812 
SWARMING 
(9) EARLY WORK IN SUPERS. 
Since the tendency to swarm is stronger 
during the early part of the honey flow if 
the colonies are strong in young bees at 
that time it is important that each colony 
expand into and occupy promptly the first 
super that is given. To accomplish this it 
is necessary that the first super be attract¬ 
ive to the young hive-workers. If supers, 
either for comb honey or for extracted 
honey, having only foundation be given to 
a strong colony just before the honey flow, 
the bees will not take possession of them 
and begin work on the foundation to any 
extent until the honey Uoav has actually be¬ 
gun. In the meantime the colony may be¬ 
come crowded for room. The addition of 
this super, therefore, does not affect the 
distribution of the bees until they take pos¬ 
session of and occupy the super, while in 
the meantime conditions for swarming may 
develop rapidly. On the other hand, if a 
super of empty combs is given to a strong 
colony some time previous to the honey 
flow, the younger bees in great numbers 
immediately take possession of the super 
and begin to repair the comb and to pre¬ 
pare it for use. 
The first super for extracted-honey pro¬ 
duction should be supplied with empty 
combs if these are available. If not enough 
empty combs are at hand for this, at least 
half of the frames in each super should 
contain empty combs. If no empty combs 
are available, some of the combs of brood 
should be taken from the brood-chamber 
and put into the super to induce the bees 
to move up promptly. 
The first comb-honey supers are usually 
put on later than supers for extracted hon¬ 
ey. They should contain some sections in 
which the combs are already built, which 
were saved from the previous year. These 
combs will induce the bees to occupy the 
super earlier than would be the case if only 
foundation is used in the section. 
It should be remembered that, in the case 
of comb honey, the room that can be occu¬ 
pied by the bees in the super actually de¬ 
creases from the time the bees begin to 
build combs until the combs are completely 
drawn out. This makes it necessary for 
some of these bees to go back into the brood- 
chamber, which is exactly what they should 
not do, so far as swarm prevention is con¬ 
cerned. The super workers forced out of 
the super back into the brood-chamber, add¬ 
ed to those emerging rapidly in the brood- 
chamber, give a large number of bees there 
which must remain unemployed until they 
are old enough for field work unless addi¬ 
tional super room is given. 
During the early part of the honey flow 
when swarming is imminent, additional su¬ 
pers should be added as the bees need them 
before any of the workers are crowded back 
into the brood-chamber. If the honey Aoav 
is good, the additional supers should be 
given as fast as the bees can be induced to 
occupy them, in order that the expansion of 
the Avork and the room in the supers shall 
keep pace with the oncoming of the young 
workers. Each neAvly added super should 
be so accessible, comfortable, and attractive 
that young bees will come up and occupy it 
at once, which they may fail to do if the 
newly added supers are too hot, too cold, 
too remote, difficult to Amntilate, or other¬ 
wise unattractive. During the latter part 
of the honey flow as the sAvarming season 
begins to wane, bees may be crowded as to 
super room to induce them to finish the 
work well and concentrate the honey in 
fewer supers, but by this time there is less 
danger of swarming. See Comb Honey, to 
Produce, subhead Tiering up. 
(10) room in combs for ripening nectar. 
It should also be remembered that the 
thin incoming nectar requires more room in 
the combs than it does after it has been 
ripened. Besides this the bees do not fill 
the cells full of thin nectar but place only 
a small amount in each cell in order that it 
may be more promptly ripened. For this 
reason it is necessary to provide more 
super room than would be needed other¬ 
wise. When adding supers it is well to 
keep in mind this extra need for room for 
ripening nectar as Avell as for the storage of 
ripened honey. 
(11) REMOVING ONE OR TWO COMBS OF 
BROOD. 
It is somtimes advisable to take out one 
or two combs of brood from the brood- 
chamber and place them in the super, put¬ 
ting in their place empty combs in order 
to give the queen more room if she becomes 
crowded. In addition to giving the queen 
more room, there is no doubt some advan- 
