SWARM CATCHING, HIVING, AND TRANSFERRING. 95 



These casts are too frequently led by a virgin queen. Where these 

 after-swarms alight you will have to go through the same process 

 of hiving, as already described, and return them to the hive. 

 But, you say, will there not be two queens in the one hive? Very 

 probably there will. One must be destroyed. Either you must 

 destroy the one with the cast, or there will be a fight between the 

 two queens in the hive, and then it will be the survivor of the 

 battle that will henceforth reign. But how can we find a queen- 

 bee out of the thousands that are in a swarm ? There is a little 

 trouble in doing this. If you are acquainted with the form of a 

 virgin queen, by watching the swarm after it clusters, you may 

 sometimes find her running about on the outside, and occasionally 

 threading her way in and out amongst the crowd. To do so you 

 must have an experienced eye. After you have shaken them out 

 and they have settled into the reception box, by spreading a 

 cloth on the ground and throwing the bees on to it, letting them 

 re-enter the box by crawling towards it, you are often enabled 

 to' pick her up. All this requires patience — a commodity no bee- 

 Keeper can afford to be without. 



One thing worth noting is, that drones are not produced in 

 very early spring, only in a well-conditioned colony. Drones are 

 unnecessary where there are no young queens developing. Noth- 

 ing retards spring swarming more than badly constructed hives 

 that are cold and damp, and the bees themselves wintered on a 

 too limited supply of stores, and have come through winter on 

 the verge of starvation, and so dwindled in numbers they have not 

 strength enough to hatch out a large number of eggs, these will not 

 swarm early, no matter how favourable the season may be. 

 Conditions the reverse of the above are the ones that will aid the 

 bee-keeper with early swarms, providing the seasonable conditions 

 are favourable. In the West of England they have this proverb : 

 "A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay ; a swarm of bees 

 in June is not much out of tune; but a swarm of bees in July is 

 not worth a single Hy." There is a deal of truth in it. 



Be prepared. Have all the required adjuncts at hand and 

 in place for catching your swarms and hiving them. Choose 

 the site on the grounds where you intend to keep them. If it 

 be under natural shade, trim off over-hanging twigs, so as to have 

 head-room. You will find the advantage of this, especially if you 

 are in the habit of wearing a bee-veil. " Nothing is more annoy- 

 ing, when you are handling bees, than to find a sudden pull at 



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