26 



Farmers' Bulletin ii98 



Natural swarms that issue near the 

 close of the honey flow may be hived 

 in an empty box, which is placed by 

 the side of the parent colony for 24 to 

 48 hours, then hived back into their 

 own hive. After the swarm enters the 

 parent colony the queen cells are 

 usually destroyed and the bees ap- 

 parently are satisfied. If this is done 

 earlier in the season, however, 

 further swarming usually results. 



Colonies that are preparing to 

 swarm near the close of the season 

 may be induced to destroy their own 

 queen cells and give up swarming by 

 moving the hive away and substituting 

 another hive containing two combs of 

 brood (some unsealed brood is neces- 



tion shaken from their combs back 

 into the original hive, thus reuniting 

 the colony. 



These cases may be useful near the 

 close of the season or at any time if 

 the tendency to swarm is not great, 

 but neither of them can be depended 

 upon during the height of the swarm- 

 ing season, for the conditions which 

 w^ere present previous to preparations 

 for swarming are soon restored under 

 this treatment. 



THE CAUSE OF SWARMING 



Although the cause of swarming has 

 not been definitely determined, the one 

 factor which is universally present in 



Fia. 13. — Method for inducing bees to destroy queen cells and give up swarming. A, Col- 

 ony preparing to swarm. B, Hive (S) containing two frames of brood (some of which 

 is unsealed) is substituted for the original hive (i), which is now placed on top, no 

 communication between hives 1 and 2 being permitted. C, Hive 8 is removed after a 

 weet or 10 days and hive 1 is restored to its former position 



sary) without queen cells, the re- 

 maining space in the brood chamber 

 being left vacant. The supers are 

 then transferred to the prepared hive 

 on the original stand, and the queen is 

 left in the original hive which is set 

 at one side or on top of the prepared 

 hive (fig. 13, A, B). If the bees are 

 well at work in the fields when this is 

 done and the original hive is so lo- 

 cated that the returning bees do not 

 enter it, but enter the prepared hive, 

 the original hive becomes so depleted 

 of bees that " the queen cells are de- 

 stroyed and swarming is given up. 

 The other division can not swarm be- 

 cause it has no queen. After four or 

 five days the original hive may be re- 

 stored to its former position (fig. 13, 

 C) and the bees of the queenless por- 



normal swarming_.is,. that„ of „a. con- 

 g^twn pTTBees_^ wijhin the brood nest^ 

 "Other factors often mentioned as caus- 

 ing iwiirming are not universally 

 present. Such a congestion of bees 

 within the brood nest is usually 

 brought about by a preponderance of 

 recently emerged and "emerging young 

 beesrijut the effect of such crowding 

 may be greatly intensified by numer- 

 ous factors' in the environinent, not 

 universally present, which may be 

 considered as contributing factors, but 

 not causal. Whether a preponderance 

 of bees too young for outside work or 

 some other factor is responsible for 

 swarming, this theory forms a good 

 working hypothesis, since the success - 

 ful preventive measures "are thqae 

 which reduce the congestion 'or'alleTi- 



