24 MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



swarmed, or gotten queen-eells sealed, or nearly ready for sealing, had 

 nearly or quite stopped laying, as queens always do at the time of natural 

 swarming; and when "shook" they did not go to laying proliflcally at once, 

 as do those shaken just at the commencement of the white-honey hai-veKt ; 

 consequentlj' such colonies kept the queen restricted as to egg-laying, after 

 she commenced to lay later on, by not carrying the honey into the sections, 

 and their showing in section honey was less than two-thirds of that given 

 by those which had not prepared to swarm, and little more than half of 

 that given by "those made before I was taken sick.^ 



All that is necessary is to have all the colonies, to be treated, strong 

 to overflowing with bees. Then, when the time is ripe to do the work, go on 

 and shake, no matter about the queen-cells, whether they have them or not ; 

 only, if any are found with eggs, larvae, or pupae, in them, when the combs 

 are shaken and freed from bees, they should be cut off, so they will not 

 bother by emerging in the hives above the queen-excluder. Nor can the 

 idea that the colony that starts no queen-eells, and would not swarm if let 

 alone (the same giving bettei" results if left unshaken), be tolerated or car- 

 ried out in an out-apiary when worked for comb honey on the "few visits" 

 plan, even if this "giving better results" were the case, as the liability of 

 such colonies swarming at unexpected times must always be counted upon. 

 But such is not the case when the apiary is worked on the plan here given, 

 for nearly all of the colonies treated in this way give better results than any 

 colony which does not swarm, worked in the usual way.^ Therefore this way 

 of working, as here given, does away with all the labor required in trying 

 to find out whether colonies are going to swarm or not, by way of looking 

 for queen-cells once a week in using the different plans that have been pub- 

 lished, such as tipping up the hives and smoking the bees so the bottom of 

 the combs may be inspected for cells, clamps for holding the sections from 

 falling off while this inspection is going on, the prying-apart of divisible 

 brood-chambers to see if queen-cells are being built between, or even having 

 a "cell-detector hole" cut and fixed in the baek of the hive, which can be 

 opened once a day or oftener to discover if cells are started on a comb, cut 

 and fixed in such a way that, if queen-cells are started in any part of the 

 hive, they will be started so they can be seen from this hole ; and, also, all 

 the labor of requeening, caging queens, etc., used in trying to prevent 

 swarming. In fact, it supersedes any and all the plans heretofore used by 

 hundred and thousands of apiarists when working on the "shook-swarming" 



1 This is a strong argument in favor of shaking all the colonies worked for comh 

 honey before the bees begin preparations for swarming; but in localities where by 

 good management, swarming can be so, reduced that during ordinary seasons only 5% 

 to 20% of the colonies would attempt to swarm if not shaken, there is a question as to 

 the advisability of shaking all the colonies to prevent swarming in' a few. Further- 

 more, even in regions where swarming is usually troublesome, as in the far north, there 

 are occasional seasons when there is practically no swarming if the bees are properly 

 managed. During such seasons shaking is not necessary. It is now possible to fore"-, 

 tell, to a certain extent, whether there will be much or little tendency to swarm (See 

 Farmers' Bulletin 1198., U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.) 



■ =;A recently hived natural swarm usually works with greater vigor than the same 

 bees did before swarming. This energetic work is often so marked that the recently 

 hived swarms can easily be distinguished from the other colonies by the increased num'- 

 ber of bees going m and out of the hive. The same thing is true in artificial swarm.-, 

 made by shaking as described by the author. Colonies that are shaken at the begin- 

 ning of a short rapid honey flow, if properly handled, will often store more honey than 

 colonies not shaken which go thru the season without swarming, because of the greater 

 spirit with which they work. Under proper conditions, this may be sufRcient reason 

 for shaking all the colonies instead of only those preparing to iwarm 



