70 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 
allowed to fill themselves with honey so that the normal condition of 
bees when swarming will be established, for just before swarming 
bees instinctively gorge themselves with honey, this accounting in 
a large measure for their docility at the swarming time. The 
swarm so shaken may be placed on the old stand to retain the 
flight bees and the parent colony set up on a new stand. The plan 
of continuing to add flight bees to the swarm may be followed in 
this instance as described in connection with having natural swarms 
ou the old stands. If the shaken swarm is placed on starters a 
young queen should be given it to insure the building of worker 
combs, the old queen being retained in the parent colony. If young 
queens enough are available it is well to replace the old queen at this 
time, for if left in the parent colony, the instinct to swarm may lead 
the colony as soon as strengthened up enough to warrant it, to cast 
a swarm in spite of having been greatly depleted in numbers by -the 
previously shaken swarm. 
There has been some objection raised to thus shaking bees 
trom the brood combs of a colony, it being claimed that the brood 
is chilled and that the unsealed brood is but poorly cared for in the 
depleted condition of the colony. The plan should not be carried 
out until just before the honey flow when the nights are warm and 
the brood not likely to suffer much danger of being chilled. The 
youngest brood may be given to other colonies. Or still better the 
days immediately preceding the shaking of the swarm may be used 
to introduce a young queen (first removing the old one), and so the 
youngest brood will have time to get past the stage of needing so 
much attention and care. Some beekeepers prefer to put a top 
story on the colony to be divided a short time before it is proposed 
1o make the division. Then the young brood is all transferred to 
this story and set down on the bottom board at the time of the 
division, the bees from the lower story then being shaken into it 
and the latter story set up on a new stand, as the parent colony and 
given a laying queen from a nucleus. 
But it will probably be found that for the small apiarist the 
clipping method of controlling swarming will be the most natural 
and satisfactory. 
