4 
i 
dr. miller's 
the matter of hindering swarming. But I must confess that I 
have not been able to prevent all swarming to my entire satisfac- 
tion. It may be some help to say that if you succeed in getting 
a young queen reared in a colony and get her to laying, that 
colony is practically certain not to swarm the same season. 
Q. In preventing afterswarms, by placing the young swarm on 
the old stand and taking the old colony to a new place, should 
all the queen-cells except the ripest one be cut out at once? 
A. That’s one way. There’s a better way. Set the swarm on 
the old stand, the old hive close beside it, without cutting out any 
queen-cells, and let stand for a week. Then move the old hive 
to a new stand, and the bees will do the rest. You see, when the 
old hive is moved at that time all the field-bees will leave it and 
join the swarm. That will weaken the old colony, and added to 
that is the fact that no honey will be coming in, so the bees will 
conclude they cannot afford to swarm, and all the extra queen- 
cells will be killed without your opening the hive. 
Q. Can an afterswarm be returned to the parent hive? If so, 
how shall I proceed? 
A. The easiest thing in the world. Just dump the swarm 
down in front of the hive and let them run in. It was the old- 
fashioned way of treating afterswarms, and there’s no better way, 
if you don’t mind the trouble. Just return the bees every time 
they swarm out, and when all the queens have emerged there 
will be only one left, and there will be no more swarming. Indeed, 
you may carry the plan still farther, returning the prime swarm 
and all the afterswarms. That will give you no increase, but the 
largest yield of honey, especially if your harvest is early. 
Hiving the swarm in an empty box and returning it to the 
parent colony the next day is still better, as the swarming excite- 
ment is over. 
Q. Do afterswarms come out only when the old hive remains 
on the old stand? 
Do they always fail to come out when the old hive is put in a 
new location? 
A. Afterswarms are likely to issue if the old hive is left on 
the old stand, and are less likely to if the old hive at the time of 
swarming is removed to a new place; but may issue then. If the 
swarm is put on the old stand, the old hive close beside it, and 
then a week later the old hive removed to a new place, you may 
count quite safely on no afterswarms. 
