room at the time of hiving the swarm and to reduce the space three or
four days later, as otherwise the bees are apt to "swarm out" because
of their cramped quarters. Since contraction of the brood chamber is
but a temporary expedient, it should not be continued beyond the time
that its use is of advantage. If there should be a later honey flow,
the brood chamber should be expanded in time to rear the bees for it.
In any event, contraction should not continue so long as to interfere
with securing the proper conditions of the colonies for winter (p. 21).
Frames of foundation, empty combs, frames of brood or honey may be used
to complete the set of combs when expanding the brood chamber, and
these are usually given just before or at the close of the honey flow.
Contraction of the brood chamber to less than one hive body, except in
hiving swarms, is not usually advisable.
=Swarm Control by Manipulation.=
Swarm control by manipulation enables the beekeeper to operate a series
of apiaries by visiting each at certain intervals, thus eliminating
the necessity of an attendant in each apiary during the swarming
season. The fact that bees usually, by the construction of queen cells,
indicate about a week in advance their intention to swarm, enables the
beekeeper to control swarming by examining each colony once a week
during the swarming period and forestalling the colonies that are
making preparations to swarm. It is also possible to manipulate all the
colonies before any swarming occurs so that most of them go through the
honey flow without swarming, thus eliminating the weekly examinations.
Any manipulation for swarm control, whether applied after the colony
has acquired the "swarming fever" or applied to all colonies alike
previous to the swarming season, is based upon the single principle--_a
temporary disturbance in the continuity of the daily emergence of
brood_. This disturbance should occur just previous to or during the
swarming season. In natural swarming the brood and the swarm are
separated, the swarm being without hatching brood during a period of
three weeks. The brood from which the swarm came may be allowed to
emerge in a separate hive and the resulting bees may then be returned
to the swarm (p. 29). In this way the swarming instinct is satisfied,
at least temporarily, without materially decreasing the population of
the colony. The beekeeper may anticipate swarming by removing the brood
from the hive, allowing it to emerge in a separate hive and finally
returning these young bees to the colony in the same manner as is
done with the natural swarm. Under the same conditions the subsequent
behavior of a colony treated in this way is similar to that of a
natural swarm. In either case there has been a break in the continuity
of the emergence of young bees in the hive during a period of three
weeks.
Instead of hiving a natural swarm upon empty combs or frames of
foundation, combs of emerging brood (without queen cells) taken from
a colony that has been queenless during a period of 10 to 15 days may
be used (p. 33) and a similar condition may be had without swarming
by removing all of the brood and substituting such combs of emerging
brood, thus at least temporarily avoiding swarming. In these cases
there is a break of 10 to 15 days in the continuity of the daily
emergence of bees.
A similar interruption of brood rearing may be accomplished by removing
the queen from the hive or caging her within the hive during a period
of 10 days or 2 weeks, then returning her to the combs. In this case no
queen cells must of course be allowed to mature. A condition similar to
this may be obtained without removing the queen by dividing the brood
chamber into two parts with queen-excluding metal, for a period of 10
to 15 days. The brood from the division containing the queen is then
removed and the bees, together with the queen, shaken into the other
(queenless) division, the queen cells if any being first destroyed.
The brood thus removed may later be returned to the colony in the form
of young bees in the usual manner (p. 29). Even the destruction of
the sealed brood by uncapping it has been advised as a means of swarm
control. This gives a period of about 12 days during which few or no
young bees emerge.
These methods are illustrative of the principle employed in the various
methods of control by manipulation, which may be classified under three
general headings: (1) Taking the queen from the hive. (2) Taking the
brood from the hive. (3) Separating the queen and brood within the hive.
The following methods of swarm control are given for the purpose of
illustrating the various types of control by manipulation. It is not
to be understood that all the methods given are equally adaptable to
any locality or season, but it is hoped that, presented in this way,
the beekeeper may more readily see the principle underlying each plan
as well as the basic principle underlying all the plans and thereby be
better enabled to elaborate a system of control to meet his particular
requirements.
