AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 



fortable, to have our colonics well 

 shaded from the sun, whether under 

 i ires or under a roof, or both. 



The last, and one of the most im- 

 portant requirements for the preven- 

 if swarming, is a young queen, 

 so that she may not indicate, by her 

 ase of laying during the active 

 season, that she is failing in her 

 ability to sustain the strength of the 

 colony. The entire force of a hive 

 depends upon her, since she is the 

 mother. If she should fail, leaving no 

 other fully developed female to take 

 her place, the hive would be doomed 

 to destruction. It is therefore very 

 conceivable that the bees should 

 show great anxiety and foresight 

 upon this matter. Whenever she de- 

 creases her activity in laying, at the 

 season of high breeding, the bees 

 prepare to replace her, by building 

 queen-cells. This angers her, if she 

 is still sufficiently active to resent it, 

 and she soon leaves with a swarm. 

 When all other contingencies have 

 been provided for, this is the most 

 common cause of the production of 

 swarms. 



Many beekeepers, who wish to keep 

 active queens in their colonies, re- 

 place the queens of all the colonies 

 annually. Personally, I believe this is 

 unnecessary. Many queens are bet- 

 ter in their second year than in the 

 first. Many are just as good. If we 

 take in consideration the cost of new 

 queens, the chances of securing a 

 poorer queen than the one which we 

 know to be good in a colony, we will 

 conclude that is is well to give our 

 good queens a two-years' lease. I 

 emphasize the words "good queens," 

 for if we have poor queens, we can- 

 not replace them any too soon. 



The replacing of the queens at 

 least every two years will insure us 

 against much queen-cell building for 

 superseding queens. 



The reader will take notice of the 

 fact that the foregoing requirements 

 for the prevention of swarming do 

 not require much labor at swarming 

 time. We replace our queens in early 

 spring, and the only requirements in 

 the busy season are such as are 

 .iry under any conditions, 

 giving more ventilation, more supers. 



If, however, the beekeeper wishes 

 to entirely prevent swarming, he may 

 go to the trouble of examining the 

 colonies inside, from time to time, 

 and if any swarming preparations are 

 under way he may employ any one of 

 the numerous methods recommended 

 for interfering with natural swarm- 

 ing, even to making forced swarms or 

 removing the queens and all tin , ell 

 Inn one If the above-given methods 

 are followed, in the production of ex 

 traded honey, very few swarms need 

 ■ i ed 



Control of Swarming With Comb 

 Honey 



By C. C. Miller 



IF one were undecided whether t'i 

 work for extracted or comb 

 honey, the scales might be turned 

 in favor of extracted upon thinking 

 that it is easier to prevent swarming 

 when working tor extracted 



and that if swarming does occur the 

 elicit upon the crop of comb honey 

 may lie almost disastrous while mak- 

 ing much less difference upon a crop 

 oi extracted honey. 



Of course, some of the things that 

 help to control swarming are the 

 same, no matter what kind of honey 

 is produced, such as shade for hives, 

 large brood-chambers, spacing combs 

 an inch and a half from center to 

 center, suppri ssion of drones by hav- 

 ing all worker-comb, etc. In some 

 things, however, you cannot work 

 the same. 



Take ventilation. Make a large 

 opening between two extracting su- 

 pers, and although you may stop all 

 storing near that opening, it need 

 not make a crop less, for the honey 

 will be stored elsewhere. Do the 

 sanu thing with section-supers, and 

 you have a lot of unfinished sections 

 on your hands. And yet ventilation 

 is very important when producing 

 sections. At the bottom of the hive 

 there is the same opportunity for 

 ventilation as with extracted honey. 

 The entrance can be large, the hive 

 may be raised on blocks at the cor- 

 ners, or the bottom-board may be 2 

 inches deep, with a bottom-rack to 

 prevent the bees from building down. 

 But if any opening be made above 

 the brood-chamber, the cold air en- 

 tering at that point will interfere 

 somewhat with storing there, and 

 very much with sealing. 



Yet ventilation is such an import- 

 ant factor in the control of swarming 

 that the good resulting from it over- 

 balances the harm. The super that 

 sits on the hive should be shoved 

 forward so as to make a space of a 

 quarter of an inch or more between 

 hive and super at the back end. That 

 will hinder storing and finishing in 

 the lower super and in one or two 

 next above, yet I have known it the 

 case in a hot spell for these rear 

 sections to be finished more readily 



£*S 



« s 



Master Tenaka Kuribara tshida's unappeased 

 ite for honey 



than the sections in the middle of the 

 super. 



I. never tried making ventilation- 

 spaces between supers, but I have 

 tried having an opening over the top 

 super over the central sections. First 

 is a thin cover over the super having 

 an opening in its center S or 6 inches 

 square. On each end of this lies a 

 strip three-eighths thick, and on this 

 is placed the regular cover. That, 

 you will see, leaves an opening of 

 three-eighths of an inch for the air 

 to pass through between the two 

 covers. 



I cannot speak very definitely as 

 to the effect of this top ventilation, 

 not having given it much trial, for 

 soon after devising it I changed 

 from section honey to extracted 

 honey. But I regard it hopefully. 



Whether all these things have been 

 done or not, suppose a colony takes 

 it into its head to swarm, what is to 

 be done to head it off? To get ad- 

 vance information upon the subject 

 it is indispensable to look inside the 

 hive. If no queen-cells are started 

 there is no thought of swarming. A 

 little before the time when swarming 

 is likely to begin, if we find no cells 

 started in a number of the strongest 

 colonies, it is hardly worth while to 

 look through the rest of the apiary. 

 A second examination is made per- 

 haps ten days later, and at intervals 

 of 10 days thereafter. Whenever 

 queen-cells are found they are de- 

 stroyed. After cells are once de- 

 stroyed, it will happen in rare cases 

 that they will not be started again. 

 Generally, however, cells will be 

 found upon the next inspection. If 

 only eggs or young larvae are found 

 in them, they are destroyed, and in 

 some cases this may continue 

 throughout the season. Indeed, there 

 may be colonies that never start a 

 cell all summer. But if big larvae are 

 found in the cells, pretty well filling 

 them, that may be considered as due 

 notice that the bees will no longer 

 brook any trifling, but will swarm be- 

 fore another ten days if vigorous 

 measures are not taken. 



At this point a swarm may be 

 shaken, as it is called, which consists 

 in taking away all but one brood. 

 This leaves the colony practically in 

 the same condition as if a natural 

 swarm had issued. It has, however, 

 the advantage that all the bees may 

 be left on the old stand, making it 

 stronger for storing. Of course, if 

 increase is wanted, enough bees may 

 be taken with the brood to take care 

 of it, and being set upon a new 

 stand, a new colony may be started, 

 which will be in the same condition 

 as the mother colony when a natural 

 swarm has issued. This plan of 

 shaking a swarm is an advisable pro- 

 ceeding when increase is desired, or 

 when the brood that is taken away 

 can lie used with profit elsewhere, 

 but if wc want all the bees and all 

 the brood to remain with the old col- 

 ony, then a different course must be 

 taken. 



The Demaree plan, putting all but 

 one brood above an excluder, is 

 barred out for comb honcv. the 

 brood-combs pu1 above the excluder 

 becoming extracting-combs, and we 



