Swarm Control 



true for all regions. In comb-honey 

 production it is possible greatly to 

 reduce swarming by modern swarm 

 preyentive measures, but under some 

 conditions in certain localities there 

 are seasons when swarm control is 

 still, as in the past, one of the greatest 

 problems of the comb-honey producer. 



FACTORS INFLUENCING THE TENDENCY 

 TO SWARM 



Swarming is a fundamental instinct 

 in the honeybee and can not be easily 

 eliminated. Just what it is that 

 brings uppermost the swarming in- 

 stinct when conditions are favorable 

 is not positively known, but it is well 

 known that certain factors aontrlbute 

 to the tendency to swarm, and if care 

 is taken to prevent their develo'pment 

 in the colony this tendency is greatly 

 reduced. 



Colonies in the same apiary during 

 the same season do not all behave 

 alike as to swarming. Usually some 

 colonies make no effort to swarm even 

 during seasons when swarming is gen- 

 eral ; other colonies yield readily to 

 ordinary preventive measures, while 

 still others are so determined to- 

 swarm that gathering and storing are 

 to a large extent subordinated until 

 swarming is past. This variation may 

 be partly due to a difference in heredi- 

 tary characteristics and partly to a 

 difference in the hives and the combs ; 

 but when these are nearly uniform 

 throughout an apiary there is still a 

 great variation in the tendency to 

 swarm due to a difference in the dis- 

 tribution of the bees within the hive, 

 a congestion of bees within the brood 

 niest being highly conducive to swarm- 

 ing while a distribution of the bees to 

 parts of the hive other than the brood 

 nest, so that only enough bees are left 

 there to care for the brood, usually 

 results in no swarming. When young 

 bees are emerging daily in great num- 

 bers, as during the spring brood- 

 rearing period, they become the chief 

 offenders In producing a congested 

 condition within the broodnest, on ac- 

 count of their habit of remaining on 

 the brood combs for some time after 

 emergence before going to other parts 

 of the hive or to the field. 



In some cases falling queens may 

 be superseded during the swarming 

 season, and swarming may result from 

 the presence of queen cells begun in 

 response to the supersedure impulse. 

 Throughout this discussion of the fac- 

 tors which influence the tendency to 

 swarm only those which lead to the 

 issuing of normal prime swarms are 



included. Swarming brought on by 

 supersedure of the queen, by the emer- 

 gence of several young queens as in 

 afterswarms, and swarming out be- 

 cause of hunger or advanced stages of 

 brood diseases, may be considered as 

 abnormal, so far as the cause is con- 

 cerned, when compared with normal 

 prime swarms. 



INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY 



The variation as to swarming In 

 different races of bees, and even with- 

 in the race, has suggested the possi- 

 bility of producing a nonswarming 

 strain of bees. Considerable effort 

 has been expended in this direction 

 by breeding only from those colonies 

 which show the least disposition to 

 swarm, on the theory that the swarm- 

 ing instinct can be bred out. It Is 

 not possible to measure accurately the 

 progress that has been made In this 

 direction, largely because the breeder, 

 duriag years of careful selection in 

 breeding, may at the same time have 

 modified his methods unconsciously, 

 so that the bees swarm less because 

 of better management. Considerable 

 progress may have been made in re- 

 ducing swarming by the elimination 

 of undesirable stock, and It certainly 

 is advisable to select as a breeding 

 queen one whose colony shows little 

 tendency to swarm, other factors being 

 equal. It Is a good rule to replace 

 the queen of every colony that per- 

 sists in swarming without sufilclent 

 cause by a young queen reared from 

 the best breeding queen available. 

 There is, however, no reason to expect 

 that swarming will ever be eliminated 

 by breeding alone. 



INFLUENCE OF THE HIVE AND COMBS 



Some of the variation among colo- 

 nies in the tendency to swarm is due to 

 a difference In the hives and the combs. 

 The size and shape of the brood cham- 

 ber, the character and arrangement 

 of the combs, the facility vnth which 

 the bees can ventilate every part of 

 the brood chamber and supers, and 

 the ability of the bees to control the 

 temperature of the air within the hive 

 during hot weather are important fac- 

 tors which Influence the tendency to 

 swarm. Various hives, therefore, have 

 been devised with the view of elimi- 

 nating swarming. 



SIZE OF THE BROOD CHAMBEE 



Usually jthgra is -more swarming 

 from "hives that have small brood 

 chambers than from those that have 



