34 



ADVANCED BEE-CUX,TURE. 



ber of nurses, or youns: bees. This the- 

 ory is strengthened by the fact that when 

 bees are given an abundance of empty 

 comb in which to store their honey, 

 swarming very seldom occurs. In short, 

 extracting the honey, or, to be more ex- 

 act, giving plenty of empty comb, is the 

 most successful, practical method of con- 

 trolling increase. In large apiaires, es- 

 pecially out-apiaries that can be visited 

 only at intervals, it is well nigh impossi- 

 ble to keep every colony always supplied 

 with empty combs, hence there will be 

 occasional swarms. If there is to be 

 someone present to hive what few swarms 

 do issue, and prevention of increase is 

 desired simply that the amount of sur- 

 plus may be greater, and the surplus is 

 preferred in the extracted fbrm, then the 

 man with these desires can have them 

 gratified. 



« In the production of comb honey, I 

 doubt if there is a profitable method of 

 preventing swarming. It may be dis- 

 couraged by giving as much surplus 

 room as possible; but foundation does 

 not equal drawn comb as a discourage- 

 ment to swarming. The issuing of after- 

 swarms can be prevented, but the best 

 that can be done with first swarms is to 

 let them come, and then so manage as to 

 make the most of them. When the sea- 

 son for surplus honey closes with clover 

 or basswood, it is better not to try to se- 

 cure surplus from both the parent col- 

 ony and the swarm. Hive the swarm up- 

 on the old stand, transferring the supers 

 from the old to the new hive. If the 

 brood chamber of the new hive is not too 

 large, work will at once be resumed in 

 the sections. Place the old hive by the 

 side of the new one, but with its entrance 

 turned to one side. That is, have the 

 rear ends of the hives nearly in contact, 

 but their entrances perhaps two feet 

 apart. Each day turn the entrance of 

 the old hive a few inches towards that of 

 the new hive. At the end of the sixth 

 day the two hives should stand side by 

 side. Practically, the hives are on one 

 stand, True, the bees of each hive recog- 



nize and enter their own home, but re- 

 move either hive, and all of the flying 

 bees would euter the remaining hive. 

 Usually the second swarm comes out on 

 the eighth day after the issuing of the 

 first. Now, if the apiarist will, on the 

 seventh day, about noon, when most of 

 the bees are a-field, carry the old hive 

 to a new location, all of the bees that 

 have flown from the old hive since the 

 issuing of the swarm, that have marked 

 the old location as their home, will re- 

 turn and join the newly hived swarm. 

 This booms the colony where the sections 

 are, and so reduces the old colony, just 

 as the young queens are hatching, that 

 any farther swarming is abandoned. The 

 old colony just about builds up into a first- 

 class colony for wintering. If there is a 

 fall honey flow, such a colony may store 

 some surplus then. This method of pre- 

 venting after-swarming, called the Hed- 

 don method, is not infallible. If a col- 

 ony swarms before the first queen cell is 

 sealed, the first young queen may not 

 hatch until the old colony has been upon 

 the new stand long enough for a suffi- 

 cient number of bees to hatch to form a 

 swarm, when they may swarm; but as a 

 rule, this plan is a success. 



If the bee-keeper desires no increase, 

 let him pursue the plan just given, for 

 the prevention of after-swarming, until 

 the point is reached where the old hive is 

 to be carried to a new location, when the 

 old hive is simply to b% shifted to the 

 opposite side of the new hive with its 

 entrance turned away as in the first 

 instance. Each day the hive is to 

 be turned slightly, as before, until 

 the hives are again parallel, when, 

 at the end of a week from the time the 

 "shift" was made, the hive can again be 

 changed to the other side of the new 

 hive. By this management the young 

 bees that are continually hatching in the 

 parent colony are being enticed into the 

 hive containing the swarm. At the end 

 of the third week, the combs of the old 

 hive will be free of brood. That left by 

 the old queen will have all hatched, 