=TAKING THE QUEEN FROM THE HIVE.=
The temporary removal of the queen from the colony for the required
time (p. 36) and the return of the same queen is a method which has
been used in swarm control. Of course, no queen cells should be
permitted to develop in the meantime. Such colonies may prepare to
swarm again, especially if the period of queenlessness is not more than
10 days. The method is a valuable one, however, and may be used at any
time during the season on colonies making preparations to swarm.
=Dequeening in connection with requeening.=--Requeening each
colony with a young queen early in the season may greatly reduce the
percentage of colonies that attempt to swarm but can not be relied upon
as a method of complete control since during a good and prolonged honey
flow quite a number of such colonies prepare to swarm. If each colony
is requeened with a young queen at the beginning of the honey flow,
_after having been queenless for 10 or 15 days_, there will probably be
very little if any swarming during an ordinary season. This method is
not in general use among beekeepers, largely because of the difficulty
in so timing the operation that there will be no loss. The following
are illustrative of the various adaptations of requeening in connection
with a period of no brood rearing.
(1) Just previous to the honey flow and at about the time that heavy
brood rearing is no longer desirable, remove the queen from each
colony, (_a_) Eight or ten days later destroy all queen cells but one
and allow the colony to requeen itself, or (_b_) destroy _all_ queen
cells 8 or 10 days after removing the queen, then after 3 to 6 days
supply each colony with a "ripe" queen cell (one in which the queen
is ready to emerge), a virgin queen, or a young laying queen. It is
usually desirable that the interval of queenlessness be as short as
possible without defeating its purpose. Some beekeepers give a young
laying queen 10 days after removing the old one, or a virgin or ripe
cell considerably earlier, sometimes even at the time the old queen is
removed, while others prefer a period of at least 14 days before giving
either a laying or a virgin queen. However, colonies with virgin queens
sometimes swarm even though no other queen cells or larvæ from which to
rear a queen are present. Another objection to the use of queen cells
or virgin queens for this purpose is that some of the queens fail to
emerge and some virgin queens fail to mate, thus leaving the colony
hopelessly queenless. For these reasons, some prefer to have the young
queens mate and begin to lay in "nuclei" (very small colonies) before
introducing[6] them in the strong colonies. This method may be used
for the entire apiary at the beginning of the honey flow or it may be
applied only to those colonies making preparations to swarm.
[6] The young laying queens may be introduced Into the colony by the
ordinary indirect or caging method (Farmers' Bulletin No. 447, p. 44)
or together with a comb of brood and adhering from the nucleus from
which she was mated.
(2) Use two hive bodies as a brood chamber before the honey flow,
uniting if necessary to secure strong colonies. At the beginning of
the honey flow divide each colony, leaving the field bees and most
of the brood on the old stand in one hive body, placing the queen,
remaining brood, and enough bees to care for it in the other hive body
which is set beside the first. The supers are of course given to the
queenless colony on the old stand, which after the proper interval
of queenlessness is allowed to requeen itself or is requeened by the
beekeeper as in (1) above. The colony containing the old queen may be
used to strengthen the storing colony by shifting its position from one
side of it to the other (p. 31), or used for increase.
(3) Ten days before the honey flow is expected to begin, put most of
the brood into a single hive body, on this a queen excluder, and over
this a second hive body with a frame of brood and the queen, the other
combs of this set being empty except perhaps a little brood and honey.
Nine or ten days later remove the upper story, supply it with a bottom
board, and place it close beside the original hive. Destroy queen cells
if any are present in the queenless portion which remains on the old
stand, give a ripe queen cell, virgin queen, or a young laying queen,
and put on the supers. The brood chamber containing the old queen may
be used to make increase or its flying bees may be united with the
storing colony (p. 31).
By any of these methods there is a break of 10 to 15 days in the
continuity of brood emergence in the brood chamber left on the old
stand and the colonies are requeened with young queens--each a strong
factor in swarm control and when combined should with rare exceptions
result in no swarming.
