empty hive, at first brought, each 

 comb being set in the order it had in the old 

 hive till all are in. 



I now go to one of the colonies considered 

 too weak to tier on the third visit, take off 

 the cover, put on the queen-excluder just 

 taken off from No. 1, and on top of this I 

 set the hive of beeless brood, when the cov- 

 er is put on top of all. 



If, in shaking the bees off their combs, I 

 come across any comb which is not more 

 than one- third to one-half full of brood, the 

 same having as many empty cells as those 

 containing the brood, such a frame is kept 

 out of the hive of beeless brood, and used 

 to go in No. 2 when it is prepared the same 

 as No. 1 has been, instead of a comb taken 

 from a weaker colony, as was done when 

 fixing No. 1. As this saves time, can be 

 found in very many of the colonies, and 

 answers the purpose just as well, I am con- 

 stantly on the lookout for such during the 

 time 1 am " swarming" the colonies. 



Returning to No. 1 the bees that still ad- 

 here to the empty hive and bottom-board 

 are dislodged, so as to fall with the rest of 

 the "shook" colony, when the hive and 



bottom- board are carried to No. 2, which is 

 to go through the same process as has No. 1, 

 and so on till the whole 13 have all been 

 "swarmed," which takes far less time for 

 each one than the telling how it is done. By 

 this plan I do not have to look for the queen 

 nor overhaul the combs, nor by any other 

 plan look for queen- cells, as is generally 

 the case with most of the other ways of 

 artificial swarming. In all the other plans 

 of "shook" swarming it is recommended 

 to wait about the "swarming " till queen- 

 cells are sealed, or have eggs or larvae in 

 them. In my practice I have fcwnd that 

 this is all a myth, and it is also something 

 that is not appHcable to the work in an out- 

 apiary, with only a few visits to the same 

 each year. 



All that is necessary is to have all the col- 

 onies, to be treated, strong to overflowing 

 with bees. Then, when the time is ripe to 

 do the work, go on and shake, no matter 

 about the queen-cells, whether they have 

 them or not; only, if any are found with 

 eggs, larvfe, or pupae, in them, when the 

 combs are shaken and freed from bees, they 

 should be cut off, so they will not bother by 

 emerging in the hives above the queen ex- 

 cluder. Nor can the idea that the colony 

 that starts no queen-cells, and would not 

 swarm if let alone (the same giving better 

 results if left unshook). be tolerated or car- 

 ried out in an out- apiary wh n worked for 

 comb honey on the "few visits" plan, even 

 if this "giving better results" was the 

 case, as the liability of such colonies swarm- 

 ing at unexpected times must always be 

 counted upon. But such is not the case 

 when the apiary is worked on the plan here 

 given, for nearly all of the colonies treated 

 in this way give better results than any 

 colony which does not swarm, worked in the 

 usual way. Therefore this way of working, 

 as here given, does away with all the labor 

 required in trying to find out whether colo- 

 nies are going to swarm or not, by way of 

 looking for queen- cells once a week in using 

 the different plans that have been publish- 

 ed, such as tipping up the hives and smok- 

 ing the bees so the bottom of the combs 

 may be inspected for cells, clamps for hold- 

 ing- the sections from falling off while this 

 inspection is going on, the prying- apart of 

 divisible brood-chambers to see if queen- 

 cells are being built between, or even hav- 

 ing a "cell-detector hole" cut and fixed in 

 the back of the hive, which can be opened 

 once a day or oftener to discover if cells are 

 started on a comb, cut and fixed in such a 

 way that, if queen-cells are started in any 

 part of the hive, they will be started so 

 they can be seen from this hole; and, also, 

 all the labor of requeening, caging queens, 

 etc., used in trying to prevent swarming. 

 In fact, it supersedes any and all the plans 

 heretofore used by hundreds and thousands 

 of apiarists when working on the shook- 

 s warming plans or prevention of swarming. 

 And as it not only does away with all but a 

 minimum amount of work, and also gives 

 the greatest possible yield of section honey, 



