Swarm Control and Increase 281 



the existence of a single underlying factor in all the methods 

 devised was not shown previous to the discussion of this 

 subject by Demuth. This ehmination of the emerging bees, 

 to be successful in its purpose, must occur just before or 

 during the swarming season. 



The various manipulations devised by beekeepers which 

 bring about this condition and which have been devised to 

 control swarming come under two headings : (1) The pre- 

 vention or great restriction of egg-laying; (2) the removal 

 of brood. Even if there were one best manipulation, a bee- 

 keeper would probably still prefer the one to which he has 

 become accustomed, but there is so far no one method 

 superior to all the others. As conditions vary from season to 

 season, or even within the season, it becomes desirable that 

 the beekeeper change his manipulations from time to time. 



Restriction of egg-laying. 



The most radical manipulation under this heading is the 

 removal of the queen. She may be removed for a period of 

 perhaps ten days and then returned (after the destruction 

 of all queen cells), or she may simply be caged and left in the 

 colony, to be released at the end of the period. Another 

 method is to confine the queen to a single comb of brood 

 and several empty combs, or to two or three frames filled 

 with foimdation in a hive-body below the one containing 

 most of the brood, in which case the queen cells must be 

 destroyed both before and after the period of separation of 

 the queen and brood. ^ In any event, all queen cells must 



' The removal of the queen has been recommended by Elwood, Quiuby, 

 Hetherington and France. Caging the queen was then advised by Doo- 

 little and tried by Miller. The next step was to utilize the queen by keep- 

 ing her in a nucleus (Miller) and a later development consisted in making 

 the nucleus practically a part of the main colony. This was done by put- 

 ting a comb or two of brood, without queen cells, in the lower body and then 

 placing the queen and most of the brood on top of the hive, over a cover. 

 Most of the bees are left with the queenless portion and because of the 

 reduced population in the upper hive, the bees destroy the queen cells. 

 In about ten days the body containing the queen and brood is put below 

 and the body containing the few combs of brood is removed to be used as 



