54 ]let-l;eephifi in Victoria. 



with in the production of comb-honey. It is a well known fact that 

 when extracted honey is produced there is much less swarming and no 

 ditficulty in keeping the colonies strong, particularly when the Cjueen 

 is given free access to the upper story or stories up to the time of the 

 first extracting, or where the honey How is very heavj^ throughout tlie 

 season. AVlien sections are placed on the hives, instead of extracting 

 combs, the bees will be much slower going up into the super, and will 

 become so crowded in the brood chamber that swarming results. Thus 

 the worker-force is divided, neither the swarm nor the parent colony 

 is in a condition to store surplus honey for two to four weeks, or longer, 

 if the stock was only of medium strength before it swarmed. 



Often before either of the two colonies is ready for storing in sec- 

 tions the best of the honey flow is over, and what usually occurs, 

 particularly in the districts near Jlelbourne, is that the number of 

 colonies is doubled, a few highly coloured and stained sections are 

 produced, a number of swarms abscond, and some of the later casts 

 die of starvation before spring. 



To deal successfully with the swarming problem in connexion with 

 comb-honey it should, first of all, be understood that destroying the 

 ciueen cells which are raised by a colony preparing to swarm does not 

 prevent swarming, it only delays it, except when conditions unfavor- 

 able to the bees, such as bad weather or a stoppage of the honey flow 

 follow immediately after the destruction of the ciueen cells. 



Although the production of comb-honey in 1-lb. sections encourages 

 the swarming impulse, yet there muU iisuallj^ be found in an apiary of 

 any size a few colonies wiii^h. while enual to the best in population and 

 yield of honey, go through one or two entire seasons without swarming. 

 Such stocks give a maximum return for a minimum of labour and 

 attention, and their number should be increased by rearing the young 

 queens required from the queens of these non-swarmers. 



To obtain the best results, the manipulation of the colonies should 

 come under two different headings: 1. Preventive measures. 2. 

 Control of the swarming impulse. 



1. Preventive measures should commence long before there are 

 indications of swarming. The brood chamber should never be allowed 

 to become too crowded with bees, nor should it have any great quantity 

 of honey in combs not occupied by brood ; further, the less honey there 

 is between the brood and the top bars of the frames, the sooner will 

 the bees work in sections when the latter are put on. There are 

 different ways of getting a colony into the right condition for work in 

 sections, such as uncapping combs of sealed honey and inserting them, 

 one at a time, between the brood at intervals of" four or five days, or 

 doing the same with extracted combs if honey is plentiful in the hive 

 or coming in freely. Operations such as these, however, reciuire an 

 amount of time and labour which few Australian bee-keepers are pre- 

 pared to give, neither is the artificial stimulation thus produced always 

 an advantage. A¥e cannot predict to a week or so when a particular 

 honey flow will start, and it is therefore better to let the development 

 of the colonies proceed on natural lines. The simplest way of getting 

 a colony in the right condition will be found to l)e to allow an expan- 

 sion of the brood nest upwards into a set of drawn combs, and then at 



