SWARMING OF BEES.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XV, Issue 4, 20 October 1917, Page 217

SWARMING OF BEES.

A. B. TRYTHALL,

Apiarist, Ruakura, Farm, of Instruction.

Bees being only semi-domesticated, we can never implicitly rely on them to do the same thing under the same circumstances. This is particularly true with regard to the swarming impulse.

The causes of swarming are generally conceded to be—(i) Natural and hereditary impulse; (2) heat and lack of ventilation ; (3) overcrowding of space for brood-rearing and storage of honey ; (4) age of the queen.; (5) excessive proportion of young bees in comparison to eggs and young larvae.

Commenting on these in the order named the following statements may be made :

Although swarming is the natural impulse for increase, yet many hives,'often the best and strongest in our apiaries, go through' the entire season without showing the least tendency to swarm. Now, if we could only find out an unfailing reason for this our problem of prevention would soon be solved, but so far our success has only been partial. With regard to the hereditary trait, we know from experience that Carniolan bees, for instance, will swarm themselves weak that Blacks will often do their best in the same direction; and that Italians, though generally admitted to be a great improvement in this respect, still land us a long way from our goal. But, apart from the race of bees, it is generally conceded that individual strains show the swarming impulse less than others.

With regard to heat and lack of ventilation, the apiarist and not the bees is to blame.

Concerning overcrowding of space, we know that when a successful business man’s house becomes too small for his needs he is apt to turn it over to his son and build a more suitable one for himself, so why be surprised if the bees do the same ?

The older the queen the more liable she is to lead off a swarm.

Beekeepers are fairly agreed that if newly hatched bees, having strong nursing. instincts, find their recently evacuated cells largely clogged with honey and pollen, resulting in less accommodation for eggs and larvae, the swarming impulse is almost bound to develop immediately. ' ■ . '

CURE OF SWARMING.

The cure of swarming, therefore, will be in-the prevention or the reduction of the above causes by the following methods : (i) The selection (as near as possible) of, non-swarming breeds and strains; (2) provision for sufficient ventilation ; (3) ample space for the needs of brood and stores ; (4).the early rearing and introduction of young queens ; (5) a judicious use of foundation in the centre of the broodnest.

Taking these points also seriatim, I need waste little time in discussing breed other than by saying that the great majority of beekeepers favour the Italian as the best bee for the New Zealand climate, and particularly so respecting its moderation with regard to swarming. In the poultry world strain often stands for even more than breed, and the sooner beekeepers breed only from those hives that have proved non-swarmers in the past the c ooner we may expect to arrive at non-swarming strains of bees on similar lines to the non-sitting strains of fowls.

Ventilation should be provided in advance of the colony’s requirements by increasing the size of the hive-entrance, and even to the raising of the front of the. hive above the bottom-board by means of small blocks of wood at the two front corners, or perhaps even by giving, in addition, top entrances to • very populous colonies with several .supers. • ,

Space for the storage of honey must also be provided well in advance of requirements, otherwise the nectar from the fields will be placed in the brood-cells to the exclusion of eggs and larvae, which will lead to swarming perhaps more than any other cause.

It is the exception for a queen of the current season’s rearing to swarm. Therefore the earlier our stocks can be requeened the less trouble we shall have with swarms. The poultryman- pins his faith to pullets rather than to hens, and . the sooner the apiarist follows his lead the better, particularly with regard to the question at issue. '

Where bees are very numerous two or three frames of combfoundation occasionally placed in the centre of the brood-nest not only provides an outlet for the bees’ comb-building proclivities, but it also gives the bees the impression of plenty of room and occupation for all. The busier the bees the less tendency to swarm, as instance the fact how general it is for swarming to slow down immediately a heavy honey-flow comes on.

METHODS OF CONTROL.

After taking the above broad principles into consideration every beekeeper must adapt his methods to suit himself and his surroundings.

Speaking generally, in New Zealand, and especially the North Island, we are fortunate in having a long spring, with the result that bees are enabled to work up to full strength early, and what swarming is done is largely over before the main white-clover flow of nectar begins ; whereas in England and large portions of America the beekeeper is handicapped by swarming cutting into the middle of his main honey-flow.

Most methods of combating the swarming impulse are based on manipulations of the - brood - chambersome including and others without the use .of queen-excluders. A method that the writer and others have used with success is to periodicallysay, every week or ■ ten days in spring or early summer —cursorily examine all hives for signs of swarming. Those hives very strong in bees and brood, or any that show signs of queen-cells, are' treated .at once by removing all frames of brood except two from the bottom chamber. Empty combs or sheets of foundation are put in their places, the queen being left with the two combs of brood mentioned. An excluder is now put on top, over which the supers (if any) are placed then on top'of all place the other brood-frames from below, destroying at the same time any queen-cells that may be in existence. In eight days' time again examine these top frames, and remove any queen-cells that may have again been built.

Providing the broad principles previously enumerated have been complied with, these hives are unlikely to require any further treatment for swarm-prevention, except in isolated cases, or, I am inclined to further add, in abnormal swarming seasons. Should, however, later swarming preparations be noticed from a cursory examination of the bottom of the combs in, the brood-nest, by tilting the hives back on their stands and the help of a few puffs of smoke, the same process can be gone through again. To my mind, however, a better way .to treat such second symptoms of swarming would be to introduce at once a good young queen. Some beekeepers vary the proceedings by raising two combs of brood every eight days above the excluder, and replacing them in the centre of the brood-nest by two frames of foundation, keeping up this process until the main honey-flow is in full swing, when usually the bees (in this district at least) get too busy to trouble about swarming.

Another method— by those who object to queen-excluders —is to scatter the brood-frames through the supers. Others, again, adopt the shake-swarm principle, removing all the brood and giving it to weaker hives, who in their turn, if necessary, are treated in the same way later. -

I am strongly of opinion, however, that the best and easiest way of controlling swarming is by using the “ Hand ” floor-board and

method of procedure. This was by far the best of our experiments at Ruakura last season, and we are hoping to run a number of hives on this principle during the coming season, so as to give it an extensive trial alongside hives run on other systems.

It will be noticed that . all these methods aim at forcing the queen to build up a practically more or. less new brood-nest by giving ample room for the laying of eggs, and hence continually staving off the feeling of overcrowding or lack of accommodation.

In spite, however, of all precautions “ The best-laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley,” and he is a clever beekeeper (or has an exceptionally contented lot of bees) who never has a swarm. When queen-breeding by selection has arrived at such perfection that swarming trouble is no longer known the apiarist’s millennium will have dawned. Personally, I should like to see that day.