1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1181 





^ ^"***o- ^^ 



THE CONTROL OF SWARMING. 



A Device Designed to Keep Down Increase 



while Securing a Crop of Honey, and 



Requeening if Desirable. 



A Valuable Article. 



BY J. E. CHAMBERS. 



During the past three years I have made a 

 good many experiments in trying to perfect 

 a simple mechanical device and to evolve a 

 system of manipulation to go with it that 

 would enable the apiarist to control swarm- 

 ing effectually, secure a crop of honey, and 

 requeen his colonies at one and the same 

 time; and having met with good success 

 along the lines of my experimenting I have 

 concluded to tell the bee-keeping public the 

 results of my work. In doing so I am aware 

 that much of it is not new. and perhaps not 

 original; but I also know that no living man 

 has covered exactly the ground that I have 

 in this work, nor has any other man ever 

 given out any thing that aimed at accom- 

 plishing the three vital objects just named. 



In the illustrations. A represents the top 

 story of a hive, and B the bottom, or the 

 lower story, with the dividing- board and 

 chute in correct position on the hive; and 

 the entire construction and method of appli- 

 cation are so clearly shown that any extend- 

 ed description is unnecessary. 



The dividing-board is simply a board cleat- 

 ed on the two upper sides and rear end. 

 The front end is not cleated, and forms the 

 opening shown at H. Two passage-holes 

 are bored through, and covered with zinc, as 

 shown at D D. The purpose of these holes 

 is to maintain a certain degree of communi- 

 cation between the two hive-bodies, and to 

 guard against the possibility of the young 

 bees in hive A deserting in too great force. 

 In the rear end of the dividing-board a small 

 opening covered with zinc is shown at E. 

 This serves as a flight-hole, and helps to ar- 

 rest and fix a certain number of bees; for 

 by numerous experiments I found that, with- 

 out these holes to act as counter-checks, the 

 entire force will desert from hive A above, 

 thus leaving the brood and queen unprotect- 

 ed to starve; but through the holes D D 

 sufficient nurse bees come up from hive B to 

 prevent this, and this trouble is overcome. 



The chute is made by nailing together two 

 pieces of timber, 1x1, 6 in. long, and one 

 piece 1x1, 14 in. long, and covering one side 

 by nailing on a thin board 8 in. wide and 14 

 long, as shown at C, and attaching a strip 

 of zinc one inch wide and 14 long over the 

 exit, shown at G. For deep hives it might 

 be advisable to make the chute a little deep- 



er than 6 inches, in order to bring the flight 

 of outgoing young bees down nearer to the 

 entrance shown at F, thereby causing them 

 to mix up with the field force going in 

 there; but in no case should the exit G be 

 nearer to the entrance F than 4 in. ; for if 

 brought in direct contact it might induce 

 some of the bees to go back by the route 

 they came, though the perforated zinc acts 

 as a great check on such an attempt. 



In using this device there are three differ- 

 ent systems of manipulating, any one of 

 which can be used with good results. The 

 one I use mostly in my own apiaries is, I 

 think, the best and easiest for extracting 

 colonies; but for comb honey either of the 

 others is better. Just as soon as a colony 

 makes preparations to swarm I begin work. 

 Selecting one comb and adhering bees I 

 make sure that the queen is not on it. This 

 comb should contain two or three cells well 



started. I now place this comb in the cen- 

 ter of the hive represented by B, and fill up 

 the vacant spaces with empty combs or full 

 sheets of foundation, as bees working under 

 these conditions can not be depended on to 

 build combs. I now place the dividing- 

 board in position, as shown in the illustra- 

 tion, and set hive A over it. Nailing on the 

 chute completes the operation for the pres- 

 ent, except that a record of the stage of de- 

 velopment in which the cells were at the 

 time of manipulating must be kept, and 

 should be marked on the hive so as to be 

 readily seen. With this record to go by, the 

 hive can be opened at the proper time and 

 all cells cut, except one of the best. The 

 hive is then closed, and requires no further 

 attention until time to remove the dividing- 

 board and reunite the colony, which is as 

 soon after the young queen begins to lay as 

 possible. However, it is not absolutely nec- 

 essary to be exact in this matter, as no 

 harm will result if both queens are left in 



