If a queen is clipped as recommended under "Spring management" (p. 29)
the swarm will issue just the same, but the queen, not being able to fly,
will simply wander about on the ground in front of the hive, where she
can be caught and caged. The parent colony can then be removed to a new
stand and a new hive put in its place. The bees will soon return and the
queen can be freed among them as they enter. The field bees on returning
will enter the new hive with the swarm, thus decreasing still more the
parent colony and making a second swarm less probable. To make sure of
this, however, all queen cells except one good one can be removed soon
after the swarm issues. Another method of preventing second swarms is
to set the old hive beside the swarm and in a week move the old hive to
another place. The field bees of the parent colony then join the swarm
and the parent colony is so much reduced that a second swarm does not
issue.
To hold a swarm it is desirable to put one frame containing healthy
unsealed brood in the new hive. The other frames may contain full sheets
or starters of foundation. Usually comb honey supers or surplus bodies
for extracting frames will have been put on before swarming occurs. These
are given to the swarm on the old stand and separated from the brood
chamber by queen-excluding perforated zinc. In three or four days the
perforated zinc may be removed if desired.
When clipping the queen's wing is not practiced, swarms may be prevented
from leaving by the use of queen traps of perforated zinc (fig. 6).
These allow the workers to pass out, but not drones or queens, which, on
leaving the entrance, pass up to an upper compartment from which they
can not return. These are also used for keeping undesirable drones from
escaping, and the drones die of starvation. When a swarm issues from a
hive provided with a queen trap, the queen goes to the upper compartment
and remains there until released by the bee keeper. The workers soon
return to the hive. When the operator discovers the queen outside, the
colony may be artificially swarmed to prevent another attempt at natural
swarming. A queen trap should not be kept on the hive all the time for
fear the old queen may be superseded and the young queen prevented from
flying out to mate.
=ARTIFICIAL SWARMING=
If increase is desired, it is better to practice some method of
artificial swarming and to forestall natural swarming rather than be
compelled to await the whims of the colonies. The situation should be
under the control of the bee keeper as much as possible. The bees, combs,
and brood may be divided into two nearly equal parts and a queen provided
for the queenless portion; or small colonies, called nuclei, may be made
from the parent colony, so reducing its strength that swarming is not
attempted. These plans are not as satisfactory as shaken swarms, since
divided colonies lack the vigor of swarms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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