=REMOVING THE BROOD FROM THE HIVE.=
Since removing the brood brings about conditions quite similar to that
of natural swarming (p. 28), such a management of the colonies is
practically identical with that of natural swarming. The use of the
brood that is removed (p. 29), the question of what should be used in
the brood chamber instead of the removed brood (p. 32), the contraction
of the brood chamber (p. 33), etc., have been discussed under natural
swarming and need not be repeated here. While some of the plans using
this principle may be applied to all the colonies in the apiary before
swarming actually begins, the usual practice is to apply them only to
such colonies as are making preparations to swarm. It should not be
used on weak colonies, on colonies having a small percentage of sealed
and emerging brood and few young bees, on colonies in which the queen
is failing, or on any colonies during a very poor season. Under any
of these conditions it is usually better to discourage swarming by
destroying queen cells (p. 27), by removing one or two frames of brood,
or, if some control measure is finally necessary, by requeening such
colonies after an interval of queenlessness. On the other hand, for
strong colonies having a high percentage of sealed and emerging brood
and a good queen the method usually gives excellent results, since
by its use the workers, queen, and supers are kept together during
the flow. The following are some of the various plans employing this
principle of swarm control:
(1) Find the queen and put the comb on which she is found to one side,
then shake the bees from most of the other combs into or in front of
their hive. As the combs of brood are removed put frames containing
either narrow strips or full sheets of foundation or combs into the
hive and replace the supers. When most of the shaken bees are in the
hive, place the queen among them. Put all the brood and the few bees
remaining thereon into another hive close beside the shaken colony
(fig. 17). Enough bees should be left on the combs of brood to care for
it; usually two combs are not shaken at all, but placed in the other
hive with all the adhering bees. For further disposition of the brood
see page 29.
(2) In order to avoid the trouble of finding the queen, the above plan
may be varied by shaking and brushing _all_ the bees from the combs so
as to be sure that the queen is among them. In this case the brood may
be utilized by one of the following plans: (_a_) Use it to build up
weaker colonies (p. 31) or (_b_) place it in a hive body over a queen
excluder on top of the forced swarm or some colony not being used for
comb-honey production that can spare enough bees to care for it. In a
short time bees will pass through the excluder and cover the brood,
after which the hive body containing it is removed, supplied with a
cover and bottom board, and placed at one side of the forced swarm so
that the emerging bees may later be added to the swarm. Or (_c_) after
the shaking is complete, remove the forced swarm and put the hive body
containing the brood temporarily back on the original stand to induce
field bees to enter it. Then in the evening set it aside and restore
the swarm to its position on the old stand. These field bees will
be able to prevent the brood being chilled during the night but in
returning from the fields the next day will enter the hive on the old
stand. In the meantime enough young bees will have emerged to care for
the brood.
(3) Removing all the brood and substituting frames containing narrow
strips or full sheets of foundation sometimes results in the colony
swarming out the next day. This may be avoided by removing the brood
in two installments with an interval of a few days between the
two operations. When the brood is not all removed, full sheets of
foundation or empty combs should be used or an excessive amount of
drone comb will be built.
With sectional hives, stand the brood chamber on end, smoke the bees
out of the lower section, and remove it. Destroy queen cells in the
upper hive section. These will almost universally be found projecting
into the space between the two sections of the brood chamber.
Substitute a new hive section containing empty combs or foundation for
the removed section. After, a few days remove the supers, smoke the
bees out of the upper section, remove it, and add it to the section
that was removed before, which at the time of its removal was given the
usual position beside the colony (fig. 17).
