+ DR. MILLER S 



the matter of hindering swarming. But I must confess tna 

 have not been able to prevent all swarming to my entire satis ^ 

 tion. It may be some help to say that if you succeed in getting 

 a young queen reared in a colony and get her to laying, 

 colony is practically certain not to swarm the same season. 



Q. In preventing afterswarms, by placing the young swarm on 

 the old stand and taking the old colony to a new place, should 

 all the queen-cells except the ripest one.be cut out at once.' 



A, That's one way. There's a better way. Set the swarm on 

 the old stand, the old hive close beside it, without cutting out any 

 queen-cells, and let stand for a week. Then move the old hive 

 to a new stand, and the bees will do the rest. You see, when the 

 old hive is moved at that time all the field-bees will leave it and 

 join the swarm. That will weaken the old colony, and added to 

 that is the fact that no honey will be coming in, so the bees will 

 conclude they cannot afford to swarm, and all the extra queen- 

 cells will be killed without your opening the hive. 



Q, Can an afterswarm be returned to the parent hive? If so, 

 how shall I proceed? 



A. The easiest thing in the world. Just dump the swarm 

 down in front of the hive and let them run in. It was the old- 

 fashioned way of treating afterswarms, and there's no better way, 

 if you don't mind the trouble. Just return the bees every time 

 they swarm out, and when all the queens have emerged there 

 will be only one left, and there will be no more swarming. Indeed, 

 you may carry the plan still farther, returning the prime swarm 

 and all the afterswarms. That will give you no increase, but the 

 largest yield of honey, especially if your harvest is early. 



Hiving the swarm in an empty box and returning it to the 

 parent colony the next day is still better, as the swarming excite- 

 ment is over. 



Q. Do afterswarms come out only when the old hive remains 

 on the old stand? 



Do they always fail to come out when the old hive is put in a 

 new location? 



A. Afterswarms are likely to issue if the old hive is left on 

 the old stand, and are less likely to if the old hive at the time of 

 swarming is removed to a new place; but may issue then. If the 

 swarm is put on the old stand, the old hive close beside it, and 

 then a week later the old hive removed to a new place, you may 

 count quite safely on no afterswarms. 



