THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



167 



PREVENTION OK SWARMING. 



How Ne.irly all of the Bees may be Kepi at 



Work in one Hive, and Swarming be 



Avoided. 



.VRTHl-R C. MII.I.ER. 



_^HE perusal of IMr. R. L. Taylor's re- 

 ^t^ marks on page 115 of the April Re- 

 view suggests to uie that perhaps both he 

 and other readers of the Review may be 

 interested in an account of the methods I 

 have practiced for many years for avoid- 

 ing the trouble and loss incident to 

 swarming. 



At the approach of the swarming peri- 

 od the colonies are watched for any- sign 

 of such tendencies, and as soon as any 

 colony shows the least sign of a change 

 it is moved back from its stand and 

 treated as follows: A hive containing 

 four or more Langstroth frames, one with 

 a dry coml) and the rest with starters, is 

 put upon the old stand. Then the surplus 

 chamber and honey-board ( I use an ex- 

 cluder, wood-zinc, honey-board) are tak- 

 en, bees and all, from the old hive, and 

 placed on the new. Then the queen 

 is found, and, together with the bees on 

 the comb on which she is found, made to 

 run into the entrance of the new hive. 

 Next, the old colony is placed on top of 

 the surplus chamber, but, separated there- 

 from by an escape-board, the escape be- 

 ing so protected by excluder zinc as to 

 prevent drones from getting down into 

 the suqilus chamber. In the cour.se of 

 two to three weeks, more or less, as may 

 be convenient, or expedient, these upper 

 chambers are removed and tiered up, 

 three or more high, on a stand, until the 

 remaining brood has all hatched. The 

 comparatively few bees in these p.seudo- 

 colonies are, later, either shaken into 

 such places as need reinforcements, or 

 are distributed with the combs when they 

 are used about the apiary. 



The watching for indications of swarm- 

 ing is superficial; consisting of entrance 

 examinations and a glance now and then 



at the surplus chamber. I always take 

 the benefit of any doubt and make a 

 cliange early rather than too late. The 

 only real "bother" is in finding the 

 queen; and when I cannot do this readily 

 I unceremoniously shake all the bees in 

 front of the new hive and proceed as 

 if I had actually seen the queen. The 

 only other objection I have found has 

 been the necessity of a few extra hive- 

 bodies and escape-boards, but they are 

 "regulation" implements — and then, we 

 must remember that "he who works 

 without tools is twice tired." 



Once in a great while a colony will not 

 go according to rule, and I then try to 

 force the bees to yield, or else let them go 

 their own way, for I am too busy to waste 

 any lime over these rare exceptions. 



Sj netimes I vary the foregoing by 

 putting a frame of selected brood be- 

 low, and leaving the queen above, thus 

 requeening my colonies; but it is not so 

 successful, and is open to several objec- 

 tions. 



Providence, R. I., April 21, 1S99. 



SIZE OF HIVES. 



Its Relation to the Winterinjj of Bees ami 

 the Securing Surplus. 



ADRIAN C,KT.\z. 



URIKND Ilutch- 

 -'■ inson : Y o u r 

 comments on my 

 article on large 

 versus small hives, 

 or, rather, brood- 

 nests, have brought 

 to me a new light 

 on the subject. 



I had occasional- 

 ly read something 

 on the failure of 

 wintering strong colonies in cold climates, 

 l)ut I never dreamed that to be a general 

 rule, or iniiK)rtant factor in the question. 



