46 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



On Important Subjects. 



Swarming— Its Cause anil Control, 



BY " MALTA." 



There is no doubt that where kept in 

 modern hives, and treated with scientific 

 appliances and care, bees swarm much 

 more frequently than when in their wild 

 state. Many causes have been assigned, 

 and reasons given for this, and many 

 plans suggested for preventing or con- 

 trolling it ; but, to my mind, the one 

 and principal cause of swarming at all 

 has been too much overlooked. 



Over-crowding, want of space, etc., 

 are, I believe, quite secondary causes ; 

 for cases are common, where no lack of 

 room exists, such as when a colony is 

 established in a roof, while a colony in 

 a crowded hive does not always swarm ; 

 and the chief, in fact only cause is the 

 approaching exhaustion of the queen's 

 power to lay fertilized eggs ; the natural 

 desire or instinct to increase the number 

 of families only serving to guide the bees 

 in their method of procedure. 



It is a well known fact that the 

 queen's limit of producing fertilized 

 eggs depends entirely upon the power 

 and virility of the drone with whom she 

 mates. Cheshire says the spermatozoa 

 yielded by a drone are probably not more 

 than 4,000,000; Leuckart says 25,- 

 000,000 ; other good authorities vary 

 between these, but whoever is right the 

 fact remains that the rate of expendi- 

 ture of these fertilizing threads, and not 

 the number of years a queen can live, is 

 the measure of the limit of time during 

 which she is of use in the hive, and 

 shortly before that is reached, she must 

 be replaced. 



That swarming is more frequent in 

 the cultivated state, than in the free 

 and wild state, proves that this exhaus- 

 tion is the sole cause of swarming, for 

 while in a state of nature, the queen 

 works at " high pressure" only at cer- 

 tain periods, such as the opening of 

 spring, or when a big honey-flow is on, 

 probably for a month or two at the 

 most; the rest of her time is "under 

 easy steam," and as every economy is 

 practiced, she continues fit for work for 

 three, four, or even five years ; but un- 

 der the guiding hand of man a different 

 routine obtains ; he, by means of extra 

 quilts, warmth, early stimulative feed- 



ing, ready-built-out combs, brood-spread- 

 ing, etc., keeps her at "high pressure" 

 for about seven months, " forcing " her 

 without ceasing, or rest, the result be- 

 ing that she becomes rapidly exhausted 

 as regards fertile egg-laying, and after 

 about one year is not fit for much more 

 work. 



The colony knows when this state is 

 reached, whether after one or five 

 years' service, and at once decides that 

 she must be replaced by a younger and 

 more capable mother. I maintain that 

 this is done by supersession, and by 

 supersession only ; but before doing 

 this, instinct teaches them that the duty 

 of increase has to be carried out, and 

 can only be done by swarming for which 

 they immediately prepare. By the time 

 the new colony is established, combs 

 built, stores provided, eggs in all stages, 

 and young hatching, the old queen is 

 quite exhausted ; she is then turned out, 

 and a young one reared to take her 

 place. 



I feel certain that in every case of a 

 swarm issuing, the old queen is quickly 

 made away with very soon after the 

 new colony is in working order, and if 

 the combs on which a swarm has been 

 hived are examined late in the season, 

 one or two old queen-cells will invariably 

 be found, which can only mean super- 

 session. 



Again, when a queen begins to fail, 

 she begins to lay drone-eggs — a young 

 fertile queen never does. The presence 

 of many drones is a sign of imminent 

 swarming, and many drones can only 

 be produced by a failing queen, or, in 

 other words, swarming becomes immi- 

 nent as the queen becomes exhausted, 

 and only at such a time. 



A swarm frequently builds large 

 quantities of drone-comb, which is gen- 

 erally accounted for by saying the bees 

 are getting so much honey, and have so 

 little expenditure that it is to economize 

 wax and time. No ! a bee is not so im- 

 provident as to build, from laziness, 

 what will in the future be a nuisance — it 

 is a matter of necessity. The queen is 

 nearly exhausted, and lays drone-eggs 

 more and more freely every day; these 

 must be accommodated, hence the drone- 

 comb. When she is gone, and no more 

 drone-eggs are produced, then, and not 

 until then, will these cells be found 

 filled with honey ; for the young queen 

 has no use for them. 



I am further led to the conclusion that 

 approaching exhaustion of the queen's 

 fertility is the only cause of swarming, 

 by my experience with different races of 

 bees, and different climates. In those 



