MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

136 DR. miller'sdepends upon circumstances, and it would take mu,ch room to gofully into the whole subject of artificial increase. Study up generalprinciples in your text-book, and you will be better preparedto judge what is best for you.Q. Which is the better, natural swarming, or dividing?A. Whether the swarm made by dividing is as good as anatural swarm depends upon how the natural swarm is made. Itmay be made weaker than a natural swarm, and it may be madestronger. There are, however, advantages in dividing such thatexperienced beekeepers generally prefer it to natural swarming.Q. How late would it be safe to divide, and also to buy aqueen? Our seasons are long here. The 10th of October is avery early frost. Cotton blooms till frost. (Oklahoma.)A. I don't know just how late it might be safe to divide. Ifthe flow continues until October 10, and a laying queen is furnished,you might risk a division as late as September 1 to 10, providingthecolony be strong, with plenty of brood.Q. How many days after the swarm issues should I divide?A. About seven or eight days.Q. When is the best time to make new swarms? I workedwith a beeman one summer before I bought my bees. He madehis new swarms when he was extracting. But I think it disturbsthe bees so much when they are working hard, and it looks tome like they will not store as much honey if torn apart at thistime.A. There is no fixed rule about it. One would think it best tofollow nature and make increase at the time bees swarm naturally.But nearly everyone agrees nowadays that natural swarming isdecidedly detrimental to the honey crop. In my locality it seemsmuch better to have no increase until at or near the close of theharvest. In some localities, where there is a heavy late flow, itmay be better to divide early in the season.Q. When is the proper time to start new colonies of bees inthis climate—40 miles south of St. Louis? What is the bestmethod for a beginner to take in doing so?A. The very best time is when the bees are inclined to swarmnaturally. Bees begin to swarm when honey begins to yield well,and more or less colonies may swarm so long as honey yields, althoughmost colonies do their swarming during the early part ofthe honey-flow. You may even make increase successfully in themonth of September if you make the new colony strong enough.