Swarm Control 



23 



queen below by means of a queen ex- 

 cluder (fig. 10, O). If the honey flow 

 is beginning, add a super of extract- 

 ing combs (fig. 10, G), then place the 

 recently used brood chamber on top 

 as a third story. Ten days later de- 

 stroy all queen sells in the queenless 

 brood chamber, then shake the bees 

 together with the queen from the 

 combs in the lower brood chamber, 

 placing the combs of brood into an 

 empty hive body and giving back 

 either empty combs or frames of 

 foundation, together with one empty 

 comb. Replace the queen excluder and 

 the supers, adding an additional one 

 if needed, and finally place the brood 

 chamber containing the brood just re- 

 moved on top of the supers (fig. 10, 

 D). To avoid shaking, the queen may 

 be found, and, together with a frame 

 of brood, she may be placed in the 

 extra hive body containing the empty 

 combs or foundation, after which this 

 extra hive body is put in place of the 

 former brood chamber, and the former 

 brood chamber is placed on top of the 

 supers. This double treatment is not 

 always necessary, but should completely 

 control swarming in localities where 

 the swarming tendency is strong. 



This plan can be modified for comb- 

 honey production if the colonies are 

 strong by putting the queen down 

 into the lower hive hody after she 

 has abandoned it long enough for all 

 the brood to be sealed, removing the 

 upper hive body entirely, the bees 

 being shaken from the combs into the 

 lower hive body, and one or two 

 comb-honey supers being given. The 

 brood that is taken away may be 

 placed above queen excluders on an- 

 other colony not now being used for 

 comb honey. Six or seven of these 

 brood chambers may be given to each 

 colony that Is used for this purpose. 

 Ten days later treat each colony as 

 in plan No. 1 above, substituting for 

 their brood combs the combs of emerg- 

 ing brood that were removed be- 

 fore, first destroying all the queen 

 cells, if any are present. The combs 

 of brood that are removed during 

 this operation may be put into a sep- 

 arate hive and handled as a parent 

 colony (fig. 7) or disposed of in some 

 other way. Thus the bees are shaken 

 twice, with an interval of 10 days be- 

 tween, on combs containing none but 

 emerging brood (p. 16). 



CREATING CONDITIONS COMPARABLE 

 TO THE PARENT COLONY 



1. When the bees-tegin to make 

 preparations for swarming, find and 

 remove the queen. If it is desirable 



to keep her, she may be placed in an- 

 other hive, together with the comb 

 of brood on which she was found, to 

 form a nucleus, or she may be killed 

 if not needed. If queen cells have 

 •already been started these should all 

 be destroyed at the time the queen is 

 removed. Ten days later again der 

 stroy all queen cells, being careful to 

 shake most of the bees from the 

 combs as they are examined to be 

 sure that none are overlooked. 

 Either at this time or a few days 

 later introduce a young queen that 

 has just recently begun to lay, by 

 means of an ordinary introducing 

 cage, which may simply be thrust into 

 the entrance of the hive until the 

 queen has been released. 



Some beekeepers, instead of intro- 

 ducing a young laying queen, destroy 

 all but one of the queen cells and 

 permit the colony to requeen itself 

 from this remaining queen cell, but in 

 some cases such colonies will swarm 

 soon after the young queen emerges 

 from the cell, especially if the colony 

 had made preparations for swarming 

 before being treated (p. 18). 



Instead of introducing a young 

 queen, the original queen may be re- 

 turned to her colony, the same care 

 being used in introducing as with any 

 other queen. It is not necessary to 

 return the same queen, but a queen 

 may be taken from any colony for this 

 purpose. If the original queen is to be 

 returned to the colony, she may simply 

 be caged within the hive during the 

 interval of 10 days instead of being 

 taken from the hive, then a few days 

 after the queen cells have been de- 

 stroyed she may be released among 

 the bees. Practically the same result 

 can be accomplished without finding 

 the queen, by shaking the bees together 

 with the queen into the brood cham- 

 ber, which is now left empty except 

 for one comb. The queen should be 

 confined to this nearly empty hive body 

 by means of a queen excluder, the 

 brood being placed above the excluder 

 in another hive body (fig. 11, A, B). 

 After the queen has thus been sep- 

 arated from the brood for 10 days the 

 queen cells should all be destroyed and 

 the extra hive body should be removed 

 (fig. 11, C), the queen and the bees in 

 this hive body being returned to the 

 original brood chamber. When the old 

 queen is returned to the colony in this 

 way, however, the tendency to prepare 

 for swarming again is considerably 

 stronger than when a young queen 

 that has just begun to lay is given. 

 A colony to which a young queen is 

 given after an interval of queenless- 



