1908] Life History of the Honey Bee. 209 



In the early spring the amount of brood usually found 

 in a hive is comparatively small, but as soon as the bees are 

 placed on their summer stands and the active out-door work is 

 resumed, the queen begins laying with extraordinary rapidity, 

 particularly if the colony is strong. Within a few days, if the 

 weather is warm enough for the bees to work, a wonderful 

 change takes place in the hive. Frame after frame will be found 

 filled with eggs and larvse in all stages of growth. A square 

 inch of worker comb contains 50 cells, counting both sides, 

 and as there are 126 square inches in the ordinar}?- Langstroth 

 frame, each comb contains 6,300 cells or a total in the eight 

 frames of about 50,000 cells. The cells of drone comb are 

 larger than the worker and a square inch contains only 32 cells 

 counting both sides. 



Towards the end of May the hives begin to get crowded 

 with bees, and each day adds many hundreds to their number. 

 When these conditions prevail swarms may soon be expected, 

 and an examination of the hives will reveal the preparations 

 for this important event. Not only will there be a considerable 

 number of drones in the hive but all available drone comb will 

 be filled with eggs and larvae in all stages of growth, even to the 

 young drones cutting their way out. Queen cells will also be 

 found attached to the bottoms and sides of the frames and 

 occasionally to the surface of the combs where some inequality 

 exists. Some of these cells will be only partly constructed and 

 may contain eggs or still be empty, others will be further 

 advanced, though still uncapped and will contain the queen 

 larvae literally floating in food which is called "royal jelly" and 

 which looks like thick cream or cornstarch. This food is quite 

 different to that which is given to either the drones or worker 

 larvae, and it is in consequence of being fed this rich nitrogenous 

 food that a queen is reared instead of a worker, and that her 

 organs of reproduction are fully developed which is not the case 

 with worker bees. 



As soon as one or more of the queen cells are capped, 

 probably the next day if the weather is favorable, a swarm may 

 reasonably be expected. Before the swarm issues, the bees, 

 realizing that they are going to seek a new and empty home, 

 fill their honey sacks with honey in order that they may be able 

 to secrete the necessary wax to begin comb building in their 

 new home, and also that they may have sufficient food should 

 the weather be unfavorable for a day or more following their 

 migration. The question is often asked, which bees leave with 

 the first swarm, old or young? My experience leads me to the 

 conclusion that both old and young alike go, and that practically 



