38 



Hii-l<e< jnufi III I icfni'iti. 



Fig. 2.- 



they wnulil ha\'e been had the colonies swarmed earlier. Examining the 

 hives once a wrck and destro\ ing any queen cells that are found will, to 



some extent, pre\'pnt 

 swarming or, at any 

 rate, delay it. How- 

 e\-er, unless the bees 

 are shaken off the 

 brood combs e\'ery 

 time, a small queen 

 cell on the face of the 

 comb, or one well 

 co\ered with newly- 

 built comb, is very 

 likely to be over- 

 looked and, if condi- 

 tions continue favor- 

 able, colonies which 

 have been thwarted 

 will often swarm with- 

 out having built cells. 

 Taking into account 

 the trouble involved 

 by a careful weekly 

 examination and the 

 risk of failing to pre- 

 vent swarming, it will 

 be found best to allow 

 the swarm to come off and, if no increase but a yield of honey is desired, to 

 re-unite the swarm and the parent colony. This is done in the following 

 manner: — When the swarm has issued and clustered somewhere, hive it in 

 a new box on a set of wired frames with starters on the spot occupied by 

 the hive from which it came ; remove the latter a little to one side, with 

 the entrance facing at right angles to its former position. All flying bees 

 remaining in the parent stock, on returning from the fields, will join the 

 swarm, because they will return to the spot they are used to. The swarmed 

 colony will thus be so depleted of flying bees that usually the first virgin 

 queen which hatches from one of the cells will be allowed by the bees to 

 destroy the remaining queen cells. To make sure, however, that no after- 

 swarms come off, it is best to examine the stocks within a day or two and 

 destroy all the queen cells except one, selecting for the purpose one of the 

 largest and most forward in development. In from fourteen to twenty-one 

 days the young, queen will be laying and, imder normal conditions, the 

 combs in the hive containing the swarm will have been built down to the 

 bottom bar of the frames. In the meantime the parent hive has been 

 gradually turned round till it stands close alongside to the swarm, with the 

 entrance facing the same way, and the two stocks may be united into one 

 hive, the old queen (that with the swarm) being removed, the young queen 

 taking her place on the new combs, with the old combs over a queen-excluder 

 in the super to be extracted when full, or replaced by frames with full 

 sheets of foundation, if unsuitable for further use. 



As previously stated, uniting should be done towards evening, first 

 blowing smoke between the combs of both colonies, and then alternating 



-A Large Swarm, 10 lbs., or about 

 45,000 Bees. 



