Increase, Its iMunageiiient and Control 65 



the extracted form, then the man with these desires can have them 

 gratified. 



In the production of comb honey it is doubtful if there is a profitable 

 method of preventing swarming, although, of late, the practice of what 

 is termed "shook swarming" enables the bee-keeper to swarm a colony 

 in a manner very nearly approaching natural swarming when he finds 

 that preparations are being made for swarming. When he finds a colony 

 building queen-cells he knows that within a few days, a week at the 

 utmost, the colony will cast a swarm ; and, instead of waiting, and allow- 

 ing the colony to swarm when it has completed its first queen-cell, he 

 takes the matter into his own hands by shaking off most of the bees and 

 the queen into a new hive, treating this shaken swarm in exactly the 

 same manner as he would treat a swarm that had issued naturally. In 

 other words, the bee-keeper simply forestalls what would have occurred 

 naturally, in a few days, if the colony had been left undisturbed. The 

 advantage is that the bee-keeper can thus bring about the swarming 

 when he is present to attend to it, instead of having it happen when 

 no one is present. This plan enables him to visit out-apiaries at stated 

 intervals, giving each colony an examination, and "shaking" those that 

 are making preparations for swarming. A colony that is not building 

 queen-cells is not likely to swarm inside of a week, and may be left undis- 

 turbed until the next weekly visit. Another minor advantage of shook 

 swarming is that it does away with the uniting and mixing up of two 

 or more swarms that ma\' issue at the same time in a large apiary, where 

 natural swarming is allowed. Failures in shook swarming result, as 

 a rule, from doing the work too early in the season, before the colony 

 has made preparations for swarming, and in not disturbing the bees 

 sufficiently at the time, thus causing them to fill themselves with hone\', 

 as they do when swarming naturally. Before beginning the work, it is 

 well to jar the hive, or pound upon it, until the bees are thoroughly 

 frightened, and have filled themselves with honey. If it is desirable to 

 have increase, the old hive can be given a new location and a laying 

 queen, or a ripe queen-cell. If no increase is desired, the old hive can 

 be set by the side of the new one, with its entrance turned slightly to 

 one side ; then, at the next visit, it may be shifted to the other side of 

 the new hive, when the flying bees will enter the new hive. A week 

 later it may be placed back upon the other side, and, at the next visit, 

 three weeks from the swarming, the few remaining bees may be shaken 

 out of the old hive. The shifting of the old hive, from side to side of 

 the new hive, may be omitted, the old hive being left standing by the 

 side of the new one until the three weeks have elapsed, when all of the 

 bees may be shaken in with the new colony. The advantage of the 

 former plan is that some of the hatching bees are sooner thrown into 



