406 



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Excessive Swarming'. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 552.— How can excessive swarming 

 be checked or controlled ? — Maine. 



By using large, roomy brood-combs 

 and hives. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



By giving plenty of room, usually, 

 but not alwaj's. — A. B. Mason. 



Kill the queen, or get Mrs. Cotton's 

 controllable (?) hive. — Mrs. L. Har- 

 bison. 



A good honey harvest will usuallj- 

 do it. Aside from this I do no know. 



G M. DOOLITTLE. 



It depends upon circumstances and 

 location. Give plenty of room, and 

 use young queens. — H. D. Cutting. 



By the use of the extractor. Bj* 

 proper manipulation where comb honey 

 is produced it can be lessened. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



Desti-oy all the queen-cells in the old 

 hive, and return the second swarm. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



An answer to this queiy would re- 

 quire more space than this department 

 allots. It can be checked by the ex- 

 tractor, removing frames of brood, 

 cutting out quceii-cells, etc..— J. P. H. 

 Brom^n. 



Give plenty of room to store honey 

 and for breeding, and plenty of venti- 

 lation at the top of the hive as well as 

 at the bottom. I kjiow whereof I af- 

 firm. — M. Mahin. 



If you mean first swarms, it is a 

 pretty hard matter, in spite of all 

 theories set forth. If after-swarms, de- 

 stroy all queen-cells except one. — P. L. 

 Viallon. 



By extracting the honey from the 

 brood-chamber, and usually by .cutting 

 out all queen-cells but one, on the 

 seventh day after a prime swarm has 

 issued. — G. L. Tinker. 



I suppose one swarm from each col- 

 ony would not be called excessive. 

 Further swarming can be prevented 

 by hi\ing the swarm in a new hive on 

 the old stand, removing the old hive, 

 and cutting out all (lueen-cells but one 

 good one, live or six days later.— R. L. 

 Taixor. 



If you mean to prevent the desire to 

 swarm, keep all the honey extracted. 

 I do not believe any one knows how to 

 do it profitabl}-, when working for 

 comb honey. — C. C. Miller. 



This question is one of those that re- 

 lates so much to localities that a gen- 

 eral answer can be of no value. A 

 special answer, to be of value, would 



require more space than can be given 

 here. — J. E. Pond. 



Get the back numbers of the Bee 

 Journal, and read the long essays on 

 the subject. This question requires 

 too much space for an answer, to be 

 adapted to the Query Department. — 

 James Heduon. 



You may check it by giving the bees 

 plenty of room before the swarming 

 fever takes the bees, and continue to 

 give them plenty of room by the tier- 

 ing-up system, until the swarming sea- 

 son is past. But you cannot usually 

 hope to control swarming. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



1. By giving ample space for comb 

 building early enough in the season to 

 retard the desire to swarm. 2. After 

 the first swarm issues, so manage that 

 there will be no after-svcarms, by ge1> 

 ting all your working force in the new 

 hive, and give thein so much to do that 

 they will not ha'v e time to swarm again. 

 — Eugene Secor. 



Establish early in the season the 

 storing habit, and when once estab- 

 lished, keep it encouraged by frequent 

 inversions, and giving plenty of storage 

 room at all times. There is something 

 about this that an expert can do, but 

 which it is dilficult to communicate. 

 Large hives do not do it, although they 

 assist. Particularly empty brood-nests 

 do not accomplish it, but they also 

 assist. Good management does it 

 every year, but that would require 

 another book, and I have neither the 

 time nor ability to write it. — J. M. 

 Shuck. 



This question cannot be satisfactorily 

 answered. Swarming can usually be 

 checked by giving room, or extracting 

 the honey, but as a rule it cannot 

 easily be controlled. — The Editor. 



a.»^.*' 



Bee-Spaces and Honey-Oather- 

 ing by Divided Colonics. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 553.— 1. Is a bee-space In the cen- 

 tre of a horizontally-divided brood-chamber 

 a dieadvantaKe? 2. Will a very strong colony 

 In a large hive store as much comb honey as 

 the same number of bees divided into 2 colo- 

 nies In hives proportioned to their size, other 

 conditions being the same ?— Indiana. 



1. No. 2. I think so. — A. J. Cook. 

 1. I suppose it is. 2. I think so. — 



C. C. Miller. 

 1. I do not know. 2. They will, and 



more. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



1. It would be for me. 2. Yes.— H. 



D. Cutting. 

 1. Yes. 2. Not if the two are 



crowded for room in the brood-cham- 

 bei-. — A. B. Mason. 



1. I think so. 2. Yes, more. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



1. I think not. It has some marked 

 advantages. 2. Not only as much, but 

 more. — M. Mahin. 



1. I do not know. 2. With me a 

 strong colony will store more. — P. L. 

 Viallon. 



1. I do not know that it is. 2. I 

 think they would. — Eugene Secor. 



1. I should say it was. 2. The 

 strong colony if in not too large a hive. 

 —J. P. H. Brom^n. 



1. Yes, most emphatically. 2. Far 

 more, in my own experience, and I 

 have tested the matter to quite a con- 

 siderable extent. — J. E. Pond. 



1. Yes. The bees try to fill it up. 

 2. It depends on the prolificness of the 

 queens, race of bees, and condition in 

 the spring, etc. — Dadant & Son. 



1. Certainly not. Why do our bees 

 breed so fast and winter so well in box- 

 hives full of cross-sticks and bee- 

 spaces until the combs are all in 

 pieces ? 2. No, not if the hive is very 

 large. There are extremes both ways. 

 — James Heddon. 



I. I think not materially. 2. I want 

 the large colony every time, but do 

 not want frames too deep. Still, this 

 question will bear investigating. I like 

 big colonies in medium-sized hives. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



1. I have never found it to be a dis- 

 advantage, but often an advantage. 2. 

 Sometimes as much, sometimes more, 

 and sometimes less, depending on 

 what the other conditions are. For 

 instance, if the season passed with a 

 short, heavy flow, the strong colony 

 would store much more than the 

 others, while if the season were mucli 

 extended the others might store the 

 more. — R. L. Taylor. 



1. Reason would say that it would 

 be better for bees to " brood " cells of 

 eggs, larva and nymphs, to empty space 

 and sticks of wood. What say you ? 

 Will a hen hatch chickens out of wood- 

 en eggs or empty space, if in the nest 

 with her eggs ? and had she not better 

 sit on hens' eggs than on either of the 

 other, for the good of her owner ? 

 What will hold good with the lien 

 holds equally good with the bees. 2. 

 I should prefer the large colony in a 

 small brood-cliamber during the honey 

 harvest. — G. M. Doolittle. 



1. I think that it is, and my observa- 

 tions again this spring confirm my pre- 

 viously recorded views. 2. Strong col- 

 onies, other conditions being the same, 

 always store the most honey, either 

 comb or extracted, but if such colonies 

 swarm, and the season of .surplus is 

 protracted, they will store more than 

 those that do not swarm. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



1. It is not a disadvantage to the 

 bees, but is a nuisance to the bee- 



