ARTIFICIAL INCREASE PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 101 



bees, which will soon become flight bees, in the hive on the old stand. 

 This may be done by shaking or brushing nearly all of the bees from 

 the combs of the hive to be divided, or, if the latf- ^ is a box hive, the 

 swarm may be driven into an empty box, as described under " Trans- 

 ferring," in Chapter VII, and then hived as an ordinary swarm, the 

 parent colony receiving also the same treatment as described under 

 "Natural swarming." 



THE NUCLEUS SYSTEM. 



Perhaps the safest plan, considering that the yield, even when one is 

 acquainted with the flora, can not be foretold, is to follow the plan of 

 making nuclei, and, as soon as these have laying queens, building them 

 up gradually to full colonies by adding frames of brood, frames filled 

 with worker comb, or with comb foundation, or merely starters, as may 

 seem best. This system, besides being safe, has certain other advan- 

 tages. It leaves the parent hives strong for the working season, yet 

 tends to discourage swarming, because whenever colonies become over- 

 crowded, and before they have contracted the swarming fever, one or 

 more brood combs are removed and the colony is thus induced to con- 

 tinue work in the brood chamber to fill the empty space, while, of course, 

 they are kept supplied with plenty of storage room above for surplus 

 honey. Furthermore, it is easy to exchange the young queen of the 

 nucleus, as soon as she commences laying, with the queen of the full 

 colony. If the nucleus has been started early, the full colony will thus 

 secure a queen of the current season's raising sufficiently early to 

 reduce greatly the probability of its wanting to swarm that year, even 

 though permitted to get very strong, as it is almost certain to do under 

 such circumstances. These nuclei build straight combs and may be 

 relied on to build, even without foundation, worker comb only. 



On the whole, a rational method of artificial increase is preferable to 

 natural swarming; but experience and judgment in carrying it out are 

 required to make it advantageous. It should be cautiously undertaken 

 by the beginner, and the main reliance placed upon natural swarming 

 until the bee keeper is familiar with the bees' way. 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 



The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure 

 is that of giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be 

 effective should be given early in the season, before the bees get fairly 

 into the swarming notion, and the honey should be removed frequently, 

 unless additional empty combs can be given in the case of colonies 

 managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections should be 

 given additional supers before those already on are completed. With 

 colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as 

 in those run for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. 

 Free ventilation and shading of the hives as soon as warm days come 

 will also tend toward prevention. Opening the hives once or twice 



