181 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



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AFTER-SWARMS— CAN THEY BE PREVENTED? 



" Say, Doolittle, I want to know something 

 about after- swarming. Can I have a talk 

 with you on this matter?" 



"Yes. But, Brown, after-swarms do not 

 issue during the months of February and 

 March, in this locality." 



' ' I know this talk will be a little out of 

 season in that respect; but it will be right in 

 season to such as I who wish to prepare 

 hives for increase, during the time the 

 snow is on the ground, when work at farm- 

 ing is having its slack season." 



• ' Yes, that is true. But you wish increase, 

 do you not?" 



"I am always pleased with the first (or 

 prime) swarm; but the after- swarming is oft- 

 en so long-drawn-out that it becomes a nui- 

 sance; yet so far such swarms are something 

 that I have been unable to dispense with, so I 

 want you to tell me, if you can, some method 

 for stopping them. At least, tell me some- 

 thing about them so that I can know more 

 of this matter than I now do." 



"There have been various methods given 

 for the prevention of after-swarms, such as 

 removing the old colony to a new stand as 

 soon as the prime swarm has left it, setting 

 the hive containing this new or prime swarm 

 on the stand it previously occupied; cutting 

 out all the queen-cells but one on the sixth 

 day after swarming, and hiving the after- 

 swarm in a box on top of the old hive till 

 the next morning after they came out, when 

 they are to be shaken out of the box in front 

 of the old hive, and allowed to run in so that 

 the young queens will, all but one, be destroy- 

 ed. All of the above plans have their vari- 

 ous advocates, who think* them superior to 

 any thing else, and in the hands of experi- 

 enced bee-keepers the most of them have 

 more or less value in them." 



"Have you tried these plans?" 



"Yes, I have tried every plan of which I 

 have ever read. ' ' 



" Don't you find some superior to others?" 



"Yes; and out of all the plans given, I 

 have selected two as being the ' cream ' of 

 the whole, using them for nearly or quite a 

 score of years with perfect success." 



"That sounds something like it. Would 

 you object to telling me so I can use them?" 



' ' No. I use them in accordance with 

 what I wish to do with the old colony of 

 bees. Where I wish to remove the old hive 

 to a new stand, while the swarm is in the 

 air, hiving the prime swarm on the old stand, 

 I proceed as follows: As soon as a swarm is 

 seen issuing from any hive I get another 

 hive, which has been previously prepared, 

 having the desired number of frames in it, 



taking it to the hive from which the swarm 

 caiTif. ' 



' ' Excuse my breaking in. But do you use 

 empty frames?" 



" Not generally. I prefer frames filled 

 with foundation for this, or, better still, 

 frames filled with empty combs." 



"Thank you for explaining this. I shall 

 have to use foundation. But go on; you had 

 the hive of frames at the hive casting the 

 prime swarm." 



"These frames are now taken from this 

 hive and set near the other, when I open the 

 hive and take out the frames of brood, put- 

 ting them in the hive I have just emptied. If 

 these combs of brood have many bees on 

 them, and the weather is warm, I shake a 

 part of the bees off in front of the hive as 

 they are lifted from their place preparatory 

 to placing them in the hive I brou ght with me 

 after which each comb is set in t he new hive 

 If few bees, or the weather is cool, no bees 

 are shaken oflF. Having these combs of 

 brood in the new hive, the same is set a rod 

 or two away. ' ' 



"Why do you set it thus?" 



' ' So that the returning swarm may not 

 find it; for should they do this they might be 

 inclined to go on this brood instead of going 

 into the hive we wish them in." 



" I see." 



"I now put the frames brought with me 

 into the hive I took the brood from, and re- 

 arrange it, by which time the swarm will be 

 returning, if the queen has a clipped wing, 

 as all queens should have where natural 

 swarming is practiced. If the queen is not 

 clipped, then the swarm is hived in this pre- 

 pared hive on the old stand, the same as any 

 swarm is hived." 



"What do you do with the combs of brood 

 and bees set a rod or two away?" 



"I set these on a stand where I wish a 

 colony to stay, and adjust the entrance to 

 suit their wants, when they are left till the 

 next morning." 



" Give me the reason for this." 



"By this time nearly, if not quite, all of 

 the old or field bees which stayed on the 

 combs have gone back with the swarm, or 

 to their old location, so that the young bees 

 which remain are ready to accept any queen 

 or queen-cell that I may give them. ' ' 



"Ah! I see." 



' ' I now go to some nuclei which I may 

 have, and take their queen, if I wish the 

 colony to have a laying queen; or to the 

 queen-nursery and get a virgin; or, if I have 

 neither, I get a ripe queen-cell and give to 

 them. " 



"Don't you use any precaution in intro- 

 ducing where you give a queen?" 



"I introduce as follows: Upon opening 

 the hive I take out one of the central combs, 

 holding the same up before me. As the 

 bees are all young, they will at once take to 

 filling themselves with honey; and while 

 they are so doing I let the queen run on the 

 comb where there are a few cells of honey 

 not occupied with other bees eating out of 

 them, when the queen will commence to fill 



