Increase, Its Management and Control 67 



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 sufficient 

 number of bees to hatch to form a swarm ; but, as a rule, this plan is 

 a success. If an after-swarm does come out, I open the hive, while the 

 swarm is clustering, cut out all of the queen-cells, return the swarm, 

 and that is the end of the swarming. If the bee-keeper desires no 

 increase, he can pursue the plan just given until it is time to remove 

 the old hive to a new location, when it may be shifted to the opposite 

 side of the new hive, with its entrance turned to one side ; then gradually 

 worked back to the side of the new hive, as has been already explained, 

 then, at the end of the week, shifted back to the other side, where it 

 may stand another week, when all of the bees may be shaken out, and 

 the hive and combs removed. What little honey remains in the combs 

 may be extracted, or, if some of them are well filled with honey, they 

 may be saved to give any colony that is lacking in stores at the approach 

 of winter. 



There seems to be no good plan of allowing bees to swarm, and 

 then preventing increase by uniting, without having an extra set of 

 combs built for each swarm that issues, and the same may be said when 

 shook swarming is practiced ; but I believe such combs are produced at 

 a profit. 



There is still another plan of preventing increase, besides that of 

 merging the old colony into the new ; it is that of contracting the brood- 

 nest of the newly hived swarm to such an extent that the end of the 

 season will find it too much reduced in numbers for successful wintering, 

 \\'hen it may be united with the parent colony. 



Quite a number of bee-keepers have succeeded to their entire satis- 

 faction in preventing after-swarming, also in preventing increase, while 

 only a few have succeeded in preventing swarming when working for 

 comb honey. Probably the only certain method that has been used to 

 any extent, in this country, is that of removing the queens just at the 

 opening of the swarming season, leaving the colonies queenless about 

 three weeks. Of course, queen-cells must be cut out at least once during 

 this interval. Although a few good men practice this method, I never 

 could bring myself to adopt it — there is too much labor. 



The man who is raising comb honey as a business will find it to his 

 advantage to allow each colony to swarm once, if it will (and no more), 

 then make the most out of the swarm. Whether the swarm and the 

 old colony shall be again merged into one, depends upon the desirability 

 of increase. 



