238 ^ DR. miller's 



«cck after being introduced, and she had been laying only about 

 a week. If I had kept the colony queenless until swarming had 

 been given up, and then introduced the young queen, it would 

 have been all right. 



Q. There is usually a fairly good fall flow here of aster, 

 goldenrod and buckwheat, and I would like to know if caging the 

 queen in June or July to prevent swarming would be practiced at 

 a loss in regard to fall honey. Would not the removal of the 

 queen for ten days during June result in the loss of about 20,000 

 bees, figuring 2,000 eggs a day, that would be ready for a fall flow 

 August IS? 



.A. You are probably overestimating the number of eggs laid 

 dail\'. If we allow three-fourths of the frame to be occupied with 

 brood, a queen laying 2,000 eggs daily would keep eight frames 

 occupied. I don't think many queens do that when the season is 

 so far along. A\'hatever is the right figure, it will be just so much 

 loss in your honey crop. But the loss would likely be greater 

 still if swarming were allowed. 



Q, How would you prevent swarming? I have 15 colonies and 

 they do nothing but swarm, I give them supers with starters, 

 and they will go up and fill two or three sections and then swarm. 

 One of my colonies swarmed four times in a week and a half. 

 \\hat would you do to stop them from swarming? 



A. It is not an easy thing to prevent a first or prime swarm. 

 Perhaps what will suit you as well as any way is to allow the 

 first swarm to issue, and then prevent afterswarms in the fol- 

 lowing way: Set the swarm on tlie stand of the mother colony, 

 putting the old hive close up beside it, both hives facing in the 

 same direction. A week later move the old hive to some new- 

 place si.x feet or more away. That's all; the bees will do the rest, 

 and you are not likely to have any further swarming from a col- 

 ony thus treated. 



Q. When bees swarm you say hive the swarm, place it in the 

 place of the old hive close by, and a week later move the old hive 

 away to its future place. If you follow this plan, will the old 

 colony store any surplus? If not, will the swarm make up for it? 



,\. Unless the season is very good there will be little or noth- 

 ing stored by the mother colony, but the swarm will store more 

 than both would have stored if the swarm had been put on a new 

 stand and the mother colony left on the old stand. 



Q. Is the following method all right to prevent increase: Let 

 the swarm issue, kill the queen and send the swarm back- wait 

 seven da\'S, then cut out all queen-cells but one. I tried this 