(4) Use two hive bodies as a brood chamber throughout the year except
during the honey flow. Have both as well filled with brood as possible
previous to the flow. About 10 days before the honey flow is expected
to begin, insert a queen-excluding honey board (fig. 2) between the
two hive bodies. The queen is now confined to a single one of the hive
bodies. After 10 days transfer the queen[7] to the other hive body
placed on the old stand and put on the supers. Remove the hive body
in which the queen has been confined to one side of the colony on the
old stand and supply it with a ripe queen cell (in a protector) or a
virgin queen. When the young queen begins to lay, exchange places with
the two hive bodies so that the one containing the young queen now
becomes the storing colony, giving it the supers and field bees. Shift
the hive containing the old queen from one side to the other of the
colony on the old stand about once a week, so that the entire flying
force of both are at work in the hive with the supers (p. 31). At the
close of the honey flow the old queen may be killed unless she is
especially valuable and the two divisions may be reunited. The period
of 10 days during which no eggs are laid in the hive body used by the
storing colony at the beginning of the honey flow should delay swarming
at least until the young queen begins to lay. When the other hive body
with the young queen is substituted, it has had a similar period of
no egg laying in addition to having a young laying queen, making a
desirable combination.
[7] It is not necessary to find the queen, since the presence of
unsealed brood indicates In which hive body she is confined. She may
be transferred to the other hive body by shaking all the bees from the
combs she is known to occupy in with the bees of the other hive body.
In this case some bees are returned to the shaken combs (p. 38) before
this brood is set aside, to prevent its being chilled.
=Mechanical devices.=--A number of mechanical devices have been
described for shifting bees from one brood chamber to another. These
permit the bees to leave the hive when going to the fields and are
so arranged that the returning bees are led to enter the new brood
chamber. This is accomplished by means of switches in the bottom board
or by a chute or tube so attached that the entrance to the old brood
chamber is closed, allowing exit only through the tube which opens near
the entrance of the new brood chamber. In either case the hives are so
arranged that the bees returning from the field readily enter the new
brood chamber. The queen is found and together with a comb of brood and
adhering bees is put into the new brood chamber, and the supers are
transferred from the old to the new brood chamber. The young bees as
they learn to fly are added to the swarm by the same device. Otherwise
the manipulation is the same as the other methods described.
=SEPARATING THE QUEEN AND BROOD WITHIN THE HIVE.=
In some swarm-control methods neither the queen nor the brood is
removed from the hive, but these are temporarily separated within
the hive. These methods are ordinarily used only on colonies making
preparations to swarm and are practically equivalent to the dequeening
plan. The following methods make use of this principle of swarm control:
(1) The queen may be placed in a wire-cloth cage within the hive or may
be confined to a small comb surface within the brood chamber by means
of queen-excluding zinc. No queen cells are permitted to mature, and
the queen is liberated after 10 to 15 days.
(2) The queen together with a comb containing a small amount of brood
is placed in a lower hive body containing no other frames or combs.
After destroying all queen cells the brood is placed in a second hive
body, the two hive bodies being separated by a queen-excluding honey
board and the supers adjusted above the brood as before. The queen,
being separated from the brood by means of the excluder, lays few eggs
in the comb on which she is confined during this period of separation.
After a week or 10 days the queen cells are again destroyed, and the
brood and queen are put back into a single hive body as before. This
method gives results quite similar to the dequeening method (p. 35).
If every season were alike in a given locality the beekeeper could
work out a manipulation to be applied to each colony just before or at
the beginning of the honey flow, which would result in practically no
swarming. The wide variation in the seasons, however, renders it next
to impossible to adopt a swarm-control measure that will prove most
profitable every year. The means of control adopted must be such as
to favor the domination of the storing instinct. Probably the plan of
making weekly visits is the most widely used system of swarm control
by manipulation. When a colony is found preparing to swarm, the brood
is removed if conditions are such as to justify doing so (p. 37).
Otherwise the removal of the queen is resorted to.
With any of these methods of control the colony may rapidly restore
former conditions, and even though it has been diverted from swarming
may later again prepare to swarm and require a second manipulation.
