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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



89 



the theory as to why there is not much 

 tendency to swarm when there is a 

 plurality of queens in the hive. As I 

 understand it, Mr. Alexander is an ad- 

 vocate of extracting the honey before 

 it is capped to save the trouble of 

 capping; and as I learn from Mr. 

 Pressler, he gives plenty of room in 

 the extracting hives; and these two 

 persons state that the plurality of 

 queens does away with the tendency 

 to swarm. It is my theory if they 

 allowed the bees to cap the honey there 

 would be just as much tendency to 

 swarm as there was before. I think 

 the way to overcome that is to allow 

 the bees to cap the honey and get a 

 good quality of honey on the market. 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. Moe: I want to call attention to 

 another fact that was overlooked by 

 me for a long time. Additional room 

 will not cure swarming. That is the 

 way I understand it. It will work if 

 yxju give additional room with plenty 

 of comb, but that wants to be added, 

 because otherwise the thing doesn't 

 hold. 



Mr. Holterman: You want to give 

 the room in time. 



Mr. Hershisher: I would like to 

 know if others believe my theory is 

 right. 



Mr. Hutchinson: Mr. Alexander 

 must have had other colonies besides 

 those that had two queens, and he 

 says they didn't swarm with those that 

 had two queens. The inference would 

 be those which had only one queen 

 did swarm. 



Mr. Holterman: Does Mr. Hutch- 

 inson believe that it Is much of a 

 trick for a man to run for extracting 

 honey and take that honey out before 

 it is capped and then not have the 

 bees swarm? I think anyone can do 

 that. I think Mr. Hershisher's point 

 is very well taken. 



The President: How about that 

 large apiary of Mr. Alexander? That 



would also prevent the tendency to 

 swarm. He has 700 colonies. 



Mr. Hutchinson: But that would 

 have the same bearing on one class 

 of colonies as on the other. 



Mr. Holterman: The question is as 

 to whether that can be done success- 

 fully one season with another in an 

 ordinary locality — that is, rear a 

 young queen in the super and not have 

 the bees swarm? 



The President: I suggest we try it 

 and see. 



Mr. Hutchinson: I can tell you a lit- 

 tle bit about that. In one yard of 

 bees we had about 150 colonies. We 

 let the queen have full swing with 

 two or three or four upper stories, 

 not putting the excluders in. "We in- 

 tended putting them in sooner, but 

 other things prevented; and when we 

 finally put the queen excluder under- 

 neath, all but just between the first 

 and second story, almost every col- 

 ony reared queens in those upper stor- 

 ies above that queen excluder, and in 

 150 colonies there were about seven 

 that swarmed. There were no open- 

 ings in those upper stories and those 

 young queens were never fertilized. 



Mr. Holterman: Was that done near 

 the close of the honey flow? 



Mr. Hutchinson: It was, perhaps, 

 three weeks before the close. 



Mr. Hershisher: Wasn't it after the 

 swarming was pretty well over? It 

 would be my theory that that would 

 be the thing to encourage swarming. 



Mr. Hutchinson: j'F'had been to the 

 trouble of going through the upper 

 stories and destroying those queen 

 cells for fear they did swarm, but we 

 didn't get one with it; I couldn't see 

 there was any difference. 



Mr. Hershisher: Don't you think 

 the colonies were past the swarming 

 season ? 



Mr. Hutchinson: No, I don't think 

 that. 



Mr. Holterman: Isn't it Mr. Chap- 

 man who advocates putting up the 

 brood in the super, rearing the queens 

 there and then shaking the young 

 queens down after a certain number 

 of days? 



Mr. Hutchinson: He kills his old 

 queens. 



,Mr. Holterman: He told me he 

 found that in nine cases out of ten by 

 simply shaking the young queen down 

 the young queen would destroy the 

 old. It wasn't worth while hunting 

 up the old queen. I would very much 

 like to feel and be justified in feeling 

 that I could rear the young queen in 

 the super. I have ventilating holes 

 in the back of my extracting super 

 out of which the queen could come. 

 If they would swarm there a young 

 queen could emerge out of the super 

 or the old one could come out below, 

 but I don't think it would affect it one 

 particle. If the swarming impulse was 

 set up the old queen would probably 

 lead out the swarm, and it would be 

 altogether an after consideration 



