Fig. 70.—Beehives with Langdon non-swarmer attached: A, B, hives; S, S′, supers; D, non-swarming device; e, e′, entrances corresponding to hive entrances; sl, slide for closing entrance; c, c′, conical wire-cloth bee-escapes; ex, ex′, exits of same. (From Insect Life.)
LANGDON NON-SWARMING DEVICE.
This device ([fig. 70, D]), first described and illustrated in Insect Life for April, 1893 (Vol. V, No. 4), is designed to do more than merely prevent swarming. The following claims are made by the inventor:
(1) It prevents all swarming without caging queens, cutting out queen cells or manipulation of brood combs.
(2) Two light colonies that would not do much in sections if working separately make one good one by running the field force of both into the same set of supers.
(3) No bait sections are needed, as the bees can be crowded into the sections without swarming.
(4) The honey will be finished in better condition, that is, with less travel stain, because the union of the field forces enables them to complete the work in less time.
(5) There will be fewer unfinished sections at the close of the honey harvest for the reason just mentioned.
(6) Also for the same reason honey can be taken off by the full case instead of by the section or holderful.
(7) Drones will be fewer in number, as a double handful will often be killed off in the closed hive while the other is storing honey rapidly.