15 



& good practice to allow these after-swarms, as they are called, 

 as they weaken the colony and as after swarms are small 

 it takes a long time for them to develop into good, strong 

 colonies. After-swarms can be prevented by destroying all queen 

 cells but one after the first swarm comes off. If nothing but 

 extf-acted honey is produced, as has been recommended, we can 

 eliminate the swarming fever to a certain extent by breeding from 

 liives that show no great tendency to swarm. This will not only 

 save the apiarist a great deal of labor but more honey will be 

 produced. It will also obviate the necessary practice of shook 

 swarming and the removing of brood. It might be added here that 

 it is a good plan to plant a number of low growing trees around 

 the apiary. This not only affords a place for the bees to swarm 

 in but it also acts as a wind-bre^k. 



HIVING OF SWARMS. 



There are a number of appliances for catching swarms and 

 some of them are a great help, especially in removing clusters of 

 bees from high trees. 



After hiving a swarm it is a good practice to place it on what 

 is to be its peitoanent stand. It may be left, however, for a few 

 days and then moved, but this is not a very good practice as the 

 bees have to be shut up and then moved which means a loss of 

 time. If no extra precautions are taken in obstructing the open- 

 ing of tlie hive, the bees will come out and in their great haste to 

 gather honey will not notice that their surroundings are different, 

 and after gathering their honey in the field will return to the 

 place where the swarm was first hived and there die or enter 

 other hives. In hiving a swarm the bee-keeper many times 

 wishes to know if he has the queen in the cluster. To accomplish 

 this cut down the swarm and shake it upon a piece of cloth which 

 has been spread in front of the entrance to the hive in which the 

 swarm is to be placed. The queen may then be easily seen enter- 

 ing the hive with the bees. If, by any chance, there are two 

 queens in the swarm one may be destroyed; or, if both queens 

 are to be saved, another hive may be placed near and one of the 

 queens with part of the bees directed into it. Often times two 

 swarms come out at the same time and form one large cluster. 

 With the above method both queens are saved, otherwise one of 

 the queens might swarm out with a cluster of bees after the 

 apiarist has left them, thinking everything is all right. 



When a swarm has been hived the hive should be shaded from 

 the sun by a piece of tin, boards, or royal palm leaf (yaguas) so 

 that it will not be too warm and cause the bees to swarm out. 

 It is a good practice to place in the hive in which the swarm is to 

 be hived, a frame of uncapped brood. When this is given to a 

 new swarm they very seldom desert the hive into which they have 

 been placed. 



SHOOK SWARMING. 



When it is found that bees are starting queen cells during a 

 heavy flow of honey swarming is prevented by a practice known 