Generally speaking, when the honey flow is short, less radical measures
are required. Colonies that have been supplied with young queens after
a period of queenlessness have one factor (the queen) changed with at
least some degree of permanency. Colonies that have been compelled to
construct a new set of brood combs from narrow strips of foundation
have the most radical change of conditions as to brood rearing. Either
of these changes alone is usually sufficient to insure no further
preparations to swarm.
=Manipulation of the Supers.=
Proper manipulation of the comb-honey supers is not only a strong
factor in the prevention of swarming but is also a stimulus to
storing. The amount of room the colonies should have in the surplus
apartment varies so much that the ordinary standard super is simply
a unit in a large and flexible surplus apartment. If enough surplus
room is given at the beginning of the season for the storage of the
entire crop of honey, the space so given is too great for best results
at the beginning of the honey flow, and little of it is needed at
all if the season is poor. If, on the other hand, a single super is
given and no other added until the first is completed, the room in
the surplus apartment decreases from the time the super is given
until the combs are completely drawn out, when there is little space
left between the combs, the bees being practically crowded out. Thus
while the population of the colony is increasing their room is being
diminished--a condition highly conducive to swarming and less energetic
work. After the super is filled, it is some time before the honey is
ripened and sealed, ready to be removed. During this interval, if no
other supers are given, there is no place for storage of the incoming
nectar, and the comb builders must remain idle or waste their wax in
building burr and brace combs. To avoid loss in this way, empty supers
are added as they are needed, and the comb builders move from one super
to another as their work in each is completed. The surplus apartment,
whether consisting of a single super or several supers, should at all
times contain some space for the comb builders.
If the honey flow is heavy and promises to continue, it is desirable
to furnish not only sufficient room but to induce the bees to begin
work in as many sections as possible, giving large comb surface for
the storage and evaporation of the thin nectar, thus in a measure
approximating extracted honey conditions.
There is a danger, however, that if the bees are induced to extend
their work through too many supers, the sections when completed will be
less well filled and therefore lighter in weight. Also, if the honey
flow should not continue as expected a rapid expansion of the surplus
apartment results in a large number of unfinished sections.
The rapidity of the expansion of work in the supers may to some extent
be regulated by the position of each newly added super. If a rapid
expansion is desirable, the empty super is placed below the supers
already on the hive, while if it seems best to crowd the bees somewhat
the empty super is placed above those already on the hive. When the
empty super is placed above the partly finished ones, the bees do not
begin work therein unless they need the room. This practice is always
desirable during a slow honey flow or toward the close of any honey
flow, but when nectar is coming in rapidly does not result in a rapid
expansion of comb building sufficient to avoid a more or less crowded
condition, which in turn causes a loss of honey and increases the
probability of swarming. If each super is supplied with one or two
extracting combs (p. 16), this disadvantage of the practice of placing
the empty super on top largely disappears, since the extracting combs
are immediately available for the storage of nectar.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Arrangement of supers. (Original.)]
When the empty supers are placed under the partly filled ones, work
in them is commenced promptly, but this may be at the expense of the
nearly completed sections, which by this plan are moved farther from
the brood chamber as each empty super is added. In the case of the
super in which the honey is being sealed this distance is an advantage
in so far as the whiteness of the cappings is concerned, but it may
retard the completion of the work. An arrangement of the supers that
to some extent avoids this difficulty is as follows: Except toward the
close of the season, place each newly added super next to the brood
chamber and keep the one nearest completion just above it with all
others arranged above these two, the one in which least progress has
been made being on top (fig. 19). Thus super No. 1 is raised up and
No. 2 placed beneath it. When No. 3 is given, it is placed next to the
brood chamber, while above it is No. 1 with No. 2 on top. If No. 4 is
given, it is placed next to the brood chamber with Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in
order above it. By this arrangement, if conditions justify doing so,
strong colonies may be induced to expand their surplus apartment with
great rapidity, since as soon as the foundation is well drawn in each
newly added super it may be transposed to the top and an empty one put
in its place. Such rapid expansion of work in the supers should not be
attempted, however, except during a heavy honey flow.