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.
Space near entrances.—Arranging frames with starters, or combs merely begun, between the brood nest and the flight hole of the hive, while the bees are given storing space above or back of the brood nest (figs. [7] and [8]), is a plan strongly recommended by Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, and which has come to be known as "the Simmins nonswarming method," some features of it and the combination into a well-defined method having been original with him. It is an excellent preventive measure, though not invariably successful, even when the distinctive features brought forward prominently by Mr. Simmins—empty space between the brood combs and entrance, together with the employment of drawn combs in the supers—are supplemented by other measures already mentioned; but when, in addition to the space between the brood and the flight hole, the precaution be taken to get supers on in time, to ventilate the hive well, and to keep queens not over two years old, swarming will be very limited. If to these precautions be added that of substituting for the old queens young ones of the current season's raising, before swarming has begun, practical immunity from swarming is generally insured.
Selection in breeding.—Some races of bees show greater inclination than others toward swarming, and the same difference can be noted between individual colonies of a given race; therefore, whatever methods be adopted to prevent or limit increase, no doubt the constant selection of those queens to breed from whose workers show the least tendency toward swarming would in time greatly reduce this disposition. Indeed, it is perfectly consistent to believe that persistent effort, coupled with rigid and intelligent selection, will eventually result in a strain of bees quite as much entitled to be termed nonswarming as certain breeds of fowls which have been produced by artificial selection are to be called nonsitters. These terms are of course only relative, being merely indicative of the possession of a certain disposition in a less degree than that shown by others of the same species. It might never be possible to change the nature of our honeybees so completely that they would never swarm under any circumstances, and even if possible it would take a long period, so strongly implanted seems this instinct. But to modify it is within the reach of any intelligent breeder who will persistently make the effort. Such work should be undertaken in experimental apiaries where its continuance when a single point has been gained will not be affected by the changes of individual fortunes.
Fig. 8.—The Simmins nonswarming system—double-story hive with supers: bc, brood chamber; sc, supers; st, chamber with starters of comb foundation; e, entrance.