1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



475 



Gleanings for a description of the plan I 

 have spoken of, that, briefly stated, it is 

 this: All colonies are arranged in pairs; and 

 if the season is favorable a v^eek or ten days 

 before the swarrhing season comes on, put a 

 set of frames containing foundation on one 

 of these colonies, and on the other a case of 

 sections. If some honey is coming in these 

 will be partly drawn by the time cells ap- 

 pear. Care must be exercised lest brood be 

 put in the partly worked-out combs. As 

 soon as you are ready, move one of these 

 hives on to a new bottom-board and put the 

 partly drawn comb on the old board, and on 

 this put the case of sections taken from off 

 the other colony. Now close up the hive 

 and look up one of the queens in either of 

 the old hives; shake her and a few bees into 

 the new hive; put the comb back, and move 

 both old hives to new stands. As soon as 

 the old bees have been mostly drawn from 

 the old hives, give the queenless one a young 

 laying queen, and the work is done. But if 

 no increase is wanted, put the queenless one 

 on top of the other. It is not necessary to 

 pay any attention to these young bees for a 

 week; but at the end of that time examine; 

 and if there are any cells, destroy them or 

 brush part of the young bees into working 

 colonies— no jumping, no shaking, no moth- 

 erless colonies, and only one after-examina- 

 tion, and such a colony for strength! 

 Vigo, Texas. 



[I have looked up the reference given by 

 our correspondent, but discover only one 

 point of similarity between his and the Sib- 

 bald plan— namely, the catching of flying 

 bees from other hives. Besides the points 

 of difference he mentions, there is no jump- 

 ing of one hive over or around the other; 

 but the hives that contain the flying bees 

 are moved entirely away. It is not much 

 wonder that I did not recall the similarity, 

 for they are alike in only one feature. 



As to the merits of the Chambers plan, I 

 am of the opinion that the average bee- 

 keeper will succeed better with this than 

 with the other, because the hives that sur- 

 render their flying bees to one on the old 

 stand are taken entirely away, thus avoid- 

 ing any confusion of entrances as might be 

 the case with the Sibbald plan. — Ed.] 



THE SIBBALD PLAN. 



Modified Somewhat by Putting in Three or 



Four Frames of Brood to Keep the Old 



Hive from Swarming. 



BY J. W. GUYTON. 



I will say, Mr. Editor, that I tried the 

 Sibbald plan two years ago and last year, in 

 a modified form however. I put in three 

 and four combs of brood, and as many emp- 

 ty combs as I had, or filled out the comple- 

 ment with foundation starters. My reason 

 for taking three or four combs of brood 

 was to get enough of the young adhering 



bees to prevent a swarm from issuing from 

 the oH hive. I set the new hive about one 

 foot from the old hive to the side, facing 

 the same way on the stand of the old colony. 



I changed the old hive over every week. 

 I made the change about an hour before 

 sunset, so only a few bees would change 

 hives at a time. I did this to prevent the 

 bees from interfering with the queens in 

 either hive. I did not get any more section 

 honey by my plan the first trial, and made a 

 signal failure last season. I think I see my 

 mistake now from your interpretation of 

 Mr. Sibbald's plan. My idea was to make 

 a new colony and to get most of the field 

 bees in the new hive, and to reduce the in- 

 clination to swarm. By my plan I suc- 

 ceeded in curtailing the swarming impulse, 

 but I kept the working force balanced after 

 the first week, which was wrong, if I should 

 get section honey in the new hive. I also 

 put a super on the old colony after removing 

 the one that was there first. 



Levita, Tex. 



EXPERIENCES WITH THE SIBBALD NON- 

 SWARMING METHOD. 



Placing the Old Hive behind the New One, with 

 the Entrance Facing the Other Way. 



BY HAROLD DAVENES. 



I am pleased to be able to give you my ex- 

 periences during a test of the non-swarming 

 article on page 358 of your paper, having 

 tried the method in the spring of 1902 and 

 1903. On the stand where No. 1 stood I 

 place No. 2. No. 1 is now put to one side 

 or back of No. 2, at least two feet, with the 

 entrance pointing in the other direction. 

 Now from No. 1, if increase is desired, I 

 take two frames of brood and put them in 

 hive No. 2, with two or three frames of 

 foundation and division-boards on the out- 

 side. I now cage a young queen just begin- 

 ning to lay. and place her between the 

 frames. I found in many instances the de- 

 sire to swarm was not wholly checked in 

 No. 2, the newly made swarm absconding 

 with one of their young queens, leaving a 

 handful of bees in the hive for my trouble. 

 The super of No. 1 is put on No. 2, and the 

 trick is done. 



In about three days I move No. 1 up close 

 to No. 2, with the entrance all the time in 

 the other direction to that of No. 2. In 

 about ten days I take two f strips and raise 

 the hive-body from the bottom-board of No. 

 2, making an entrance both back and front 

 of the hive for warm weather. No. 1 is 

 now removed to a new location, the young 

 field workers left behind entering the rear 

 of No. 2. If I were to jump No. 1 over No. 

 2 the entrance could then be in the same di- 

 rection as No. 2. 



In 1903 I tried this on a few stands. No. 

 1 was moved to one side as before, giving 

 No. 2 a frame of brood to play with. The 



