SWAKMING 
805 
spects such swarming is quite different from 
normal swarming. 
Gravenhorst, a German writer, laid down 
the rule that a colony having a laying 
queen reared this season will not swarm this 
season, provided the queen was reared in 
this colony. If she was reared elsewhere, 
the colony may swarm this season. But we 
know that if the old queen is removed at 
swarming time and all queen-cells (if any) 
are destroyed, then all queen-cells again de¬ 
stroyed ten days later, a young laying queen 
from another colony may be given a few 
days later with the same safety from fur¬ 
ther swarming as tho the young queen had 
been reared in this colony. 
The important thing to note here is that 
when a young queen is reared in this colony 
this year, there is (except in some cases of 
supersedure) an interval of at least 16 days 
during which no eggs are laid. When a 
similar break in brood-rearing is brought 
about by removing the queen, it does not 
make any difference whether the young 
queen is reared in this colony or elsewhere, 
so far as swarming is concerned. Even 
when the old queen is given back to the col¬ 
ony after 16 days, there is usually no fur¬ 
ther swarming. 
Apparently the condition of the colony 
brought about by the period of queenless- 
ness has more to do with the prevention of 
swarming than the age of the queen. 
HOW YOUNG BEES CONTRIBUTE TO 
SWARMING. 
Gerstung, a German investigator, put 
forth the theory that swarming is brought 
on by a preponderance of young bees. This 
fits in well with the well-known fact that 
the swarming tendency is strongest early in 
the season when young bees are emerging 
in greatest numbers, as well as explaining 
why swarming is worse in those localities 
where the bees build up most rapidly in the 
spring and during those seasons when be¬ 
cause of favorable conditions building up is 
most rapid, thus resulting in an unusual 
number of emerging and recently emerged 
young bees. This theory would also ex¬ 
plain why colonies are willing to give up 
swarming when their brood is taken away 
as in artificial swarming, as well as why the 
swarming impulse disappears completely 
about 20 days after removing the queen 
when the dequeening plan is used to pre¬ 
vent swarming. 
Using this theory as a basis, comb-honey 
producers about 20 years ago worked out 
plans by which the brood and youngest bees 
were taken from the colony at swarming 
time, kept in a separate hive until old 
enough to do field work and then returned 
to the main colony. Producers of extract¬ 
ed honey, instead of putting the brood and 
young bees into a separate hive, placed the 
chamber containing the brood above the 
queen-excluder, the queen being confined 
below, thus separating the young and 
emerging bees from the colony below. In 
1908 E. E. Coveyou advised placing the 
chamber of emerging bees above the supers 
to separate them still further from the col¬ 
ony. (See Gleanings in Bee Culture, 1908, 
pages 640-641.) This was further empha¬ 
sized by A. C. Allen in 1910 (American Bee 
Journal, page 94) and by Chalon Fowls in 
1915 (Gleanings in Bee Culture, 1915, page 
574). Mr. Fowls especially emphasized the 
importance of having all the young bees in 
the old brood-chamber above the supers, 
having only bees old enough to work in the 
fields in the new brood-chamber below. 
The Aspinwall non-swarming hive was 
based' upon the young-bee theory as the 
cause of swarming. It provided extra room 
for these young bees between the combs. 
Gerstung, however, carried his theory so 
far as to attempt to explain swarming as 
caused by an excess of nurse bees in pro¬ 
portion to the number of larvae to be fed, 
the unused larval food causing a physiologi¬ 
cal condition in the nurse bees bringing on 
the swarming impulse. He evidently quite 
forgot that when an artificial swarm is made 
by shaking there are no larvae to feed dur¬ 
ing the first three days; yet the bees are 
willing to give up swarming if properly 
handled, even tho these same nurse bees 
are shaken with the older bees and there 
should be a much greater excess of larval 
food than before shaking. Under condi¬ 
tions mentioned below colonies made up 
largely of older bees have been known to 
swarm, tho this is quite unusual. 
While a large proportion of young bees, 
no doubt, contribute to bringing on swarm¬ 
ing, they alone evidently are not always the 
cause. 
HOW FIELD BEES CONTRIBUTE TO SWARMING. 
During the honey flow from clover in 
1916 the plants apparently did not begin 
