=Dequeening.=--The removal of a queen at the opening of a
swarming season interferes, of course, with the plans of the bees,
and they will then delay swarming until they get a young queen. Then,
if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day,
swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping
colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a
certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will
not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield
of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time, or other
yields come later in the season, is likely or even nearly sure to
be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood roaring
may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan is
therefore not to be commended.
=Requeening.=--Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious
in the prevention of swarming, is the practice of replacing the old
queen early in the season with a young one of the same season's
raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible to
rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during
the first season, and, as they are vigorous layers, the hive will
be well populated at all times and thus ready for any harvest. This
is important, inasmuch as a flow of honey may come unexpectedly
from some plant ordinarily not counted upon; and also, since the
conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding
plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield
will also differ with the season the same as the quantity may vary.
Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter.
The plan is conducive to the highest prosperity of the colonies,
and is consistent with the securing of the largest average yield of
honey, since, besides giving them vigorous layers, it generally keeps
the population together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be
commended on all accounts as being in line with the most progressive
management, without at the same time interfering with the application
of other preventive measures.
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