CLIPPING THE QUEENS 101 



Certain conditions favor natural swarming, as, for instance, 

 small hives that are soon filled with brood and honey, leaving 

 the queen little room in which to lay, and the workers no place 

 to store the incoming nectar. The old-time bee-keeper usually 

 placed but one super on top of the hives and when that was full 

 took it off and replaced it with another. As a matter of course, 

 when the hive became crowded the bees began to hang out in 

 large clusters for want of room, and the owner decided that they 

 were preparing to swarm, which they usually did before many 

 days. The practical apiarist will not tolerate this hanging 

 out. He knows that, as a rule, either the bees are crowded for 

 room, or there is not sufficient ventilation. 



If on examination he finds an abundance of room for storage, 

 he gives a larger entrance, or, if the weather is very hot, even 

 lifts the hive off the bottom board a half inch or more and 

 supports it on blocks at each corner. 



A heavy honey flow seems to act as a check on swarming, 

 and in localities where the honey flow comes on with a rush and 

 continues heavy during the principal period of nectar secretion, 

 there will be less difficulty in controlling swarming. In such 

 localities, if the bees are furnished with plenty of room in which 

 to store the honey, and the brood nest is large enough to permit the 

 queen to continue her activities, the bees will apparently have no 

 instinct but to gather honey as rapidly as possible. If the flow 

 stops suddenly, there may even be little if any swarming. On 

 the other hand, in most of the northern States, where there is a 

 light flow from fruit bloom and dandelion in advance of the 

 clover flow, the bees are likely to be swarming full tilt at about 

 the beginning of the best flow. 



Clipping the Queens. — It is a common practice among apiar- 

 ists to clip the wings of the queens to prevent their escaping with 

 the swarms. If the bee-keeper is constantly on hand this plan 

 works very well. When the swarm issues and the air is full 

 of bees, the bee-keeper goes to the hive from which they have 

 issued and usually will have little trouble in finding the queen 



