910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



queen-cells on a comb of brood given to 

 them, is the most frequently raised objection 

 to these shaken swarms. 



If we shake or brush all the bees of a col- 

 ony with the queen into a hive and set it on 

 a new stand the old bees will return to the 

 parent hive on the old stand; and as such a 

 swarm, containing young bees only, will nev- 

 er think of swarming out or starting queen- 

 cells, we can give to this swarm capped or 

 uncapped brood. If the same swarm is set 

 on the old stand, and the parent colony on 

 the new one, the bees act differently. The 

 old bees returning from the field, and find- 

 ing a nearly empty brood-chamber, are very 

 uneasy; and if the swarming impulse is al- 

 ready incited they will very probably swarm 

 out or make preparation to swarm. Some 

 of the old bees may enter neighboring hives 

 and unite with them; even the queen may 

 be killed in the general disturbance. To 

 avoid this, at least one frame of mostly un- 

 sealed brood should be given to the swarm. 

 This will keep the colony together. 



Whether this frame of brood can remain 

 with the swarm depends on circumstances. 

 Some races or strains of bees are more in- 

 clined to swarm than others. In some local- 

 ities the bees swarm considerably more than 

 in others. Some years are more favorable 

 for swarming than others. Last, but not 

 least, if the colonies are always kept in 

 small hives they are more inclined to swarm 

 than if large hives are used during develop- 

 ment of the colony and during swarming 

 time. At such times, which are favorable 

 for swarming, a large part of the shaken 

 swarms, if we let them alone, will swarm 

 out or will make preparations to swarm, 

 and refuse to do much work. If, besides 

 the brood, some honey is given to the shaken 

 swarm the probability of swarming out is 

 still greater; and if the old colony has al- 

 ready started queen-cells the shaken swarm 

 is nearly sure to swarm out. To avoid all 

 this the brood-comb must be removed the 

 next morning after making the swarm, and 

 then we shall have no m^re trouble. 



At other times, if the bees are not inclined 

 to swarm, the brood- comb can be left with 

 the swarm; but the swarm should be exam- 

 ined the following day. If some cells are 

 built of the worker size, everything will go 

 on all right; but if the swarm did not build 

 at all, or made some drone combs, the brood 

 must be removed at once or the colony will 

 swarm out soon. 



4. Sometimes the reason for swarming out 

 is that the hive is too small for the swarm, 

 and is overheated by the uneasiness of the 

 bees. This may be so if we give a contract- 

 ed brood-nest, and over a queen-excluder a 

 section- super. For this reason we should 

 give a full-sized brood-nest at first, and con- 

 tract it afterward when the bees have com- 

 menced to build combs. If divisible brood- 

 chambers are used we should at first give an 

 empty story under the one which the swarm 

 will have permanently, and this empty 

 story should be removed the next day, when 

 the bees have settled down to business. 



5. It is said that, by shaking the bees in 

 front of the hive, they crawl in the grass 

 and up one's trowsers legs, resulting in 

 more or less stings and inconveniences. 



This can easily be avoided if we shake and 

 brush the bees directly into the hive. We 

 set the hive with the frames on its stand, 

 and on top of it an empty hive-body. Into 

 this we shake or brush the bees, and not in 

 front of the hive. It is not necessary that 

 a single bee fall outside of this hive. 



6. If we make a number of shaken swarms 

 in one of our yards we avoid shaking two 

 colonies close together. If this should be 

 necessary we work, after shaking the first 

 colony, in another part of the apiary till the 

 first-made swarm has quieted down some- 

 what. 



I think I have explained every thing which 

 could cause a failure in making shaken 

 swarms. I have had much general success 

 with these swarms for 25 years, and have 

 described the way I make them as plain as 

 I was able to do, so that I can't understand 

 why others report failures with this kind of 

 swarms. 



Converse, Texas. 



MOVING BEES WITHOUT CLOSING THE 

 HIVE-ENTRANCES. 



To do this Successfully One Must Understand 

 the Habits of Bees. 



BY W. L. PORTER. 



I have been interested lately in the many 

 good hints in regard to handling bees in out- 

 apiaries. There is one kink which I have 

 been practicing for some time that has 

 saved me much time. Every season there 

 is more or less moving of bees to equalize 

 yards to form new ones, and often to get 

 bees in better pasture. It used to take me 

 much time to fasten in the bees and get 

 them ready to handle. I found, after exper- 

 imenting, that in many cases they did better 

 when the entrances were not closed with 

 wire cloth, as, when bees are shut in, they 

 immediately commence to worry and get up 

 a great amount of heat, which is apt to 

 smother them or melt down their combs. . 



SAVES TIME AND BOTHER. 



It certainly is a great saving of time to 

 be able to di'ive into the yard and immedi- 

 ately commence to load on the bees, and in 

 a few minutes be able to drive off with a 

 load; and when they are at their new loca- 

 tion they do not rush out with such confu- 

 sion as when they are penned in. 



I have moved them in nearly every month 

 of the year in this way, and thus far with 

 the greatest success. 



LOAD WHEN BEES ARE NOT FLYING. 



The loading is always done when the bees 

 are all in, either very early in the morning 

 or late in the evening or on cloudy and cool 

 days when the bees are not flying. The 

 bees are smoked before putting on the 



