

202 



NINTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



effected to a greater or less extent 

 where the swarming fever exists. 

 This subject has been discussed at 

 length in nearly all conventions; 

 nearly every issue of our bee 

 journals contain something new 

 which, grasped at and tried 

 by many, only to find it a fail- 

 ure. Various styles of hives have 

 been constructed and tried with like 

 result. The writer has also been 

 studying this matter clearly for the 

 past ten years, and not until the sum- 

 mer of 1906 did success crown my 

 efforts. Most apiarists who have 

 given this the most thought have 

 gone at it by studying the CAUSE OF 

 SWARMING; but I cared little about 

 that so long as I could prevent It; 

 therefore, went after it in a different 

 way, for to be successful, I wish every 

 colony to get so strong that it will 

 want to swarm; therefore I STUDIED 

 THOSE THINGS THAT SATISFY 

 DESIRE and thereby fulfill the laws 

 and demands of nature. 



The plan I now give to the world 

 has been used in my apiaries three 

 seasons without one case of failure; 

 does not in any way detract from the 

 strength of the colony or amount of 

 nectar gathered, but rather increases 

 both. A colony can be treated by the 

 expert or novice alike in ten minutes 

 time or less; and he can rest assured 

 that his bees will not swarm for that 

 season; and the plan is so simple 

 that I often wonder that it was not 

 discovered before. 



THE PLAN. 



The first requisite of success is in 

 having a young and vigorous queen 

 in each colony when they go into win- 

 ter quarters and at least thirty pounds 

 of good stores which will keep them 

 until fruit bloom the following spring. 

 At this time each good colony should 

 be strong enough to take a super of 

 extracting combs which is put on with- 

 out an excluder, thus allowing the 

 queen free access to both stories. 

 From this time on until the clover 

 flow starts each colony is fed twice a 

 week one quart of warm syrup at 

 evenings. The abundance of feed 

 w^hich the colonies had when spring 

 opened and the feeding after fruit 

 bloom, has resulted in the queen doing 

 their best at egg laying, and when the 

 clover flow starts the hives are liter- 

 ally full of bees just anxious to go 

 to work. With me the honey flow 



usually starts from nothing, to good 

 business in two to four days, the 

 pasturage being such that the pro- 

 fusions of blossoms open at once. Just 

 at this junction I apply the treatment 

 which causes the queen to continue 

 laying just as vigorously as before 

 and get a supply of bees ready for the 

 fall flow, rather than almost stop 

 laying as is the case if left to them- 

 selves. I go to a colony and remove 

 it from its stand putting in its place 

 a hive full of empty comibs less a 

 center one. Next a comb containing 

 a patch of unsealed brood about as 

 large as my hand is selected from the 

 colony and placed in the vacant space 

 in the new hive. A queen excluder 

 is put on this lower story and above 

 this a super of drone comb and on 

 top of all an empty super. The bees 

 and queen are then shaken in front 

 of the new hive onto a cloth which has 

 been placed in such a position that the 

 bees can easily crawl into this new 

 home, and the top supers filled with 

 combs full of brood, which is left there 

 to hatch and reinforce the colony. 

 Thus the swarming fever is satisfied, 

 the colony is stimulated to do its 

 utmost in honey gathering and the 

 queen encouraged to lay anew. 



In another hour the bees are at 

 work and there is no sulking. 



The whole colony is kept together 

 and as the brood hatches the bees 

 fill the combs with honey and usually 

 before the flow closes I have to put 

 a third super on, so the hive is four 

 stories high. 



If I happen to notice the queen on 

 one of the first comos taken out I 

 see that she goes at once into the 

 lower story and no more shaking is 

 done, simply putting the brood in the 

 top story, thus shortening the job. 



Nearly every colony which is strong 

 enough to treat in this rhanner has 

 more combs of brood than will go in 

 this super and the surplus is used 

 to strengthen any w^eak colonies that 

 may be found. Why do I use drone 

 comb in the second story? For two 

 reasons: I bought an apiary having 

 a lot of these combs and this is a 

 good place to put them, — and because 

 the bees store honey faster and get 

 more of it into a. super of drone comb 

 than in a super of worked combs; so 

 I really like them for this particular 

 place though I would not now produce 

 them for it. If increase is desired, 

 nine to twelve days after thus placing 



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